Our California Assemblymember Scott Wilk was the guest speaker at the October 1, 2013 PRNC Board Meeting. Wilk was elected to the 38th Assembly District in the June 2012 elections. His district spans from Simi Valley to Santa Clarita.

Scott Wilk Remarks

His remarks began with comments about the budget and bill approval process. He explained that bills are often brought to a vote when they have been available for consideration for such a short time that no analysis has been provided on the bill; therefore, votes are being cast without sufficient information. He is requesting that bills be available for three days before they come for a vote to allow Assemblymembers to consider their vote.

Wilk further explained the “gut and amend” process, “this controversial legislative maneuver is when a lawmaker takes an existing bill that has already been approved by several committees or even one house of the Legislature, then strips the contents and adds in new unrelated bill language.”

This is done in the hopes that the items will get approved along with the main bill item or under the name of the old bill item, even if the original key elements of the bill have been gutted. With things moving quickly at the end of the legislative calendar, it can be difficult to track what has been added to or struck from a bill. “If policy ideas are controversial and would normally struggle their way through the legislative process, a ‘gut and amend’ is the perfect tool to evade public scrutiny… the Legislature should focus on supporting more transparent and accountable practices,” asserts Wilk.

Among the projects that Wilk has been working on are the Local Control Formula Act which would eliminate categorical grants for schools, allowing them more control over how that money is spent and AB806 which would have given the community colleges the discretion to hire more counselors. Community colleges have been called on to graduate a larger percentage of their students.  Counselors are integral to the success of increasing the graduation rates, but with the current number of students per counselor, not all students can get help from a counselor. This bill was wending its way through the approval process when the California Teacher's Association expressed its disapproval to Assemblymembers who supported it, intimidating them into removing their support.

PRNC Board Member Sean O'Rourke asked what California is doing to keep filming in California and suggested specific language to incent shows to move back. Other stakeholders inquired about making California friendly to businesses and reducing the $800 annual Limited Liability Corporation cost. Wilk emphatically replied, "We did nothing this year to encourage business."

Action on Porter Ranch Trees

On a more positive note, meeting attendees expressed concern about dead and dying pine trees near Rinaldi and the 118 and Scott Wilk took action. The day after our meeting he requested that Cal-Trans remove the dead trees on the north side of the 118 near Reseda and Tampa. As of mid-October dead trees within Cal-Trans jurisdiction are being removed. The PRNC will be asking the City for help in removing dead trees on the parkways of Rinaldi and surrounding areas. Homeowners who have beetle infested dying trees should quickly remove them to prevent more trees from being infected. The PRNC appreciates Scott Wilk's quick action to save the beautiful trees in our community.

If you live near trees that are affected by the bark beetle you may be interested in reading this UC Davis article about bark beetle identification and prevention.

Bark beetle infested trees were removed from the north side of the 118