Schiff gets good marks on civil rights

The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda gave Rep. Adam Schiff a 100%

rating for his commitment in Congress to secure basic civil rights

and provide a better quality of life for all Americans.

The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda is a nonpartisan coalition

of public policy and civil rights organizations whose goal is to give

the Hispanic community greater visibility and a stronger voice in

national issues.

Among the reasons why Schiff was given a 100% rating was his

introduction of a “Kids First” agenda of initiatives to improve

education, safety and health care for children. Schiff is also

co-founder of the Democratic Study Group on National Security and a

member of both the House Judiciary and International Relations

committees.

Congressman’s report shows alienated veterans

Rep. Brad Sherman this week released a report that showed

President Bush’s plan to eliminate enrollment in health care programs

for veterans would deny coverage for an estimated 113,000

Californians, including 2,000 veterans in his district, which

includes Tarzana, Granada Hills, Sylmar, Sunland and Burbank. The

report also found that the Bush plan would prevent an estimated 500

veterans in the 27th Congressional District from enrolling in the

Veterans Administration health-care system and that another 1,500

Valley veterans would have to drop their enrollment in the VA system

because they will be unable to afford the increased payments the

administration proposed.

The report also found more California veterans will be forced to

pay more for their health care -- on average, costs would go up $390

annually, while other veterans might pay as much as $550 or more a

year. The total increased costs for veterans in the 27th

Congressional District would be about $650,000 annually. A copy of

the report is available by logging on to

o7https://www.house.gov/sherman/ sherman_veterans.pdf.f7

Assemblywoman’s anti-financial theft bill passes

A bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Carol Liu that restricts the

recycling of checking account numbers is on its way to the governor

for approval after its passage by the Legislature this week with a

bipartisan vote of 37 to 2.

The measure is designed to combat the rising threat of identity

theft and will require banks to wait three years before reusing

checking account numbers. Liu wrote the bill in response to the

banking industry’s practice of “recycling” account numbers from one

client to the next.

One example in 2004 was of a Bay Area customer of Bank of America

who discovered that a San Jose man who kept his old checks from his

closed-out Bank of America account with the same number was writing

checks on his account.

“It’s an obvious and logical step that we can take to fight

identity theft, which is becoming such a pervasive crime in our

state,” Liu said in a statement. “We all need to have a feeling of

security with our personal information and finances. I hope the

governor will see the importance of this bill and sign it into law.”

State senator available

for questions

The public will get a chance to meet state Sen. Jack Scott

Saturday at the Sunset Junction street fair in the Silver Lake

District of Los Angeles, where he and his staff will be available to

take questions from 10 to 11 a.m.

Scott chairs the senate Education Committee and will be available

to answer questions on state education resources, student performance

and the legislative process. The street fair will be at 4400 Sunset

Blvd. in Los Angeles.