On the Issues

Fiona Ma had the pleasure of meeting Jane Pauley on January 27, 2014, who served as co-host of the Today Show from 1976 to 1989 and anchored Dateline NBC for 11 years.  She talked about her own life/career and about the amazing people experiencing "Second Chapters" in her new book, Reimagining the Rest of Your Life.

As a "Gen Xer" living with her housemates, Dad and Mom, she's keenly aware of many issues affecting the elder generation -- namely access to affordable and adequate health care, mental illness, importance of social security, and the stress of economic downturns and uncertainty.

In the State Assembly, Fiona has sponsored and passed many laws affecting Baby Boomers and others:

• AB 199 (Chaptered) - Seeks to honor the World War II Filipino Veterans in grades 7-12 Curriculum to ensure that our children and future generations learn of the contributions and sacrifice of these brave Filipino soldiers before we lose them to history.

• AB 431 (Chaptered) - Provides qualified retiring Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) a "Retired-CPA designation" option to prevent the cancellation or surrendering of licenses in order to ease re-instatement and reduce stigma.

• AB 491 (Chaptered) - Authorizes two general acute care hospitals to provide cardiac catheterization services in a connected outpatient facility. This will ease the backlog for services at trauma and emergency room hospitals and enable faster care for those who need outpatient cardiac care.

• AB 1593 (Chaptered) - Requires the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH), when reviewing a prisoner's suitability for parole, to give great weight to any information or evidence that, at the time of the commission of the crime, the prisoner had experienced intimate partner battering and provide that they cannot use the fact that the prisoner brought in the evidence to find that a prisoner lacks insight to his or her crime. Fiona was recognized by the California Women's Law Center and given the "Pursuit of Justice Award" (2013) for her work in this area.

• AB 144 (Chaptered) - Allows cities/counties to raise fines for illegal use of placard and abuse, and authorizes parking control officer to make citations, instead of sworn police officers.

• AB 310 (Proposed) - Prohibits health plan contracts and health insurance policies that cover outpatient prescription drugs from requiring coinsurance for outpatient prescription drug benefits, and imposes specified limitations on co-payments and out-of-pocket expenses for outpatient prescription drugs.

• AB 1800 (Proposed) - Requires health plans and health insurers to provide an annual limit on subscriber out-of-pocket expenses for all benefits.

• AB 182 (Proposed) - Requires public authorities and nonprofit consortiums, in consultation with its advisory committees and stakeholders, to develop training standards and core topics provided to in-home supportive services providers and recipients.

Fiona Ma has received many awards and recognitions over the years most notably in this area by the Congress of California Seniors: 100% Legislative Report Card (2011) and from the Democratic Women's Forum: Eleanor Roosevelt Woman of the Year (2013).