Press Releases

SACRAMENTO — Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath (D-Encinitas) issued the following statement responding to the release of the California State Auditor’s report on University of California admissions, an audit she requested in May of 2019:

“The State Audit released today on the UC Admission process unfortunately reveals much of what we suspected – that our UC admissions process is far too vulnerable to manipulation by well-connected individuals. These practices undermine the equality of opportunity in the UC system and the State of California and are especially troublesome given that these are prestigious taxpayer-supported public institutions.

As a UC Berkeley alumna, this is personal for me. I know that my admission to Cal set me on a path to success tat I would not have had otherwise. As a legislator, I’m committed to ensuring that our public higher educational institutions guarantee a fair process for all California students.

The results of this audit uncovered previously unknown issues separate from the back-door exceptions we’ve been learning about ever since the FBI released its “Varsity Blues” investigations more than a year ago. In addition to 64 questionable admissions decisions flagged by the State Auditor, the report also concluded that some campuses have major inconsistencies amongst application reviewers and lack basic criteria to support their admissions decisions.

This report is about more than just the affluent and powerful buying their way into our public universities. It is also about the stifled dreams of high-achieving students, sometimes from difficult circumstances who are denied their opportunity because of the inequity of access. We must end these practices and ensure that the admission offices and reviewers implement best practices that are transparent and accountable to the public.

With AB 1383 (McCarty) we took some initial steps towards improving this system, and the results of this state audit reveal there is more work to do. My colleagues and I will be meeting with stakeholders to ensure the State Auditor’s recommendations are implemented in full. The students, businesses, and taxpayers of California deserve no less.”

SACRAMENTO —  AB 1731, a bill authored by Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath (D-Encinitas) to incentivize businesses’ participation in the state’s Work Share Program, passed the Assembly on a bipartisan 74-0 concurrence vote. 

Under California’s unemployment insurance Work Share Program, businesses are able to reduce employees’ hours and wages as an alternative to layoffs as eligible workers receive prorated unemployment benefits to replace lost wages. Businesses retain valuable, trained workers on staff and workers keep their jobs and their benefits. Despite the benefits of participating in the program, work-sharing has been widely underutilized because the application process can be slow forcing businesses to layoffs as they wait for their application to be approved. 

“Business owners who want to keep their employees when times are tough should have access to an expedited process for starting a work-sharing plan and avoid unnecessary layoffs” said Assemblymember Boerner Horvath. “And, workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own will be more likely to accept a part-time job knowing that their unemployment benefits will not be significantly offset by their wages. Preserving the relationships between businesses and their workers are going to be critical to the quality and speed of our economic recovery.” 

SACRAMENTO — AB 1949, Assemblymember Boerner Horvath’s bill to strengthen and expand the marine hatchery program in Carlsbad passed the Assembly Floor on a bipartisan 75-0 concurrence vote.

The Leon Raymond Hubbard Jr. Marine Fish Hatchery in Carlsbad is the only salt-water fish hatchery on the West Coast and operates as the main facility for the Ocean Resources Enhancement and Hatchery Program (OREHP). The hatchery has historically been used to experiment with techniques for using cultivated white seabass to enhance their depleted wild populations.

AB 1949 reforms the program in step with the core recommendations from a California Sea Grant evaluation conducted by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the state’s request in 2015. This includes a restructuring of the program’s advisory panel so that it facilitates a more direct decision-making process while providing stakeholders with more appropriate representation, among other changes.

“At a time when climate change continues to put strain on the world’s oceans, we need to be finding more innovate ways to balance our commercial and sport fishing industries with the need to safeguard against overfishing,” said Assemblymember Boerner Horvath. “This bill gives us a shot at securing a sustainable fishing future by equipping us with the tools needed to become effective stewards of our marine resources.”