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GAY SAN DIEGO Jan. 28-Feb. 10, 2011


FROM PAGE 1 ATKINS


Heights. Formerly a San Diego City Councilmem- ber representing District 3, Atkins resides in South Park with her spouse, develop- ment professional Jennifer LeSar. Atkins took a mo- ment to speak with Gay San Diego on Jan. 17 as she walked her beloved stan- dard poodle, Haley, around Balboa Park. During the conversation, the former deputy mayor—who won her bid for the seat hand- ily—spoke about getting settled in Sacramento and diving into a routine that includes a post as Majority Whip and membership in five legislative committees.


Gay San Diego: What is the most surprising thing you’ve learned about the state’s legis- lative process since your term began?


Atkins: We hear a lot about the disagreements and the partisan nature of Sacramento but one of the more surprising things is actually how well the Republicans and Democrats off the floor seem to get along together. Most of the


NEWS/CLASSIFIEDS


legislation, I understand, is not controversial and not contentious. It’s about legislators trying to get fixes and things done in their communities, which is not always about money.


GSD: What do you see as the major difference between the way the democratic process works at the City of San Diego verses the state legislature?


Atkins: I see a lot of similarities in that the real work is done in the committees but because there are so many committees and so many topics—even broader than the city of San Diego—you really have got to find a way to kind of monitor things that are going forward on committees you are not on. Legislators have about an- other week and a half before the deadline on submitting our pieces of legislation that we want to see move forward. So it’s a little early to hone in on the differences. But the big difference it seems to me is that I’m in Sacramento and I’m farther from my constitu- ents and that’s going to feel very different in terms of people who come to speak at committees on issues. I imagine a lot of them will be people representing various interests and that I’m not going to see my neighbor two doors down show up and talk about an issue as we did at the city.


GSD: You were named Major- ity Whip—quite an honor and a key position within the Democratic Caucus leader-


ship. What will your duties be in this position and how might the decisions you make benefit or affect the San Diego region?


Atkins: We’ve had a good legacy of being in leadership positions and so it’s really good that we stay there because San Diego, while we’re the second largest city, we actually have a smaller delegation than say the whole Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay area. What I will be doing as majority whip is basically helping the Democratic caucus make sure we have the key votes for legislation that we as Democrats really support. I have a feeling we’ll be working a lot to figure out where we’ll be going with the budget, which is going to be the biggest thing we’re going to be dealing with in the coming months. But a lot of that is going to be worked out in the budget subcommittees be- fore it comes to the floor. When it does come to the floor we need key votes, so while the Assembly has a majority 52 members on the Democratic side, which you might think would be very good for the budget, you have Demo- crats from all parts of the state from progressive and liberal to moderate and conservative. So it’s going to be a little bit of a challenge holding our own caucus together.


GSD: You chaired San Diego’s budget and finance commit- tee when you were on the City


Council. What lessons can you bring from that experi- ence to your work at the state level? Atkins: It’s a process. It’s learn- ing as much as you can about the inner workings of the budget because a lot of the positions get formed prior to the hearings. So it really is knowing the numbers and knowing what the priorities of different parts of the state are. I think I understand more than anything that the governor’s bud- get is a dialogue and a starting point for where we end up. But we’ve got to work fast.


GSD: What will your role be in the LGBT Caucus?


Atkins: I’m a member and the membership has almost doubled, so we’re pretty excited about that. Chris Kehoe was just picked as the new chair of the LGBT caucus following Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco). So we’ve already talked about a reception for people at the Capitol (Feb. 7) to show the strength of the LGBT Caucus and that we’re increasing.


GSD: What issues are on the LGBT Caucus agenda for 2011?


Atkins: First and foremost the caucus is about visibility and it’s about showing that there are LGBT members throughout the state. Secondly, there will be pieces of legislation coming forward. We work with Equality California and stakeholders from


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gay-sd.com


the LGBT and LGBT-friendly communities up and down the state. I think all seven of us (in the LGBT Caucus) feel that we represent everyone throughout the state, because if you look at it you’ve got representatives from Los Angeles, San Diego and the Bay Area. I think we’re very mindful of the fact that we repre- sent community members from Central Valley and from parts of the state that aren’t exactly seen as the most progressive when it comes to our issues. There are a lot of gay people there and we are prepared to represent them as well and to make sure that their representatives know that they have constituents from our (LGBT) community.


GSD: What are the issues


affecting the LGBT community that you can affect as Assem- blywoman, whether working with the LGBT Caucus or as an individual legislator?


Atkins: I’m co-sponsoring, along with Ammiano, a piece of legislation that seeks to protect all kids, not just LGBT kids, but those presumed to be and anyone else, following up on the campaign of “It Gets Better.” I’m going to be sponsoring a piece of legislation with Equality Califor- nia that looks at and further codi- fies in the statute non-discrimina- tion for folks with gender identity issues. We’re going to further define “gender identity” because


see Atkins, pg 22


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