Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the 60th anniversary of the founding of Las Trampas School. This school, located in my district in Lafayette, California, has served families with severe or profound disabilities during its long and successful run.

Since its founding in 1971 by parents, families, and community members, Las Trampas has adapted to serve the needs of the community. Originally founded as a non-profit residential school serving children with developmental disabilities, the school grew with its students as they entered adulthood. Las Trampas now focuses on supporting adults with developmental disabilities to embrace their strengths and to lead full lives in their home, at work, and in the community.

Las Trampas School's mission statement exemplifies who they are as an organization and the good they do for the Bay Area: ``all persons with developmental disabilities are entitled to develop their optimum state of social, physical, and mental well-being, and share an integrated lifestyle similar to what non-disabled persons enjoy.''

As a lifelong advocate for the disabilities community, I have seen the good Las Trampas has done in our community. Congratulations to the Las Trampas School family on a successful 60 years of service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life and service of a longtime Contra Costa resident, Mr. Edmund Regalia.

At an early age, Ed committed to his passion for serving others by participating in school leadership, acting as President of a social- civil rights club, and joining the Naval ROTC while attending U.C. Berkeley. He spent his summers with the Navy in locations around the country and abroad, including travel through the Panama Canal. After graduating with a degree in Political Science in 1952, Ed reported for duty immediately to San Diego where he served mainly on destroyers in the Pacific during the Korean War. Toward the end of his tour, he served as Legal Officer on his ship, the Laws. During his time with the Navy, Ed visited Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Hawaii. Ed retired from active service in 1955 as a Lieutenant.

After he left the military, Ed enrolled at Boalt Hall Law School at U.C. Berkeley, and in 1964 was a co-founder of Miller Starr Regalia, a law firm focusing on real property cases. During his time as a practicing attorney, Ed received numerous awards for his work and contributions to the legal field. Ed went on to serve two terms on the California Law Revision Commission, appointed first by Governor Davis and re-appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger.

Motivated by the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy in 1968, Ed and other members of the Walnut Creek Democratic Club formed the Kennedy-King Memorial Scholarship Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. From 1968 through 2017, he served continuously on the Board where he oversaw $4.4 million in scholarships awarded to assist 750 students from Contra Costa County Community Colleges transition to four-year universities. Ed also served on Homeowner's Boards, both as President and pro-bono legal advisor, and the Board of both the Diablo Symphony and the Walnut Creek Library Foundation.

Ed's dedication to his job, his family, and his community was admirable. Ed passed away on February 6, 2018. He will be missed sincerely by those who had the pleasure of knowing him, including his wife Gwen; children Doug, Ken, Phil, and Connie; and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an exceptional young woman who is spending the spring semester interning in my Washington, D.C. office. Ms. Kate Hitchcock came to our office as part of the Uni-Capitol Washington Internship Programme (UCWIP), and has been a valuable contributor to our efforts on behalf of California's Eleventh Congressional District.

Since 2000, UCWIP has worked with congressional offices to foster strong ties and understanding between the United States and Australian governments by bringing the best and the brightest from top Australian universities to intern on Capitol Hill. I am proud to be involved in this wonderful program for the third year in a row.

Kate Hitchcock, a student from the University of Canberra, has quickly proved herself to be a highly valuable member of our team. She has drafted legislative requests, attended briefings, written constituent mail, and researched important issues, among many other duties. She consistently displays a deep desire to learn and treats everyone she encounters with respect. Her hard work and dedication is an asset to our office and the Eleventh Congressional District.

Kate has learned about the United States and the U.S. Congress, and our team has learned a great deal from Kate about her native country. She is a pleasure to have in the office and I offer her my thanks for a job well done. I wish her the best of luck in all of her future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Mr. James (Jim) Berney McMillan, Jr., on the occasion of his 90th Birthday. Jim is a longtime resident of and small business owner in Richmond, California.

Jim McMillan was the first African American student and graduate from the College of Pharmacy at Oregon State. He was the second African American Oregon State Graduate, after William Maxwell. When he enrolled in 1948, only one African American had graduated from Oregon State in any field. At that time, there were only two African Americans on the entire campus of about 6,000 students. While at Oregon State, McMillan worked on trains traveling between Portland and Oakland during summers to support his college studies.

Jim moved to Berkeley after graduation because he found that no pharmacy in Portland, Oregon was willing to hire an African American pharmacist. In 1958, he opened McMillan's Pharmacy on l0th Street in Richmond, California. Jim ran McMillan's Pharmacy on Cutting Blvd. for 28 years, closing in 1996.

McMillan was elected to the Richmond City Council in 1982 and took his seat in early 1983. He served three consecutive terms, retiring in 1995.

Though he retired from the council in 1996, he has remained an active leader. He is a Golden Heritage and Lifetime member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, a founder of the Richmond Black American Political Action Committee, served on the Zhoushan China Sister City Commission, served on the Board of Directors of the West County Housing Corporation and volunteers on the Citizens Advisory Committee on toxic pollution for the Port of Richmond. Also served on the City of Richmond Library Commission.

I congratulate Jim on his lifetime of achievements and wish him the very best in the future.

I rise to express my strong opposition to H.R. 772, the so-called Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act.

I have worked at every level of the restaurant business, starting as a dishwasher and busboy, and eventually managing and owning various restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area. As a former restaurateur and a member of the California Restaurant Association, I have a deep appreciation for the value American consumers place on nutritional information when determining their food purchases.

Numerous studies, like the International Food Information Council and elsewhere, suggest that nutritional information is second only to taste when choosing what to eat from a menu. Other peer-reviewed studies have found that consumers make healthier choices when nutrition information is placed directly on the menu.

Making nutrition information readily available and standardized is an important step in fighting the growing epidemic of obesity and chronic disease. According to the CDC, more than two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, nearly a third of American children are overweight, and the prevalence of childhood obesity children has more than tripled since 1971.

That is why, as a California State Senator, I co-authored the first- in-the-nation menu labeling law. This bipartisan legislation was passed with industry support and cooperation, and signed by a Republican governor.

In contrast, the bill before us today creates giant loopholes in the ACA's national menu labeling provisions and allows selected establishments to arbitrarily determine serving sizes, and obscure the total number of servings per item. For example, if this bill would become law pizza chains, supermarkets, and convenience stores would be exempt from having to provide information to consumers at the point-of- sale. The bill would also further delay the implementation of our existing nationwide menu labeling efforts that are supported by more than 75 percent of American consumers.

Particularly harmful for my constituents, H.R. 772 would preempt state efforts to address the obesity epidemic locally. The bill also undermines state and local efforts to enforce or enact their own food labeling laws, and extends to food labelling in general, not simply menu labeling as the bill's title would lead us to believe.

This misguided legislation unravels all of the cooperative work being done by the restaurant industry and government agencies across the nation. I urge my colleagues to oppose this effort to undermine local transparency efforts and vote No on H.R. 772.

Mr. Speaker, I regret that I was unable to vote on the afternoon of Thursday, January 10, 2018 as my mother passed away.

I oppose S. 140, which contained the language of the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act. I strongly respect the sovereign rights of Native American Tribes. This bill, however, is nothing more than another attempt to undermine collective bargaining. In the process, it would strip hundreds of thousands of workers--the majority of whom are not tribe members--of their right to a voice in the workplace.

As the UAW points out, at a time of growing wealth inequality and a shrinking middle class, the last thing Congress should do is deprive workers of their legally enforceable right to form unions and bargain collectively when there is indisputable evidence that unions help increase worker wages.

I would have voted against this bill, which seeks to deprive workers of their right to advocate for themselves and ask for the wages they deserve.

Mr. Speaker, I regret that I was unable to vote on Friday, January 11, 2018 as my mother passed away.

We can provide law enforcement officials with the resources and capabilities necessary to defend the nation while simultaneously upholding the hard-fought and hard-won individual rights enshrined in the Constitution. As we now know, the National Security Agency has collected vast swaths of telephone and internet data, using Section 702 as justification, some of which was on Americans for whom there was no suspicion of wrongdoing. Liberty and security do not need to be mutually exclusive. However, S. 139 did not do enough to protect Americans from the watchful eye of government surveillance.

I strongly supported the amendment put forth by Congressman Justin Amash and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren that would put more limitations on access to information collected on Americans and stronger safeguards against law enforcement using that information without a warrant. I would have supported this amendment and was disappointed that it did not pass.

Without the addition of the Amash-Lofgren amendment, I would have voted against this bill. There is still space to address these issues so that individual privacy rights will be upheld while our country is protected, but this bill did not protect Americans' privacy adequately.

Mr. Speaker, I regret that I was unable to vote on the afternoon of Thursday, January 10, 2018 and Friday, January 11, 2018 as my mother passed away. Had I been present, I would have voted in the following manner:

Roll Call Vote No. 8, I would have voted No; Roll Call Vote No. 9, I would have voted No; Roll Call Vote No. 10, I would have voted No; Roll Call Vote No. 11, I would have voted No; Roll Call Vote No. 12, I would have voted Yes; Roll Call Vote No. 13, I would have voted Yes; Roll Call Vote No. 14, I would have voted Yes; Roll Call Vote No. 15, I would have voted Yes; Roll Call Vote No. 16, I would have voted No; and Roll Call Vote No. 17, I would have voted Yes.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life and service of Ruth Bancroft, renowned expert on drought-tolerant plants, founder of the Ruth Bancroft Garden, and resident of Walnut Creek.

Ruth had a keen intellect and an insatiable curiosity about plants and nature. She collected and categorized seashells and planted flower gardens around the home she shared with her husband and three children on the Bancroft property.

With the help of the New York-based Garden Conservancy, the Bancroft family formed the nonprofit Ruth Bancroft Garden on Bancroft Road which is protected by a conservation easement. It opened to the public in the early 1990s. In August, the garden broke ground on a visitor and education center with space for events and classes as well as offices for staff. Ruth worked in the garden every day until she was 97 years old.

Ruth was an inspiration and a friend. She was a stalwart in the Contra Costa community and we shared a passion for conservation and the environment. She passed away on November 26, 2017 at the age of 109. She is survived by her children Peter Bancroft, Nina Dickerson and Kathy Hidalgo and four grandchildren. Her friend, family, and our community will miss her dearly.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life and service of Joseph Allen Duffel, prominent Bay Area builder and real estate developer and resident of Orinda.

Joe's sharp intellect and irreverent sense of humor were his signature traits. He founded Duffel Financial and Construction Company in 1954, which grew to become one of Northern California's most active real estate development and building firms. His love of family, reverence for education, strong work ethic, and drive led him to many successes throughout his life. He continued to work as the active CEO of the company to the very end.

In addition to his career in building and development, Joe had a passion for politics. He ran for State Senator in 1966 against George Miller, Sr. That political involvement catapulted him into becoming the advance man for Ronald Reagan during his campaign for the presidency in 1968. He personally advanced Reagan's appearances at the state delegations in most of the southern states. He later served as a delegate to four Republican conventions and was appointed by Governor Deukmejian to the California Transportation Commission where he served for 12 years after being reappointed by Deukmejian and Governor Pete Wilson.

Joe was also proud to have served in many capacities in business, community, and local political organizations. He served as president of the Orinda Rotary Club, president of the Bay Area Mortgage Association, and president of the Homebuilders Association of Northern California (formerly known as the B.I.A., or Building Industry Association of which Joe was a founding member). He served on the board of directors for California Symphony, and was a 40-year active member of The Family, a San Francisco social and charitable club. Joe and his wife, Jackie were longtime members of the Lafayette Orinda Presbyterian Church.

Joe was an inspiration and a friend. He was a stalwart in the Contra Costa community. He passed away on December 1, 2017 at the age of 94. Joe will be deeply missed.

Mr. Chairman, I thank my friend from Virginia for those loquacious comments.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 4182, the Ensuring a Qualified Civil Service Act.

H.R. 4182 unnecessarily doubles the probationary period for Federal employees from 1 to 2 years. During this period, employees have essentially no due process rights and can be removed for any reason or no reason at all with no right to appeal.

This is an arbitrary change to existing policy, and there is no evidence to suggest that extending the probationary period will address any issues surrounding employee performance or the department performance.

Not only are candidates for Federal jobs already put through extensive selection processes, but a year is sufficient for any competent manager to determine the ability of any employee to accomplish the job that they have been hired to do.

This bill will not improve agency outcomes but would penalize Federal workers by weakening their due process rights. Without due process, Federal employees will have little protection against employer discrimination and termination without cause.

These due process rights are also critical to promoting equity, fairness, and ensuring that whistleblowers continue to speak up without fear of retaliation.

It is also a clear attempt to undermine Federal employees' right to unionize since they would not be eligible to participate until their probationary period is over.

We need evidence-based changes that value Federal employees, make their workplaces safe, protect them against sexual harassment and discrimination, and ensure that their voices are heard. I ask my colleagues to reject this shortsighted legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Robert E. Doyle for serving 40 years with the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD), the largest local park agency in the United States.

Mr. Doyle began his career as a park ranger, serving at various parks within EBRPD. Throughout his tenure he moved to the Planning & Design Department, then working to develop a first of its kind Regional Trails Master Plan. He later became a Chief, then Assistant General Manager for Land and Planning in 1990, where he served for 21 years--leading the greatest expansion of parks and trails in the Park District's 80 year history. He now serves as General Manager.

In 1971, Mr. Doyle was a founding board member of Save Mount Diablo, a nonprofit land trust and conservation organization that serves to protect, restore, and add acreage to Mount Diablo State Park, one of the ecological treasures of the San Francisco Bay Area. He served on the board for 25 years, including several years as Board president. Mr. Doyle was also a founding board member of the East Bay Conservation Corps and the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, and served as a board member of the Bay Area Open Space Council.

As part of his responsibility to advance the mission and vision of the East Bay Parks, Mr. Doyle works tirelessly to advance urban parks and recreation, garnering support nationally and internationally. He has presented twice regarding the Park District's Healthy Parks Healthy People initiatives at International Union for Conservation of Nature World Parks conferences, as well as at national park and open space conferences on a variety of impactful issues.

I congratulate Mr. Doyle on this milestone achievement, thank him for all he has done for EBRPD and the community, and wish him best of luck in the future.

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

Mr. Chairman, my amendment asks for a review of existing best practices worldwide for the capture and reuse of wastewater and a feasibility study on the expansion of these efforts.

Existing policy requires a review of conservation plans of Central Valley Project contractors. I believe we should look further than just what we are currently doing and learn from new, emerging technologies and practices from around the world for recycling wastewater.

Capturing wastewater for reuse is not new. Orange County, California, implemented its Groundwater Replenishment System in 2008, which augments the water supply for 850,000 residents with treated wastewater and helps reduce the area's dependence on water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta.

In Singapore, an initiative to recycle wastewater supplies approximately one-third of the country's water demand. In Israel, treated sewage water meets approximately one-quarter of the country's needed water.

Across California, more than 200 billion gallons of municipal wastewater are already reused each year. According to one report, California has an unrealized opportunity to grow that number to between 390 billion and 590 billion acre-feet per year.

The need for innovation to increase the amount of available water is very clear. Between 2011 and 2013, even before the onset of one of the State's most severe droughts on record, water stored in the Sacramento- San Joaquin watershed and the Central Valley dropped by nearly 20 billion cubic meters, or two-thirds of the volume of Lake Mead.

We need to prepare for more severe droughts in the coming decades. With innovation and technologies available in the United States and around the world, we could and should continue to look for new ways to augment our water supply and enhance our water security.

Around the world and across the United States, innovation and technologies for capturing and recycling wastewater are improving, and their costs are falling. The purpose of this amendment is to understand the current state of these technologies and to identify opportunities for expanding them.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleague to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Matsui).

Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa).

Mr. Chair, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Huffman).

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague from California for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 1719, the John Muir National Historic Site Expansion Act. This bipartisan legislation will expand the Martinez, California, historic site in my district that celebrates the life and legacy of John Muir.

Muir was a lifelong conservationist, a leading advocate of the National Park Service, and a cofounder of the Sierra Club. He worked to establish and protect national parks, including Yosemite, Sequoia, Grand Canyon, and Mount Rainier.

The John Muir National Historic Site, which includes the home where he lived, covers 330 acres of Contra Costa County where Muir championed the revolutionary idea that wild spaces should be set aside for all to enjoy.

This bill would make it possible for the National Park Service to accept a donation of 44 acres of land from the John Muir Land Trust, improving access to the park and its scenic trails, including those on Mount Wanda, named after Muir's eldest daughter.

The trail systems are accessible for hikers, bikers, and equestrians, including critical connections to the 550-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail and to nearby protected lands along the Franklin Ridge corridor.

As John Muir once said, ``everybody needs beauty, as well as bread, places to play in . . . where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank my predecessor, Congressman George Miller, who championed this bill. I also thank the Natural Resources Committee chair, Chairman Bishop; Ranking Member Grijalva; the subcommittee chairman, Mr. McClintock from California; and subcommittee ranking member, Ms. Hanabusa for their leadership in bringing H.R. 1719 to the floor today.

I am grateful for the support of 21 of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle who cosponsored this legislation, and to Senator Kamala Harris for leading the bill's counterpart in the U.S. Senate.

I also thank the John Muir Land Trust for its hard work and dedication preserving and protecting this valuable parkland and shoreline in Contra Costa County for future generations.

This legislation puts a fitting emphasis on the National Park Service's centennial celebrations, helping to preserve the trails and lands that surround the longtime home of the man known as the ``father'' of the U.S. National Park Service.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bipartisan legislation, the John Muir National Historic Site Expansion Act.

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my friend from Illinois and also my friend Mr. Thompson for this bipartisan bill. I am happy to support it and hear all of my colleagues enthusiastically support it.

Career and technical education gives students the opportunity to get technical experience regardless of whether their next step out of high school is to immediately join the workforce or to go to college.

In my district, I have had the opportunity to visit many students in programs that benefit from the inclusions of career pathways in their high school curriculum. Mt. Diablo High School students, for example, create a farm-to-table restaurant experience, while Pittsburg High Schoolers design computer animations as a part of the school's Green Engineering Academy. At De Anza High School in Richmond, California, they run an Information Technology Academy focusing on IT career skills, while providing their community IT services free of charge.

By enacting this bipartisan legislation, Congress will affirmatively take steps to update our Nation's educational vision and will propel today's students into tomorrow's workforce.