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ADVOCACY ALERT: SB 895, California Science and Health Research Bond Act.

SB 895, the California Science & Health Research Bond Act has been introduced in the state legislator and is being sponsored by the University of California.  If passed, SB 895 will place a $23 billion bond on the November General Election ballot that will create and fund a California research authority to backfill the loss of Federal support for academic research. 

The bill will be heard in the Senate Health Committee on March 25. Government Relations has prepared information to assist all who are interested in helping to advocate for the bill with outreach to key members of the Senate Health Committee, including a sample email message to send to key offices. Given that the Senate Health Committee is considering the bill first, it is best to focus on members of that committee at this time.

UC divides responsibility for the state legislature among the 10 UC campuses, mostly by geography. UCLA has the largest legislative delegation of all the UC campuses due to the population of Los Angeles County. Members of the legislature tend to be most responsive to residents in or in proximity of their districts). Below are the names of all members who sit on the Senate Health Committee.  The information below will allow you to communicate with those members via phone, or email and includes a sample letter to use in your communications.  You can also sign on to support SB 895 via the Fund California Science site, which is collecting the names of those in support of this legislation.  

Thank you for your interest and willingness to engage in advocacy for SB 895.  We appreciate the opportunity to work with you on this important legislative priority. Should you decide to participate, please be sure to copy these members of UCLA’s government relations team so that we can properly coordinate our efforts:

UCLA Campus: Executive Director of State Government Relations Janet López (janetlopez@support.ucla.edu)

UCLA Health:  Director of State & Local Government Relations Jazmin Diego (jddiego@mednet.ucla.edu)

Additional information is as follows:

• For members that are part of the UCLA delegation, the relevant staff contact information is included. 
• You may personalize the sample email below and send a message to the staff in each office noted for the UCLA delegation. 
• If a member is identified as an “author” or “co-author,” we expect they will vote AYE for the bill. Those senators’ names are in bold below.
• Please prioritize advocacy efforts for members marked with an asterisk, since they are not yet cosponsors. 
• Additionally, we have identified some research topic(s) of particular interest for each UCLA delegation member to help you personalize your email, if applicable. 
• Lastly, if you travel to Sacramento before the hearing and want to meet with a staffer, their room number in the Legislative Swing Space (1021 O St. Sacramento, CA 95814) is noted in the table below.
• Please send your email to the relevant staff noted below no later than Wednesday, March 18.

Senate Health Committee, 11 members (at least 6 members must vote AYE for SB 895 to pass)

SAMPLE EMAIL to send to offices of legislators who are part of the UCLA delegation

Sample email subject line: SUPPORT SB 895 (Wiener, Pérez, Wahab)