Orange County Register: Local, state officials spotlight Orange County mental health services
August 21, 2021
A group of state and local officials gathered at the Be Well OC mental health services hub in Orange on Friday, Aug. 19, to applaud the on-site programs that began operating in January and celebrate an infusion of $5 million in state funds to help build a second campus.
Orange County Register: Ocean Institute Plans Memorial to Celebrate Founder Stan Cummings
July 22, 2021
Sen. Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) said she remembers when she met Cummings, who had just been named the institute’s director. Then a member of the Orange County Junior League, she was looking for a worthy project.
Orange County Register: Orange County lawmakers advance 81 bills in Sacramento
June 10, 2021
The 12 state lawmakers who represent portions of Orange County wrote 81 bills that advanced through a recent critical deadline this session, with legislation that addresses everything from unemployment fraud to packaging for cannabis-infused drinks to caps on mobile home park rent spikes now one...
Los Angeles Times: California’s highest-in-the-nation gas taxes are rising. But promised repairs are lagging
May 23, 2021
“It’s an insult to California’s drivers to force them to pay the nation’s highest gas taxes and then say it’s not enough, especially at a time when Sacramento is supposedly enjoying a budget surplus,” Bates said.
California Globe: Bill To Stop Rehab Centers From Making False Claims Passed in Senate
May 19, 2021
A bill proposing to prohibit an operator of rehabilitation treatment facilities from providing any form of false advertising or marketing services was unanimously passed by the California State Senate on Monday, 38-0.
Orange County Register: Plugging deadly holes in California’s addiction treatment system
May 17, 2021
State Sen. Pat Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, was once a social worker. She saw the devastation wrought by mental illness and addiction up close, long before she started pushing for reforms to California’s addiction treatment system in the Legislature.