• The Coastal State Climate Preparedness Act went through its first hearing in the House Natural Resources Committee on July 25, which moved the legislation closer to passage in the House. The bill, House Resolution 3541, was authored by U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) and would provide voluntary grants to coastal states in order to help them plan and implement strategies to mitigate climate change, prepare for sea level rise, and address other impacts. If passed, the bill would also allow states to use these grants for climate change adaptation, and to protect infrastructure and coastal ecosystems. “I am here today because we know that climate change is real, and we need to take action,” Carbajal said in a press release. “Coastal communities, like mine, are at the forefront of this crisis.” In the release, Carbajal said Santa Barbara expects sea levels to rise by more than 6 feet by the end of the century.
• Applications are now being accepted to fill vacant seats for five Santa Maria boards and commissions: The Board of Appeals, which hears appeals to decisions of the city’s building division and makes recommendations regarding building code revisions; the Central Coast Commission for the Area Agency on Aging, the entity responsible for the agency’s operations on the Central Coast; the Landmark Committee, which advises the City Council on preservation and designation of historical landmarks; the Library board of trustees, which sets library rules and regulations; and the Santa Barbara County Library Advisory Committee, a group that reviews and maintains the master plan for each county library service zone. Applications for these vacancies can be completed and submitted via email from the city’s webpage at cityofsantamaria.org/ or in person at Santa Maria City Hall, 110 E. Cook St., room 3. For more information, call (805) 925-0951, Ext. 2306.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement on July 25 condemning news that the Trump administration plans to resume executions in federal prisons. “The Trump administration has chosen to join North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, and Russia’s Putin in executing their citizens,” Newsom said in the statement. “The intentional killing of another person is wrong, and our death penalty system has been, by all measures, a failure. It has discriminated against defendants who are mentally ill, black and brown, or can’t afford expensive legal representation.” Newsom added that the death penalty fails to provide any public safety benefit or value as a deterrent. And since 1973, 166 condemned prisoners nationwide have been freed from death row after they were found to have been wrongfully convicted. On March 13, Newsom signed an executive order placing a moratorium on the death penalty in California and closed the execution chamber in San Quentin State Prison.
This article appears in Aug 1-8, 2019.
