Senator Brian Jones speaks on legislation, housing, fires and water

San Diego County Republican Senator Brian Jones represents over a million constituents, from Lemon Grove to Borrego Springs to Fallbrook and all the way to the Riverside County line. He agreed to come in and talk with Village News about what he's been up to as our representative.

Jones, as a minority party representative, was able to get six board ballot initiatives on Governor Gavin Newsom's desk to support not only San Diego County proper, but the unincorporated areas as well. Only one bill was returned unsigned.

"SB 400 bill is already signed off," Jones said during the interview, Sept. 28. "It helps school districts identify homeless students and link them with supporting agencies for meals, housing and counseling because a lot of homeless students are going unrecognized."

Another bill, SB 414, was signed by Newsom in July. The bill was a technical measure sponsored by Land Surveyors and supported by engineers and the state board that regulates them.

SB 534, also signed into law by Newsom, was a code cleanup measure co-sponsored by the California Dental Hygienists Association and regulating board.

Jones also wrote SB 549, which came out of the Human Services Committee and was designed after he learned that over 30,000 foster children were ready and waiting for placement, but Social Workers didn't have the necessary personal protective equipment needed in order to place them into homes. SB 549 would have prioritized Social Workers to actually receive PPE during the next pandemic. SB 549 was returned unsigned by Gov. Newsom.

SB 578 is legislation that was signed and passed to clearly define legal situations relating to conservatorships.

"Think Britney Spears," Jones said. "Conservatorships are normally closed to the public due to their sensitive nature but under special circumstances, a judge can order it open to the public with compelling evidence..."

Jones also said that SB 584, which addresses child labor and trafficking, also passed and was signed into law by Newsom.

"Two years ago a bill passed that required foster parents to receive training on how to recognize signs of both child labor issues as well as sex trafficking, which is a rising problem not only in San Diego County but in communities across the border," Jones said.

When asked about some of the other more controversial bills that were passed, Jones brought up SB 9, the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency (HOME) Act. He said SB 9 will affect housing development and substantially change single family housing throughout the state in urban areas overruling local planning and control allowing single family properties to convert into duplexes and fourplexes. It is not yet clear how SB 9 will affect Fallbrook and Bonsall.

SB 10 creates a voluntary process for local governments to access a streamlined zoning process for new multi-unit housing near transit or in urban infill areas, with up to 10 units per parcel. The legislation simplifies the CEQA requirements for up-zoning to increase density and provide affordable rental opportunities to more Californians.

Sen. Jones said, "The equity argument drives a lot of policy in Sacramento right now, and equity for the majority party is based on skin color rather than character and abilities and hard work," Jones said. "So it's a hard concept I have been wrapping my head around."

Village News asked Jones about water, another important issue for local residents and farmers.

"In San Diego County, we're doing a pretty good job of conservation," he said. "I grew up for a bit in Colorado and everyone had beautiful green lawns, but here we have several new single home developments in the district, some right by my house in Santee that are closer to xeriscape, which they should be. In the bigger picture regarding water...we need to build 2-3 more [reservoirs] and raise the capacity for a few existing reservoirs, but we can't get them approved by the minority party (Republican).

"For the farmers, we have canals and water infrastructure failing, and when it rains in Northern California, the water drains out to the Delta and the San Francisco Bay to the ocean and we lose hundreds of thousands of gallons of water," Jones continued. "We should raise Shasta and other reservoirs in Northern California, but we can't get the environmental mindset to support it."

Fires are another important topic. Village News asked Jones if he believes the forests are burning because of climate change.

"We're not thinning the forests due to the environmental lobbyists," he said. "And these are the same people lobbying to get us to give up our gas cars, because of emissions, and don't take into account that if we have one big fire it erases a year's worth of gas emission savings, and with the amount of fires we've had over the past few years, it erases 100 years – plus the wildlife. But it's very difficult to have a logical conversation with many lobbyists because some of them who live in the Bay Area have never even traveled to the mountains to see the heartbreaking effects of their policies, like the current wildfire in the Sequoias."

According to Jones, one of the most important jobs legislators have is what they do for the constituents with regards to services like employment development (EDD). "One of the most important jobs we have is what we do for the constituents with regards to services like employment development (EDD). Everyone knows how dysfunctional this system is. We've had 2,500 cases in our district alone that couldn't get through to the EDD for one or two months for money they deserve. Although the government caused this shutdown in the first place, our office was able to get issues solved for many of our constituents, but overall, here we are at 19 months and it's still not working."

Despite all the issues that California has to deal with in its current situation, Jones says he remains positive.

"California is still a dynamic state," Jones said. "My family moved here in 1978; my Dad was a homebuilder in Colorado, but when we came out here for a vacation, business was booming and so my Dad applied for a couple jobs and he was offered more jobs than he applied for, so we packed up and moved to San Diego. "Everything that made California great is still here – the sun, the beaches, Disneyland, the natural resources, Sea World, wine country, Fallbrook, it's just the politics of the people that are messing it up right now," he said. "In the end, I'm hopeful that voters seem to be waking up to the fact that they need to vote, and vote wiser."