Creating Change Winter Edition

As we head into the winter holidays, my family and I and everyone at Team Becker hope everyone in Senate District 13 had a Happy Thanksgiving filled with gratitude, love and friendship. We hope this holiday season will be a pleasant time for you and your loved ones. 

Pictured here: Senator Josh Becker along with U.S. Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, Senator Anna Caballero, Director Dee Dee Myers of the Governors’ Office of Business and Economic Development, California Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph, and others join other officials for a tour of Heirloom.

Earlier this month, I spoke at the ribbon-cutting for the nation’s first ever carbon removal facility, built by Heirloom, along with U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Granholm, Lieutenant Governor Kounalakis, and other leaders from the state government, local communities, and labor groups. Utilizing innovative technology and powered by 100% renewable energy, this facility is a good first step, but now we need to scale up our carbon removal capacity enormously. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) created a plan to get our state to net-zero that calls for 75 million tons per year of carbon removal by 2045, alongside massive reductions in direct emissions. Entrepreneurs are working on many innovative ideas to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, both nature-based solutions and new technologies, but they need a long term predictable market to scale up. My carbon removal bill, SB 308, will create that market to support this nascent movement. BTW, not only does the Heirloom facility benefit our environment, it is also creating good-paying green jobs for the local community.

I hosted a town hall meeting in Mountain View with Assemblymember Marc Berman on long-awaited roadway improvements to El Camino Real (SR 82) in Santa Clara County. We invited representatives from the cities of Mountain View, Los Altos and Palo Alto for a public meeting on the plans and status of El Camino Real maintenance projects with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the agency directly responsible for ensuring long-term repairs to our state’s roadways. Caltrans gave a presentation on the details on the upcoming road work and, most importantly, presented a timeline. I asked pointed questions in order to hold Caltrans accountable for the promises that they made to us. For too long, we have dealt with delays with fixing potholes and unsafe conditions that put drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists at risk. A repaving project has been scheduled for many months, but until this town hall, we did not have a clear timeline for when these necessary improvements will begin. I will continue to hold Caltrans accountable to their deadlines while ensuring that necessary safety improvements are completed by the expected deadlines.

Do you have an idea to improve our community and state? Do you have an idea for a bill that could become a California law? I want to hear your ideas! I am proud to announce that my annual “There Ought to be a Law” competition is accepting submissions. Your idea could become the next bill that I author in the 2024 legislative session. If your bill idea is selected, you will be invited to come to the California State Capitol. I am proud to be carrying on this tradition from my predecessors, former Senators Simitian and Hill.

If you have an idea for a law, you can submit it here. Submissions are due January 8. 2023. 

Pictured here: Senator Josh Becker and  Dr. Joseph Haggerty

This past Veterans Day, I joined military service members and community leaders throughout the community to commemorate the service and sacrifice of our Veterans in several communities. Thank you to our brave service members who work to safeguard our democracy. In Redwood City, I honored a 99 year old veteran from World War II who flew 29 missions over Germany before his plane was hit by enemy fire. In another ceremony in Hillsborough, I honored Dr. Joseph Haggerty for his naval service to our country. He later went on to serve as head team physician to the 49ers. 

I am proud to represent a district with a rich and diverse culture. I joined the San Mateo County AAPI Alliance to celebrate Diwali, the Celebration of Light, as well as to honor the amazing Harini Krishnan! Diwali is a time to reflect on overcoming darkness with light and ignorance with knowledge, understanding and tolerance. I feel this sentiment strongly. Now more so than ever we need to reflect on this and work to solve our most pressing challenges. 

Providing critical emergency resources in times of need is one of the most important duties of an elected official. That is why I secured $7.2 million for resilience grant funds for San Mateo County along with my colleagues in the State Legislature. I recently joined with the California Department of Food and Agriculture to announce this new grant program with San Mateo County and Samaritan House, which will expand our community’s emergency response ability by utilizing our fairgrounds for disaster relief.  

Under this program, the San Mateo Event Center will be designated an emergency operations center to provide critical services to our most vulnerable residents in times of need.

This grant funding will increase kitchen and pantry service and give our local community the ability to respond to future emergencies.

On October 31, we broke ground on 88 units of modular interim housing in Palo Alto. Through the leadership of the City of Palo Alto and LifeMoves, these homes will provide a dignified transitional step for unhoused residents to achieve stable housing. Project Homekey was created in 2020 by Governor Gavin Newsom, and to date, the Homekey program has funded more than 14,000 homes across the state, changing the lives of tens of thousands of Californians and creating a lasting impact on our state’s housing crisis.

There is much concern in our community about soaring PG&E rates and the utilities’ proposed fixed charge on bills - and rightly so.  I wrote an oped with Assemblymember Marc Berman to shed light on this proposed fixed charge and its consequences and discuss real solutions to soaring rates.

PG&E has been allowed to put extensive costs from the horrific wildfires, some of which were started by their own equipment, as well as the significant costs of prevention of future wildfires, into electricity rates. PG&E also underestimated the cost to do the important work of connecting new homes and charging infrastructure to the grid and is asking for billions of dollars for the undergrounding of wires – some of which is warranted but some of which is unnecessary. As Chair of the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Resources, Environmental Protection and Energy, I will continue to hold PG&E accountable, fight to keep rates as low as possible, and ensure that PG&E does not pass along the burden of its mistakes to consumers. 

We should also demand that PG&E does its job – providing prompt service to homes and businesses that need power. My recently-signed bill SB 410 will require PG&E to speed up interconnections so that we can deliver power to new housing and businesses and so that homes can upgrade their panel capacity to support solar and battery systems, EV chargers, heat pump water heaters, and more as we drive down our dependency on fossil fuels.  

Click here to read my op-ed: Opinion: The income-based electricity bill provision is a mistake that will raise your rates. Let’s not shy away from real solutions. | News | Palo Alto Online |

 

Don Horsley, former San Mateo County supervisor and longtime sheriff, dies at 80

(Palo Alto Online, November 27, 2023) 

Bay Area Public Transit Committee To Discuss Fiscal Challenges

(SF Gate, November 26, 2023) 

Bay Area Rep. Anna Eshoo says she's not running for reelection after over 30 years in Congress

(ABC 7, November 22, 2023)

New 2023 Youth Justice Laws

(WitnessLA, November 21, 2023)

Caltrans reps discuss El Camino Real construction project

(Los Altos Town Crier, November 21, 2023) 

California’s grid is hindering its climate goals. Can a new law fix it?

(Canary Media, November 20, 2023)

El Camino repaving project set to begin next year, with bike lanes added in Mountain View:

Caltrans lays out timeline for the long-anticipated roadway upgrades

(Mountain View Voice, November 15, 2023)

Senator Josh Becker tours first-in-the-nation facility to remove CO2 emissions from the atmosphere

(InMenlo, November 10, 2023) 

Music, speeches and military vehicles featured at Veterans Day ceremony at Redwood City's Courthouse Square: Guest speakers include U.S. Congress member Kevin Mullin as keynote speaker, State Sen. Josh Becker, Assembly Woman Diane Papan and the Redwood City council members.

(The Almanac, November 10, 2023)

First U.S. commercial direct carbon capture facility opens in Tracy

(CBS, November 9, 2023)

Opinion: The income-based electricity bill provision is a mistake that will raise your rates. Let’s not shy away from real solutions.

(The Almanac, November 3, 2023)

Palo Alto launches construction on transitional housing in the Baylands

(Palo Alto Weekly November 1, 2023)

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And as always, my staff and I are here for you! 

If you need assistance with a state agency, need information about state programs or want to express your position on legislation or public policy issues, please do not hesitate to contact me at (650) 233-2724 or senator.becker@senate.ca.gov. You can always follow me on X at @SenJoshBecker and on Facebook at fb.me/Sen.Josh.Becker. 

Sincerely,
Josh Becker
Senator, 13th District