The first year of school can be intimidating, exciting, a new beginning. For freshman legislators, it’s no different.
They’ve got to learn to navigate a new city, a Capitol complex under construction and the ins and outs of a new legislative process. They’re working with colleagues from vastly different parts of the state and balancing the priorities of their party’s leadership with those of their constituents.
With the first year under their belts, we heard from four new legislators — Sens. Catherine Blakespear and Lola Smallwood-Cuevas and Assemblymembers Diane Dixon and Greg Wallis — about what they learned, the topics they’re beginning to champion, what they’ve discovered about Sacramento and more.
Sen. Catherine Blakespear
Before joining the legislature, Sen. Cathereine Blakespear served as the mayor of Encinitas for six years. The Democratic senator represents the 38th district in the Senate, which encompasses northern San Diego County and southern Orange County.
On something that stood out about her first year: It didn’t come as a surprise, Blakespear said, but during her first year in the statehouse, it became evident how difficult it can be to come up with successful big bill ideas.
Take homelessness, for example, an issue that Blakespear came into the legislature wanting to tackle. Solutions, especially from the government, aren’t straightforward, she said.
“The most direct path would be for the government to build a lot of housing for people to live in,” said Blakespear. “But why is the state not doing that? We don’t have a system where the state does that. The state distributes money to counties and to nonprofits and to cities, and then locally there’s a determination of how that money should be best used given all the other competing things.”
And that complexity — despite not providing what may feel like a quick and direct solution to issues — isn’t necessarily a negative, she said.
“You don’t want…
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