Press Release

Ash Kalra, a Democratic state Assembly member in California, Dec. 3 announced that he will lead a delegation from the state to India.

The Kalra-championed delegation, officially sanctioned by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, is the first-ever for the state Assembly, and will embark on a two-week trade delegation beginning Dec. 4.

Other members of the six-member delegation are Assemblymembers Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Richard Bloom, Sharon Quirk-Silva, Eloise Gómez Reyes and Mark Stone – all of whom are Democrats.

Paramount Ranch, largely destroyed by the destructive Woolsey Fire, is no longer standing. But state and local officials promised Friday that it will be back.

“Let’s today begin to make that commitment to restore this place,” said state Assemblymember Richard Bloom, speaking at a press conference to announce a new fundraising initiative to restore the Western film set in the Santa Monica Mountains.

“It is so important to the history, not just right here of this spot and the Paramount Ranch, but really, to the industry that it’s so much a part of,” he said.

October 1, 2018 -- Two housing bills and a bill banning toxic chemicals were among the measures sponsored by Santa Monica lawmaker Richard Bloom signed by the Governor last week.

The housing measures address inconsistencies in applying housing density bonuses on the coast and reform the process used for determining and apportioning regional housing needs.

Among the changes made by AB 1771 to the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process is requiring the regional distribution to be more data-driven and equitable.

“The RHNA has not worked properly for quite some time,” Bloom said. “Local politics and flawed methodology have distorted the RHNA process and produced insufficient and inequitable housing across the state."