Gov. Newsom Announces Appointments
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom May 30 announced the following appointments:
Sandra Sims, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the California State Board of Optometry, where she has served since 2021. Sims has been HR business partner and personnel manager for the University of California, Los Angeles since 2023. She was human resources manager for Long Beach City College from 2021 to 2023. Sims was a freelance reporter and writer with various news publications from 2016 to 2021. She was a principal analyst and policy human resources analyst for the Los Angeles County Department of Human Resources from 2007 to 2016. Sims was a civil service advocate for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services from 2006 to 2007. She is a member of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Sims earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco and Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Sims is a Democrat.
Denise Tugade, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the Court Reporters Board of California, where she has served since 2021. Tugade has been legislative analyst for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Substance Abuse Prevention and Control Bureau since 2024. Tugade was a government relations advocate for SEIU United Health Workers West from 2020 to 2024. She was Legislative Director in the Office of State Assemblymember Christy Smith from 2019 to 2020. Tugade was a legislative aide in the Office of State Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez from 2018 to 2019. She was a mail tree program and assembly Democrats volunteer coordinator with Christy Smith for State Assembly 2018 in 2018. Tugade was communications director and legislative assistant in the Office of State Assemblymember Monique Limon from 2017 to 2018. She held several positions at Cambria Solutions from 2015 to 2017 including senior associate, AGILE, Human Centered Design Lead and social media manager. Tugade was district coordinator for DelAgua Health Ltd. from 2014 to 2015 and public relations consultant and international research intern with Planet Risk in 2014. Tugade is a member of the Feminist Democrats of Sacramento, Young Asian American Pacific Islander Sacramento Democrats, New Leaders Council Sacramento, California Asian Pacific Islander Staff Academy, Asian Pacific Islander Capitol Association and Barkada Sacramento. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Affairs: Conflict and Security Studies and Europe and Eurasian Studies from George Washington University. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Tugade is a Democrat.
Sen. Roth’s More Pathways to Nursing Legislation Sails Off Senate Floor with Unanimous Bipartisan Vote
SACRAMENTO — Sen. Richard D. Roth’s (D-Riverside ) transformative More Pathways to Nursing legislation, Senate Bill (SB) 895, May 28 passed the State Senate with unanimous bi-partisan support and now heads to the Assembly. SB 895 creates a pilot program for a limited number of community college districts to offer a Bachelor’s in Nursing Degree or BSN, which has increasingly become a requirement by more healthcare facilities in the state.
For more than 40 years, the community college ADN has been the basic credential for entry into employment as an RN at a healthcare facility; and, the California State University and University of California nursing programs (along with the State’s private nursing programs) have historically awarded the BSN degree to those who elect to pursue a four-year degree. In 2021- 22, community college ADN graduates represented over 40% of all students completing a pre-licensure nursing program in California. However, an increasing number of healthcare facilities are now preferring, if not requiring, new hires to have a BSN degree.
SB 895 would authorize the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to select up to 15 community college districts with an existing nationally accredited ADN program focusing on nursing underserved areas of the state and allow these districts to offer a BSN degree. This pilot program will enable California to utilize the existing ADN program infrastructure at community colleges to supplement the work of existing public and private BSN programs to produce BSN degreed nurses who are qualified to become supervisors and managers in healthcare facilities, and who are qualified to become nurse practitioners with Master’s or Doctorate degrees in independent practice settings, and as members of nursing school faculty. Since students are already licensed RNs, no supervised clinical placement slots are required for this program. By supplementing the work of existing public and private BSN programs in this way, additional BSN degreed nurses will be added to the workforce.
SB 895 would further direct the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to develop a process to assist community college districts in nursing underserved areas, without a nationally accredited ADN program, secure national accreditation and participation in the pilot program.
Governor Newsom Convenes GenAI Leaders for Landmark Summit
SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Gavin Newsom and leaders representing sectors including technology, government, academia and labor, along with civic organizations, May 29 convened at the Joint California Summit on Generative AI to collaborate on and examine this technology.
The summit was developed and hosted by the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development or GO-Biz, the California Government Operations Agency, the UC Berkeley College of Computing, Data Science, and Society, and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence or HAI. Newsom directed his agencies to pursue a partnership with the higher education institutions as part of his executive order on GenAI last year.
GenAI is already changing the world, and California will play a pivotal role in defining that future. The state is home to 35 of the world’s 50 leading AI companies, high-impact research and education institutions, and a quarter of the technology’s patents and conference papers.
The path forward for AI will have enormous implications across society. Summit panelists discussed how this technology is impacting and will shape the future of work in California. They also highlighted its potential to help solve problems like the climate crisis, assessed the infrastructure barriers that could impede those efforts, and considered how to address them.
Attendees from the federal and state government, Fortune 500 companies, and the world’s leading universities explored ways to responsibly implement and incorporate shared benefits of AI into the next wave of investments, discoveries, and partnerships.
The event was recorded and available here: