The first Select Committee Hearing will be held on Friday, February 19, 2016 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Elihu Harris State Building, 1515 Clay Street in the Auditorium. Assemblymember Tony Thurmond (D-15) has been named chair of the newly formed Select Committee on Regional Planning in the San Francisco Bay Area. The committee will address the planned merger of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). Assemblymember Thurmond also intends for the select committee to address other regional issues, including the lack of affordable housing; environmental issues, such as sea-level rise; strengthening the local economy; and improving public transportation systems.
Assemblymember Thurmond, stated, "We must take a regional approach to many of the issues facing Bay Area residents. The entire Bay Area is experiencing a significant homeless epidemic and there are hospitals that are in grave danger of shutting their doors, as has already happened to Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo. These facts tell me that if we don't take a regional approach to these issues, there is no way we can appropriately allocate resources to fix the problems."
Members of the select committee include:
Tony Thurmond (Chair)
Catharine Baker
Rob Bonta
Nora Campos
David Chiu
Bill Dodd
Richard Gordon
Marc Levine
Kevin Mullin
Bill Quirk
Philip Ting
A schedule of upcoming hearings will be announced shortly.