The fourth grade class went to Sacramento on June 4, 2018, to meet with Senator Bob Hertzberg on the floor of the senate and lobby on behalf of chosen bills. To prepare, the students decided where to help make positive change. Selected topics included homelessness, child welfare, gun control, animal rights, disability rights, environmental protection, fire protection, driving safety, and police training. Each group interviewed experts and activists in their chosen categories, researched statistics, found related bills currently in process in the legislature, and prepared arguments and counter arguments to speak on the ideological, financial, and political impact of these bills.
June 14, 2018
4th Graders Voice their Opinions in Sacramento
The fourth graders represented themselves, their families, and Oakwood School spectacularly during the entirety of their trip to Sacramento. Senator Bob Hertzberg was so taken with their preparedness, that he’s preparing written responses to their presentations. The day after the trip the students wrote thank you notes to Senator Hertzberg. The various ways they completed the following line in their letters gives you a window into what this experience taught them.
Preparing for our meeting and working on an issue I care about taught me:
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- That if you’re a senator, you put people before yourself, and it’s tough because you make hard decisions.
- How bills are created into laws, and that bills are really important for our
community because maybe one day they will become laws. - That I can accomplish anything I put my heart into.
- That kids have a voice, too, and there are problems in the world we need to fix.
- To never give up on an issue.
- That so many people have died from guns, and they don’t have a voice to speak
up. So I’m going to be their voice. - To follow my dreams because I care about animals.
- That having a home is not a privilege, it’s a right, and that everyone should get what they need.
- That just because I’m a kid, what I work on can really change things.
- That one person can make a big difference.
- There are important things in life worth caring about.
- To support issues I care about.
- To always stand up for what I believe in.
- That you don’t always win in politics.
- We should always use our voice for what we believe in.
- All the ways fires can be prevented.
- That animals don’t have as much of a voice as people think.
- That not everyone agrees on the same thing.
- That it’s good to be engaged with politics, and that you should work for change.
- That we can turn the world around.
Below are articles written by the 4th grade class.
Bill 100
By Leo and Miles
We support the bill SB100. SB100 will make it so California will be 60% carbon free energy by 2030 and 100% by 2045. We need people to support this bill to make California 100% renewable. By 2045, there will be less fossil fuels, so you will have to pay more for them, so it is worth paying a little more. 1 This bill will create more than 100,000 jobs witch is also good because that is helping people in need of jobs. 2 People who are living near fossil fuel plants are getting sick and dying. 3 If you support this bill, call these senators to vote yes. Our world is in danger because we are burning fossil fuels and that is killing animals, plants, habitats, and even people. Please call these numbers to make California 100% renewable!
State Senate
Speaker of the Senate: Gavin Newsom
Tel: (916) 445-8994
Speaker pro Tempore of the Senate: Toni Atkins
Tel: (916) 651.4039
Senate Majority Leader: Bill Monning
Tel: 916.651.4017
Senate Minority Leader: Patricia Bates
Tel: 916.651.4036
Footnotes
1 https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/
2 Laura Wisland, a senior energy analyst at Union Concerned Scientist
3 Laura Wisland, a senior energy analyst at Union Concerned Scientist
Bill SB-1376
By Colette, Alexa, Siena, and Callie
We support bill SB-1376. This bill makes sure that every private transportation company has a way for people with disabilities to enter a vehicle. Did you know that there are only around 230 yellow taxi cab vehicles that are wheelchair accessible in LA? 1. This bill will make that number rise. If you are in a wheelchair and call for a Lyft, it will say that they can not help you. It sends you links to other transportation companies in different countries.2. On Uberpool, and Uberpool Express, they don’t even try to help those with disabilities, and the car doesn’t come.3. We hope that our community will take notice of those with disabilities. If you would like to help we would really appreciate it if you would call these senators and ask them to vote yes! We hope that everyone will get equal transportation.
State Senate
Speaker of the Senate: Gavin Newsom
Tel: (916) 445-8994
Speaker pro Tempore of the Senate: Toni Atkins
Tel: (916) 651.4039
Senate Majority Leader: Bill Monnin
Tel: 916.651.4017
Senate Minority Leader: Patricia Bates
Tel: 916.651.4036
Footnotes:
1. LA Times
2. LA Times
3. LA Times
AB2911
By Lukas and Isaac
We support bill AB 2911 because many of the recent fires in California 2017 possibly could have been prevented with this bill by adding in fire breaks, fire modified buildings, secondary access roads, and clear power lines from vegetation. It is bad to have vegetation near power lines because most power outages are caused by vegetation.1 This bill will make more money for clearing vegetation from power lines.
Windows are a fire hazard because the fire breaks the glass from the window and lets the fire enter through the open window.2 I think the builders will make glass stronger.
An example is: if you are in a big apartment on the 32 floor and the glass breaks and lets fire in you do not have anywhere to go. It is important to have secondary exits because if a fire is coming in one way, you could always take the other exit.3 I think it is important to have secondary exits because if one door is on fire you can go through the back door. If you really want to help, we would really appreciate if you would call these senators and ask them to vote yes on bill AB2911! We hope to have people more aware of fire safety in the future.
Footnotes:
1. unision
2. How stuff works
3. OSHA
Please call the following State Assembly Members and ask them to vote yes on bill AB2911.
State Assembly
Speaker of the Assembly: Anthony Rendon
Tel: (916) 319-2063
Speaker pro Tempore of the Assembly: Kevin
Tel: (916) 319-2022
Assembly Majority Leader: Ian Calderon
Tel: (916) 319-2057
Assembly Minority Leader: Brian Dahle
Tel: (916)-319-2001
Bill AB 2888
By Orion, Joe, and Derek
We support bill AB 2888.This bill will make it so that so people who work at high schools or colleges or law enforcement officers to take to court people who they think are dangerous to themselves or others with the goal of preventing them of owning/obtaining a gun. Do you know how dangerous gun violence is? 1.On an average day, 96 Americans are killed with guns.2.On an average year, there are nearly 1,300 gun homicides in the United states per year caused by gun violence 3.62 percent of firearm Deaths in the US are suicides. That is crazy that gun violence is bad in America. We hope that gun violence will decrease but for now please call these senators to vote yes on Bill AB 2888. We hope for America to be gun safe place. This “red flag” bill has already past the Assembly and is now in the Senate.
State Senate
Speaker of the senate: Gavin Newsom
Tel: (916) 445-8994
Speaker pro Tempore of the Senate: Toni Atkins
Tel: (916) 651.4039
Senate Majority Leader: Bill Monning
Tel: 916.651.4017
Senate Minority Leader: Patricia Bates
Tel: 916.651.4036
Footnotes:
1. 2. 3. https://everytownresearch.org/
Bill AB-2888
By Ella, Jagger, and Ora
We support bill AB 2888. This bill will allow someone to file a complaint to the court if somebody poses a threat to himself or herself or another, with the goal of preventing them from owning/obtaining a gun. If they can be proven dangerous, they will have their gun removed for a year. We believe in stopping gun violence because it is a danger to all citizens. Jagger lost her uncle last summer to gun violence, and she wants to stop gun violence very badly, and so does everyone else in our group. Every 12 months more than 130,000 people are shot.1 This fact is important because this number of people should go way down and it is crazy to think about. Roughly 16,459 murders with guns were committed in the U.S. during 2016.2 This fact is important because that is way too many murders for the U.S. This bill has passed the Assembly. Please call these senators and ask them to vote yes on bill AB 2888.
Speaker of the Senate: Gavin Newsom
Tel: (916) 445-8994
Speaker pro Tempore of the Senate: Toni Atkins
Tel: (916) 651.4039
Senate Majority Leader: Bill Monning
Tel: 916.651.4017
Senate Minority Leader: Patricia Bate
Tel: 916.651.4036
Footnotes:
1.https://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp
2.https://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp
Bill SB-1331
By Kam and Reed
SB-1331 will expand the police training about domestic violence crime scenes and include specific training for potentially lethal situations. The goal of the lethality assessment is to prevent domestic violence, homicides, serious injury, and support domestic violence programs. Take a look at these 3 facts: 1. 50% percent of the time, a civilian is hurt by a police officer after calling for service. 2. 30% of the time, civilians are hit by a gun. 3. Only 7% of the time, a citizen gets taken into custody without getting hurt.
In our opinion, that is outrageous. SB-1331 will decrease the numbers in those facts and make crime scenes safer. If you believe in this bill, we would like you to call these numbers and ask them to vote yes on SB-1331.
Speaker of the Assembly: Anthony Rendon
Tel: (916) 319-2063
Speaker pro Tempore of the Assembly: Kevin Mullin
Tel: (916) 319-2022
Assembly Majority Leader: Ian Calderon
Tel: (916) 319-2057
Assembly Minority Leader: Brian Dahle
Tel: 916-319-2001
State Senate
Speaker of the Senate: Gavin Newsom
Tel: (916) 445-8994
This is why we support bill SB-1331, and we hope you support it, too.
Facts 1,2,and 3 are all from: https://openjustice.doj.ca.gov/2016/use-of-force
Bill SB-1030
By Will and Levi
We support bill SB-1030. This bill makes it so that instead of getting just a ticket for driving while using a phone, you get a point and a ticket on your driver’s license. Do you know how dangerous distracted driving is? Nearly 390,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by distracted driving. 1. This bill will reduce that percentage. Texting while driving is 6 times more likely to cause an accident than driving intoxicated. 2. That is insane considering driving drunk is so bad. In 2015, approximately 3,477 people in the country died in crashes that involve distracted driving.3. We hope that over the years this doesn’t happen. If you really want to help, we would really appreciate if you would call these senators and ask them to vote yes! We hope to have no cell phone caused accidents!
State Senate
Speaker of the Senate: Gavin Newsom
Tel: (916) 445-8994
Speaker pro Tempore of the Senate: Toni Atkins
Tel: (916) 651.4039
Senate Majority Leader: Bill Monning
Tel: 916.651.4017
Senate Minority Leader: Patricia Bates
Tel: 916.651.4036
Footnotes:
1. WWW.edgarsnyder.com
2. WWW.edgarsnyder.com
3. WWW.Ncsl.com
Bill AB3
By Ruby and Sylvie
We support bill AB-3 which will raise the age of people buying guns from 18-21. The two worst school shootings in American history were made by two people under 21. 1. Adults 18-21 represent 4% of the population, but commit 17% of gun homicides. 2. Just as raising the drinking age to 21 significantly reduced the rate of auto fatalities among 18 to 21 year olds. It’s time to address the unique risk guns pose when they are in the hands of unsupervised 18 to 21 year olds. 3.Californians under the age of 21 can’t purchase alcohol, tobacco, or other health hazardous items, so they shouldn’t be able to purchase guns. 4. In California the age restriction is already 21 years of age, So we are trying to raise all the gun restriction ages to 21. 5. Please call these assembly members and ask them to vote yes on bill AB-3:
State Assembly
Speaker of the Assembly: Anthony Rendon
Tel: (916) 319-2063
Speaker pro Tempore of the Assembly: Kevin Mullin
Tel: (916) 319-2022
Assembly Majority Leader: Ian Calderon
Tel: (916) 319-2057
Assembly Minority Leader: Brian Dahle
Tel: 916-319-2001
Bill SB 918
By Jasper, June, Clio, and Selma
We support bill SB 918. This bill creates an Office for Homeless Youth to coordinate services for homeless youth. Only 20 of California’s 58 counties participate services in youth homelessness even though they have homeless youth.1 This bill will make sure more counties will have resources for homeless children to go to because California has so many homeless youth. 2-3 million people become homeless every year in the United States of America.2 This bill will help stop the growing homeless youth population. This bill helps encourage the prevention of kids/young adults going to juvenile detention, having bad drugs, or doing dangerous things. 3 That’s why SB 918 will make California a better place for everyone to live in. This bill already passed the senate. Please call the assembly members listed below and ask them to vote yes on bill SB 918. We hope eventually everybody has a home!
State Assembly
Speaker of the Assembly: Anthony Rendon
Tel: (916) 319-2063
Speaker pro Tempore of the Assembly: Kevin Mullin
Tel: (916) 319-2022
Assembly Majority Leader: Ian Calderon
Tel: (916) 319-2057
Assembly Minority Leader: Brian Dahle
Tel: 916-319-2001
Footnotes:
- Fact Sheet
- National Coalition For The Homeless
- Fact Sheet
Bill AB-2043
By Frankie and Zoe
We support bill AB2043. This bill will create a hotline for children and their parents or foster family to receive help from trained professionals when they are having a crisis. Did you know that 11.6% of children who are abused are denied adoption because of their behavior? 1. We think that if this bill passed, it would make a difference in behavior and lessen the amount of abuse in the next generation. 7% of children who are abused are less than one 2.
We think that this number will lessen if advice could be given from professionals. 31% of children who are abused in CA are in between the ages of 1-5. 3. I hope this bill will make it so that children get the help that they need. Our bill has already passed Assembly. Please call the numbers below and ask the Senators to vote yes on bill AB-2043.
State Senate
Speaker of the Senate: Gavin Newsom
Tel: (916) 445-8994
Speaker pro Tempore of the Senate: Toni Atkins
Tel: (916) 651.4039
Senate Majority Leader: Bill Monning
Tel: 916.651.4017
Senate Minority Leader: Patricia Bates
Tel: 916.651.4036
Footnotes:
- Child Welfare Information Gateway childwelfare.gov
- Child Welfare Information Gateway childwelfare.gov
- Child Welfare Information Gateway childwelfare.gov
Bill AB-2043
By Ari, Kai, Sawyer, Trevor, Jorge, and Ezra
We support bill AB2043.This bill creates a hotline for the foster parents or youth to call when the kids are having reactions, or emotions after they get abused. Then trained professionals will help work out the situation. 11.6 % of children that have been abused are denied for adoption because of their behavior.1 This bill would help because trained professionals would help them cool down their behavior. Kids less than 1 years old are 7 % of kids that get abused.2 This bill would help because if the trained professionals can help the kids, it would stop the cycle of abuse in the kids’ families. Please call these numbers and ask the Assembly Members to vote yes on bill AB-2043.Every child should feel safe, and happy in their home, and have rights.Our bill has already passed Assembly. Please call the numbers below and ask the Senators to vote yes on bill AB-2043.
State Senate
Speaker of the Senate: Gavin Newsom
Tel: (916) 445-8994
Speaker pro Tempore of the Senate: Toni Atkins
Tel: (916) 651.4039
Senate Majority Leader: Bill Monning
Tel: 916.651.4017
Senate Minority Leader: Patricia Bates
Tel: 916.651.4036
Footnotes:
1.Child Welfare Information Gateway
- Child Welfare Information Gateway,
Bill HR 2790
By Violet and Sam
We support bill HR 2790. This bill will make it so that all animals will stop being tested on for make-up, and it will help save innocent animals. It’s estimated that 500,000 mice, guinea pigs, rats, and rabbits suffer and die in these tests every year throughout the world.1 Less animals will suffer if this bill passes, because after a test, the animal is sometimes killed. Pain relief is rarely provided for the animal, so throughout the test the animal is in pain.2 This bill will make it so that the animal does not suffer in pain. We hope that people will pick up the phone and call the Senate and ask them to vote yes on this bill. We hope that all over the USA animals will stop being tested on for make-up, which is not even a life-saving thing.
Please call these numbers:
Representative Adam Schiff
(202) 225-4176
Congresswoman Maxine Waters
(213) 757-8900
Bill AB 2791
By Lilah, Paloma, Lala, and Jenna
We support bill AB-2791. This bill will help very young puppies and kittens get out of the kill shelters and in rescue organizations that will care for them! 1. About 649,000 animals who enter shelters as strays are returned to their owners. 2. Some families have pets that are a part of their family, so we should treat the ones in the kill shelters the same. 3. Humans threaten wildlife through harassment. Not everybody takes good care of their pets, some people even chain their pets for long periods of time. Some animals are confined in such tight corners that they can’t move. We hope you can call these numbers that are listed below and ask them to vote yes on bill AB-2791. We hope animal rights improve. (And they will, if we can get this bill to pass!)
Speaker of the Assembly: Anthony Rendon
Tel: (916) 319-2063
Speaker pro Tempore of the Assembly: Kevin Mullin
Tel: (916) 319-2022
Assembly Majority Leader: Ian Calderon
Tel: (916) 319-2057
Assembly Minority Leader: Brian Dahle
Tel: 916-319-2001
Footnotes:
1: National Kitten Coalition
2: Animal Welfare Institute
3: Animal Welfare Institute