• On May 21, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), and Kamala Harris (D-California) wrote a letter to U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, urging her to designate Vandenberg Air Force Base as U.S. Space Command Headquarters. The letter followed the Air Force’s release of six potential locations for the command center on May 14. Vandenberg is listed along with four bases in Colorado and one in Alabama. In their letter, Carbajal, Feinstein, and Harris suggest Vandenberg is a suitable location because of the existing space-related activities and rocket launches that take place at the base. “Vandenberg Air Force Base currently supports West Coast launch activities for the Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and various private partners,” the letter states. “It also supports space situational awareness through the Combined Space Operations Center, contributes to homeland defense through its Missile Defense Agency capabilities, and hosts classified work with the National Reconnaissance Office.”
• The state Senate passed Senate Bill 171 on May 22, which requires employers in California with 100 or more workers to submit an annual pay data report to the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing. In its report, an employer must include the compensation and number of hours that employees work by gender, race, ethnicity, and job category. The bill moves to the Assembly for a vote. In a statement, the bill’s author State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) said reviewing the data collected through SB 171 would allow state agencies to identify wage disparities and better enforce wage discrimination laws. In her statement, Jackson claimed that many employers are unaware of their own pay disparities and that this bill will encourage them to review and revise their pay structures. Ultimately this bill will help address the clear gender pay gap that exists in California, Jackson said. “Women are almost half the workforce. They represent the sole breadwinners in half of American families. The gender pay gap not only punishes women, it hurts children, families, and our economy,” Jackson said.
• On May 20, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) appointed U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) to the U.S.-Mexico Interparliamentary Group. The group consists of a combined seven representatives from California and Texas who are tasked with maintaining a strong relationship between U.S. Congress and the Mexican government. In a statement his office released, Carbajal said, as a Mexican-American, he is committed to the group’s purpose of strengthening the alliance between the U.S. and Mexico. “Mexico is one our top trading partners as the second-largest buyer of U.S. goods and the third-largest consumer of U.S. agricultural products,” Carbajal said. “Collaborating with Mexico is crucial to the strength of our economy and national security, and both of our countries prosper when we work together to promote peace and opportunity.”
• On May 23, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) and U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) introduced the Veterans’ Record Reconstruction Act, which secures veterans’ access to their benefits in the event their military personnel files are damaged or destroyed. The bill requires the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs to establish guidelines on how to determine the benefits veterans are eligible for if their service records are damaged or destroyed while in the government’s possession. A statement from Carbajal’s office cites a fire at the National Personnel Records Center in Missouri more than 40 years ago that destroyed 18 million military personnel files and caused problems for veterans applying for benefits.
This article appears in May 30 – Jun 6, 2019.