• In the wake of the recent measles outbreak, California legislators announced a bill that would essentially take away a parent’s choice to opt-out of vaccinating their children unless there is a physical condition or medical reason a child shouldn’t get immunized. Parents would be required to show proof of vaccinations in order to attend a private or public institution. State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) said she supports the bill: “You have to think of the common good.”
• U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) and 17 other members of the California delegation wrote a letter to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Feb. 6 urging the agency to take more steps to educate health-care providers on the signs and symptoms of measles. The letter refers to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times reporting that health-care providers educated after measles became more rare in the U.S. may not have received the medical training needed to quickly recognize and diagnose the illness.
• U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced on Feb. 6 that the Bureau of Reclamation is making $50 million in funds available immediately for drought relief projects throughout the West, including almost $20 million for California’s Central Valley Project. She made the announcement following a meeting with Gov. Jerry Brown discussing the Obama Administration’s approach to the state’s drought. The funding was made available by the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015.
• As part of President Barak Obama’s proposed 2015-2016 budget, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is proposing to increase the amount of money that states along the U.S.-Mexico border can use to promote affordable housing and community development in severely distressed communities. According a recent press release from the agency, the budget would authorize the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California to set aside up to 15 percent of their Community Development Block Grant funding for those rural border communities that often lack adequate water, sewer, and/or decent housing. The current allocation of block grant funding set aside for that purpose is 10 percent.
This article appears in Feb 12-19, 2015.