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HEBER — A simple act of kindness from Heber Elementary School District crossing guard Adam Conn was recently recognized to an extent he never imagined.

After Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, heard Conn had been purchasing and distributing ice-cold water bottles to help keep HESD students hydrated during scorching weather, the assemblyman held a recognition ceremony Tuesday at Heber Elementary to present the crossing guard with a California State Assembly certificate of recognition.

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law AB626, a groundbreaking new law that allows people to sell directly to the public food they have cooked in their home kitchens.

California Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella (Riverside County), introduced the bill in 2017. It was held in Assembly appropriations until 2018, when it moved forward again with state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, as co-author. Both the state Assembly and Senate voted unanimously in favor of the bill before it moved to the governor’s desk. Brown signed it on Tuesday, Sept. 18.

Cities in California can no longer tack on exorbitant legal fees to settle minor local code violations, thanks to a new law enacted this week.

The law makes it illegal for cities and counties to charge defendants for the legal costs to investigate, prosecute or appeal a criminal violation of a local ordinance.

"We made the argument that, yes, people should comply with local code enforcement laws, but violations should remain in the civil side of prosecution instead of the criminal side," says Eduardo Garcia, a Democrat from Coachella.

IMPERIAL — Students at Imperial Valley College seeking careers in the medical field or in law enforcement will benefit from $1 million in funding from the state of California that will institute a new correctional academy as well as enhance its medical assistant program.

The bill aims to make accessing GGRF funds more equitable and viable, according to Garcia. GGRF expenditures are overseen by the California Air Resources Board on behalf of the state Department of Finance.

“The success of AB 1945 will break down barriers and better position Imperial County to receive their fair share of climate investments,” Garcia said. “Increasing the accessibility of these resources will empower our region with the means to combat the unique air quality challenges that have jeopardized the public health and wellbeing of our community.”

EL CENTRO – The California Legislature passed on August 30, AB 1945, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). The bill is now awaiting Governor Brown’s signature.

The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, seeks to improve access to programs funded by GGRF, by expanding the list of co-benefits and allowing the counties of Imperial and San Diego to include daytime population numbers in their GGRF grant applications, according to a recently released news release by the assemblymember's office.

IMPERIAL — An additional $1 million in funding from the state this year will help Imperial Valley College provide additional opportunities for students.

The money will be used to help launch a new correctional academy, create a full-time medical assistant program and provide funding for lighting around the running track on campus, said Dr. Martha Garcia, the college’s president and superintendent.

Dr. Garcia worked with Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia to secure the funding, which was included in the 2018-19 state budget, approved by Gov. Jerry Brown on June 27.

SACRAMENTO — One of Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia’s most high-profile pieces of legislation this session was Assembly Bill 2439, which proposed to designate the LGBTQ Veterans Memorial at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City as the official state LGBTQ veterans memorial.

With Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature safely secured, the granite obelisk is now the state’s official LGBTQ Veterans Memorial. California is the first state in the nation to designate such a memorial.

It was an accomplishment years in the making, but it is not the only victory the assemblyman scored.

WESTMORLAND — Isaiah Torres had never expected that his career as a boxer would take him anywhere past Imperial County limits.

To his surprise, Torres, 15, has had the ability to travel and compete in many places throughout country since first entering the ring at age 7.

Most recently, Torres traveled to Charleston, W.Va., to compete in the annual USA Boxing National Junior Olympics, during which he fought in the 15-to-16-year-old, 95-pound division and represented Region 14, California and Nevada.

SACRAMENTO — A state Assembly bill that would require retail sellers of electricity and each local publicly owned electric utility to procure a proportionate share of new geothermal capacity has successfully moved out of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

If the bill is passed, affected public utilities and retail sellers of electricity would be required to procure at least half of the 3,000 megawatts mandated by statute by Dec. 31, 2021. The other half would need to be obtained by contracts with deliveries commencing no later than Jan. 1, 2030.