The Bee endorses a serious lawmaker for California Assembly District 4 | Opinion

About 48% of registered voters in California’s 4th Assembly District are Democrats and 23% are Republicans, a decided advantage because of Democratic-leaning Napa Valley voters in a district that includes Colusa, Lake, and Yolo counties, and a small portion of Sonoma County.

Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, who has represented the district since 2016, is running unopposed for re-election. This next term will be the last for the 71-year-old legislator who grew up in Yolo County, graduated from San Jose State University and became the first woman to be mayor of Winters.

Aguiar-Curry gets our endorsement because she has been a consequential lawmaker in California.

Over the past decade, she has authored legislation that increased broadband access to more Californians. She also authored AB 260, which offers health care providers the option of prescribing abortion care medication to patients anonymously, a safeguard against a Trump administration encroaching on reproductive rights.

Signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last September, AB 260 allows California-regulated health plans to cover mifepristone, widely used in most abortions and miscarriage care. Aguiar-Curry’s legislation anticipated attempts to restrict mifepristone. Just last week, a federal court paused a lawsuit filed by the state of Louisiana to do just that. Aguiar-Curry has also produced legislation that enhanced accessibility to telehealth services for more Californians.

“A working mom cannot always leave her job to take her sick child to a doctor or clinic,” Aguiar-Curry said in 2022, after Newsom signed AB 32. “A person struggling with disabilities should be able to consult their doctor on their computer.And, my constituents in small towns and rural communities, who often lack health or specialty care professionals, or even internet access, should be able to talk to their doctor or nurse on the phone.”

She has also authored several bills aimed at wildfire management and wildfire insurance coverage.

In her next term, Aguiar-Curry said she plans to prioritize child care affordability, farmer equity and farmworker housing. Another priority is updating a state antitrust act through AB 1776, also known as the COMPETE Act

“AB 1776 clarifies that anti-competitive conduct by single companies can violate state law and reaffirms California courts are not bound by federal antitrust case law, while preserving lawful business growth, investment and scale,” Aguiar-Curry said. “By focusing narrowly on harmful conduct that raises costs, suppresses wages and limits opportunity, the COMPETE Act aligns California with 34 other states and strengthens competition without penalizing success.

“I am always adamant about taking care of small businesses. Larger companies are taking over.”

Aguiar-Curry chairs the California Legislative Women’s Caucus. She co-chairs the Select Committee on Child Care Costs.

Though she is concerned about affordability, Aguiar-Curry is noncommittal about a union-backed proposal to tax California billionaires.

“I don’t know that (the tax is) going to help the economy,” Aguiar-Curry said. “Affordability is the number one thing on people’s minds, and they don’t want to hear about a tax.”

For example, Aguiar-Curry said she is working on a bill with California State Treasurer Fiona Ma that would address and help alleviate medical debt.

And what will she do after she leaves office?

“I’ll be almost 75, and it’s probably time to retire,” Aguiar-Curry said. “I want to see my grandchildren. Hopefully I’ll get involved in a nonprofit, maybe something (to do) with seniors.”

“You’ve got to have a brass backbone in this job,” she said.

Aguiar-Curry has one.