Information provided by the Office of State Assemblyman Robert Rivas.
State Assemblyman Robert Rivas has been elected vice chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus by members of the Caucus, an influential entity in the State Legislature comprised of 29 Assemblymembers and Senators.
“I am grateful to my colleagues in the Latino Legislative Caucus for confidence in my leadership during this unprecedented time in California’s history,” Rivas said. “The current pandemic and economic recession have absolutely devastated Latino communities across the State. Latinos make up almost 50% of all COVID-19 deaths in California, and Latinas in particular have been hit the hardest by the economic recession, with 30% losing their jobs during the first few months of the pandemic. The next legislative session will be incredibly important for the Caucus and for the health and wellbeing of the state’s Latino plurality, and I look forward to working with Senator and Chair Durazo on these urgent issues.”
Rivas is currently on a statewide tour of agriculture industries and communities in California. He was also recently selected as the chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.
A recent press release noted that Rivas authored the COVID-19 Farmworker Relief Package, which included Assembly Bill 2043—the Agricultural Workplace Health and Safety Act—a Latino Caucus priority bill. Signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last month, AB 2043 funds a bilingual statewide outreach campaign to educate agricultural workers about how to protect themselves against COVID-19 and what benefits they are entitled to during the pandemic, and it will also direct Cal/OSHA to track and report agricultural workplace investigations.