Newsletters

I struggled a bit with how to start this newsletter. I was going to go with “Happy New Year!” but, to be honest, 2026 has gotten off to a rough start. We’ve seen masked, poorly trained, unnecessary, unaccountable, and unidentified federal agents terrorize American cities and murder two U.S. citizens in public. We’ve seen President Trump and his propagandists rush to accuse the victims, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, of being “domestic terrorists” and “assassins,” trying to convince all of us that we didn’t see what we saw with our own eyes.

The legislative session is complete, and I am excited to let you know that Governor Newsom signed all thirteen of my bills that we sent to him, including legislation to keep our communities safe from gun violence, lower the cost of utility bills, stop the puppy mill pipeline in California once and for all, and increase election transparency.

You may have heard that Congress is debating President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” (seriously, that is the official name of the bill), which recently passed out of the House of Representatives by only one vote. A lot of attention has rightly been paid to how this bill will kick millions of Americans off of Medicaid and add trillions of dollars to our national debt. Not good.

I’ve had the pleasure of spending the last few months attending events and connecting with constituents all across the district. You’ve shared with me what you are excited about, what you are anxious about, and what you think my colleagues and I should be focused on going into the new year. There were areas of agreement (bring down the cost of living), and areas of disagreement (do / don’t build more housing and create more jobs). I am sincerely grateful for your honesty and your feedback as I begin planning for the upcoming legislative session.

On Sunday night I got a call from Governor Newsom’s staff letting me know the Governor signed my last two bills on his desk, bringing me to a perfect 17 for 17 bills signed this year. The next day my staff told me, to my surprise, that this is the fifth year in a row with no Gubernatorial vetoes. My strong record with the Governor is a reflection of my focus on commonsense policy proposals and robust stakeholder engagement to ensure the best possible results for my constituents and all Californians.

I am excited to let you know that seventeen of my bills passed out of the Legislature this year and are on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature, including efforts to crack down on retail theft, defend our democracy from deceptive deepfakes, support student parents who are trying to get a higher education, and prevent AI-generated child sexual abuse material.

Welcome.

I hope you had a fun, festive, and safe 4th of July holiday and weekend.

I want to update you on the remarkable progress we’ve made on legislation and initiatives to improve our communities and all of California. This spring I passed 24 bills out of the Assembly and on to the Senate. Many of these bills were brought to me by community members who either proposed a specific bill idea or came to me with a problem that they wanted me to solve. Learn more about these bills below.