Photo taken by: BJ Hansen
Sacramento, CA — In an interview with Clarke Broadcasting, freshman Republican Senator Andreas Borgeas spoke about a couple of the bills he has been focusing on this legislative session.
Borgeas, a former Fresno County Supervisor, was elected to fill the District 8 seat of outgoing Senator Tom Berryhill.
He notes, “Last month was the deadline for bills to be introduced, and to my understanding, there were about 3,000 that were introduced this session. Those will be whittled down and refined over the year.”
One piece of legislation that was earlier approved by lawmakers, and will go into effect in 2020, is the California Consumer Privacy Act that intends to allow residents to know more about what information technology companies are collecting about them. Borgeas has been keeping a close eye on the act while serving as Vice Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He notes, “It is our responsibility to review the legal aspects of this, and because it is such a cutting edge issue, trying to figure out how we make certain that everyone like me, you and all of your listeners, when we go onto the internet, and we provide information through a variety of platforms, whether it is Facebook, or Google, or telephone cell service providers, make sure we know what they do with that information, and how we can protect ourselves.”
On a separate matter, asked about fire prevention ahead of the summer season, Borgeas mentioned that he is a principal co-author of a bill that would lower the local match from the current 25-percent to 10-percent that agencies pay to remove dead trees following recent bark beetle epidemic.
Speaking about the issue of fire prevention in general, he stated, “We are trying to find ways to make certain that we are looking after the public safety interests for those in the impacted areas by making fire breaks more accessible, and implementing the safety protocols, but also making certain that the financial onus is not only borne by the individuals that own the property, but that the state is doing its fair share as well.”