On May 20 and 21, Jewish Federation Los Angeles joined representatives from 13 Jewish organizations from across California to participate in the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California’s (JPAC) 2013 Advocacy Day in Sacramento – an excellent opportunity to strengthen relationships, discuss policy, and represent the greater Jewish community statewide to our legislators. We put our Jewish values into action as we lobbied our elected representatives on key points and heard directly from high-ranking public officials on issues affecting all Californians.
Panel on Israel/California trade (L to R): Abigail Browning of the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield and Israeli Consul General Andy David (Pacific Northwest Consulate), moderated by Dave Rand at the dais, Chair of JPAC.
We met with State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Senator Kevin De Léon, Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield and others, and we were thrilled to be present when JPAC honored Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez with its 2013 Legislator of the Year Award. We lobbied in support of several measures to close loopholes in existing gun safety legislation; the passage of AB518, which establishes the Community-Based Adult Services (CBAS) program as a Medi-Cal eligible benefit and codifies the program in State law; and for their signatures on a letter from all state lawmakers to the University of California Regents, thanking them for their stance against various student government efforts to urge UC’s divestment from companies that do business with Israel.
JPAC also hosted two panel discussions: the first on the intersection of gun violence and mental health and the second on the Israel/California trade relationship. The first panel featured State Senator Kevin De Leon, Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, and Rusty Selix, Executive Director of the Mental Health Association of CA. The second panel featured Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield, Abigail Browning of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, and Israeli Consul General of the Pacific Northwest, Dr. Andy David. The lively discussion on both panels educated and informed JPAC advocates and were useful during their legislative meetings that afternoon.
The evening before we ventured out to lobby our officials, JPAC hosted a cocktail reception, where we were joined by many of our Assemblymembers and Senators, including Senator Mark Leno, Assemblymembers Bob Blumenfield, Katcho Achadjian, Steve Fox, Cheryl Brown, Jose Medina, Adrin Nazarian, and several others.
JPAC is the largest single-state coalition of Jewish organizations in the nation. Comprised of local Jewish Federations, Jewish Community Relations Committees and Councils, and other Jewish community advocacy groups from throughout California it advocates on behalf of Jewish social service agencies, traditional community concerns, and broadly shared values that affect the citizens of our State. If you’d like to learn more about JPAC, contact Julie Zeisler at julie@jpac-cal.org.
Our Federation is a proud member of JPAC, and our Community Engagement Strategic Initiative works to build a strong Jewish community, meaningful relationships, and a better city and state.
