–Peter Ruddock

A few years ago, Joe Simitian, then a California State Senator, started ‘There Oughta be a law,’ a contest to encourage California citizens to propose legislation to improve quality of life in California. Current State Senator Jerry Hill now sponsors the program.

Senator Hill writes:
The contest is open to all constituents of the 13th Senate District and allows residents to submit their ideas for improving the quality of life in our community and/or the state of California. Ideas can vary from local community improvements to statewide reforms. Applicants can create new laws or repeal/revise laws already on the books. I will select a winner in February and work toward implementing the reform during the legislative session. Applications can be submitted online. The deadline for entries will be in January 2019.

Two years ago Transition Palo Alto jumped into the fray and submitted a proposal in our name.  You can read about that effort and some of our proposals here.

We’d like to submit an idea for a new law in 2019, ideally to incorporate one of our core interests:  climate change, local economy, or community resilience.

Send your ideas to transitionpaloalto@gmail.com by Jan 4, then come to the Transition Cafe Friday, Jan 11 to share your idea. We’ll pick one of the suggestions to submit.

To learn more about the contest, go to Senator Hill’s website. To help inspire you, the page includes a description of past contest winners.