Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Darioush and Shahpar Khaledi for their leadership in raising the role of arts and culture in California's Napa Valley. Mr. and Ms. Khaledi have made many contributions to our community, particularly through their steadfast commitment to the arts.

Mr. Khaledi was born and raised in Iran, where his fascination with wine began at an early age, due to his father's winemaking and the cultural history of winemaking of Shiraz, Iran. After building what was at one point the largest family-owned grocery business in California, Mr. and Ms. Khaledi founded Darioush Winery in 1997. Mr. Khaledi considers Darioush Winery to be the realization of his American Dream. His goal was to produce wines that celebrate both individualism and craftsmanship. For Ms. Khaledi it was essential that clients and guests be treated as family, which she considers to be more than a cultural tradition, but a way of life. Her welcoming philosophy has defined the Darioush experience and is derived from Tarof, the Persian art of social etiquette--in essence how to make your guests feel more at home ``than home itself.''

In addition to running their world-class winery, Mr. and Ms. Khaledi are active patrons of the arts and engaged community members. Mr. Khaledi is the Founding Chair on the Board of Directors for Festival Napa Valley, an organization that puts on an annual performing arts festival and also offers year-round programming. Mr. Khaledi is also a Board Member for organizations including Napa Valley Vintners, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Food Marketing Institute, Unified Grocers and the St. Helena Hospital Foundation.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. and Ms. Khaledi are the kind of community members we should all strive to emulate. Their dedication to the arts in the Napa Valley has been crucial for the growth of our arts community. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor Darioush and Shahpar Khaledi here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Jean Barr Donaldson III, who retired on March 23, 2018 as the Undersheriff of the Napa County Sheriff's Office, after 30 years of service to Napa County.

A native of San Francisco and Novato, Mr. Donaldson graduated from San Marin High School in Novato in 1981. He attended Santa Rosa Junior College and Sacramento State University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice in 1986. Mr. Donaldson then attended and graduated from the Basic Police Academy at the Santa Rosa Junior College Northern California Criminal Justice Center.

Mr. Donaldson was sworn in as a Deputy Sheriff in the Napa County Sheriff's Office in 1988. As a Deputy, he spent several years patrolling the Napa Valley and Lake Berryessa areas and was selected to be a member of the SWAT Team. Mr. Donaldson was then selected to work in the Investigations Bureau as a Detective. In 1988 he was promoted to Sergeant and was assigned to supervise the Patrol, Special Investigations and Animal Services Bureaus. Mr. Donaldson was promoted to Lieutenant in 2002 and worked as the manager of the Investigations and Civil/Coroner Bureaus. In 2008, he was promoted to Captain and spent several years as manager of the Operations Division and four years as the Chief of Police of American Canyon. In 2013 Mr. Donaldson was promoted to Undersheriff where he managed the day to day operations of the entire Sheriff's Office.

Mr. Donaldson has also spent countless hours volunteering in our community. He has volunteered as a wrestling coach at the Napa Sheriff's Activities League and as a football coach at Napa High School. He is a loving husband to his wife Marni and a proud parent of their children Sean and Macki.

Mr. Speaker, Jean Barr Donaldson III has dedicated his life to serving our community and protecting others. Therefore, it is fitting and proper that we honor him here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Rutherford Volunteer Fire Department for their 100 years of volunteer service to Rutherford, Napa County and California.

This esteemed fire department was created in 1918, along with 22 other stations in Napa County, in preparation for a potential war. It has been in service ever since, operating 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. In 1956 Napa County accepted the Rutherford Fire Department into county control and in 1986 the Rutherford Fire Department was incorporated.

Rutherford Fire Department has not only served Rutherford and Napa County. The department has also responded to numerous fires, floods and earthquakes throughout and across California. In order to adequately respond to any and every crisis, the Rutherford Fire Department has been at the forefront of training and drilling.

Rutherford Fire Department is more than just an exceptional fire department. Multiple generations of Rutherford residents have served and continue to serve our community as courageous volunteer firefighters who are ready to defend the lives of those in the Napa Valley and throughout California. The department stands tall as one of the nine remaining volunteer departments in the Napa County and is honored to be made up of community members, for the protection of community members.

Mr. Speaker, the Rutherford Volunteer Fire Department is an essential institution. Their unparalleled commitment to protecting Rutherford and Napa County make them a model volunteer fire department. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor the Rutherford Fire Department here today.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment which helps to ensure that communities ravaged by wildfires, including the recent October fires, get the help they need to recover.

Last year, we saw the worst fire season in California history. The October fires alone included 21 major fires that were fought by 11,000 firefighters burning nearly 245,000 acres. Those fires forced 100,000 people to evacuate and destroyed 8,900 homes and structures. Tragically, 44 people lost their lives.

The City of Santa Rosa is located in my district and was hit especially hard by the October fires with over 3,000 homes and businesses destroyed. In the Fountaingrove neighborhood, north of downtown, the contamination in the water system that resulted directly from the fire melting the plastic water lines and appurtenances servicing 350 homes, must be replaced due to ongoing contamination of benzene, a toxic organic chemical.

As our communities move forward on the long road to recovery, we are finding that the needs of suburban and urban communities impacted by devastating wildfires don't always fit neatly into some of FEMA's current rules and regulations, which seem geared towards hurricane and flooding response and mitigation.

Issues as simple as whether or not FEMA should cover the costs of removing standing burned trees or replacing water systems, like the one in Fountaingrove that was contaminated as a result of the October fires, are not so simple.

My amendment provides FEMA with the capability and authority to mitigate these issues by explicitly stating that FEMA hazard mitigation funding can be used to remove standing, burned trees and replacing water systems damaged and/or contaminated by wildfires.

I appreciate House leadership working with my office to include this amendment in the en bloc so that we advance this issue and I look forward to continuing to work with them to ensure that my district's fire recovery needs are being met.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the staff of The Press Democrat for being awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting ``for lucid and tenacious coverage of historic wildfires that ravaged the city of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County.''

The Press Democrat is a locally-owned, daily newspaper that was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Santa Rosa, in my district. This national recognition of its exemplary reporting reinforces what our community already knows--that The Press Democrat is a world class newspaper with exceptional reporters, photographers, editors, online producers and page designers.

During the historic October 2017 wildfires, the staff at The Press Democrat filled a dual role. They told the larger stories, reporting on the devastation and community-wide heartbreak and photographing the looming flames and incredible heroism. They also kept people in our community informed of whether they needed to evacuate, where they could go if they did and how to search for and locate missing family, friends and neighbors. Their updates were critical in keeping people in the Sonoma, Napa and Lake Counties aware of the rapid movement of the fires and events unfolding in our community.

The Pulitzer Prize is well-deserved acknowledgment of the hard work of the staff of The Press Democrat. During the long days and nights and extreme uncertainty, the reporters, photographers and editors worked on the front lines and around the clock to keep the community informed and shared the horrors with the rest of the country and the world. Reporting on the fires demanded everything of them and they delivered, even as some were evacuated from their homes and unsure if they would have a home to return to.

Mr. Speaker, The Press Democrat is an important newspaper and institution in our community. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor the staff and their accomplishment of winning a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Napa Valley Agricultural Preserve.

In 1968, the Napa Board of Supervisors passed a zoning ordinance to preserve open space and prevent future over-development by creating the Napa Valley Agricultural Preserve, the first agricultural preserve in the United States. The ordinance established agriculture and open space as the best use of the land in the valley and foothill areas of Napa County.

Originally the ordinance protected 26,000 acres of land and today the preserve includes

31,609 acres. The Napa Valley Agricultural Preserve has been a vital component to the health of Californian agriculture and has lead the way in agricultural protection and preservation in California for the past half century. As we continue our efforts to preserve the Napa Valley, property owners have voluntarily placed their land into conservation easements to ensure the acreage remains rural through the preserve.

The ordinance was written to monitor development and ensure that the natural landscape would be protected and that the environment would be utilized in a mutually beneficial way for residents, farmers and developers. The protection from rapid urbanization has enabled agriculture to flourish in the 21st century and has allowed Napa to remain the premier county for California wine growers.

The preserve has ensured the long-term conservation of Napa County's agricultural legacy and its future as an essential agricultural region in the United States. Because of the preserve the region will continue to be the ideal location for producing wine grapes and other types of agriculture.

Mr. Speaker, Napa Valley Agricultural Preserve is crucial to the preservation of the agricultural output of Napa County and all of Northern California. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor its 50th anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Bob Hurley upon his retirement from a long and distinguished culinary career in Napa Valley.

Mr. Hurley grew up in San Francisco, California. After graduating from high school in 1972, he purchased a van and traveled around the United States. He worked in hotels and restaurants along the way, his first foray into the restaurant business. He realized his passion for cooking and returned to San Francisco, where he enrolled in the culinary program at City College. Post-graduation, Mr. Hurley spent two years traveling in Europe, India and North Africa learning how food and culture were connected.

Mr. Hurley and his wife Cynthia eventually moved to Napa Valley where he quickly became an essential part of our Yountville community. He opened Hurley's Restaurant in 2002, which is unquestionably a community staple and favorite spot for locals. Ensuring the restaurant's success meant his normal workweek was Monday to Saturday, 6 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m. After announcing his plans to retire and close Hurley's Restaurant, Mr. Hurley has shown the character we all know him to have. He is working to help members of his team, which he considers to be family, find new jobs.

Mr. Hurley's unwavering commitment to our community goes beyond his restaurant. He is the Secretary on the Board of Directors for the Lincoln Theatre at the Yountville Veterans Home. He helped create the annual Veterans Day Celebrity Chefs Luncheon and has been a chef for Hands Across the Valley, a fundraiser to help feed those in need throughout Napa County. He has taught annual etiquette classes at Yountville Elementary School, organized fundraisers for Yountville Little League, and supported numerous programs at Connolly Ranch. During the October 2017 wildfires Mr. Hurley worked for four consecutive nights cooking for first responders. He brought hundreds of meals from his restaurant to the field where the responders were stationed.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Hurley is the kind of citizen we should all strive to be. He is known for making everyone feel important and special. For many years he has provided our community with a welcoming place to gather. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor Bob Hurley here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Marcelo Defreitas as the 2018 Honorary Alcalde for the City of Sonoma, California. Mayor Madolyn Agrimonti nominated Mr. Defreitas as Alcalde, the Spanish word for mayor, in recognition of his contributions to our community.

Mr. Defreitas is from the Southern part of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, in the city of Uruguiana. He grew up on a cattle ranch with his parents, Jurema De La Vega Rodrigues de Freitas and Homero Maydana Rodrigues de Freitas and two older brothers, Homero and Jose Mario.

Mr. Defreitas studied public relations in college in Brazil and began working in his field at the largest publishing company in South America. In 1984, he moved to San Francisco to finish his degree and to learn English. After graduating from the University of San Francisco with a degree in graphic arts, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University. In 1988, he joined Primo Angeli Inc., and worked his way up from junior designer to art director.

Mr. Defreitas has served as the President of the Board of Directors for La Luz Center since 2016. He has been instrumental in organizing fundraisers such as ``Noche de Moon,'' which has furthered the Center's role in the immigrant community. He has also fundraised and organized committees to support local non-profits, including the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Jack London State Park, Lyon Ranch and Sonoma Valley Fund.

Recently Mr. Defreitas' service has expanded to include helping victims of the October wildfires. Through his 10 to 12 hour work days at La Luz Center, he helped distribute $1.2 million in disaster unemployment assistance, individual assistance disaster relief funds, rent assistance and other services. This is not out of character for him. As he says, ``service is my passion.''

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Defreitas is the hard working leader and dedicated community member we should all strive to be. He has seamlessly blended his professional and personal passions, leaving a legacy of community collaboration. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor Marcelo Defreitas as Sonoma's 43rd Honorary Alcalde.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Norma Fulinara Placido as she retires from 20 years of service as the President of the Filipino Community of Solano County.

Ms. Placido was born in San Felipe, Zambales, Philippines. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Philippine Christian University and taught at an elementary school in her hometown until she immigrated to the United States in 1971. There she joined her husband, Leonardo Placido, who was serving in the U.S. Navy. While her husband was stationed in San Francisco, California, Ms. Placido returned to school at Peralta College where she studied data processing. They later moved to Solano County where they raised their three daughters, Norielyn, Arlene, and Lena.

During her 20 year tenure as President of the Filipino Community of Solano County, Ms. Placido helped raise over $170,000 to provide scholarships for Filipino-American students pursuing higher education. She also spearheaded major renovations of the Filipino Community Center. She oversaw and fundraised for the remodel of the original center and eventually the purchase of a newer and bigger building that was better equipped to meet the needs of the Filipino community. Finally, under her leadership, the Filipino Community of Solano County contributed eyeglasses, books, and much needed funds to the survivors of devastating natural disasters in the Philippines. Ms. Placido has led the organization with continued strength, humility, and fortitude. She has been a great asset to the lives of all Filipino-Americans in our community.

Ms. Placido also mentors other Filipino-Americans in our community, with an aim to nurture their talents. Additionally, she promotes political empowerment and has helped Filipinos seeking public office, assisting mayoral and city council candidates in Vallejo as their campaign manager.

Mr. Speaker, Norma Fulinara Placido deserves to be recognized today for her leadership and commitment to the Filipino Community of Solano County. I am proud to have such a motivated and charitable person living and working in our community. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor her here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Office of Structure Maintenance & Investigations upon the occasion of its 90th anniversary since its creation.

The Office of Structure Maintenance & Investigations engineers and structural technicians perform ongoing inspection of more than 24,000 state highway and locally owned bridges within the boundaries of the Golden State. They ensure the safety of the traveling public and to protect the public's multi-billion dollar investment in its bridge inventory; and

Since its creation in 1927 California's bridge inspection unit has completed nearly 770,000 routine bridge inspections, and thousands of special steel, underwater, hydraulic, sign structure and tunnel inspections. The bridge inspection program has become the model for other bridge departments in the United States and around the world.

Structure Maintenance & Investigations, based on the findings of its inspections, has worked with its District Maintenance counterparts to complete hundreds of millions of repairs to ensure the safety and structural integrity of each public agency bridge in California. The dedicated personnel of Structure Maintenance & Investigations has responded over its nine decades of service to every emergency impacting the state's bridge inventory, including the 1989 Loma Prieta and 2011 Napa earthquakes.

Mr. Speaker, Caltrans Office of Structure Maintenance & Investigations and its employees have kept California's highways and bridges safe. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor the Office and employees past and present today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate Napa Valley College on the 75th anniversary of its founding.

Napa Valley College is an important institution in our community. The college has educated thousands of Napa Valley residents and issues certificates and degrees to hundreds of students annually. It has provided students with job training and preparation for four-year universities. Napa Valley College is essential to our region, in part, as the largest wine school in the United States. There are more than 400 students in the Viticulture and Winery Technology Program and dozens of graduates have gone on to establish and run wineries.

In 2015 and 2016, BestColleges.com named Napa Valley College the best community college in California, weighing the rates of graduation, student retention, transfers to four-year universities, and dropouts. In addition to educating many Napa Valley residents, the college also provides venues for events such as community discussions, performances, debates and naturalization ceremonies.

In 1942, the founder, Dr. Harry McPherson saw the need for a local college and cultivated the public support necessary to establish a successful institution. With his leadership, a bond issue for Napa Valley College passed with 90 percent support.

I attended Napa Valley College on the GI Bill and am proud to have this exceptional institution in our district. It is an honor to be an advocate and supporter for the college and its role in providing access to higher education to people in the Napa Valley.

Mr. Speaker, Napa Valley College is an essential institution in Napa Valley and in Northern California. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor the college on the 75th anniversary of its founding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Christine Loeber and remember her life, which was tragically cut short on March 9, 2018.

Ms. Loeber was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Easton, Massachusetts. She graduated from Oliver Ames High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of New Hampshire. After working in sales, Ms. Loeber realized social work was her calling and obtained a Master of Arts in Social Work from Boston College, while also working for Boston Health Care for the Homeless.

Over the last decade, Ms. Loeber dedicated her career to veterans and providing them with the care they needed. She first began working with veterans through the VA Boston Healthcare System in Brockton, Massachusetts, where she primarily worked with female veterans and focused on trauma and substance abuse. She earned yoga teaching credentials in order to integrate yoga into her care for veterans who were coping with trauma.

After working at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and the Santa Rosa VA Clinic, she was recruited as the Executive Director of The Pathway Home, where she continued to integrate yoga into the care she gave veterans. She was dedicated to connecting with and providing clinical, professional and educational support to the veterans as they continued their education after leaving the military. She loved her work and was proud that she was able to help others, especially veterans coping with post-traumatic stress as they continued their education.

Ms. Loeber was outgoing, intelligent, and empathetic. She is remembered by friends and family for her ability to make people feel special and for her love of the outdoors and travel. Our community has lost a kind and caring soul.

Mr. Speaker, Christine Loeber was a generous and empathetic person who was devoted to helping people in need. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor her here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Jennifer Gonzalez and remember her life, which was tragically cut short on March 9, 2018.

Ms. Gonzalez grew up in Mountain View, California where she was raised with her three brothers. She attended St. Martin of Tours School and graduated from Saint Francis High School. She continued her education at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and earned her Doctor of Psychology from Palo Alto University. When she returned to the South Bay she helped establish the Veterans Resource Center at San Jose State University, which provided direct Veterans Affairs services for our transitioning men and women.

Social work was Ms. Gonzalez's calling. She was committed to treating veterans with post-traumatic stress through her work at The Pathway Home and PsychArmor. Her father, Mike Gonzalez, said she had empathy and compassion for the veterans she worked with and ``wanted to be in the weeds with them.'' Local veterans described her as dedicated to her cause and warm and friendly to all she met. She was a giving person who was always trying to help other people.

On March 18, 2017, Ms. Gonzalez married T.J. Shushereba in Sacramento. Mr. Shushereba said that five hours into their first date he was smitten. Ms. Gonzalez was six months pregnant and she and her husband were excited to meet their first child, whose gender was to be a surprise.

Her father lovingly described her as ``the Halley's Comet of great daughters.'' She was a devoted granddaughter. She visited her grandmother every other week and would sing to her and care for her.

Mr. Speaker, Jennifer Gonzalez was a compassionate and altruistic person who was dedicated to social justice and helping veterans build positive lives. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor her here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Raymond Ralph Lochhead and remember his rich and full life.

Mr. Lochhead was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 28, 1923 and graduated from the California Institute of Technology. He founded the vanilla extraction and production company, R. R. Lochhead Manufacturing Co., in Paso Robles, California in 1963.

Mr. Lochhead was not only a businessman and entrepreneur. He was also a chemist, engineer, salesman, single-engine plane pilot and traveler. Mr. Lochhead frequently worked with his hands--he flew planes, fixed cars and built the house he lived in. He enjoyed skiing, fly fishing, sailing, hiking, photography, painting, singing and playing the piano.

The love of his life was Emilie, with whom he had five children--Guy, Louise, Carolyn, Josephine and Angus. Mr. Lochhead had eleven grandchildren--Raymond, Emilie, Louise, Angus, Rudy, Susannah, Jeanne, Jesse, Margaret, George and Henry and nine great-grandchildren. His family, including his brother James, were his life's driving force.

Mr. Speaker, Raymond Ralph Lochhead loved life deeply and was devoted to his family and his strong Mormon faith. He is an example of how passionately we should strive to live life. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor him here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Jennifer Leslie Gray Golick and remember her life, which was tragically cut short on March 9, 2018.

Ms. Golick was born in Houston, Texas and moved to Calistoga, California when she was young. She graduated from Calistoga High School in 1994. Ms. Golick earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of California at Davis, her Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Sonoma State University and her Ph.D. in Philosophy from Akami University.

I have known Ms. Golick for many years. Her mother and my wife worked together for over twenty years. I had the privilege of witnessing her grow into the beautiful and caring young woman so many in our community came to love. Ms. Golick's mantra of service and dedication is inspiring. She believed strongly that people could be healed by being heard. She was a compassionate listener for the veterans she served at The Pathway Home. When she began working at The Pathway Home in September of 2017, people there were excited for her fresh perspective, professional insight and most of all, her big heart and endless empathy.

She was also a champion for adolescent mental health and travelled the country speaking on the topic. Before she began working at The Pathway Home she worked at Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services in Petaluma, California, where she was highly regarded.

Ms. Golick was a mother to her young daughter, Makena, and a wife to her husband, Marc. They were a picture-perfect young family. She also had a love of running and competed in Crossfit and Tough Mudders.

Mr. Speaker, Jennifer Leslie Gray Golick was a devoted wife and mother and dedicated psychologist and community member. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor her here today.