• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) announced on Dec. 8 $1 million in investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support improved passenger rail options for Central Coast residents. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which passed in November 2021, authorized the creation of a new rail program to support development of improved intercity passenger rail. The federal investments will support efforts to expand the Pacific Surfliner corridor through the Central Coast down to San Diego and help explore new service options between San Luis Obispo and San Jose, according to a statement from Carbajal’s office. The Corridor Identification and Development Program awarded Caltrans $500,000 for the Central Coast Corridor Project that connects SLO to San Jose, and $500,000 for the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor to enhance existing Surfliner lines with an extension south to San Ysidro. “Expanding passenger rail options for traveling the Central Coast will not only give our communities better ways to travel our region, but it will continue to bring new visitors to our local economies without additional traffic and with a lower carbon footprint. That’s a win-win for us all,” Carbajal said in the statement.
• U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-California) and Kristen Gillibrand (D-New York) and U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-South Bronx) recently introduced the bicameral LGBTQI-plus Business Credit Enforcement and Investment Act. The bill would require financial institutions to collect data on LGBTQ-plus owned businesses’ access to credit and capital. “With anti-LGBTQ-plus legislation and hate crimes on the rise, LGBTQ-plus business owners continue to face persistent and unjust barriers to financial success,” Padilla said in a statement. “LGBTQ-plus-owned small businesses are a cornerstone of local economies, and they deserve equitable resources to help them grow and thrive. I’m proud to co-lead this legislation with Sen. Gillibrand and Rep. Torres to ensure that vulnerable LGBTQ-plus businesses receive the support they need.” The bill would amend part of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), which requires financial institutions to collect data on credit applications submitted by minority- and women-owned small businesses, to include collection for LGBTQ-plus owned businesses. Specifically, the legislation would clarify that Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires financial institutions to collect the self-identified sexual orientation and gender identity of the principal owners of small businesses, in addition to their sex, race, and ethnicity.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom reaffirmed his support for the redesigned Delta Conveyance Project proposal, in a Dec. 8 statement, saying that the project is critical to protecting millions of people’s water access against the threats of climate change. California is expected to lose 10 percent of its water supply due to hotter and drier conditions, threatening the water supply for millions of Californians, according to the governor’s office. Newsom added that extreme weather whiplash will result in more intense swings between droughts and floods, and California’s 60-year-old water infrastructure is not built for these climate impacts. During January 2023’s atmospheric rivers, the Delta Conveyance Project could have captured enough water for 2.3 million people’s yearly usage, Newsom said. The tunnel, which his office called a modernization of the infrastructure system that delivers water to millions of people, would improve California’s ability to take advantage of intense periods of rain and excess flows in the Sacramento River. “Climate change is threatening our access to clean drinking water, diminishing future supplies for millions of Californians—doing nothing is not an option. After the three driest years on record, we didn’t have the infrastructure to fully take advantage of an exceptionally wet year, which will become more and more critical as our weather whiplashes between extremes,” Newsom said in the statement. “This proposed project is essential to updating our water system for millions of Californians. This new approach, redesigned following community and environmental input, is how we can build a California of the future.”
This article appears in Dec 14-24, 2023.