Every week we put our faith into action at All Saints Church and this week we ask you to sign a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom. It has become our practice that once a year we write to the Governor expressing our views on a range of issues. This year we are expressing:

1. Our thanks for signing AB 1350 that will help further California’s climate change and emissions reduction goals by providing fare-free public transit to youth riders. We also thank him for his recent executive action setting the goal of ending the sale of gas and diesel powered cars and light trucks in California by 2035.
   
   
2. Our disappointment of his veto of AB 2054, the CRISES Act. This act would have given California the opportunity to create pilot programs demonstrating alternatives to policing for mental health events, non-violent emergencies and other community needs, thereby showing alternatives to gun-carrying police responses to certain community emergencies. While disappointed in his veto, we let him know that we are heartened by his promise to work with the legislature to create legislation next year that would meet his objections and bring these important pilot programs into existence. We also let him know that we will be following and expecting progress on this next year.
   
   
3. We acknowledge and express our appreciation for his leadership this year combating the COVID-19 pandemic. While this crisis is far from over, California seems to be doing fairly well with daily new cases, the infection rate, the death rate and hospital usage having fallen significantly since their highs of two to three months ago. California is doing much better than the national average and a website that tracks COVID stated, “California’s COVID preparedness meets international standards.” As stated, this isn’t over, so we encourage the Governor to keep up the good work.
   
   
4. We also acknowledge and express our appreciation for his leadership fighting the fires that have plagued and continue to plague California this year. While fire has always been part of life in California, it has been greatly exacerbated by the effects of climate change and it is likely that we will experience increasingly more years like this. Therefore, we appreciate the Governor’s efforts over the years to ameliorate the effects of climate change and end human contributions to it.

Sign the letter here!