What They're Saying

 

 

Palo Alto Daily Post

Editorial, Friday, December 17, 2010

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook is Time's "Person of the Year" but the man of the week on the Peninsula has got to be Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo.

Hill deserves a round of applause for successfully fighting San Francisco's proposal to impose a $6 toll on everybody entering the city at the San Mateo County line.

Assemblyman Hill went to bat for his constituents when it really counted. He deserves our thanks.

 

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San Mateo Daily Journal

Article, June 29, 2011

Gov. Jerry Brown signed off on a bill Monday night that should help the state retain and recruit thousands of green jobs related to solar installation and maintenance. 

Brown signed Assembly Bill X1 15, authored by Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, that extends tax incentives available for solar power projects.  The bill paves the way for solar giant SunEdison to relocate its headquarters from Baltimore to the Peninsula.

 

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San Francisco Chronicle, Editorial

Editorial, July 5, 2011

The measure is a pipeline safety bill proposed by Assemblyman Jerry Hill, a Democrat whose Peninsula district felt the fireball created by a broken PG&E fuel line in September. 

The bill, AB56, calls for a number of changes, many of them straightforward and simple. Tell local authorities where the lines run. Put in automatic shutoff valves to keep gas from feeding the flames. Have a quick-alert safety plan so local emergency officials are looped in promptly. 

It’s time to put pipeline safety on an equal footing with financial calculations when rates are set. The Legislature should endorse AB 56 as a sensible step that protects the public.

  

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Pacifica Tribune

February 25, 2010

2010 Best of the Coastside

Best Government Employee: Jerry Hill

 

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Los Angeles Times

Editorial, May 1, 2011

A popular vote president

California should join eight other states in changing the way it casts its electoral votes.

 

Article, July 14, 2011

Lawmakers seek more clout for California in presidential contests

The new measure was introduced by Assemblyman Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) because of frustration that presidential candidates too often ignore California except as a place to raise money. He said that in 2008, candidates concentrated their general election visits on 16 states.

"It's important because California has been ignored in presidential campaigns for as long as I can remember,'' Hill said in support of AB 459. "This bill will make California relevant in the long run.'' He said it would force presidential candidates to discuss issues important to Californians.

 

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The Bakersfield Californian

Editorial, August 24, 2010

AB 1601, which was approved by the Legislature on Monday, would give judges the power to revoke a driver's license for a decade after three DUI convictions. The bill, now headed to the governor's desk, targets drivers whose licenses are restored after multiple convictions for driving under the influence.

Clearly, the problem is monumental. In 2008, Californian had 187,987 DUI convictions, according to Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, the bill's author.

We urge the governor to sign AB 1601.

 

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San Jose Mercury News

Editorial, March 20, 2011

Ordinarily we'd suggest waiting until San Bruno questions are resolved before looking at new regulation. But under the circumstances, San Mateo Assemblyman Jerry Hill's proposed gas pipeline legislation is looking pretty good. The bill, AB 56, has its first hearing Monday in the Utilities and Commerce Committee, which should move the package of safety and disclosure rules forward.

 Hill's AB 56 would, among other things, require automatic or remote shut-off valves and annual reports of pipeline problems and repairs. It also would bar the utility from paying any fines or penalties with ratepayer money. That could help get the attention of the board of directors.

 

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San Mateo Daily Journal

Editorial, December 15, 2010

Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, should be applauded for standing up to San Francisco officials and suggesting a regional approach to solving transportation issues. By standing up to the Board of Supervisors and threatening legislation that would prohibit such a proposal, Hill proved he has the interests of his constituents in mind. 

We are encouraged that the Board of Supervisors killed the proposal and ended a nasty fight before it had to begin and that there is a local legislator who sees the importance of communication and cooperation and the need to force it if necessary.

 

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Contra Costa Times

Editorial, September 16, 2011

Your Turn: State must stop Enterprise Zone abuses

By Rome A. Aloise, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 853 

As representatives of longtime VWR workers who stand to lose their jobs, health care and retirement security when the company moves its Brisbane distribution center work to Visalia, we continue to support efforts by Assemblyman Jerry Hill and others who are working to create jobs in the state rather than destroy them.

Assemblyman Hill's legislation (AB1278) contains important provisions that will lead California to economic recovery. It provides tax exemptions to companies with a net increase in employees.

The legislation also requires that if a company is relocating, then it has to first offer the jobs at its new location to current employees. These transfer rights are crucial for real economic recovery.

 

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San Mateo County Times

Letters to the editor, August 20, 2009

Greg Munks, San Mateo County Sheriff

Enter AB 1455 authored by Assemblyman Jerry Hill of San Mateo. This bill mandates that retailers use existing technology to electronically track the sale of these commonly used drugs containing pseudoephedrine. Sales could then be monitored across California making it impossible for an illegal drugmaker to travel from store to store buying drug components. Retailers thus become the first line of defense in blocking illegal sales and assisting law enforcement in thwarting the manufacture of this life destroying drug. 

I join my law enforcement colleagues in supporting AB 1455 and urge the public and our legislators to do the same.

  

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San Mateo Daily Journal

Article, October 19, 2010

Hill fighting to preserve child care

With a swipe of his veto pen, the governor put thousands of former welfare families at risk of returning to its rolls by eliminating $256 million in child-care funding, according to Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, who is scrambling to stave off the program’s scheduled end next month. 

“This is just sad. We talk about welfare to work but this is work to welfare,” said Hill, adding his office is fielding calls from single mothers worried they must quit their jobs without adequate care.  Hill said he and other democrats in the Legislature are looking for a financial stop-gap to keep care from being disrupted at the end of November as well as a longer-term solution.  Hill would not divulge the details but said the money should be enough to hold the program until the Legislature reconvenes in December.

  

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Philippine News

Article, April 8, 2011

Legislator Combats Youth Smoking

Assembly member Jerry Hill (D- 19th Dist.) joined youth groups, health care advocates and law enforcement officials to announce legislation that would crack down on retailers who sell tobacco products to minors.

The legislation, Assembly Bill 1301, was prompted by the efforts of local organizations including the San Mateo County

Tobacco Education Coalition, Youth Leadership Institute and Asian American Recovery Services who found that 25 percent of stores in San Mateo County sold tobacco products to a minor between 2005-2010.

  

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Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal

Article, February 5, 2010

Slow-growing biomed sector in Bay Area needs a hand

Paul Hastings, CEO of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc., the Redwood City developer of stem cell therapies for cancer treatment, planned to travel to Sacramento on Feb. 4 to join state Assemblyman Jerry Hill in calling for the creation of a state director of biotechnology.

The position would use funds already available through the governor’s office and focus on retaining and attracting biomedical companies to the state. Already, California faces fierce competition from states such as Florida and Utah in attracting biomedical-related manufacturing, and those states are in better positions to offer incentives, Hastings said.

  

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San Francisco Examiner

Editorial, January 11, 2012

State Assemblyman Jerry Hill, whose Peninsula district includes the Crestmoor neighborhood where the disaster occurred, has reintroduced three pieces of legislation in the latest attempt to place a level of safety accountability upon utility companies and the CPUC.  The most significant, AB 1456, would require the CPUC to take safety performance into consideration as part of approving consumer gas rates for PG&E and other utility operators.

The best way to make utilities more accountable is to threaten their bottom line. The CPUC has the power to accept or reject rate increases, and it can use this power to protect the safety of Californians. With the horrific job the CPUC has done monitoring pipelines for safety, it now owes it to the multitudes of families that have been affected by San Bruno and other explosions to hold utilities financially responsible by making rates dependent on the proven track records of these utilities.

  

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San Mateo Daily Journal

Article, November 24, 2009

Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, voluntarily reduced his salary yesterday by an additional 10 percent for a cumulative reduction of 20 percent. On Feb. 20, 2009, the day the budget was signed, Hill voluntarily reduced his salary by 10 percent which was consistent with the state employee salary reductions.

  

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San Francisco Chronicle

Monday, May 19, 2008 

Jerry Hill, a San Mateo County supervisor, is not only far and away the most experienced elected official in the Democratic primary to succeed Gene Mullin in the Peninsula's 19th Assembly District. He is also the candidate with a proven ability to build coalitions and get things done.

Environmental protection is one of Hill's points of emphasis. As chair of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Hill has been in the forefront of efforts to tighten anti-pollution rules. As supervisor for the past decade, he has helped to preserve thousands of acres of parkland and open space. He has been intimately involved in transit and growth issues since his 1991 election to the San Mateo City council.

His feel for the district and the specificity of his knowledge of statewide issues make him an ideal candidate to hit the ground running in a Capitol where turnover is high because of term limits. It is no surprise that he gained the endorsement of 11 of the 12 mayors in the district.

Hill is the clear choice in this Democratic primary.

  

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San Mateo Daily Journal

 

May 7, 2008

However, there is one candidate who has the best record of public service for the longest period time. That candidate is Jerry Hill. For 18 years, Hill has proven to be a trusted, effective and responsive community leader who has a proven track record when it comes to the economy, health care, fiscal responsibility and education.

In his seven years on the San Mateo City Council, Hill earned a reputation as a hard-nosed champion of the common man with a proclivity toward fiscal responsibility. From the beginning of his tenure on the council, Hill has been responsive to the needs of the majority of people he represents whether it was downtown development or responsible budget management. In his time on the council, Hill was renowned for his line-by-line attention to detail when it came to the city’s multi-million budget, which would only serve this area, and the state in general, well in Sacramento. It was Hill who suggested lowering taxes when times were good while calling other city officials on the carpet when they seemed to be trying to protect the interests other than those of the city’s residents.

As a member of the Board of Supervisors, Hill was instrumental in ensuring that a homeless shelter, long trenched in the North Central neighborhood of San Mateo, would move near the airport away from residences but convenient enough for the people who depend on the services provided there. Under his guidance, the shelter moved to year-round status and the services expanded to meet the homeless population's needs with minimal expansion of the public’s cost. It was not an easy battle, but Hill was more than willing to take it on.

Through the years, Hill has proven to be flexible enough to meet the needs of many and principled enough to stand the ground for the unspoken minority with an ability to find the best solution for all. As a San Mateo County supervisor, Hill led the charge to expand the Children’s Health Initiative so 17,000 children would get the health care they need. He also forced health care leaders to explore the funding mechanism of the county’s nonprofits in an effort to find a way to best take care of the county’s indigent with no additional cost to the average taxpayer.

Hill has the hearts and the minds of this county firmly entrenched in his philosophy of governance. Hill knows that a true leader has the ear of the people but the will to act forcefully when needed.

But when the rubber hits the road, Hill has this county’s best interests in mind and has most experience, intelligence and fortitude to take on Sacramento as an effective member of the California Assembly. He deserves your vote.