Newsletters

When the gavel fell at midnight on August 31 (or, in reality, noon on September 1), and my 10th legislative year came to a close, I was excited to send another fourteen bills to Governor Newsom’s desk. As a new dad, I am especially proud of the work we did to protect our children and our young adults – from creating a free youth suicide prevention training for students age 13 and up and all teachers, administrators, and parents in California to requiring children’s diaper manufacturers to clearly disclose the ingredients in their products.

It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through 2026, and this is the first legislative newsletter I’m sending out. My wife and I had our first child last July, and in many ways this year – my tenth in the Assembly – has looked much different than my first nine.

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.