Summit on Green Jobs

Das hosted the Summit on Green Jobs, Saturday, 8/13, at Ventura College:

Video streaming by Ustream

A Real Message From Das

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Dear Friends,

Many of you may have received a spam email from me yesterday morning. Please disregard it as my campaign email account has been compromised. I have switched to a new campaign email account:

das.williams2012@gmail.com.

Please send any campaign related inquiries here and I apologize for the inconvenience.

Last week was quite a challenging and eventful week. Friday, June 3rd, was the final day to pass bills out of the Assembly and move them on to the Senate - the next step in the legislative process. I am happy to report that we had a total of 13 pieces of legislation make it out of the Assembly, three of which passed in the closing days. The final one to make it out was AB 438, a bill that will create guidelines for cities to follow before they can privatize local library services. This legislation will help ensure that during tough economic times, public libraries remain open and accessible to everyone while ensuring taxpayer dollars are used wisely. The other two bills are very close to my heart: AB 1302 and 1303, both dealing with renewable energy.

I also had the honor of authoring two guest opinion editorials for our local newspapers, Santa Barbara's Daily Sound and the Ventura County Star. In the Ventura Country Star article I go into more detail on AB 1302 and 1303 and why they, and renewable energy in general, is so crucial to our economy recovery. Click here to read the article.

In the Daily Sound article, which can be found by clicking here, I explain what my life in Sacramento is like. To sum it up, my days are a whirlwind of meetings and debates. Life in Sacramento is challenging and intense, but also rewarding. I am honored to serve you and am proud of the progress we have made together on so many important issues facing Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties and the state.

I am especially proud to be a part of establishing a mandate that will require 33 percent of the state's energy come from renewable sources by 2020. This marks a historic step forward in the effort to increase renewable energy use and build the green economy of the future.

We have also been hard at work here at home in the district. Over the past few months my office has held a series of town halls, mobile office hours and organized neighborhood councils in order to stay better connected and effectively address the needs of every community.

I'd also like to invite you all to two up coming special events. First, I will be having my 37th birthday celebration on July 9th from 4-6pm on board the Condor Express for a leisurely cruise around the Santa Barbara Harbor. Space is limited so please RSVP today (see contact info below). We have a lot to celebrate and I really hope to see you there. More information is available below.

Lastly, the Foundation for Santa Barbara City College is launching a fundraising drive for student scholarships. Every donation made in the month of June will be matched 50 cents on the dollar by The Bernard Osher Foundation so it's an important time to get as many donations as possible. Darcel Elliott, Emily Allen, Sherry Holland, and Marty Blum are organizing a phone bank on June 13th from 5:30-8:30pm at the Egenolf Associates Law Office, located at 130 E. Carrillo St. in Santa Barbara. It's incredibly important to support our local community college and I hope you will be able to join the phone bank and make some phone calls to SBCC donors.

That's all for now. I hope to hear from you all soon and thank you for your continued support.

Das


Save the Date:

Das is turning 37

Join Das on an evening cruise of the Santa Barbara Harbor in celebration of his 37th birthday

Saturday, July 9th, 2011

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Aboard the Condor Express

Sponsorship Levels

$3,900 Admiral - $2,500 Captain - $1,000 First mate

$500 Mate - $250 Sailor

$75 Passenger

More information to follow
RSVP to das.williams2012@gmail.com or 805-616-2594

Five Months in Sacramento

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The following was printed in a DAILY SOUND Guest Column:

Assemblyman Das Williams spotlights achievements after 5 months in Sacramento

By DAS WILLIAMS -- MAY 31, 2011

Each morning begins with the sound of metal poles clanking, drums beating, protesters yelling, or speeches booming from Capitol Park. The most interesting was a few weeks ago when I woke up to a high pitched whine, which I dimly remembered was a signal of war and alarm, and slowly realized was an air raid siren.

I got out of bed and said to myself, “oh, that must be the teachers.” Thousands of classroom teachers, including a score from our area, were in town to highlight the state of emergency that public education is in and what could happen to our schools if we do not extend the current tax rate as the Governor has proposed. I roll into the shower, put on the suit – required attire on the floor e

very day, which is less than ideal for this central coaster -, and walk across the street to the Capitol to debate anywhere from twenty to one hundred bills a day.

Some of the bills do absolutely nothing, but express nice sentiments. Many are vital for the future of job creation, energy independence, and protection of the environment. To be a part of establishing one of the toughest energy efficiency standards in the nation; a mandate that would require 33 percent of the state’s energy to come from renewable sources is a rush for me. It is an extension of the work we started in the city of Santa Barbara by setting one of the most aggressive renewable energy programs in the state. Being a part of these efforts brings an added edge of pride to the work I do, knowing that it’s impact will benefit generations to come. It means middle-class jobs and guardianship of our environment.

But far more often, the impact I can make has to be far more subtle to be effective. My work includes suggesting amendments during committee hearings, asking the Governor or Speaker to appoint local people on important boards or delving into solutions for our budget deficit. Of course sometime it can be the wrong budget solution, like when I found out the first draft budget this year proposed eliminating 100 percent of our County's emergency room funding. So we went into overdrive that following week. Working behind the scenes and getting that overzealous cut out of the budget 2 hours before the vote.

When your life is measured in 15 minute increments of meetings and tasks, it can be a little bewildering. The hustle is intense. The tasks are often daunting, but we've balanced 64 percent of the deficit and we're not even late on the budget, yet. I guess things are getting better.

The bills we have are exciting: enabling Santa Barbara School Districts to unify and garner $6 million more each year, mapping the locations where new alternative energy is critically needed, doubling speeding fines in school zones when children are present, and promoting composting as an alternative to landfilling, which creates good jobs and helps the environment. But I don't always do it by making speeches. I observe. Listen. Ask questions and think critically. This is what it will take to get us to the way things should be, where people have good paying jobs that support a sustainable economy, where every child is afforded with the resources to reach his or her full potential, where our higher education system is our state’s economic engine.

I come back just about every week, usually Thursday nights. It's a district office day on Friday and community events on the weekend. I occasionally get a chance to surf and reflect. Above all I feel useful, and remain so honored to represent local people: our hopes, roots, and values.

Renewable Energy Is Crucial to Our Economic Recovery

Californians are clearly struggling.

Over the past few months, I have spent a great deal of time traveling around the district, and I have heard the stories of many people who are unemployed. Some are new college graduates who can't find a good job. Others have had the same job for a decade or more, only to be let go due to the faltering economy.

This epidemic of unemployment has also played a big part (along with predatory lending, of course) in creating the stagnant housing market of the last few years, as paying your mortgage becomes difficult and in some cases impossible when the primary breadwinner loses his or her job.

Less home ownership further dries up the revenues collected by local governments, further depressing the economy — and the cycle continues.

Renewable and clean energy can be the way forward in getting our economy back on track. That is why I just voted for California's new and ambitious 33 percent renewable portfolio standard for utility companies. This means that by the year 2020, 33 percent of the state's energy will come from renewable resources. The jobs created by this effort will be in the thousands.

This effort makes sense financially and is the right thing to do to put the state back to work, move toward energy independence and conserve our limited natural resources. Further, I have introduced complementary legislation, Assembly Bill 1303 that would extend the sunset date for the public goods charge, which is a surcharge on energy bills based on electricity usage.

That money is set aside in a fund to be specifically used for energy efficiency programs, renewable energy programs and PIER (Public Interest Energy Research) Programs. Essentially, this is all our money and it funds research and development of energy efficiency both in the private sector and our university system.

The bill also takes a closer look at the programs funded by this charge to keep them honest, and continue a valuable investment in making our area part of a state that is leading the way in this technology.

Being a leader in energy efficiency is a pathway to job creation in the state. We should be investing in research and development of better ways to store wind and solar power. The state should be utilizing the California innovation that has made our state the home to so many creative and profitable industries; specifically we should do this to design more efficient transmission networks for the energy we produce. This technology will take a highly skilled, well-paid workforce, and California is its natural home.

Another innovative idea that will both help the environment and create jobs is found in my bill AB 1302. The bill deals with something called distributed generation, which is a common-sense idea of placing a power distribution plant near the community that is going to use the energy.

It can take the form of renewable energies such as solar or wind and fuel cells powered by natural gas or biogas. This cuts down on transit costs and energy lost over larger distances.

This means a city like Oxnard, which has the largest population between Los Angeles and San Jose, would be a good example of a place to locate a distribution plant being that it has a relatively high concentrated demand for electricity.

In the long run this could obviate the need for "peaker plants" and some of the dirty energy being produced in our community, replacing the jobs with better ones, cleaning up our air, and giving us a chance to use that beachfront land for open space.

We can use distributed generation to increase employment because it will require the creation and updating of existing infrastructure. AB 1302 would develop guidelines for investor-owned and publicly owned utilities to use when creating maps and identifying the best places to utilize distributed generation.

This bill would further make the distributed generation of electricity easier by ensuring that the technical information is accessible and up-to-date by requiring that maps illustrating possible locations be posted on the company's website and is updated as new information becomes available.

My two main goals since my election as your Assembly member have been putting people back to work and protecting the environment. With innovation and ingenuity, I hope that together we can make a difference on both fronts.

If you have questions or concerns please reach out to one of my district offices; in the Oxnard Transportation Center, 483-9808 or in Santa Barbara, 564-1649.