The Knolls were part of a group of about 20 from the Stockton area who rode in a chartered bus to Palo Alto on Monday morning to remind Department of Veterans Affairs officials there of the need for more medical and psychological services in the Central Valley. Stockton Assemblywoman Susan Eggman organized the excursion to Palo Alto after collecting nearly 2,000 signed cards from residents calling for additional services closer to home.
“We need to keep this in the public eye,” said Eggman, who noted that Saturday is Veteran’s Day and added, “Silence makes bureaucracy not move.”
The Seal of Civic Engagement will join the Seal of Biliteracy, recognizing fluency in multiple languages, and the long-standing Golden State Seal Merit Diploma, recognizing overall academic excellence, as the civics equivalent of the Armed Forces’ oak leaf cluster to honor meritorious service.
It was created by Assembly Bill 24, authored by Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, in an effort to revive civics education. It was signed into law earlier this month. Who will be eligible for it and the criteria for awarding it will be hashed out over the next two years by the state Department of Education and ultimately will be decided by the State Board of Education in early 2021. Their challenge will be to strike a balance between encouraging civic involvement by all students and singling out outstanding accomplishments that catch the eye of colleges and employers .
A landmark new law designed to narrow the gender pay gap in the nation’s most populous state bars California employers from inquiring about applicants’ previous salaries and benefits.
Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, who requested the state audit last year along with Sen. Lois Wolk of Davis, said Thursday that the findings are “one more stick in the spokes of a bicycle that is going off the track.”
“I think the takeaway is they’ve been planning for 11 years and there’s no plan,” Eggman said. “It’s time to cut our losses and start working on a real solution.”
Gov. Jerry Brown’s $17 billion proposal to build two massive tunnels through the Delta to make it easier to move water from north to south was hit with another setback Thursday as a state audit found it was suffering from “significant cost increases and delays.”
The 91-page report from California’s state auditor, Elaine Howle, said the state Department of Water Resources “has not completed either an economic or financial analysis to demonstrate the financial viability” of the project, which the Brown administration calls the California WaterFix.
California’s state auditor criticized planners of the Delta tunnels Thursday for paying millions of dollars to an unqualified consultant and not completing a cost-benefit analysis of the $17.1 billion project.
In a 97-page report, State Auditor Elaine Howle said the California Department of Water Resources broke state law in 2009, during the early stages of the tunnels planning, by hiring a Sacramento company called Hallmark Group to oversee a portion of the planning process. The report said Hallmark “does not appear to possess the technical credentials or experience on relevant projects.”
California employers would be barred from asking job applicants about their prior salaries if Gov. Jerry Brown signs into law a new bill seeking to close the state’s gender pay gap.
“Nobody denies it’s a real issue,” said Assembly member Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), who introduced the bill. “I think the remedies are what people debate about. And since it’s remained stubborn and hasn’t really moved, then why not try something that has been tried around the country?”
