Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend and congratulate Earl Hall upon being awarded with the ``Community Health Champions Award'' at the 2009 West Fresno Health Care Coalition's 5th annual ``This is Your Life of Service'' lunch and awards ceremony. This year the ceremony will be held at the Radisson Hotel Conference Center in Fresno, California on Tuesday, November 3rd.

Mr. Earl Hall was born in Oklahoma. When he was just six months old, the 1940's ``Dust Bowl'' hit his family's farm and they were forced to leave the area. Upon migrating to California, his family settled in Wasco, California. Mr. Hall's father was finally able to find employment as a farm manager for a family farm. Mr. Hall graduated from Wasco High School then attended Bakersfield Junior College and Fresno City College, where he earned his Associates degree. He transferred to California State University, Fresno and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Business in 1964.

Mr. Hall has dedicated his career to establishing and developing his business, Hall Ag

Enterprises. For the past forty-four years he has provided labor services with a safe and secure environment for his employees. During periods of water shortages, he has searched for other opportunities to place his workers to ensure that they are able to work and are able to provide for their families. Mr. Hall holds licenses that allow him to provide farm labor in twenty-nine countries. His business provides services to more than three hundred thousand acres and employs nearly thirty thousand people through out the state of California.

Beyond his generosity to his employees, Mr. Hall is dedicated to his community as well. He has provided financial assistance to various causes including health care, charitable organizations and child services. Mr. Hall is part of the Farm Labor Contractors Alliance, the California Association of Agricultural Labor and an active member of Ag SAFE. He is currently serving as the Chairman for the Fresno County Farm Bureau Labor Committee and the Rural Health and Safety Committee. In 2003, Mr. Hall was awarded the ``Central California Excellence in Business Award'' by The Fresno Bee.

As a young man, Mr. Hall was turned pro in the rodeo circuit; he is a lifetime member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy's Association and is a ``gold card'' holder which allows him to compete in the over-fifty age group. He is involved in rodeo events by assisting and providing advice and sponsorship to youth preparing for rodeo events.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend and congratulate Earl Hall upon being awarded with the ``Community Health Champions Award.'' I invite my colleagues to join me in wishing Mr. Hall many years of continued success.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Don Laub and for his dedication to his family, community, and agriculture. Mr. Laub passed away on Tuesday, October 20, 2009, from injuries suffered in a farm accident, at the age of 76. A memorial service was held for him on Monday, October 26, 2009.

Mr. Don Laub was born on July 22, 1933, in Fresno, California, to a farming family. As a young man he founded Laub Ranches and J & L Vineyards in Easton. The family-run businesses produce top-quality table grapes, raisins, and wine grapes. He was a leader in the agricultural community and was passionate about preserving the family farm and agricultural education for students.

Mr. Laub served as the Fresno County Farm Bureau president from 1986 until 1988. He also served on the California Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors and served on several advisory committees for both the state and national Farm Bureau organizations. Outside of agriculture and farming, Mr. Laub was dedicated to giving back to the community. He was heavily involved with the Fresno County Affordable Housing Task Force and the Fresno County Public Schools Foundation.

For his efforts, Mr. Laub was named the Greater Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce Agriculturist of the Year in 1994 and was honored with the Distinguished Service Award from the California Farm Bureau Federation in 1996 for his years of working on labor, water, and public utility issues.

Mr. Laub is survived by his wife, Clara; daughters, Debbie and son-in law Ray Jacobsen, Diane Tavares and Donna Laub; son, David Laub; grandchildren, Ryan Jacobsen and his wife Ashley, Megan Jacobsen, Brandon Jacobsen, Jason Allred and his wife Beth, Jared Allred and Dustin Laub; and three great-grandchildren.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to posthumously honor Don Laub. I invite my colleagues to join me in honoring his life and wishing the best for his family.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Ken Diehl for his tremendous contributions to promoting housing and development in the Central Valley. Mr. Diehl is being honored at The Greater Yosemite Council Boy Scouts of America's annual distinguished citizens dinner on October 28, 2009 in Modesto, California.

Ken Diehl was born and raised in Beaver, Iowa. He attended Iowa Wesleyan College, where he excelled in athletics, lettering in basketball and baseball. He was also involved with the Blue Key (an honorary fraternity) the letter club and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. During college, he served in the United States Army and served overseas with the 100th Infantry Division. He spent over a year in combat, where he commanded a light machine gun section. For his efforts and achievements he was awarded the Bronze Star.

After World War II ended, Mr. Diehl made his way to California and settled in Patterson. He married Dorothy Sutherland and they had three children. Although he spent a great amount of time with his family, he was also very involved with professional and community organizations. Mr. Diehl served as the president of The Life Underwriter Association of Central California, chairman of the Heart Association for the Life Underwriters, member of the board of director of Toastmaster International. His mid-life career change to real estate offered him new opportunities to get involved. In his new position, Mr. Diehl was a developer and a builder for his own account; quickly realizing that a real estate investor was more profitable than a real estate agent. With the knowledge he acquired in the profession, he wrote a book, ``Affordable Housing''.

Mr. Diehl created The Diehl Company; over the years the company bought and sold hundreds of properties, built apartments, strip centers and several sub-divisions. He became very involved with the local Board of Realtors, chaired many committees and served as board president. He was a regional vice president for California Association of Realtors, CAR, where he represented seven local boards. He chaired various committees for CAR including; the Legislative Committee, the Board Presidents Committee, the Policy Committee, and the Regional Vice Presidents Committee. For his service, Mr. Diehl was awarded the Director for Life designation, a prestigious award that is given to only three realtors out of one hundred and fifty thousand.

He also served as the director of the million member National Association of Realtors, representing California for 6 years. He was a chairman of the Federally Assisted Code Enforcement program. With this program he and a group of others were able to save hundreds of homes that were on the verge of being deemed uninhabitable, and made them livable in the City of Modesto and the surrounding areas. Mr. Diehl spent many years as a director of the Community Housing Shelter Service. His primary focus while in the real estate industry was permanent housing for low to moderate income families.

Mr. Diehl is a 58 year member of the Elks Club number 1282 in Modesto. He chaired the United Way for Modesto, served as the director of the California Apartment Association, president of the Apartment Association of Central California and chaired many committees of the Sportsman of Stanislaus. Mr. Diehl served a 3 year term as president of the Yosemite Council of Boy Scouts.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Ken Diehl for the impact that he has made on the real estate industry in the Central Valley and the State of California. I invite my colleagues to join me in wishing him continued success.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Calvin Bright for his tremendous contributions to promoting housing and development in the Central Valley. Mr. Bright is being honored at the Greater Yosemite Council Boy Scouts of America's Annual Distinguished Citizens Dinner on October 28, 2009, in Modesto, California.

Calvin Bright was born on September 17, 1920, in Beggs, Oklahoma, to Ed and Cora Bright. He was raised on the family farm with his three siblings and a cousin. He spent his childhood in school or working on his family's farm where they raised farm animals, grew row crops, and farmed a large family garden. He graduated from Beggs High School having lettered in football and participated in the 4H Club. He joined the National Guard when he was 14, but due to a hip injury, he was unable to go overseas and fight in the war. Instead, Mr. Bright attended Oklahoma A&M and graduated with a degree in horticulture.

In 1940, Mr. Bright married his high school sweetheart, Marjorie Hensley. They attended Oklahoma A&M together and moved to California in 1942. Upon arriving in California, Mr. Bright built and managed a five- unit apartment complex in Hayward. This was his first California building project. In 1956 Mr. and Mrs. Bright founded Bright Foods in Turlock, which manufactured pre-prepared frozen foods, such as pies and TV dinners. Bright Foods was the first pre-prepared food processing plant of its type west of the Rockies. Bright Foods operated 24 hours a day and employed approximately 400 full-time employees.

Mr. Bright established Western Fruit Packers in Brigham City, Utah, in 1959. The company was a cherry packing plant and provided fruit for his cherry pies manufactured in Turlock, California. The following year he founded C.S.C. Refrigeration, a company that froze and stored the product, and Mistletoe Express, a trucking company that delivered the finished frozen product to 11 western States. In 1966, Bright Foods and FM Stamper Company merged to create a national distribution system. The new company was named Banquet Foods and was sold to RCA in 1969. When Banquet Foods sold, Mr. Bright left the food processing industry and entered the housing industry, full time.

In 1968, Mr. Bright founded B&H Manufacturing, an international company that designs and manufactures high-speed, roll-fed labeling machines that place labels on containers for major companies, such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Clorox, and other household products. In 1971, he incorporated Bright Development in Modesto and began to build single family homes, townhomes, and apartment projects throughout the Central Valley. Bright Development has also been active in the construction of commercial office buildings. Woodside Management Group was also established in 1971 by Mr. Bright to professionally manage the apartment projects built by Bright Development. Mr. Bright has been named ``Builder of the Year'' by the Building Association of Central California, twice. He has been a member of the Building Industry Association of Central

California since 1979 and he served over 20 years on the board of directors and is a past president. In 1994 he was honored by the California Building Industry Foundation for his contributions to the professionalism of the industry and has been inducted into the California Building Industry Hall of Fame.

Mr. and Mrs. Bright established the Bright Family Foundation in 1987 for the purpose of making a contribution to the health and well-being of youth and families in the Central Valley. Over the years the foundation has provided grants to sponsor the Nature Series on KVIE, medical internships at the University of California Medical Center, Hospice, the Children's Crisis Center, and scholarships for students from local high schools to attend Modesto Junior College, University of California, Merced, and California State University, Stanislaus.

Mr. Bright has been associated with the Yosemite Area Council of Boy Scouts for over 20 years. He has served on the board of directors and has been honored with the Silver Beaver Award in 1994. He was also honored by the Boy Scouts of America in 2004.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Calvin Bright for the impact that he has made on the building industry in the Central Valley and the State of California. I invite my colleagues to join me in wishing him continued success.

Madam Speaker, I am joined today with Congressmen Jim Costa and Devin Nunes to honor the life of Larry Shehadey for his dedication to his family, business and community. Mr. Shehadey passed away on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at the age of one hundred and two. The life of Mr. Shehadey will be honored on Thursday, October 15, 2009 in Fresno, California.

Larry Shehadey was born on July 2, 1907 to Lebanese immigrants Salem and Sadie. He was raised in the foothills of Northern California. He never missed a day of school, although he did walk or ride his horse five miles one-way to get to school. His family moved to San Francisco, where he graduated from Polytechnic High and excelled in athletics. Upon graduating from high school, he became a salesman in San Francisco and married Elayne.

In 1951, Mr. Shehadey bought a controlling interest in Producer's Dairy and moved his family to Fresno, California. When he became involved with Producer's, the company was one of over seventy dairies in the Fresno area; however, through creative marketing Producer's became the top dairy in just three years. He was innovative and always looking for a better way to do things. He developed his own vertical integration system to make production more efficient. He also started his own herd and added acreage to grow alfalfa to feed his herd. His two sons, John and Richard, became part of the family business.

Growing up during the depression, his goal was always to provide well for his family and to leave a legacy for them. He was also very involved in our community. Mr. Shehadey was generous in giving and donated to Fresno hospitals, Fresno City College and possibly his largest contribution was to California State University, Fresno. He donated to CSU Fresno through his support of the Craig School of Business, the Jordan College of Agricultural Science and Technology and the athletics department. He was honored by CSU Fresno when they named a clock tower after him.

After sixty-three years of marriage, Mrs. Shehadey passed away. Mr. Shehadey is survived by his two sons, John and his wife Mary, and Richard and his wife Sue; eight grandchildren, eighteen great grandchildren and two nephews.

Madam Speaker, we rise today to posthumously honor Larry Shehadey. I invite my colleagues to join me in honoring his life and wishing the best for his family.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Junior League of Fresno upon 50 years of community service to Fresno County. The Junior League of Fresno will celebrate their 50th anniversary on Saturday, October 10, 2009, in Fresno, California.

In 1948, the Service League of Fresno was established and in 1959 it was accepted into the Association of Junior Leagues International, Incorporated, and became the Junior League of Fresno. The organization was created as a way for women to promote volunteerism, develop the potential of women and to improve the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.

Each year the Junior League of Fresno with hundreds of active and sustaining members, contributes over 20,000 hours of volunteer service toward community efforts. Over the years the league has successfully met the needs of many in the community. The league members research, develop, manage and support projects with community partners in the Fresno region where current needs are unmet and existing resources are minimal. Trained volunteers are matched with specific community needs, which has led to successful partnerships with many organizations such as Break the Barriers, Children's Hospital Central California, the Discovery Center, Firefighters Creating Memories, Fresno Art Museum, Marjoree Mason Center, and the Sanctuary Youth Center.

By educating, training and creating a hands-on experience for the volunteers, the Junior League of Fresno has contributed over 1 million hours of service in the community and has raised over $3 million for community projects for children, health care issues, social services, education, women's issues, and cultural arts.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Junior League of Fresno for 50 years of service to the Fresno community. I encourage my colleagues to join me in wishing the league many years of continued success.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend and congratulate Break the Barriers upon celebrating its 25th anniversary. The organization's anniversary will be celebrated on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, in Fresno, CA.

Ken and Carnie Mullen, Ice Capades performers, had two daughters, Deby and Kathy. Deby was a phenomenal athlete, and at the age of ten began taking gymnastics at the Fresno Gymnastics Club. By the time Deby was sixteen, she had become a regional, state and national gymnastics champion. Kathy also excelled in gymnastics. Although she was born with Down Syndrome, she was able to emulate Deby and competed in the Special Olympics. Deby was beginning to look toward international competition when her gymnastics dreams were cut short by a devastating ankle injury. The injury did not stop her love for the sport. Inspired by her sister Kathy, Deby recognized her calling and began to coach adults who had different physical, neurological and mental abilities.

Deby married Steve Hergenrader, a former New York Yankees baseball player. The couple worked on Steve's grandfather's 20-acre grape vineyard and started a club called, The Tri-City Olympiads. Eventually, they created the Fresno District Special Olympics Gymnastics Program.

Deby and Steve moved away from the family vineyard and found a house that was large enough to house a dance studio inside and gymnastics equipment in the back yard, including old bed mattresses, a trampoline, balance beam, and a vaulting horse with a spring board. This new enterprise was Gymnastics by Deby.

After many years of working with people with various abilities, Deby began to recognize that the barriers that separate one person's ability from another is the lack of opportunity to do anything in common together. Through Deby and Steve's integrated sports and performing arts classes, the students found common ground. The students began learning from one another and all of the students were successful. Without any advertising, the combined classes grew to include 200 children from the age of 3 through adult. A survey conducted of local dance studios, gyms, self-defense classes and baton twirling studios determined that there were no successful programs that integrated students of various abilities. With this knowledge, student's parents helped to form a board of directors and Break the Barriers was created. The organization was officially incorporated as a nonprofit in October 1985, with the mission to ``Break all barriers experienced by people with different abilities.''

In 1987 the performing group, the Barrier Breakers, was established. The team is a combination of performers, each with amazing abilities, and range in age from 6 to adult. There are currently 58 performers on the team and they perform around the world. There are over 3,000 students that participate in the programs including aquatics, dance, gymnastics, martial arts and sign language. Break the Barriers also provides a buddy program, day camps and health and fitness classes. The programs are made up of students from eight different school districts.

Today at Break the Barriers Steve and Deby, along with their children Jared and Tyler, continue to be dedicated to their original purpose; to break down barriers through a common purpose.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend and congratulate Break the Barriers on 25 years of breaking all barriers and allowing people with different abilities to perform together. I invite my colleagues to join me in wishing Break the Barriers many years of continued success.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Phillip Malik. Mr. Malik passed away on October 8, 2009, at the age of 94. His life was remembered by friends and family on Tuesday, October 13, 2009.

Phillip Malik was born January 1, 1915, in a region of Iran known as Urmia, in the small village of Gengachi. His father was a leader in the village, which was being pursued by marauders with intentions of persecuting all villagers based on their Christian beliefs. They would eventually end their journey in Habbaniya near Baghdad, Iraq. As a young man he survived the Assyrian Genocide and was a manager of the British Officers Club in Baghdad. Mr. Malik set his eyes on the United States, and in 1953 he settled in Chicago, Illinois. Five months later his wife, Maria, and their five children joined him in the United States. They did not like the cold of Chicago, and with a short visit to San Francisco, California, they decided to head west.

When he first moved to California's Central Valley, Mr. Malik worked as a janitor. In 1954, Mr. Malik purchased a 20-acre almond ranch in Keyes, California and later moved to a 40-acre almond and walnut ranch in Ceres. In the late 1950's he began a job selling Airstream trailers. Many years later he started his own mobile-home dealership and eventually branched out into real-estate development and farming. Today, several projects in the greater Modesto area are due to Mr. Malik's work.

Mr. Malik worked 7 days a week; never wanting to rely on others to take care of his family. He believed in helping others, and sponsored 67 extended family members, and assisted about 400 people in immigrating to the United States.

Mr. Malik was preceded in death by two children; Gina Marie and Don, as well as his wife of 65 years, Maria. He is survived by two daughters, Diane Pedota and Linda Glynn; three sons, Ron Malik, Bob Malik and Philip Malik Jr.; eight grandchildren and seven great- grandchildren.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to posthumously honor Phillip Malik. I invite my colleagues to join me in honoring his life and wishing the best for his family.

Mr. Speaker, we are standing on the precipice of a major shift in this country's history. In less than a year, the Obama administration, working with the Pelosi Congress, has recklessly spent taxpayer funds to expand government to a level never before seen in history.

The government is now more involved in our lives than I think any of us could have imagined. The result has been double-digit unemployment for the first time since the early 1980s. And now we are going to vote on whether the government should take over the Nation's health care system at a cost of $1.3 trillion and up to 5.5 million jobs.

Despite all this, the leadership of this Congress has chosen to ignore the will of the people and say, America, you are wrong. We know what's best for you.

Well, this bill is not what the American people want, and it certainly is not what the doctor ordered for health care improvement.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend and congratulate Robert Wample upon his retirement as the director of the Viticulture and Enology Research Center and the chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology at California State University, Fresno. Dr. Wample was honored on September 19, 2009 at a fundraising event for the Robert L. Wample Viticulture and Enology Endowment Fund in support of the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.

Dr. Wample served in the United States Marine Corps from 1962 until 1966. Upon separating from the military, he began his college education. In 1971, he graduated cum laude from the University of Idaho with a Bachelors of Science degree in Botany. While attending college he worked as a Research Technician for the United States Department of Agriculture at the Forest Service research center in Idaho. Dr. Wample continued his education at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where he earned his Ph.D. in Plant Physiology. His teaching career began while in Calgary; while completing his Ph.D. he was a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University.

After earning his Ph.D., Dr. Wample served as a Postgraduate Scholar for the National Research Council of Canada. In 1976, he moved to southern California to take an Associate Professor of Botany position with California State University, Fullerton. After two years, he moved to Washington State University where he was an Associate Professor of Horticulture and Assistant Horticulturist for nine years. In 1993, he became a Professor, Horticulturist and Viticulturist for the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Washington State University. In 2000, Dr. Wample found his way to California State University, Fresno. Over the past nine years, he has served as the Julio Gallo Chair and Director of the Viticulture and Enology Research Center, as well as the Chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology.

Prior to Dr. Wample joining CSU Fresno, the viticulture and enology had been operating independently of each other for fifty years. Under his leadership, the two programs were merged together to become the first California State University to combine the two research and academic programs. The merge has had great success, including the recognition of CSU Fresno as a global agricultural education prominence. Further, during Dr. Wample's tenure, the program has raised well over five hundred thousand dollars in industry funding for the research programs.

Dr. Wample has served on a number of committees for the departments and colleges he has worked in. He has served on the Washington State Animal Damage Control Advisory Board, the Washington Agriculture and Forestry Leadership Selection Committee, the W-130/WRCC-17, organizing committee for the International Symposium on Nitrogen in Grapes and Wine, the National Grapevine Importation Program and he served as the co-chairman of the committee for the International Symposium on Wine Grape Irrigation. He is also involved with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Plant Physiology, American Society of Horticulture Science, American Society of Enology and Viticulture and the Northwest Chapter of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture. Dr. Wample's civic and community membership includes Rotary International, Prosser Wine and Food Fair Committee, Advisor to the Prosser Economic Development Association and United Good Neighbors.

Dr. Wample has been involved with, and led numerous research projects, including research on specific physiological responses of a plant and agricultural advancements in machinery and irrigation. He has spoken at many seminars and given many presentations. Dr. Wample is published in well over two hundred journals, books, magazines, reports, abstracts, papers and publications.

For his activities, inside the university and the community, Dr. Wample has been widely honored. He has been honored by the American Society of Enology and Viticulture, the International Symposium of Nitrogen in Grapes and Wine, the Second International Symposium on Climate Viticulture, International Conference on Crop Productivity and the National Research Council of Canada.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend and congratulate Dr. Robert Wample upon his retirement from California State University, Fresno. I invite my colleagues to join me in wishing Dr. Wample many years of continued success.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Oakdale Irrigation District upon celebrating its 100th anniversary.

In 1853 miners built a small diversion dam off of the Stanislaus River, upstream from Knight's Ferry, and began digging a canal along the right bank of the river to their gravel

works in Knight's Ferry. In the late 1850s, David Locke built a flour mill at Knight's Ferry. The mill was destroyed by a flood in 1862, but was rebuilt by David Tulloch in 1866. Charles Tulloch, David's son, assumed management of the mill and purchased the miner's canal and water rights so he could extend the canal and sell the water to irrigate six thousand acres near Oakdale and Valley Home.

In 1887, the Wright Irrigation Act was approved by the California State Legislature and signed into law, giving water districts eminent domain rights, authority to issue bonds and to tax properties for the construction, maintenance and operations of irrigation works. In 1890, the Oakdale Irrigation Company began to work on an eleven mile long canal near Knight's Ferry. A few years later the Stanislaus Power and Water Company, headed by Mr. Tulloch, took over the irrigation company works. In 1909, Oakdale citizens held a town hall meeting to demand their own irrigation system; the land was surveyed and the district boundaries were established. With this completed, the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors authorized an election in Oakdale; the people voted 849 to 27 to create the Oakdale Irrigation District. On November 1, 1909, the Oakdale Irrigation District, OID, was formally established.

In 1910, the OID partnered with the South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) to jointly purchase the ``Tulloch System'' for six hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The two districts agreed on equal water rights, totaling over nine hundred second-feet of natural flow diversion. Since 1912, the OID and the SSJID have jointly constructed five dams on the Stanislaus River. The first was Goodwin Dam constructed at a cost of $325,000.

The Melones Dam was completed in 1926, providing 112,500 acre-feet of water storage. Completed in 1957, the Tri-Dam project, including the Donnells, Beardsley and Tulloch Dams, added 230,400 acre-feet of storage capacity to the watershed and a combined power generation capacity of eighty-one thousand kilowatts. Along with these storage facilities the OID built approximately three hundred and fifty miles of canals and laterals to supply water to users throughout the district. Completed in 1984, the Sand Bar Hydroelectric powerhouse added over sixteen thousand kilowatts of power for the district.

In 2004, the OID launched a major Water Resource Plan to study means to repair, rebuild, and modernize the old and outdated system. The plan's overall goal was to protect the OID's water rights while enhancing the system and improving services. The Plan has led to major rehabilitation efforts that continue today.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend and congratulate the Oakdale Irrigation District on 100 years of development and service within its region. I invite my colleagues to join me in wishing the Oakdale Irrigation District many years of continued success.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Phillip Short for his dedication to his family and community. Mr. Short passed away on Sunday, September 27, 2009 at Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, California. Mr. Short was seventy-three years old.

Phillip Short was born and raised in Hughson, California and graduated from Hughson High School. He attended the University of California, Berkley where he played football and majored in engineering. After college, he returned to Hughson and began growing walnuts and almonds along the Tuolumne River for over fifty years.

Mr. Short began his political activity within his community in 1967, when he joined the Hughson Elementary School Board. He served on the board for ten years. In August, 1977 Mr. Short was appointed to the Turlock Irrigation District Board of Directors. He was elected to serve on the TID board for eight consecutive four-year terms; serving over thirty-two years. During his tenure he dealt with droughts, floods, environmental rules and the expansion of the TID electricity system between south Modesto and northern Merced County. His position with TID allowed him to oversee recreation at Don Pedro Reservoir on the Tuolumne River. Over the years, Mr. Short was also a member of the California Walnut Commission and the Federal Walnut Control Board. He served as a chairman of the export and research committees of the California Walnut Marketing Board and served as president of the Association of California Water Agencies from 1993 to 1995. In addition, Mr. Short served our nation as a United States Marine Corp reservist.

Mr. Short is survived by his wife, Kay, and five children.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to posthumously honor Phillip Short. I invite my colleagues to join me in honoring Mr. Short's life and wishing the best for his family.

I realize that my friends in the majority like to trumpet the support of the drinking water title of the bill by the American Municipal Water Association, yet I want to provide my colleagues with the rest of the story.

The AMWA is just a sliver of the regulated universe covered by this bill. There are three other groups that are much larger in terms of the number of facilities and people served.

While the AMWA members claim to serve 125 million Americans, the American Water Works Association serves 180 million customers and 4,700 utilities. The National Association of Water Companies, or the NAWC, represents 22 million customers, and the National Rural Water Association represents 25,000 utilities. None of these associations has proclaimed their support for this entire bill.

In my own State, the town of Modesto, and the Modesto Irrigation District, an AWWA member contacted me to express its concerns about the citizen suit provisions and the weak information protection and penalty provisions in this bill. They were also very concerned about the expense of the mandates that would be placed on them by this legislation.

I want to remind my colleagues that drinking water treatment can be complex and is closely constrained by Safe Water Drinking Act regulations, production demands and customer affordability. Evaluating changes to water treatment must be thoughtful, must be technically transparent and fully consider all the alternatives available to the water system, as set out by the system operators and local officials, not some bureaucrat who is unsure what they are doing.

I would have hoped that a problem-solving rather than politically motivated bill would be before us to address this matter. Because there isn't, I urge defeat of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial on the Speaker's health care bill entitled ``The Worst Bill Ever,'' an understatement, to say the least.

To quote The Wall Street Journal: ``Mrs. Pelosi's handiwork ranks with

the Smoot-Hawley tariff and FDR's National Industrial Recovery Act as among the worst bills Congress has ever seriously contemplated.'' Let's make no mistake, the Democrats' government takeover of the health care industry is an attempt to finish what FDR and the Progressives could not, a cradle-to-grave omnipotent government. It will extend the recession just as surely as FDR's programs prolonged the Great Depression.

The middle class and small businesses will bear the brunt of government's takeover of 16 percent of our economy to the tune of almost $730 billion in new taxes and an additional $1.2 trillion in new spending. One thing is for sure, Mr. Speaker, America is getting sick, sick of this Congress' government-knows-best attitude.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and honor both Kristine Walter and Darren Rose for their past and present role in Leadership Fresno. Kristine Walter is the current chairman of this worthy, community-building organization, and Darren Rose was elected the incoming chairman beginning in July 2010.

The Leadership Fresno Steering Committee is comprised of alumni from previous Leadership Fresno classes. Kristine was president of Class 21, and Darren, District Director for California's 19th Congressional District, is in Class 23. Leadership Fresno has provided a place for community leaders to learn more about Fresno, network with other community-focused and concerned citizens, and offered innovative ways to work together to improve and change the greater Fresno area for the better.

The vision and leadership provided by this noteworthy organization is influential and effective in building communities in Fresno. Each year, Leadership Fresno coordinates a two-day retreat in August and continues building into the leadership class all year through the completion of the program the following June. The program includes seminars and projects, all leading to the improvement of community problems and concerns.

I am proud of the work done in the Fresno area by Kristine Walter in her capacity as chairman of the Leadership Fresno steering committee, and I am excited to see the work that Darren Rose will implement in the coming year. Please join me in congratulating both of these exemplary community leaders.