Sacramento Report: Q&A with Assemblymember Darshana Patel 

For newly elected Assemblymember Darshana Patel, a Poway school board seat offered a primer on elected office and how state government affects local agencies. 

“The school board is an excellent microcosm of the challenges, opportunities and joys of a community,” she told me. “I had to make tough choices. It taught me some of the nuts and bolts about being in elected office (and) how politics at the state level impact us on the ground.” 

I talked to Patel about her background, legislation and the top issues she plans to address, including affordability, public safety, healthcare and schools. 

“People are very concerned about not just rising costs of housing, but also utilities, insurance and education,” she said. 

Patel, a Democrat from Rancho Peñasquitos, won an open seat in Assembly District 76, defeating Republican Kristie Bruce-Lane to fill the seat left by former Assemblymember Brian Maienschein, who termed out of office last year. The district includes the cities of Escondido and San Marcos, San Diego neighborhoods including Carmel Valley, Rancho Bernardo and Rancho Peñasquitos, along with unincorporated areas such as Del Dios, Elfin Forest, Black Mountain Ranch and Rancho Santa Fe. 

Patel won a seat on the Poway Unified School District Board in 2016 and was re-elected in 2020. She previously worked in oncology research for the biotechnology firm Genentech. There she researched a cancer treatment that uses antibodies to attack cancer cells and deliver chemotherapy drugs. Besides contributing to new therapies, she said the experience offered insight into how organizations can get results. 

“It was there that I really learned what a good employer could look like, what collaborative problem-solving could look like, really tackling complex issues as a team,” she said. “I really enjoyed being part of the group to bring life-saving oncology therapies to market.”  

In 2016 she won a seat on the Poway School Board, and said her role in public education provided a study in managing budgets. Most school districts spend about 85 percent of their money on staff salaries and benefits, and another 10 percent on overhead, leaving a small margin to work with, she said. So, state rules or programs without money attached can throw a monkey wrench in school funding.  

“I’m taking these lessons learned with me when I advocate for public education,” she said. “Is this an unfunded mandate or underfunded mandate?” 

On Patel’s agenda for this year: Several of Patel’s bills tackle education issues. One would close a loophole on violent threats against schools and other places, making it a crime to threaten a location such as a school, daycare, workplace, university or place of worship. 

That sews up a hole in the law, which now only penalizes threats against individuals, rather than public places where many people could be at risk, she said. The idea for the bill came from a threatened attack against Shoal Creek Elementary School in San Diego, while she was a trustee on the Poway School Board. 

“I saw firsthand the fear and intimidation in my community, alongside the aftermath of reduced attendance rates and dwindling trust,” she said. 

Another education bill would streamline the process for earning dual credentials in special education and single or multi-subject credentials, to meet the growing need for special ed teachers. She also wants the state to offer health insurance for adjunct instructors at community colleges, recognizing that many adjunct teachers work a full course load split over multiple colleges, but don’t get healthcare in their split roles.  

Patel is also looking at public safety measures, including a budget request for a new CalFire helicopter for the region and a bill to tighten safety standards for battery storage facilities.  

On the healthcare front, she’s monitoring Palomar Health, a North County public healthcare district that has faced scrutiny for its contract with a private nonprofit healthcare company, Mesa Rock Healthcare Management, Inc., which critics say reduces public access and oversight. The health district was also the target of a cyber attack that knocked out its patient medical records, phones and online portal for several months last year. 

Patel sent a letter with fellow Assemblymember Tasha Boerner and state Senators Brian Jones and Akilah Weber to Palomar Health about organization’s lack of transparency, its financial crisis including a reported $165 million loss last year and $700 million in outstanding debt, and a California Fair Political Practices Commission investigation into potential conflicts of interest in the formation of Mesa Healthcare. The lawmakers said the healthcare organization should put the brakes on any other changes until those are resolved. 

Patel said she’s also watching spending under Proposition 1, last year’s state bond measure that authorized $6.4 billion to build mental health and addiction treatment facilities and housing for homeless people. She wants to see more treatment beds in San Diego, increased local treatment options and peer-to-peer resources.  

“How do we make sure that the services meet what people want?” she asked. 

How California Failed People Most at Risk from Wildfire 

State lawmakers met this week to discuss how local notification and evacuation systems fell short in various wildfires, leaving elderly, disabled and non-English speaking people in danger, CalMatters reported.  

The discussion was timely, since many of the people who died in the recent fires in Los Angeles were older residents and people with disabilities. Those included Altadena residents Anthony Mitchell Sr. and his son Justin, who had cerebral palsy.  The two died waiting for assistance to evacuate. 

But the audit the lawmakers reviewed didn’t consider those cases. It was prepared in December 2019 to assess preparedness for vulnerable populations during three of the deadliest wildfires at that time, but was shelved when the CovidOVID-19 pandemic hit. 

“Four years ago, the state auditor issued a stark warning: California was not prepared to protect its most vulnerable residents, even in a disaster,” said Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, a Democrat from Stockton. “Yet today, we confront the same harsh realities … California is still not protecting the most vulnerable residents from disasters.” 

Local governments are primarily responsible for emergency response, but the state auditor noted that the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services failed to provide necessary resources to help counties with planning — including some measures required by law. 

San Diego County residents can check the local system, Alert San Diego, for wildfire and other emergency updates, and register their cellphones to receive notifications.  

The Sacramento Report runs every Friday. Do you have tips, ideas or questions? Send them to me at deborah@voiceofsandiego.org.