An honor to serve

Tribal leaders and legislators gather on the Assembly floor to celebrate California Native American Day.

It’s been my honor to serve the people of the 75th Assembly District for the past 12 years. With extensive agricultural areas, deserts and mountains, including all 18 of San Diego County’s sovereign Indian tribal nations, we are one of the most diverse regions in California.

My legislation has been a re­flection of the district’s unique character. For example, much of this region is considered a high or very high fire hazard severity zone. During the Li­lac Fire in December, 2017, the Rancho Monserate community in Fallbrook was devastated. Due to archaic state laws that didn’t recognize common inter­est ownership, residents were being denied rebuilding loans and permits. I immediately in­troduced an urgency bill chang­ing the law so the community could rebuild. It was signed into law by Governor Brown and went into effect immediate­ly. More recently, I’ve been able to direct over $13 million to help fund local fire safety projects. This resulted in recent ground breakings for new fire stations in Fallbrook and Crest. A new station to replace the “tempo­rary” Deer Springs station is on the way, and Valley Center Fire Protection District was able to buy a badly needed brush fire apparatus. Safety gear and fire apparatus, along with other equipment have also been fund­ed for San Marcos Fire, Rincon Fire and elsewhere. And this session, Governor Newsom signed my bill to create Infra­structure Financing Districts for fire agencies and counties to access funding for capital im­provement projects and heavy equipment to mitigate fire dan­ger in high fire risk areas.

Two of my bills brought Cali­fornia into conformity with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act regarding placement of Indian children during custody dis­putes, And given the important cultural, economic and public safety contributions of local tribes, I authored a resolution recognizing California Native American Day. Last session, along with Assemblyman Edu­ardo Garcia, I also introduced a bill allowing tribal governments to access water from nearby wa­ter districts.

In 2021 my legislation ex­tended the deadline for the City of Escondido to access Prop 1E funding for the Lake Wohlford Dam Seismic Strengthening project to 2028. The new, seis­mically safe dam should be com­pleted in 2027.

The Legislature serves all Californians, but I’ve always considered the people of the 75th Assembly District my first priority.

Assemblymember Marie Waldron, R- Valley Center, represents the 75th Assembly District in the Cali­fornia Legislature, which includes the cities of Poway, Santee, por­tions of the City of San Diego, and most of rural eastern and northern San Diego County.

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