The second session was really a great eye opener into the
legislative process in California. This was a much needed review for me–it's
been since high school that I really went over the legislative process. I
was looking forward to learning a great deal throughout this session and also
getting to meet with new people and spending time with my fellow classmates.
The first night, we met for dinner with Gary
Conover, a lobbyist for Western United Dairymen, and Jim Collins, a consultant.
We met at the Broiler Room where we enjoyed a nice dinner where Gary and
Jim gave us a good intro to the legislative process in California. Gary
passed out papers to us expanding on what we talked about. I had a hard
time fully understanding all of what we talked about but throughout the week,
everything sank in well.
The second
day started out with a tour of the State Capitol. We went into the upper
levels of both the Senate and Assembly buildings and also got a great tour of
the outer gardens. The history was very interesting to me and certainly
made me appreciate the Capitol building. After our tour, we sat in on a Senate
meeting in the Labor and Industrial Relations division. They were
reviewing bills and moving or closing them. The bills were introduced,
given defense and offense, and then voted upon. We watched a few bills go
through and then were off to meet with different Assembly and Senate members.
We met with many Assemblymen and women, as well as Senators. I
enjoyed meeting and talking with all of them. I was especially impressed
with David Valadao (R - Assembly) and Fiona Ma (D - Assembly). David is a
dairyman from Hanford area and was a very comfortable guy to be around.
Easy going and told it like it is. He did not come off as a
politician, but as a man who genuinely cares about where the state is headed.
Fiona was very impressive to me also, in that she took time to learn
about agriculture and where her food comes from by visiting many places.
She handed us a three sided document full of places she had visited;
dairies, vineyards, water districts, wineries, olive orchards, cotton, row
crops and citrus, just to name a few. I was very impressed by her drive
to learn about the industry.
Finally, on the third day we
were introduced on both the floors. Senator Cannella introduced
us on the floor of the Senate and Assemblyman Valadao introduced us on the
floor of the Assembly. This concluded our week in Sacramento.
Overall I really enjoyed this session. It was nice to meet and talk
with members and also learn about the legislative process as well as the
history behind it all in California. I really appreciated Gary Conover
giving us the inside scoop and showing us the Capitol, introducing us, and
teaching us; I really enjoyed everything. I will be looking forward to
the next session in August!
