Marin legislators call COVID-19 top priority for 2021
Marin County’s two state representatives say the Legislature must take swift action in 2021 to recover from the many impacts of the coronavirus and correct course where the state’s response failed.
“We started 2020 without COVID being the top priority,” said Assemblyman Marc Levine, D- Greenbrae. “We are heading into
2021 with COVID as the primary concern as it must be.”
“First and foremost our
No. 1 priority is to disseminate the vaccine to as many people as possible,” said state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg. “I’m a firm believer that our next phase must have teachers and school employees at the top of the list to receive the next round of vaccines after first responders.”
Levine began the new legislative session this month by introducing a bill in response to the overwhelming number of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes and what he said was the state’s “awful response” in the early months.
The bill, AB 6, would require the departments of Public Health and Social Services to establish guidelines when responding to pandemics and other crises at skilled nursing centers, intermediate care centers and “congregate living health facilities.”
“They were sending inspectors without adequate ( personal protective equipment) and without COVID-19 tests, so potentially spreading the virus among a very fragile population,” Levine said. “We began these conversations with them last year and we want to continue to shine a light on the importance of planning and care for this very vulnerable population.”
About 84% of the 108 coronavirus deaths recorded in Marin County as of Thursday have been nursing home patients.
Both Levine and McGuire said the state must increase funding to allow schools to safely reopen and not bear the brunt of the costs.
“Our school districts are stretching budgets on a daily basis in a normal year and we should not break them because of the pandemic,” Levine said.
“I also believe the state is going to be focused on enhanced funding for school districts to be able to meet the demands of reopening including for bridging the digital divide and protective equipment for school employees as well as students,” McGuire said.
In addition, the state must redouble its efforts to support and retain small businesses, especially in the critical tour
ism sector for the North Bay, McGuire said.
While coronavirus will be a significant focus of the Legislature, the two legislators said priorities such as addressing wildfire risks, housing and transportation issues cannot be ignored.
This month, McGuire and other colleagues introduced SB 12, which would require state and local governments to require any new development in high-risk fire areas to follow new fire safety standards such as vegetation fuel breaks, mandatory evacuation routes and mandatory access points for public safety responders.
“It's a sweeping bill that will help save the lives of Californians. We see this risk living in the shadow of Mt. Tam,” McGuire said. “These are common-sense measures.”
Levine said he will push to ensure local governments identify a landing place for their evacuation routes so that people know where to go in the case of an emergency.
The bill would be one part of a strategy being developed to better prepare for the next fires and attempt to prevent them, McGuire said. Other strategies include expanding CalFire's ranks; using the California Conservation Corps to backfill inmate fire crews and manage vegetation; and increasing the use of prescribed burns, he said.
Levine said he wants to ensure actions being taken by governments to make their communities more fire safe will be factored into fire insurance rates. Additionally, Levine said he will push to lengthen the oneyear moratorium implemented by the state prohibiting insurance companies from non-renewals or cancellations of residential property insurance policies in communities that have been impacted by wildfires.
“I want to make sure that these are protections that people can count on,” Levine said.
On housing, McGuire said the state Senate is working to craft an affordable housing bond meant to incentivize development and address the state's housing crisis. A dollar amount has yet to be decided, he said.
“These dollars will be deployed on the ground to build desperately needed housing and to create jobs we so desperately need,” McGuire said.
On climate, McGuire said he will be advancing a bill to streamline building offshore wind energy sites and to ban fracking throughout the state.
Both Levine and McGuire said advancing a plan to revamp the floodprone Highway 37 and address sea-level rise risks must also be prioritized. An environmental review of potential strategies is expected to be released in late 2021, McGuire said.
Levine said he is hopeful under the incoming administration of Presidentelect Joe Biden that funding for projects such as Highway 37 will be passed.
“The prioritization of Highway 37 is a case study in how to prepare for sealevel rise,” Levine said. “So it's an important model for other transportation infrastructure projects in the state and around the country.”