County Supervisor Chair Terra Lawson-Remer (and 7-week-old Esh Zoriya) joined NBC 7\u2019s Joey Safchik on Politically Speaking this week to discuss federal funding cuts, a potential sales tax increase and inspecting an ICE detention facility. <\/p>\n
A transcript of the conversation is below.<\/p>\n
Safchik:<\/strong>\u00a0There is no summer slump at the county where supervisors approved a $9.2 billion budget. But that didn’t put to bed concerns about federal funding cuts and any pain they could cause to San Diegan seeking health care or food assistance as supervisors seek to weave a safety net. Voters are also being asked to support a county wide sales tax increase and changes to the charter that would allow supervisors to potentially serve a third term. Here to talk about all that and more is Chair Terra Lawson-Remer\u2026 with a special guest. Who’s this?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>This is Esh Zoriya Lawson-Remer.<\/p>\n Safchik:<\/strong>\u00a0Thank you for both being here today. First of all, tell us why you’re here together, being a working mom. Back at it. She’s eight weeks old.<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:<\/strong>\u00a0Not quite eight. Almost eight weeks. Well, I mean, obviously I’m here because the work that we do at the county, it’s for our kids, it’s for our future. And, the work we’ve been doing in the budget, it’s really, really important, to make sure we have the investments we need for our region. And I’m very proud of the budget that we just passed, as you said, $9.2 billion. I think it’s a pretty historic budget. We really dug deep, to look for savings everywhere we could so that we could be prepared to protect San Diego from the deep cuts to health care and food and so many other essential services coming from Washington.<\/p>\n Safchik:<\/strong>\u00a0She grows up here, as her big sister grows up here. What are you most worried about them encountering?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, I think just right now, we are looking at a pretty significant, crisis that’s being created by Washington because, the cuts that they’re sending our way to health care and to food assistance, and even to housing, could be devastating for our region, which is why we created a budget that’s very, very focused on, preventing those cuts from impacting San Diegans for, making sure that we are investing in health care of us, investing in food security. But also, making sure that we’re protecting our communities from wildfires, investing in public safety, and maintaining the services that we all have come to expect and that we deserve.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Do you trust that she’s going to be able to grow up here or to one day stay here, should she so choose?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, you know, I think that that’s, it all comes down to choices, right? Like, we have choices that we can make here in our own community. Do we come together? Do we have a vision for a shared future where we’re investing in our region, investing in our quality of life, investing and making it better for everybody? That’s what I’m fighting for. That’s why I, serving as the chair of San Diego County right now, is so that we can continue making those investments. And, you know, there’s always the fear, the possibility that people could give up in despair and, you know, just say, oh, we’re only going to take care of ourselves. But I think that the people of San Diego are pretty amazing people. I love our community. I’m a third generation San Diegan, and I think I believe in our better angels.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>So one day, should this fourth generation San Diegan grow up to be as nerdy as you or I, and looks through this budget, what are you most proud of that you would see?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>There’s a couple things. I mean, first of all, I’m very proud of some of the streamlining and savings and efficiencies that we found, in the budget and that we were then able to reallocate those resources to, invest in protecting San Diego from some of the big cuts coming from Washington. So, some of those big investments are in health care and health care access and making sure that everyone in our community can continue to get access to health care. Some of those investments are in food and food security. We have big investments. In housing and expanding access to affordable housing. So that’s another big area, but also in wildfire prevention and protection and making sure that our community is prepared with a new helicopter so that we could have a Knight flying helicopter that could dump water at night. You know, fires don’t stop at night. So all of those big investments are really important.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>I know the state in its budget didn’t provide dollars for the counties to provide indigent health care. How are you going to compensate for that?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, there’s a couple things. I think, first of all, we obviously have to continue, to be efficient, with our resources. So the efficiencies, and just being really thoughtful about cutting all the fat that we find.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Like what?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>So just a small example. We did a review of all our technologies, and we realized that there were some offices that still had fax machines. No one was using the fax machine, so we got rid of the fax machine. So we’re just doing stuff like that kind of day in and day out. We did a review of the physical footprint of county office buildings, and we identified places where we could streamline the physical footprint and that could save some, some money. So it’s those kinds of things.\u00a0<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>At the same time, though, you’re bringing on new staff to the tune of 122 new\u2013<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Exactly. And that’s our eligibility workers. It’s a really important part of the strategy because\u2013<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>How are you funding that?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>So that’s why we’re funding it in two ways. One was with some of these savings. And secondly, we’ve been very prudent in managing our budget for many, many years. So we have a pretty significant cushion of funds that we’ve decided that we’re going to utilize those funds over a four year period. At least. It could be longer. But we put, you know, a roadmap out to say that these funds, this kind of pretty big cushion that we have available, we’re not going to spend it quickly. We’re going to make sure that it lasts us through the Trump years. And so we’re using some of those funds as well.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>The city of San Diego has received some blowback for being bloated, essentially, for people wondering if there were enough efficiencies on its payroll, how are you going to avoid that same criticism?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, we’ve always, I think, just really focused on our staff trying to deliver excellence. So, for example, with eligibility, we’re expanding the number of eligibility workers because now, applications are going to have to be reviewed twice a year instead of once a year. So just think about that. That’s twice as much work. If you’re going to renew your application for Medicaid, that’s two times a year, not one time of year. So you have to have more people, and you also have to have more folks to make sure that people are being connected with educational opportunities, making sure you’re reviewing whether they’re meeting work requirements. There’s a lot of red tape that the Trump administration has thrown at us, and we are not going to suffer death by red tape. We refuse to let the citizens, the residents of San Diego, drown in red tape. Our job is to help them cut through red tape. So that’s what those eligibility workers will be there to help do. And I’m very I think you look at our track record on eligibility work over the last six years really increases efficiency. Our wait times are some of the lowest in the state. And we intend to continue that.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>You mentioned the county, historically, being pretty fiscally prudent. How do you maintain that reputation of fiscal responsibility?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, we continue being fiscally responsible. So for example, we took a hard look at some of our fiscal policies over the last 18 months or two years and have revised some of them, to make sure that they’re in alignment with general accounting. Best practices. And previously, they were not quite in alignment. They were a little bit more conservative than is recommended. We’re still on the conservative side, but now we’re in direct alignment with general accounting best practices. So those are the kinds of things that we will continue to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Do you have any inhibitions about digging into the rainy day fund?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>To be honest, I think that our obligation is to ensure that our funds are being invested correctly and wisely. It’s not to stockpile money in a bank account for no reason. As my colleague, Montgomery Step mentioned at a board meeting, and I have to give her credit, she said this is not a hedge fund, right. You know, our job is not to put money in a bank and make the most returns. Our returns happen when we’re investing in our community. So what we need to do is make sure that we continue to maintain our Triple-A credit rating, which we have, and we are on track to continue doing so while investing the money that we do have in the most effective, impactful way to benefit our community.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>How do you guarantee people that they’re still going to be money in the reserves for an actual rainy day?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Because legally there has to be. So our, all our reserve fund that we have, you have to separate two things. There’s a rainy day fund, which is okay, you have a big policy challenge, and you need to rise to meet it versus the reserves. The reserves are there for fiscal emergencies. Those are set aside legally. They can’t be touched. There’s multiple months of operating expenses, set aside in the reserves. Far more than is recommended by general accounting best practices. And then there is our rainy day fund that we’ve been sort of saving for a rainy day. Unfortunately, it is\u2013 well, it’s not raining today in San Diego, but it is raining in the sense that we are really suffering from the impacts of what’s happening in Washington. And frankly, Sacramento’s inability to step up at this moment.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Again, the county is known for being pretty flush historically. So why ask voters to contribute more via this half cent sales tax increase?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>That’s such a good question. So first of all, I just want to acknowledge the incredible leadership and work of the coalition folks that put this together. Right. It’s just such a broad coalition of San Diego. And so you’ve got hospitals, you’ve got who are, you know, big hospital providers of health care services who’ve been helping lead the charge, along with, you know, nurses and doctors, but also the firefighters have been really at the forefront of putting together this measure, really grateful for their vision around this. We’ve got the San Diego Foundation, our philanthropic community, the business community, the current chair of the Chamber of Commerce, but also the past chair of the Chamber of Commerce are sort of both on board of, like, driving this forward. So it’s really, I think a testament to San Diego coming together kind of across all industries to say, hey, what do we need to keep our community safe? So the big pieces of this measure, things that are absolutely on the chopping block from Washington, one of them, of course, is health care. Right. I’ve already mentioned that we know that there’s billions and billions of cuts at a federal level. We’re looking at hundreds of millions of cuts affecting our region in San Diego County. Potentially 100,000 people. That’s really the back of the envelope estimate of how many people are likely to lose access to health care if we don’t take action. And that burden, and that impact is not just going to be on, you know, the most vulnerable who can’t see a doctor who might, you know, not be able to get checked if they have, you know, a concerning feeling, of something that they might think might be cancer. You know, they’re going to not be able to see a doctor. And that’s really, I think, immoral, like the notion that in one of the wealthiest countries in the world that you couldn’t see a doctor when you’re sick, but it also impacts everybody because then your emergency rooms start over being overfull because people couldn’t get in to see preventative care. Certainly there’s hospitals that might have to shut down, if we aren’t able to get more funding in our region for health care. So that’s really, really key. I mean, that’s a role that Washington has long played. And we’re going to have to step up and play that role. And another aspect of this is, continuing to make sure we have state of the art investments in wildfire prevention. And 911 emergency response, which is another area that we know, we can’t count on Sacramento or Washington to act. And then the final big bucket is really around the two on the river and protecting our beaches or coastlines from sewage. And that’s another area where, you know, we’ve asked Washington to do more. We’ve asked Sacramento to do more. And they’ve done something right that I’m very grateful for the work of our congressional delegation. But, it’s not enough. And we really need a much more aggressive response to protect our communities.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Why should San Diegans of every income level be asked to shoulder that additional cost, including the people who are most directly impacted by it?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Why should we shoulder the cost of\u2013<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Of this additional sales tax?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, at the end of the day, you know, we can’t wait for Washington. We can’t wait for Sacramento. You know, I think we can rely on ourselves. I think we have an extraordinary community of people that can come together. And if we come together, we absolutely can protect the most vulnerable members of our community. We can make sure that people can see a doctor when they’re sick. We can make sure that our emergency rooms are not overflowing. But that really is up to us.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>What makes you think this is going to pass? Measure G didn’t, we saw the city sales tax increase fail. The economy is arguably in worse shape now than it was then. Why do you have confidence that people are going to buy in?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>You know, I don’t know whether it’ll pass or not. Right? I don’t know, I think that’s really going to be up to the voters at the end of the day. You know, I’m, I’m hopeful that we will come together as a community, that we will make the investments we need to keep ourselves safe. In the case of wildfires, we know that there is an increasing risk, especially with climate change. And we need to do more to make sure that we are putting the best fire equipment in the hands of the best firefighters. And I very much hope you know, my little one. I want her to go to the beach. I want her to enjoy everything that San Diego has to offer. I represent most of the coastline of our community. The ocean is one of the things that makes San Diego so special. But right now, you know, too much of our community can’t even go into the ocean. Can’t even go to the beach without being exposed to toxins. And, our health, well-being is at a really severe risk. And that’s just not right.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Let’s pivot. I want to talk a little bit more in depth about some of those federal funding cuts back in March, when you started spending from the reserves, Supervisor Anderson told me that the cuts hadn’t yet reached San Diego. Have they now? And were you all prepared?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>So, they’re coming in waves. So one set of cuts did hit about two months ago, and that was to the food assistance programs. And I do think we have been able to step into the gap, and not the county alone. I really want to acknowledge the great work of our philanthropic community. You know, the San Diego Foundation, the Price Foundation, the Prebys Foundation. We all came together in a partnership, to this partnership to protect San Diego, to make those investments to make sure that people could still eat here in San Diego County despite, I think the callousness and craven, policies coming out of the Trump administration, so that’s already hit. But the bigger cuts start in January and we are ready. And I think one of the things that’s most important that we’ve done is really, streamline our eligibility processes so that you can quickly make sure you can quickly, stay on food assistance, stay on Medicaid, and make sure you can see a doctor. I think that as a society, we have a long way to go with health care. It’s not really serving us, but we are doing the best that we can here in San Diego County.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>What did the county find during its inspection of the Otay Mesa Detention Center?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:<\/strong>\u00a0It’s not good. I want to say that we have a more thorough report coming out soon. So I don’t want to steal the thunder of our public health officers.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>But what can you tell us? What do the people need to know imminently?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>That, there are some challenges in the facility. But again, I promised him I would not steal his thunder, so I will do my best to not, to not, spill the beans on that.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>But is there anything that the public should know now that sitting on that could be harmful?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Not at this time. You know, I think that there are yellow flags, but not red flags.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>When can we expect that report?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>I don’t have an exact date, but it’s coming soon.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>DHS was supposed to file a response by Monday. The county has asked to have continued inspections in the future. What is the status update on that?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>It’s a little bit in flux because of the sale of the facility. So, of course, we strongly believe that we have the right to continue inspecting and that there’s a deep necessity to have continued oversight. But with the sale of the facility, there are certainly going to be some additional challenges.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Should that request be denied, what recourse do you all have?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>We would be back in court.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>And how do you feel about that?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, how do I feel about any of this? I mean, I think the notion that we have to be so afraid that our federal government is kidnapping people off the streets of San Diego, locking them in, substandard, some potentially dangerous, potentially, like, very unsafe and unsanitary conditions. And we don’t have oversight in any meaningful way unless it’s mandated by the court. It’s not right. This is not right at all. And this is one of the reasons why we have to continue fighting and doing everything we can here in San Diego County, to protect the rule of law.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Saying potentially dangerous, but withholding details. Do you really feel like that is the right call? Don’t you feel like if there’s something you know that people at home don’t know, right now that’s impacting people in these facilities, they have a right to know.<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>We have more concerns about what would happen, under federal, with the transfer to the federal government, that’s a bigger concern for us.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Say more. What do you mean?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Because, with a transfer of ownership of the facilities, we’re concerned we’ll have less oversight.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Also less tax dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Yes. That’s definitely true.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>That impacts everything,including the school districts.<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. I mean, the less tax dollars, I think, you know, as we were just talking about the importance of tax revenue, you know, everyone paying their fair share is definitely a really important part of investing in our community.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Where does this fall on your totem pole of challenges facing the county right now? I know that this is something that\u2013 it sounds like it has been keeping you up at night.<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>You mean the ICE facility?\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. I think everything related to the ICE kidnappings is a huge problem. You know, we have so many people in San Diego who, are directly impacted, but even at a bigger level, it’s a moral issue. You know, we live in a country that the linchpin of what it is to be an American for, in my opinion, is a respect for freedom and due process and rule of law. And that all people should have the equal opportunity to build a better life. And, you know, we don’t have kings and queens and this is what America is. It’s a land of freedom. You know, you saw that and just the extraordinary, extraordinaryness of our country right over the last couple of weeks with the World Cup. I don’t know if you were watching, but it was just so inspiring, you know, are Americans coming together, to share in the pride that we have in our nation? And that’s exactly what’s threatened, you know, like the basic linchpins of being able to live without fear.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Are people in this facility in immediate danger right now?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Not in I mean, not in this facility, not in immediate danger.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>But you’re worried.<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>In the future for sure. I think that the transfer to federal control is greatly concerning.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Do you anticipate being back in court?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>We’ll have to see. You know, I’m always hopeful that we’ll be able to find another path. But we’re always going to be prepared to fight in the courts if that’s what it takes to.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Pivoting now to these potential charter changes, why should voters buy in on giving supervisors a third term?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>I wouldn’t necessarily argue they should or shouldn’t. I think that’s up to voters. You know, we’re pretty excited to put together a package of charter reforms that, you know, the big coalition of folks brought to us. And we’ve been working with them for a couple of years to put this together. You know, lots of people have lots of ideas. I think that the package is pretty great. But whether voters want to support or not, at the end of the day, I think it’s going to be their call. I think the pieces that I would say I am most excited about personally, would number one be, the Independent Budget Office? Right now we have no independent insight at all into what’s going on with the budget. It’s just like a black box. For constituents, for voters. But even for us as supervisors, there’s just no way to get independent analysis. And so, the Congressional Budget Office, is it’s such a good example, but also just even here locally in the city of San Diego, being able to have a second set of eyes and, kind of crunched the numbers differently will be really, really helpful.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>The third term being lumped in with all of that. And are you worried about that, taking the county backwards.<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>In what way?<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>We know that term limits for county supervisors are something of a new development here. Why would you want to expand them?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Sorry. By taking it backwards. In what way?<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>Going back to having longer terms, like, what benefit does that have for people at home?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Oh, you want to know the benefit? Yeah. Yeah. I think that there’s frankly, from my opinion, a need for a balance. Right. So, if you look at all the counties across the state, we’re the only ones with, three term limit. I mean, start with a two term limit. There’s a couple who have three terms. Most have no term limits. I think no term limits is great. You need fresh ideas. You need turnover. I think two terms is probably too short. It’s a $9.2 billion budget. 20,000 staff. I don’t know. When I hire a CEO, I would never want them to say, I promise I’m out of here in eight years, right? Like I want them to be in for long enough to learn how to do their job and to do that job well and bring experience to the job. So from my point of view, it’s a balance. I think when you look at complicated things like the state, right, you know, our state assembly members, our state senators, those are 12 year terms because it’s complicated. But, you know, I think that some people could argue you need longer than three. You need shorter. I don’t think it’s a hill to die on, in my opinion, I think that that’s a judgment call of how do you balance the need for experience on the one hand, but also the need for turnover and fresh ideas on the other?<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>What role do you see the county playing right now heading into this midterm election in making San Diego more affordable?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>It’s a massive, massive challenge. You know, the affordability issue, I think, is at the heart of everything. And, you know, it’s just reading the paper and we’re back at war with Iran, right? I mean, not at war, now we’re at war. I mean, we are looking at the kind of permanent inflation that’s being caused by Trump and are sort of completely misguided policies like, why? Like why are we at war in Iran anyway? We can’t do anything about the war in Iran here in San Diego County, unfortunately, which is obviously like the big driver of inflation. But, I do think there’s a lot that we’re focused on that is within our locus of control. So, you know, the affordable housing work that we’ve been doing, is really, really important. It has a couple aspects. It’s both about expanding, investments in county owned land to build deeply affordable housing, but it’s also about creating more opportunities. In a lot of the village areas in San Diego County to, to build more, market rate housing. So the housing issues are really important and really central. Another piece of this obviously is health care. You know, that’s what I’ve been mentioning. So we could have a whole segment on health care. But one of the problems with what’s going on with the Trump HR one cuts to health care is it will drive up our insurance premiums, pretty significantly and pretty directly because, when you defund Medicaid, then people can’t get preventative care. Then they end up in the emergency room because you can’t turn away someone who’s dying and just kick them out onto the streets. Emergency care is more expensive than preventative care, but there’s no Medicaid to pay for it. So that then gets passed on to private insurance and drives up insurance premiums. So the most direct way that we’re all going to see inflation in our pocketbooks in the next year, and two and three is because of the Medicaid cuts. And so one of the things that we are doing and are really focused on is ensuring that those costs are not passed on here in San Diego County, so that we can keep our health and our health insurance premiums low or too much or too high already, but prevent them from going higher. I should say more accurately, here in San Diego County, because at the very least, we will not be passing on all of these folks into emergency care.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>To wrap this all up, when she watches this interview back one day, besides noting what a natural she is on television, what do you hope she gleans from this and from the work that you’ve been putting in for the last six years?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. Thank you so much for that question. I think, you know. Life is busy. Life is hard. You know, being a parent is hard. There’s always something else you need to do. And somewhere else you need to go. And it’s sometimes very easy to just focus on one’s self and what’s best for, you know, your day to day. But in the end, if everyone just focuses on themselves, then the parking on the street is dirty. There’s litter everywhere, and our beaches are polluted and we have nowhere to swim and no parks. And we don’t make the investments we need in health care and schools and the things that benefit everybody. And I think the work of being an elected official, but the work of being a community leader, the work of being, you know, in a in the PTA, the work of being a Girl Scout troop leader, a soccer coach, all of that work is the work of saying, hey, how do we pause for five minutes, ten minutes, do something that’s about community and about giving back to everybody. And I think that that is more than ever the moment that we’re in, here in San Diego County, which is there’s no Washington who’s going to come save us? There’s no Sacramento that’s going to make it better. But we can make our own community better. We can make sure our beaches are clean and that they’re safe and healthy for people to swim in. And we can make sure that if you’re hungry, you can eat. And we can make sure that if you’re poor and you have cancer or whatever other problem that you have that is life threatening, that you can see a doctor and we can make sure that our emergency rooms aren’t overflowing and we can make sure that our communities are protected if there’s a raging wildfire. But only we can do that.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>And the Board of Supervisors is one of the few places where we do still see some harmony and bipartisanship on a fairly regular basis. Not always, but the budget’s an example, right?<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, absolutely. And I think the budget’s a really extraordinary example of us coming together. You know, I’m so proud that as chair of this county, we passed a budget unanimously. And, of course, there’s always pieces that each of us aren’t that happy about, but we put aside our differences for the greater good. And I think that that’s true as well, with this extraordinary coalition of nurses and doctors and hospitals and firefighters and, childcare providers and health care workers and business leaders and, philanthropic leaders that have come together to say, hey, this is a moment that we could pass a revenue measure that could really transform San Diego County.<\/p>\n Safchik:\u00a0<\/strong>We will leave it at that. Thank you both so much for being here.<\/p>\n Lawson-Remer:\u00a0<\/strong>Thank you.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"County Supervisor Chair Terra Lawson-Remer (and 7-week-old Esh Zoriya) joined NBC 7\u2019s Joey Safchik on Politically Speaking this…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":938301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,25223,84125,80,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-938300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-decision-2026","tag-politically-speaking","tag-politics","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116928345929794935","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}