Placerville Town Hall Meeting 

Recently Assemblyman Ted Gaines held a Town Hall meeting in Placerville and fielded a number of questions from the citizens. In 2006, Ted (Pictured with Supervisor Jack Sweeney) was elected to serve the people of the 4th Assembly District. The District takes in all or parts of Alpine, Placer, El Dorado and Sacramento Counties including Placerville, South Lake Tahoe, Cameron Park, and Shingle Springs.

Ted’s family first came to Placer County during the Gold Rush when his great, great grandfather James Kaseberg built and owned a sheep ranch next to the present day site of the Placer County Fair Grounds. The ranch home from the 1860’s still stands in Roseville. Ted has been married to his wife Beth since 1985, lives in Roseville, and has six children.

During the Town Hall meeting, Gaines expressed a desire to return local control in many areas including housing prisoners. He suggested that monies spent on the state level should be redirected to the county level for housing prisoners. Some in the audience questioned this approach as it cost the state $43,000 a year to house an inmate, but it cost our county over $140,000 a year. Economies of scale were cited as the main cause of this cost differential.

This led to a series of questions that suggested that the state was attempting to solve its budget problems by pushing state programs onto the local governments. Gaines replied that he would only support these programs if the mandates was funded. Funding for fire services were a hot topic during the evening relating to CalFire & the CCCs. Strong support for fire fuels management was expressed by Gaines.

Ted sponsored Assembly Bill 2859 that addresses regulatory requirements that are unnecessary and that place a burden on homeowners, fire protection districts and local governments. The bill increases fuel treatment through expanded use of Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation crews and gives the Department of Forestry & Fire Protection clear authority to remove green trees and other vegetation to control or eradicate insect or disease infestation. AB 2859 passed out of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee with bipartisan support this month.

In response to another question, Ted wrapped up with a pledge to support home schooling and expressed dismay that the courts had ruled against a proven track record of home school successes in California. “My wife and I, over the years, have home-schooled five of our six children with fantastic results.”

Mr. Gaines has co-authored ACR 115 – an Assembly resolution urging the California Supreme Court to overturn the Second District Appellate Court's decision to restrict a parent's right to home-school their children.

''What we have here is another example of judicial activism by unelected, unaccountable partisan judges. It is my firm belief that should parents desire, they have every legal right to home-school their children.''

Contact: 1700 Eureka Road, Suite 160, Roseville CA, 95661 
Phone: (916) 774-4430, Fax: (916) 774-4433