Floor Statements

Mr. Chair, this is an issue that is, I think, one of most important long-term issues that we deal with not only in California and Western States but, really, in the world, because the fact is that water is a crucial element of the sustainability of all of us, and it always has been.

With the planet clicking 7 billion people a couple of years ago, soon to be 9 billion people by the middle of this century, with climate change clearly impacting our ability to manage our water supplies, we must look at the

long-term needs of using all the water tools in our water toolbox. And this is one effort to, in fact, look at how we can provide additional storage capacity not only in California, but elsewhere, so that when we have these periodic times--and we measure water on 10-year averages.

We have had near-record rainfall and snow in the snow-packed mountains of California, which we were blessed with the last 4 months. And after five of the most extremely dry periods of time, to have this rain and snow is wonderful.

But we know that you have got to plan for the future. And so in cases like California where it is either feast or famine, having an additional water reservoir supply is one of the important water management tools in our water toolbox, along with conservation, along with better irrigation technologies which we are implementing, along with conservation of all sorts of kinds, desalinization. All of these matter, as does storage.

This year, millions and millions of acre-feet of water have gone unused because of the lack of storage. This measure will help, but there are other things that we have to do to fix the broken water system in California, in the West, and, really, we can be a template if we better manage our water resources for the entire planet in the light of climate change.

I ask that we support this legislation. It is helpful, and we must do much more.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Marin for yielding me 2 minutes.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to support this amendment offered by my colleague, Congressman LaMalfa. As I said earlier, we need to fix the broken water system in California because reliability is key.

We have a water system that was designed for 20 million people. Today, we have 40 million people living in California. By the year 2030, we are going to have 50 million people living in California.

The simple truth is that in the San Joaquin Valley, where I live, which has been ground zero for the impact of an unreliable water supply because of this broken system, we have felt the devastation of the drought. This lack of reliability is due to many factors that have intensified as a result of climate change, impact on regulations, and other factors.

Luckily this year, as I noted earlier, it has been a deluge of rain and snow, and for that we are thankful. But we know in California that it is either feast or famine, and so, sadly, we must plan for the future, and that means including surface storage and using subsurface replenishment of our ground water and all the other water tools that are part of this water toolbox that is critical for the long term.

We need more storage. We need the underlying legislation that this provides. While not completely fixing or resolving our challenges, it is a small step, and, as was noted before, this does not amend NEPA or CEQA, but it simply provides a timeline, and a timeline is a good thing.

This collaboration that this legislation envisions is not too different from the collaboration that the Governor is working with the Department of the Interior on, the proposal to fix the plumbing system in the delta. They have a record of decision that has a timeline.

So if surface storage water is going to receive funding and support under the WIIN Act that we passed in December, matching State funds, along with this effort to provide the timeline, will be helpful.

Let me finally say that sustainability of our agricultural economy, sustainability of putting food and fiber on America's dinner table every night, and helping feed other parts of the world is really what we are talking about here. Reliability is key to making sure that we are sustainable under the adverse impacts of a lack of a fixed water system. We need to address this.

This legislation is a small step in providing timelines for certainty for this collaboration for this process to work better. I urge support of this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Arizona for yielding me time.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to commend my colleagues for this commonsense legislation. As a result of drought and the bark beetle, there are an estimated over 107 million dead trees in over 33 million acres of forests in California, and it is also throughout the West. Part of this is due to climate change, which is one of the most vexing challenges of our time.

This unprecedented tree mortality has created serious fire risk of wildfires throughout the West. Today, in California, in the Central Valley, we have record temperatures of 109 degrees and 112 degrees. Obviously, that adds to the concern.

One thing that can be done, though, to prevent wildfires is to manage and control the amount of vegetation, particularly in areas where we have increased fire risk. We just, bottom line, have to manage our forests a lot better than we are. We are putting way too much of our budget for managing our forests to putting out fires, and that must change.

But an example of a location with higher fire risk is a utility corridor with exposed electrical lines that we have throughout the West in forested areas.

In 2015, the Butte fire in northern California, which was the seventh most destructive in California's history, was sparked by a tree that came into contact with a power line. This is easily prevented by removing those trees that could damage lines, reducing fire risk and the cost of repairs to the utility ratepayers, plus the people in the surrounding area, which these fires are devastating, and sometimes lives are lost as well as property.

H.R. 1873, the Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act, if enacted, would create a process to expedite routine maintenance of vegetation along electric utilities in and near utility corridors and would help prevent future tragedies like the 2015 Butte fire in northern California that was devastating, once again.

The bottom line is that we must do more, and we can. I concur that we should utilize the Stafford Act for forest fires, and that would free up more money to manage the forests. But that is a separate piece of legislation that, hopefully, we will get a chance to act on.

This is a separate piece, and I urge support of this commonsense legislation, for my colleagues to do the same, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and achievements of Mrs. Ida Johnson. Mrs. Johnson dedicated her career to serving her community, both in education and as an advocate for low income youth and families in Merced County. Mrs. Johnson was passionate about the pursuit of equality, driven by her love and compassion for others, and committed to creating opportunities for students and teachers in Merced County.

Mrs. Johnson was born in Nashville, Tennessee. She attended the University of San Francisco, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Human Relations and Organizational Behavior in 1984. Mrs. Johnson then continued her education at Chapman University, where she received a Master's degree in Educational Systems Management in 1988. She worked on gender equity as Director and Coordinator for the California Department of Education for almost 12 years, and also worked for 33 years for the Merced County Schools in various capacities, including teaching computing and business classes.

Beyond her professional career, Mrs. Johnson was elected to the Merced Union High School Governing Board in 2005, where she served 8 years as a Trustee. Additionally, Mrs. Johnson was involved with numerous community and educational organizations, including the Boys and Girls Club, League of Women Voters, and the 4-H Club. She also worked with the Merced Equals Program, where she spent countless hours providing teachers, parents, and students with the tools necessary to improve math skills within the county, and she secured a significant amount of grant money.

With Mrs. Johnson's passing, the Merced community mourns her loss but also rejoices in her lasting impact and legacy. The lives Mrs. Johnson touched with her career in education and devotion to her community will not be forgotten. Her spirit will live on in the hearts of her family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in recognizing the life and achievements of Mrs. Ida Johnson. Mrs. Johnson's achievements cannot be measured through grants or educational programs, but in the lives she touched. Mrs. Johnson's trajectory as an educator has given students and teachers in Merced County a role model to admire and emulate as they move towards the future.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the achievements of Ms. Danielle Bermudez. Ms. Bermudez has been chosen as a Fulbright scholar, the first to ever be chosen from the University of California, Merced. Her accomplishment brings great pride to the Merced community and to all who have witnessed her hard work.

The idea behind the Fulbright Program began in 1945, when Senator J. William Fulbright introduced a bill to the United States Congress calling for the use of surplus war property in order to fund the 'promotion of international good will through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture, and science.' President Harry S. Truman signed that bill into law in 1946 and Congress created the Fulbright Program. This international educational exchange program has fostered bilateral relationships, allowing both citizens and governments of other countries to work together with the United States and set joint priorities to shape the program's shared needs. Since the beginning of the program, there have been more than 360,000 Fulbright participants from the United States and other countries and Fulbright alumni from 14 countries have been awarded 57 Nobel prizes, 82 Pulitzer prizes, and 37 alumni have become heads of state or government.

The Fulbright program currently awards approximately 1,900 United States student grants annually in all fields of study. In March of 2017, Ms. Bermudez was selected as a Fulbright scholarship recipient. Ms. Bermudez is a fourth year doctoral student in the Interdisciplinary Humanities at the University of California, Merced. She was nominated for Outstanding Student Leadership in 2015, 2016, and 2017. She has also demonstrated an exceptional academic and professional record, outstanding personal qualifications, and language preparation among many other qualifications to receive this award. Additionally, she served as an intern for California Assemblymember Adam Gray in 2014. Ms. Bermudez shows her dedication and hard work as the first student from the University of California, Merced to ever receive a Fulbright scholarship.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in recognizing the achievements of Ms. Danielle Bermudez for receiving this prestigious award. I know she will continue to encourage the Fulbright program's goals of promoting mutual understanding among nations through her engagement in her host community and look forward to hear what else she will accomplish next.

Mr. Speaker, 70 years ago this week, Secretary of State George Marshall proposed an ambitious plan to rebuild Europe following the devastation of World War II.

Out of the Marshall Plan's transatlantic spirit of shared interests and economic cooperation, stronger military integration arose in the form of NATO. NATO, alongside the European Union, have formed the pillars of a safe, secure, and strong Europe while promoting the U.S. security and economic interests, our interests.

We must be firm in our commitment to article 5 of the NATO treaty. If America's commitment to the alliance is doubted, either by other NATO countries or adversaries of NATO, the peace secured by the United States and its allies will be threatened, make no mistake about it.

This is the longest peacetime period in Europe in over 1,000 years, which is really remarkable, and we should not take it for granted. It is our responsibility in Congress and in the White House to ensure that global order secured by NATO is strengthened, not damaged.

So it is important that we recognize this 70th anniversary of the Marshall Plan.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present for rollcall votes taken on the House floor on June 8, 2017 as I had to return to California for medical reasons. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall Vote No. 295, ``no'' on rollcall Vote No. 296, ``no'' on rollcall Vote No. 297, ``no'' on rollcall vote No. 298, ``no'' on rollcall Vote No. 299.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the foundation of healthy living and healthy communities: our food, which comes from our farms.

This month is both National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month and National Dairy Month. Although we should bring attention to the importance of eating these nutrient-rich foods, dairy and fresh fruits and vegetables play a much larger role, as we know, in the health of our communities and our country, and they do so not just by providing us food.

In California, we know that dairy products and fresh fruits and vegetables are an integral part of our healthy community and a strong economy. Our farmers also provide economic development in other sectors as businesses are created and expand, investments are made, and innovations arise to support the needs of these farmers and farm communities.

But the economic contributions of California agriculture--American agriculture--do not end at our borders. In California, we produce half of the Nation's fruits and vegetables, and we are the top milk producing State in the Nation. The men and women who own and work on these farms provide both nutritious food for our families and create thousands of jobs across the country.

We know we must make sure that our farmers have the tools to do so, but our farmers need a reliable source of water, a legal and stable workforce, and access to export markets, in other words, fair trade agreements.

We must also ensure that American agriculture is sustainable. We must continue to ensure that it is sustainable for our well-being and the well-being of future generations to come because the bottom line is food does not come from a grocery store. Food comes from our farmers and the land that they farm.

Our food supply is a national security issue, but it never really gets looked at in that light. So by investing in critical programs and infrastructure projects--by ensuring that our farmers have the water, the workforce, and the access to foreign markets--we are not only investing in our farms, but we are investing in the long-term health and security of our Nation.

What is more, people don't realize it, but less than 3 percent of our Nation's population is directly involved in the

production of food and fiber. This is part of the amazing development of American agriculture. So equally crucial for the sustainability of American agriculture are our export markets and our trade agreements. That means improving NAFTA, continuing to engage with our European allies, and not turning our back on Asia.

In fiscal year 2016, the United States exported $129 billion worth of agricultural products. We not only feed our Nation every night, but we grow more than enough to export abroad. We must maintain good relations with our top trade partners and continue to lower trade barriers to existing and new foreign markets.

So let's not just focus on healthy eating during National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month and National Dairy Month; let's take the opportunity to discuss how we will work together to ensure that our farmers, ranchers, and dairymen and -women can continue to contribute not only to America's dinner tables, but to our communities and to our economy. The health and security of our Nation depends on it.

Congratulating Ananya Vinay

Mr. Speaker, let me also give a shout-out to Ananya Vinay, the 2017 National Spelling Bee champion, from Fresno, California. We are all proud of her accomplishments. Obviously, this young lady has a great future ahead of her.

Congratulations, once again, on becoming the 2017 National Spelling Bee champion.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the career of Mrs. Mary Henderson. Mrs. Henderson has devoted 50 years of outstanding service to the Dos Palos-Oro Loma Joint Unified School District. During these years, she has been a truly brilliant educator, serving her community and teaching generations of children in the Central Valley.

Mrs. Henderson has selflessly devoted her entire professional career to public education. She began her career in 1967, serving as a paraeducator for eight years before becoming a teacher in 1975. Mrs. Henderson has been educating, impacting, and improving the lives of hundreds of children for five decades, demonstrating a remarkable dedication to education. In addition to teaching our children, Mrs. Henderson is deeply committed to improving literacy in our community. She has spent countless hours working with adults as well as children, teaching them how to read.

Mrs. Henderson has been described by those who know her as an exceptional, skilled, and caring teacher. She provides her students with both endless patience and rich knowledge, and she always has kind words of encouragement. Mrs. Henderson is fondly remembered by generations of grateful students whose lives she has touched. Beyond her service as an educator, she is also an active member of Friends of the Library, supporting libraries in Merced County by volunteering at libraries and working on book donation programs and fundraising events.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in honoring Mrs. Mary Henderson for the 50 years of extraordinary and dedicated service. Through her teaching, compassion, and example, Mrs. Henderson has left a lasting impact on her community. It is fitting and appropriate that May 26th, 2017 be declared ``Mary Henderson Day'' in Dos Palos, California.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, as a co-chair of the Victims' Rights Caucus, along with Congressman Ted Poe, we have over 70 members, bipartisan, to focus on protecting victims of crime. We also try to ensure that we protect the VOCA funding that goes for very worthwhile efforts for organizations throughout the country and to recognize and honor every year those who stand out on behalf of victims of crime.

I want to commend the chairman and the ranking member for advancing this legislation, as well as my Senate colleagues, because there is a companion piece of legislation that is attempting to address this horrible issue in which you have so often young athletes--Olympic- caliber athletes--some who actually have participated in the Olympics, who, at a very young age, find themselves victims of these horrific crimes, through no fault of their own.

Sexual assault, in any form, is a horrible crime and it leaves lasting damage to its victims. Sadly, some victims of assault are children who may be incapable of truly understanding what is happening to them at the time. However, years later, when this poor child comes to understand what happened, they are faced with the reality that someone who is supposed to be looking after their well-being actually betrayed them. This leaves real and very lasting damage that can take decades, if not years, for the person to deal with.

In some instances, sexual assault victims may not discover their injuries or the violation until adulthood, years after the abuse happened, years after the processing of their own internal trauma, years after feeling strong enough finally to go public.

A perfect example of this is in child pornography. How is a young child supposed to find, process, and accuse someone of a crime that they simply didn't even know existed?

There are legitimate constitutional debates dealing with the criminal and civil process. We understand that. Current and future legal scholars will debate those. I am not a lawyer; I am a farmer. But as a farmer, I know we should be able to agree on one simple principle, and that principle is that these victims deserve their day in court, they deserve due process, and they deserve their time to face the person who assaulted them and to ask their fellow citizens or a judge for justice.

It is our responsibility to do what we can to protect child victims and to ensure that they have access to the courts. That is what this amendment is all about.

Mr. Chairman, I want to, in the effort of comity, offer this amendment, but I will ask to respectfully withdraw the amendment. This is an issue that is not going to go away. I know there are different perceptions on how we deal with this.

I yield to the gentleman.

I will accept that and continue to work with the gentleman and Chairman Goodlatte from Virginia, because, at the end of the day, to have some success and to move this forward, we are going to have to have reconciliation between the Senate bill and the House bill in how this is treated. I would hope that we would gain that agreement, and then we could move the legislation for signature.

Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about Asian Pacific Heritage Month.

In May of each year, we come together to celebrate the Asian and Pacific heritage cultures that have made up America for generations. It is time to recognize those important significant roles that Asian Americans play in our American story.

We are very lucky in the San Joaquin Valley to have a community rich with culture and ethnic diversity. Our Asian-American and Pacific Islander neighbors are an integral part of that richness.

From the Chinese Americans, who helped build the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, to the Japanese American farmers, who cultivated our valley in the early 1900s, to the Hmong and Vietnamese Americans who joined our community beginning in the late 1970s and 1980s after the Vietnam War, these Asian communities all have an important story that have added value to our country.

As we reflect upon Asian Pacific Heritage Month, I am proud to join all Asian Americans and the Pacific Islanders in my district and across our country in celebration. So let me thank all of our Asian Americans for their contributions to our country.

Celebrating Memorial Day

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak about the significance of Memorial Day this coming weekend, which we will celebrate across our Nation.

This weekend, I will have the honor and the privilege to participate in three Memorial Day ceremonies in my district. We will pause to memorialize and thank those American servicemen and -women who have made the ultimate sacrifice and to mourn the loss with their families.

Words, for me, never seem adequate to express a profound thank-you, having members of families and my own family that have served and that have made those sacrifices, for these men and women are our heroes. They gave America the most precious thing they had: the last full measure of devotion to country. Because they did, we are who we are today: a free and prosperous nation that is reflected around the world in most positive ways.

Our valley and our Nation owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to these individuals and their families who so selflessly answered the call of duty, and our Nation can never, ever say thank you enough.

Their sacrifice, bravery, therefore, must never, ever be forgotten. We must continue to work on behalf of veterans and their families. Whether it is cutting through red tape with their veterans' claims or helping with assistance programs or educational benefits, we can always and should do more.

As President John F. Kennedy said: ``As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.'' So each day, not just on Memorial Day, we must work to ensure that our veterans and soldiers who today are on Active Duty in harm's way all around the world and their families receive the benefits that they have earned.

On Monday, we will honor and we will remember and we will pledge never to forget, and we will say, in our most humble way, thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding, and I also want to take this time to thank the gentleman from Florida and my colleague and good friend, Congressman Valadao, for the introduction of this legislation, H.R. 624, which I support.

Mr. Speaker, as we know, identity theft throughout the country is a very significant problem. It becomes even more compounded in this day of the internet when we have to deal with a whole host of issues that make the ability to steal one's identity even more easily done. This measure attempts to try to address a part of that challenge by dealing with the issue of Social Security numbers.

We all know Social Security numbers are key information used to identify ourselves, and we know that if they fall into the wrong hands, they can be used to commit identity theft.

I think all of us remember when, at some point in our age, we got our Social Security number and we memorized it, and it is something that is very important in our society today. But many thieves find these numbers are incredibly valuable because they are a link that can connect a person's information across a whole host of agencies, systems, and databases in this age of the internet.

Criminals can use stolen Social Security numbers to file fraudulent tax returns, obtain loans, and commit other kinds of crimes. An estimated 13 million Americans experienced financial identity theft in 2014 alone, resulting in over $16 billion--with a B--$16 billion lost to fraud.

In 2007, to combat these issues, there was an Identity Theft Task Force that made recommendations to the administration on ways to eliminate the unnecessary collection, use, and display--the display, which this legislation attempts to address--of Social Security numbers.

Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office released testimony on these efforts by the Federal Government to reduce the collection, use, and display of Social Security numbers. In conclusion, the GAO testified that, until the Office of Management and Budget adopts more effective practices for guiding agency Social Security number reduction efforts, overall governmentwide reduction will likely remain limited and difficult to measure, and the risk of Social Security numbers being exposed and used to commit identity theft will remain greater than it need be. Again, this legislation attempts to help address that.

The Social Security Number Fraud Prevention Act would enact measures to help protect American citizens, especially children, veterans, and senior citizens, from identity theft and fraud. It does so by reducing the number of mailed documents the Federal Government sends to individuals that include full Social Security numbers.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia.

In addition, it also takes steps to ensure that, if inclusion is necessary, the number is not visible from the outside of a mailing. I think, probably, many of us have received mail that, in fact, had our Social Security number there and identified.

As I said at the outset, this is no silver bullet to stopping identity theft; it is a commonsense measure to reducing it.

Social Security, as we all know, is a promise made to those who have worked hard throughout their lives to contribute to the system, to contribute to the American way of life. It also provides those seniors who are living on their Social Security the ability to have dignity and additional security during their golden years. As a result, Congress must do what it can to reduce the strains on the program, particularly from fraud and theft.

For all of those reasons, I support this legislation, and I support Congressman Valadao's efforts and my

good friends from Florida and Virginia for bringing this commonsense measure to the floor.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 953, Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2017. This legislation eliminates the requirement to acquire two permits for the same pesticide application under two separate laws and, I might add, if you live in California, there is a separate requirement under the California Clean Water Act that requires an additional permit. That would still apply regardless if this legislation is passed.

In order to be permitted to use a pesticide, that pesticide must be approved under FIFRA, which includes an analysis that must be performed that finds it will not generally cause unreasonable adverse effects to the environment or to the health. However, current law requires another permit to be acquired for the same action under the Clean Water Act if you happen to be close to a water body, and that is where the duplication occurs.

Not only are these requirements redundant, they are expensive, and the cost of the individual Clean Water Act permit ranges from $150,000 to $270,000 and can take up to 2 years. No one wants to risk human health, not I, not anyone, but in my opinion this would not do so. We have Zika, we have West Nile, and we have a host of spreading of these diseases by mosquitoes in which this, in fact, can address those issues.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this bill in order to remove this unnecessary, unneeded regulatory burden and expense.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate San Joaquin Valley College (SJVC) on the occasion of their 40th anniversary. SJVC has educated over 25,000 students and started them on the path of successful careers. It is both fitting and appropriate that we honor SJVC's dedication and service to the community.

Founded on April 14, 1977, SJVC began with three students studying to become medical assistants. Shirley Perry, founder of SJVC, began as a medical assistant herself, in pursuit of certification. Through diligent studying on her own she became the first person to pass the certification test without schooling. Her impressive success was admired by many other medical assistants, seeking help from Shirley on their exams. This tutoring led to a teaching position at a community college. After three years, Shirley became unsatisfied with the schooling options and was inspired to establish the San Joaquin Valley College.

Robert Perry, Shirley's husband, left his job to handle the business aspects of the college. In 1995, the institution was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges/Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. This accreditation allowed for SJVC to offer Associate of Science Degrees. The college now has 15 campuses located all over California, from Sacramento to San Diego.

San Joaquin Valley College offers 22 programs and will soon open its newest campus in downtown Porterville, CA. The institution has been passed down to Mike and Mark Perry, the sons of Shirley and Robert, and continues to provide education to students across California.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in commemorating San Joaquin Valley College's 40th Anniversary, along with the Perry family, for all of their hard work and accomplishments within the past forty years.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay tribute to the life of the Honorable Ms. Jackalyne Pfannenstiel, a lifelong trailblazer dedicated to energy efficiency, who passed away on April 26, 2017, at the age of 69.

Ms. Pfannenstiel was born on September 7, 1947 in Norwich, Connecticut. She attended Clark University in Massachusetts, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics and went on to get her Master's degree in Economics from the University of Hartford in Connecticut.

Ms. Pfannenstiel began her career working as an economist at the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control. With an interest in energy efficiency, Ms. Pfannenstiel moved to California in 1978 to start a new path after being hired by California's Public Utilities Commission. After two years, she went to work for Pacific Gas & Electric Company and parent company, Pacific Gas & Electric Corporation for twenty years. During her twenty years at Pacific Gas & Electric, Ms. Pfannenstiel served in various roles, most notably as Vice President of Planning and Strategic Initiatives. Through her leadership and collaboration, Ms. Pfannenstiel helped write California energy policy throughout the 1980's designed to enhance conservation.

In 2004, Ms. Pfannenstiel became a voice for energy conservation in California when she was appointed to the Energy Commission by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and in 2006 was named as the commission's first female chairwoman. Her leadership did not stop at the state level. In 2010, President Barack Obama appointed her as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and the Environment. Her continued dedication towards energy conservation can be seen through her work on the Great Green Fleet, a squadron of 10 ships and 70 aircrafts, which run 50 percent on biofuel.

In addition to her time as Assistant Secretary, in 2013 Ms. Pfannenstiel co-founded a San Francisco start up called Advanced Microgrid Solutions aimed to enhance utility usage. Her legacy will be remembered through her accomplishments and the progress towards improved energy conservation over the years.

Ms. Jackalyne Pfannenstiel is survived by her husband Daniel, two sons Matthew and Steven Deutsch, grandson Wesley Deutsch, sister Kathleen Pratt, and brother Richard Pfannenstiel. As a mother of two sons, she never missed their games, no matter how busy of a schedule she had. It is my honor to join Ms. Jackalyne Pfannenstiel's family in celebration of the life of this inspirational woman. She truly led by example and encouraged teamwork throughout her life.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great respect that I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the life, remarkable career, and achievements of Ms. Jackalyne Pfannenstiel. Her dedication towards energy conservation will be remembered for years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in celebration of Mrs. LaVera Ethridge-Williams' 90th birthday. Ms. Ethridge Williams is a celebrated entrepreneur and community advocate, who has been a staple in the West Fresno community for more than fifty years.

LaVera Ethridge-Williams was born in Boley, Oklahoma to John and Alberta Ethridge. She was raised in Wewoke, Oklahoma where she received her early education. In 1945, Mrs. Ethridge-Williams moved to Fresno and continued her education at Fresno City College and California State University, Fresno.

Mrs. Ethridge-Williams married Lonzell Williams and together they were parents to three children. They've also been blessed with five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Ethridge-Williams made child care her life's passion and lifelong career. She often cared for her younger siblings growing up and cared for her own children, in addition to those of family members and friends. In 1968, she attempted to open her first child care center in Fresno. Although the banks turned her loan requests down numerous times, she continued her persistence. Eventually through private funding, Mrs. Ethridge-Williams secured funding to open her first infant child care center. After four years of working with the California State Department of Social Welfare and Department of Health and Welfare, Mrs. LaVera Ethridge-Williams' dream became a reality, with the opening of her first childcare center in West Fresno. Not stopping there, Mrs. La Vera Ethridge-Williams opened a chain of daycare centers for infants and young children in Fresno. LaVera's Infant Nursery and LaVera's Educational Center provided desperately needed childcare for working parents in the area.

Mrs. Ethridge-Williams has been rightfully honored by numerous local officials and organizations throughout her career. These include, the city of Fresno, Fresno Unified School District and the Phi Lambda Society.

Outside of her work, Mrs. Ethridge-Williams enjoys spending time with her family and several hobbies. These include traveling, fishing and attending church, where she is an active member.

She has always believed that personal success comes with a responsibility to touch the lives of others through good deeds. Today, she works to provide shelter for the homeless.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Mrs. LaVera Ethridge-Williams as she celebrates her 90th birthday. She is an inspiration for us all, having lived her life to serve others. I ask that you join me in wishing her and her family continued happiness.