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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. KGET) — A bill that would possibly bring a University of California medical school to Kern County is moving forward in the state legislature.

Dr. Jasmeet Bains, who represents California’s 35th Assembly district, first introduced the so-called “Grow Our Own” bill. It would require the University of California to build a medical school in Kern County and create an endowment in the state treasury to fund it.

In a major milestone for mariner safety in California, the California Senate Transportation Committee has voted 14-0 in favor of a measure that would prevent the California Air Resources Board (CARB) from enforcing a potentially deadly requirement in its harbor craft regulations. That requirement would force operators to install unproven and uncertified diesel particulate filters (DPF), widely seen as a fire hazard. The U.S. Coast Guard has already said that it won’t enforce the CARB DPF requirement.

The measure, AB 1122, was authored by Assemblymember Dr. Jasmeet Bains, MD.

Everyone — from farmers to teachers, legislators to laymen — can agree that the Central Valley needs more doctors.

On Tuesday, the Assembly Higher Education Committee passed the “Grow Our Own” bill, or Assembly Bill 2357, bringing a branch medical school campus of the UC San Francisco School of Medicine in Kern County one brick closer to being built.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A gift to a Delano church could turn the tide in addressing food insecurity in the area, according to one local assemblymember.

It all started at a food distribution at First Assembly of God Church in Delano that happens regularly, but on Friday, those in need were handed food by a new face — Dr. Jasmeet Bains.

Asm. Jasmeet Bains (D–Bakersfield), who is also a doctor, would like to see Kern County have its own medical school.

Bains introduced Assembly Bill 2357 this week to require the University of California to build a medical school in Kern County.

California’s ports are the lifeblood of the state’s economy supporting agriculture, manufacturing, and global trade abroad. We cannot talk about our ports without also talking about the men and women who make them work. Aboard tugboats and other harbor craft, these incredibly skilled workers safely guide the largest cargo ships in the world in and out of port. As they keep us and our sensitive coastal ecosystems safe, they should not have to worry about their boats melting down and catching on fire.

Jasmeet Bains was working at her father’s car dealership in Taft, California, at the beginning of the 2007-2009 recession. Taft is a rural community located 32 miles southwest of Bakersfield at the edge of the San Joaquin Valley. It was built on oil production and agriculture. Growing up in nearby Delano, a town where tumbleweeds outnumber opportunities, Dr. Bains, the daughter of immigrant parents from India, always knew she would join the family business at Taft Chevrolet.

As California’s aging population grows, so do our challenges and opportunities. With a quarter of the population expected to be 60 or older by 2030, the state is confronting complex issues such as workforce, housing, long-term services and supports, caregiver supports and more.