Press Releases

Friday, June 28, 2019

SACRAMENTO – Assemblywoman Luz Rivas (D-Arleta) secured approximately $1 million in the State’s Budget to combat California’s homeless crisis. Yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the State’s Budget, which allocates $981,000 to the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency (BCSH) for six additional staff positions to expand the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council’s (Council) staff so that they can carry out their statutory mandate to end homelessness in California.

Given the critical nature of the state’s homelessness crisis, Assemblywoman Luz Rivas authored Assembly Bill (AB) 1702 to add six additional full-time staff positions to the Council so they can successfully complete their mission to identify, combat and reduce the state’s homeless population. Last Fall, Assemblywoman Luz Rivas convened a working group comprised of state and local departments, and advocates to discuss policy issues affecting the state’s growing homeless population.

Friday, June 28, 2019

SACRAMENTO – Yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the State’s Budget to allocate funds for the upcoming fiscal year. As part of the Budget, Assemblywoman Luz Rivas (D-Arleta) secured $5 million for Discovery Cube Los Angeles (DCLA), located in Sylmar, to build a Sustainability Park. The Park helps educate the public on the ways the state is working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  

DCLA is a children’s science museum located in the San Fernando Valley (SFV) that provides Angelenos with a fun, interactive, and educational environment.  SFV has an estimated population of 1.8 million people, and the county of Los Angeles is home to more than 10 million people. DCLA seeks to address the needs of this community by providing effective, hands-on learning experiences for students, families, and residents.

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

SACRAMENTO – Assemblywoman Luz Rivas (D-Arleta) authored Assembly Joint Resolution (AJR) 18 to urge Congress to enact House Resolution (HR) 1708, authored by the U.S. Representative Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), to add 191,000 acres of the Rim of the Valley Corridor to the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreational Area. AJR 18 passed out of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife yesterday with bi-partisan support.

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Assemblywoman Luz Rivas and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Hold Press Conference on California’s Hidden Homeless

SACRAMENTO – Assemblywoman Luz Rivas (D-Arleta) held a press conference on Assembly Bill (AB) 16 to ensure the state’s homeless students are getting the resources they need to succeed. Assemblywoman Luz Rivas was joined by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) Tony Thurmond, Chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, and her colleagues, Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, Cristina Garcia, Kevin McCarty and James Ramos.

AB 16 establishes a comprehensive policy approach that assist local communities that are struggling to provide services to homeless families with children by increasing the number of California Department of Education (CDE) Homeless Coordinators providing statewide oversight and, funding three geographically located County Offices of Education to develop Regional Technical Assistance Centers.

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

SACRAMENTO – Assemblywoman Luz Rivas (D-Arleta) comments on the annual point-in-time count delivered by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors. The results show a 12% increase countywide, totaling to 58,936 homeless individuals. In addition, the results show a 16% increase citywide, totaling to 36,300 homeless individuals in Los Angeles alone.  Of the overall county results, San Fernando Valley has a 4% increase bringing the total homeless population to 8,047.

“While we see these numbers as figures, it is important to note that a significant portion of these homeless individuals are the hidden homeless children,” said Assemblywoman Luz Rivas. “Earlier this year, the Governor created the homeless taskforce to combat the state’s homelessness. While the Governor’s taskforce is a welcome addition to the fight against homelessness, we also have a Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council (entity) that is legislatively mandated to address and end the state’s homeless crisis.

The County increased their efforts to combat homelessness and has housed over 21,000 people last year through various systems and interventions. While the County is housing people at a rapid rate, they are unable to keep pace with the amount of people becoming homeless.

“I applaud our County’s effort to house homeless individuals, but the homeless crisis has proven to be too overwhelming which is why I have authored AB 1702 to encourage the Governor, taskforce, and my colleagues to give this entity the resources it needs because this data tells us the county can’t do it alone,” said Assemblywoman Luz Rivas.

Assemblywoman Rivas proudly represents the 39th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Arleta, Lake View Terrace, Granada Hills, Mission Hills, North Hollywood, Pacoima, Sun Valley, Sunland-Tujunga, Sylmar, and San Fernando.

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Thursday, May 16, 2019

SACRAMENTO – Assemblywoman Luz Rivas (D-Arleta) and Governor Gavin Newsom had a discussion on how to highlight women’s rights by utilizing California’s Film and Television Tax Credit to incentivize production companies operating in states with stricter abortion laws to work in California. This announcement follows Georgia and Alabama’s recent decision to outlaw abortions, both who are feeling the blowback from movie stars and production companies. 

“States like Georgia and Alabama are turning women’s rights into a race to the bottom. As a woman of color, shame on you. Shame on you for denying women a basic health right. Shame on you for belittling and devaluing women. Shame on you for taking away a woman’s right to choose,” said Assemblywoman Luz Rivas.

“I am proud to be a Californian because we value women, and that is why I will be introducing Assembly Bill (AB) 1442, the California Share Our Values Film Tax Incentive to encourage production companies to relocate from states with strict abortion laws to film and operate in California. This incentive will provide a boost to production companies, in addition to our existing Film and Television Tax Credit,” said Assemblywoman Luz Rivas.

California’s progressive policies, robust economy, diverse pool of talent, endless opportunities, and unmatched climate and landscapes sets our state apart from the nation as the golden standard for the arts and entertainment industry.  California’s film industry generates nearly $50 billion for our state’s economy. The California Film and Television Tax Credit aims to keep production companies in California and position our state to be competitive among other states and countries with a robust film and television industry.

“My bill provides the film industry a relocation incentive during a time of national uproar that has ensued from these shameful actions of restricting access to abortion services, and the call to action from several Hollywood stars and studios to instead avoid film production in states that do not respect women or their rights,” said Assemblywoman Luz Rivas.

“California is both a leader in women’s rights and the film industry. We hope those who are filming in these regressive states will come to California and share our values.”

Assemblywoman Rivas proudly represents the 39th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Arleta, Lake View Terrace, Granada Hills, Mission Hills, North Hollywood, Pacoima, Sun Valley, Sunland-Tujunga, Sylmar, and San Fernando.

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Friday, May 10, 2019

SACRAMENTO – Assemblywoman Luz Rivas (D-Arleta), member of the Assembly Budget Committee, has issued the following statement on Governor Newsom’s revised budget proposal:

“I applaud Governor Gavin Newsom’s efforts to uphold his promise to his ‘California for All’ state budget proposal; his commitment to tackle the state’s debt, bolster our Rainy Day Fund to safeguard the state from potential future fiscal uncertainty, without foregoing investment in the state’s most critical needs.

Due to the lack of affordable housing, constituents like mine are one paycheck away from having their families, and children become homeless. It is unfathomable to expect our homeless students to focus and perform in schools, when they do not have a place to live.  After years of an exacerbated homeless and housing crisis, the Governor has allocated $1 billion to boost the states’ effort to combat homelessness, and $1.75 billion to increase housing production. My focus remains on the state’s homeless and housing crisis.

The Governor and I can both agree that every student in California deserves to succeed. I agree with the Governor’s dedicated funding on enrollment slots for our low-income preschool students, provide resources to train and retain our K-12 classroom educators, make college affordable through free tuition to full-time students at community colleges and prevent tuition increases at our UCs and CSUs. I am also particularly pleased to see that the Governor recognized and provided funds to our computer science education and STEM programs. I believe that is a fantastic early investment opportunity to cultivate our next generation’s work force. There is still much to do, but this is a good start.

The Governor has proven himself to be a champion of working families through his relief efforts in providing more paid time off for parents to bond with their newborns, and provide tax exemptions for feminine hygiene products and diapers. 

I fully support the Governor’s action to allocate $9.6 million ongoing funds for the continuation of language access and interpreter services in the Judicial System. This eliminates barriers and provides relief for non-English speakers and English as a second language learner to have equal protection rights in the court systems.

Lastly, I commend the Governor’s efforts to tripling the state’s earned income tax credit to $1.2 billion, to eliminate additional burdens on low-income families by allowing Californians to keep what they have earned.

I look forward to continue working with the Governor, and my colleagues to carry the, ‘California for All’ momentum.” 

The Governor’s proposed budget can be found here: http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2019-20/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/FullBudgetSummary.pdf

Assemblywoman Rivas proudly represents the 39th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Arleta, Lake View Terrace, Granada Hills, Mission Hills, North Hollywood, Pacoima, Sun Valley, Sunland-Tujunga, Sylmar, and San Fernando.

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