Negotiations will continue tomorrow, but the possibility of another strike beginning Tuesday morning looms over the heads of Bay Area commuters. The postponement of a strike comes after Gov. Jerry Brown issued a 60-day cooling-off period, which ended Thursday night.

BART submitted its “last, best and final offer” at 4 p.m., an indication that no further negotiation is possible and a move that was rebuffed by some elected officials, including state Assemblymember Nancy Skinner.

“We want the trains to keep running, and we need both sides to keep talking to get there,” Skinner said. “So when BART management cut off negotiations today by putting forward a final offer at 4 p.m., we were disappointed, and we felt it did a lot of damage because it impeded progress.”

Gladys Rosario covers city news. Contact her at grosario@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @gladysrosario93.

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Samantha Rosenbaum/Staff

After six years, Nancy Skinner’s California State Assembly term will expire, leaving at least six candidates lined up to take her place.

Skinner will leave behind a number of accomplishments in issues ranging from higher education to environmental conservation to public safety. With term limits barring her from seeking two more years in the Assembly in 2014, five Democrats and one Republican have already stepped forward.

Skinner was first elected to the state Assembly in 2008 and in 2012 became the Assembly member representing District 15, which stretches along Interstate 80 from Hercules to Oakland and encompasses cities throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

During her term, Skinner was heavily involved with the Middle Class Scholarship program, which will reduce tuition for middle-income students at UC and CSU schools by up to 40 percent beginning in the 2014-15 academic year. Additionally, Skinner said after Proposition 30 passed in 2012, she was proud to be able to give funding to universities.

“I know that we’ll be able to continue to increase the funding to our public schools,” she said.

In an effort to help the environment, Skinner has also authored legislation to increase solar energy use and improve home and business energy efficiency.

In 1984, Skinner, who attended UC Berkeley as both an undergraduate and a graduate student, was elected to Berkeley City Council, becoming the first and only student to serve on it.

“She has a great history of doing legislative projects related to sustainability,” said ASUC Executive Vice President Nolan Pack.

Although six have declared their intent to run for Skinner’s seat, candidates still have until next March to file to run for state Assembly.

Sam Kang, general counsel for the Greenlining Institute, where he writes legislation regarding racial justice, hopes to create a business model for California that would create jobs and provide cleaner energy. He said his previous experience has prepared him for Sacramento.

“Every day is like going to war,” Kang said. “You want someone who has the actual experience from day one.”

Likewise, Andy Katz, a UC Berkeley alumnus and director at the East Bay Municipal Utility District, hopes to bring in his knowledge of environmental sustainability to focus on renewable energy, among other issues.

Creating jobs is also a priority for Elizabeth Echols, who has worked extensively on this issue as former regional administrator for the Small Business Administration under President Barack Obama.

If elected, Tony Thurmond, a former member of Richmond City Council and the West Contra Costa Unified School District School Board, intends to increase funding for public universities and introduce legislation that would improve the system of collecting truancy data in California public schools.

Peggy Moore, a former political director for Obama’s campaign, said she wants to focus on health care reform in the district and issues in the LGBT community.

Rich Kinney, a San Pablo City Council member and the only Republican candidate for District 15 at this time, hopes running for Assembly will help create more of a political balance in California.

According to Skinner, 64 percent of voters in District 15 are registered as Democrats and only 8 percent as Republicans.

“I’m a speck of red in a sea of blue,” Kinney said.

At the June 2014 primary election, the electorate will choose two candidates to move on to run in the fall general election.

Skinner has not endorsed any candidates yet, but she said she might like to see another woman in the Assembly.

“When looking at the other races up and down the state for open seats, I see very few women,” Skinner said. “The U.S. as a whole is pitiful with gender representation.”

But the end of her third and final term in the Assembly is by no means the end of Skinner’s political career. She plans to run for the District 9 state Senate seat in 2016.

Tara Hurley covers city news. Contact her at thurley@dailycal.org.

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The honorees of the 15th Assembly District’s annual Women of the Year Award ceremony were all proponents of women’s involvement in scientific fields. Skinner has facilitated the yearly award ceremony and selection process in the district since 2009, but this year, she decided all of the award recipients would be from STEM fields.

“I felt there was a gender gap in the STEM fields,” Skinner said. “Women consistently earn more college degrees than men, but they are not moving into the STEM fields. We need a critical mass of women in science to get to a place of equal opportunity.”

Some women who were honored hold corporate positions in engineering or computer science, while others are science teachers, researchers or advocates for improving accessibility for women and girls to STEM fields.

Most of the women faced gender-based challenges when becoming involved in STEM fields, and those who did not were exceptions to the rule.

“I’ve loved science since childhood, but it turned out that the encouragement I received was unusual for a woman born in the 1950s,” said recipient Elizabeth Stage, executive director of the Lawrence Hall of Science.

Awardee Mayra Padilla, director of the Hispanic Serving Institution STEM grant at Contra Costa College, was only encouraged to enter a STEM field when she reached community college.

“I never met a woman scientist or a Latina woman in the field,” she said. “I didn’t realize the inquisitive observing and making predictions that I considered a hobby could be a profession until I got to community college.”

However, obstacles for women in the STEM field remain even at the top levels of higher education.

“The issues we faced in grad school were really different than those men face, in terms of having to prove we were real scientists,” Padilla said. “The lack of woman mentorship in the areas I wanted to go into was really challenging.”

Awardee Nilgun Ozer, a professor of electrical engineering at San Francisco State University, grew up in Turkey and said the United States is unusual internationally for its discouragement of women in STEM fields.

“In my country, women are encouraged to study engineering and science,” Ozer said. “In the U.S., there is a resistance against girls studying STEM fields by parents and teachers. It is a totally different environment.”

Carol Balfe, another award recipient, has been dedicated to teaching science and developing engaging classroom activities to inspire students. She co-founded a corporate networking group for women in science at Raychem, a telecommunications and aerospace company.

“In the corporate world, it was much harder for a woman to get promoted, which is why I reached out to other women engineers to talk about what we were experiencing,” Balfe said. “I would like to see women and people of color make contributions and not have it be, ‘Oh, that’s a woman, or that’s an African American.’”

Some of the awardees spoke to the necessity of having both men and women involved in STEM fields, because they bring equally valuable but uniquely diverse perspectives.

“Women and men think differently, so you want both, as well as people of different ethnic backgrounds because they think differently, and that makes better science,” said Trina Ostrander, associate director of public policy and communications at Bayer HealthCare.

Seti Sidharta, director of the Center for Science Excellence at Contra Costa College, said girls are told they are not good at math, but the brain is not gendered, and all students should have access to STEM resources.

“Students are deserving,” Sidharta said. “They come from backgrounds where they don’t have a lot of (STEM) role models in the family. We don’t want a low-income background to deter them from going to school.”

The honorees of the 2013 Women of the Year Award attended a celebratory ceremony on Thursday. Skinner worked with Gov. Jerry Brown to approve $1.2 billion in the 2013-14 state budget to go toward STEM-related resources for students.

Contact Stephanie Petrillo at spetrillo@dailycal.org.

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The first case, United States v. Windsor, overruled the federal Defense of Marriage Act, while the second case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, ruled on California’s ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8. The decision for the DOMA case, which allowed same-sex couples to receive federal marriage benefits, was decided 5-4, with the majority opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Kennedy, a swing voter in recent years, was supported by the four liberal-leaning justices of the court. They ruled in the decision that the statute violated the Fifth Amendment.

In the Prop. 8 case, the Supreme Court, in effect, legalized same-sex marriage in California on procedural grounds, saying Prop. 8 proponents had no legal standing to appeal the case.

Jason Fauss, an ally of the LGBTQ community and a student participating in UC Berkeley’s Cal in the Capital program, was able to witness the decision announced at the U.S. Supreme Court building.

“It was nerve-wracking being in the courtroom waiting to hear the decision,” Fauss said.

As soon as DOMA was announced as overruled, Fauss said that there was an audible roar outside the courtroom doors.

Celebrations were not limited to the capital. LavenderCal, UC Berkeley’s network for LGBTQ faculty members, held a celebration on the steps of Sproul Hall at about noon. The city of Berkeley also held a celebration Wednesday evening on the steps of Old City Hall. The gathering was small but attracted passionate community members who shared their thoughts and personal stories.

At the celebration, California state Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, fought back tears as she shared a text message from her lesbian daughter: “Mom, we can get married at home. Happy tears when I read the headline.”

Ann Riley, a Berkeley resident and former UC Berkeley student, was also at the event and appreciated both the Prop. 8 and DOMA rulings.

“I plan to get married in 25 days,” Riley said.

Joi Soley, a communications director of Pacific School of Religion, a seminary in Berkeley, said that the school had an extremely positive reaction to the decisions. According to Soley, the school is extremely tolerant of people of all sexual orientations.

Many community members, however, continued to look toward the future, noting that the Prop. 8 ruling only affected same-sex marriage in California. Despite the procedural nature of the decision in the Prop. 8 case, Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington saw the decision as a sign of a changing social landscape.

“Although the decision was based on a technical standing, it is clear that the momentum is building astronomically,” he said.

ASUC Executive Vice President Nolan Pack, who identifies as queer, is an LGBTQ activist and was excited for the overall outcome of both decisions. However, he said he is concerned for other states that are still struggling to obtain marriage equality.

“If DOMA is a one and Prop. 8 is another one, we are at a 1.5 out of two right now,” Pack said.

Although the decisions are a victory for the LGBTQ community in California, more than 30 states still prohibit gay marriage, a concern to many members of the Berkeley community.

At the city’s celebration, Councilmember Darryl Moore, who is gay, furthered Pack’s sentiments.

“Let’s go out and celebrate today,” Moore said. “But remember, we have work still to do.”

Contact Saachi Makkar smakkar@dailycal.org.

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Brown proposed about $250 million in funding increases for both the UC and CSU systems in his January and May budget proposals. Until this week, however, the funds were contingent upon reaching certain performance requirements, such as making education more affordable, decreasing the time to earn a degree, improving completion rates and increasing transfer rates, among others.

Legislators say they rejected funding conditions in the original budget proposal because the financial cuts to the UC and CSU systems would be too high if they failed to achieve their targets. Lower funding would penalize students rather than hold institutions responsible for poor outcomes.

“We, in effect, agreed it’s OK to have some accountability,” said Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley. “But we lessened the accountability that was more harmful for students and directed that accountability more towards the institutions.”

This year’s budget still requires the UC and CSU systems to track and report the performance measurements to Sacramento as outlined in the original budget proposed by Brown. However, funding will not depend on meeting any specific goal.

But some of the performance measures were changed to reflect a more realistic target that better measures academic success.

“The governor had issues around the number of years people were in school,” Skinner said. “We modified that to be more focused around graduation rate versus trying to restrict the number of years people are pursuing their education, because there are so many factors that can affect that.”

It is also likely that Brown’s performance requirements will be included in future budgets, according to H.D. Palmer, deputy director for external affairs for the California Department of Finance.

“It is going to take time to develop the metrics,” Palmer said. “In the first year, we will begin work with legislators and the UC and CSU systems to develop how we’ll measure and gather data going forward.”

Nevertheless, according to UC spokesperson Brooke Converse, the tie between funding and performance requirements as designed in Brown’s proposed budget was not feasible for the UC system.

“It would have been difficult to reach some of the numbers in the proposed requirements,” Converse said. “We are not against performance outcome requirements, but we need to work with the governor to find numbers that are more doable.”

The 2013-14 budget, though approved by the state Assembly and Senate, will need to be signed by Brown before the end of the month for it to become law.

“We are very hopeful that the budget will go through, but the governor has the right to use his blue pen,” Skinner said.

Contact Stephanie Petrillo at spetrillo@dailycal.org

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The California Assembly passed a bill Monday allowing California community colleges to charge all students out-of-state tuition during summer and winter sessions, regardless of residency.

The bill, AB 955, allows community colleges to raise tuition during their shorter intersessions — in the summer and over winter break — from $46 per unit to about $200 per unit. In the face of budget cuts beginning in 2008, many community colleges have had to cut sections from the most needed classes. Proponents of AB 955  hope that the increase in funds will allow colleges to create more sections and ensure students can graduate on time.

Assemblymember Das Williams, D-Santa Barbara, who authored the bill, says the lack of available classes places students in debt because it takes them additional years to graduate. Despite tuition increases for some classes, shortening the time students spend in school will keep student debt from rising, Williams said.

“Even if you have no costs from fees, student debt is continuing to rise just to get done with community college, where it takes longer to complete a program,” Williams said.

According to a March 2013 report by the Public Policy Institute of California, the number of courses offered at community colleges has declined by 21 percent since 2008, with almost 60 percent of the drop coming from reduced summer term classes. Most of these are credit courses needed to transfer or obtain a degree or certificate.

The bill passed the assembly with a vote of 50 to 16, with 12 abstaining. Assemblymember, Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, was among those who voted no, saying that she felt the bill would set the California Community Colleges system up to be two-tiered.

“These courses could, in many cases, be then restricted only to those that can afford them, and then we haven’t really addressed the problem,” Skinner said during floor debate. “We have just created a circumstance where some can attend and others not.”

Community college districts themselves are divided on the bill, according to an Assembly bill analysis, with many citing similar reasons to those given by Williams and Skinner. Peralta Community College District, home to Berkeley City College, opposes the bill, according to the analysis.

Valentino Calderon, president-elect of the Associated Students of Berkeley City College, understands why tuition might be raised in light of budget cuts but considers effects on the average student.

“I know a lot of students need intersession classes, because a lot of students are full-time workers and parents,” Calderon said. “They cannot always allocate all their time during the regular semester, and to pay higher fees seems unfair.”

However, the bill notes that a third of the money generated from higher tuition would go to expanding financial assistance for eligible students.

Contact Chase Schweitzer at cschweitzer@dailycal.org.

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City of Berkeley/Courtesy

Berkeley City Council passed a motion Tuesday night to continue considering two redistricting proposals that both include the creation of a UC Berkeley student district.

One of the selected plans was submitted by the Berkeley Student District Campaign, a group that aims to give students more representation in city government through the creation of a district with a student supermajority. A student supermajority would increase the likelihood of a UC Berkeley student being elected to Berkeley City Council.

“It’s important to note how historic of a move the council took last night (by) indicating that one of their top proposals is one submitted by students,” said Shahryar Abbasi, ASUC external affairs vice president. “It’s quite a shift in the discourse and the dialogue.”

About 45 UC Berkeley students, including Abbasi, attended the City Council meeting in support of the campaign. While seven different plans were considered at the public hearing Tuesday night, only two did not include a student-majority district.

The only remaining competition to the Berkeley Student District Campaign is the “simplicity” plan, which focuses on straightforward district divisions. The plan’s author, Eric Panzer, openly endorsed the Berkeley Student District Campaign’s plan and said that he hopes his proposal will be considered only as a “worthy alternative.”

The City Council may favor Panzer’s plan due to its clarity, according to ASUC External Affairs Vice President Redistricting Director Noah Efron.

“There are certainly some council members who want clean lines on their map,” Efron said. “The council still has full control.”

Throughout the hearing, multiple City Council members expressed their support for a student-majority district, which has never existed in the city of Berkeley. The only UC Berkeley student to ever hold a seat on the City Council was current State Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, who served from 1984 to 1992.

The plans were made possible by the passage of Measure R last November, which amended the existing city charter to eliminate the 1986 boundary lines and adjusted the district boundaries to reflect the city’s updated population.

According to ASUC External Affairs Vice President-elect Safeena Mecklai, a student district would allow students a say in major city issues like safety, economic development and other issues that impact students and residents equally.
“I think we would benefit from more voices of young people,” said Councilmember Jesse Arreguin last night. “It accomplishes the goal but keeps a lot of major neighborhoods intact.”

The next public hearing, during which the City Council is slated to select a plan, will be on July 2.

Though the meeting will take place during the summer, Mecklai said the campaign plans to build a coalition of students to attend and express their support.

“We certainly took (last night) as a great victory, and it certainly feels more tangible now than it ever has,” Efron said. “(But) until we hear that they have officially adopted it, we won’t be celebrating.”

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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Safeena Mecklai/Courtesy

The ASUC submitted proposed boundaries for a new student supermajority district to the city of Berkeley Wednesday.

The plans propose a student district encompassing not only the entire UC Berkeley campus but also popular student cooperatives, apartments and fraternity and sorority houses.

“We tried to pack as many substudent groups into the district as possible, including the Greek organizations, campus dorms and off-campus housing,” said Noah Efron, the ASUC’s redistricting director.

A student has not been elected to the City Council since Nancy Skinner was a member of it from 1984 to 1992.

“Our goal is not to exactly have a student on the City Council but an elected official who responds to student issues,” Efron said. “Also, graduate students who stay here longer can feasibly serve on the council for an entire term.”

This proposal is possible because Measure R, which passed last November, amended the existing city charter to eliminate the 1986 boundary lines and adjusted the district boundaries to reflect the city’s updated population.

According to ASUC External Affairs Vice President Shahryar Abbasi, this district is overdue for the students who constitute 25 percent of the city’s population.

“Voters clearly understand the importance of students to the city and its economic development,” Abbasi said. ”Students have a voice on many of the issues that the city government must address, from lighting to affordable housing to safety to tenants’ rights.”

Some members of the city government said they are also in agreement on the importance of student representation in policy discussions.

“Students are vital to the city, as they are the economic drivers of today, the innovators and job creators of tomorrow,” said Mayor Tom Bates. “(Students) are instrumental to the city’s economic and cultural life.”

Councilmember Jesse Arreguin felt similarly, emphasizing the council’s need for a younger perspective.

“I’m the only person under 50 on the council,” Arreguin said. “We absolutely need students, who have traditionally been at the forefront of pushing changes to the city government, to bring unique, innovative ideas.”

Arreguin also expressed support for the ASUC’s planned district boundaries.

“I think it’s a very smart map — it doesn’t divide any student neighborhoods and respects the existing district boundaries that have been there for 25 years,” he said.

The City Council is not required to select any single proposal but may create a hybrid version that combines multiple plans. The proposals will then be presented to the council for discussion at two public hearings, currently set for May 7 and July 2.

Contact Jason Liu at jliu@dailycal.org.

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The ASUC hosted a Proposition 30 rally on Sproul.

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As local and statewide campaigns head into the final stretch Tuesday, one place undecided voters can turn to for guidance on contentious propositions and ballot measures is the endorsements of local groups and officials — but not always, for controversial election issues.

A California Democratic Party pamphlet sent to voters by mail featured endorsements on local to national issues, including a list of opinions on Berkeley ballot measures. However, the pamphlet remained mum on the contentious ballot Measure S — which would prohibit sitting on sidewalks in Berkeley’s commercial districts from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Berkeley City Councilmember Linda Maio also shied from an official endorsement on Measure S, referring to the ordinance as “a personal decision” on her Facebook page. She listed her other election choices in the same post.

“S is a personal choice,” Maio said in an email. “It is one that people have to make for themselves.”

City Councilmembers Max Anderson, Jesse Arreguín, and Kriss Worthington have all endorsed the “No on S” campaign and Councilmembers Susan Wengraf, Laurie Capitelli, Gordon Wozniak and Mayor Tom Bates have spoken out in favor of the ballot measure.

Assemblymember Nancy Skinner urged voters to make their own choices instead of sharing official endorsements on two particular state issues. She encouraged voters to do more research on Propositions 35 — a measure to tighten punishments of sex traffickers — and Proposition 37, an initiative to require labelling of genetically modified foods in California. Skinner said she supports both propositions personally.

The California Democratic Party supports Prop. 35 and 37, but claimed neutrality on Proposition 39, which would increase the income tax on out-of-state businesses. The California Republican Party does not support the initiative.

Election day will ultimately reveal voters’ choices on issues of national, statewide and local importance — with or without the help of official endorsements.

Contact Libby Rainey at lrainey@dailycal.org.

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