Jackie's News, July 2025

Dear Friends,

I hope July offered you a chance to recharge, maybe even travel, and catch up with family and friends. While the Board of Supervisors was on recess this month, we were still working hard on a number of issues in the office.

Child Care Crisis

I am deeply concerned about the child care unaffordability in San Mateo County. We are witnessing families leaving the county in record numbers and the birthrates plummeting. I will be releasing a report titled "San Mateo County's Quarter-Century Crisis: The Vanishing Dream Of Affordable Child Care And A System At It's Breaking Point" to the board in August on the child care crisis and some of the options we can pursue to fix this problem.

Meanwhile Supervisor Lisa Gauthier and I will be hosting a series of a listening session we are calling "Child Care Town Halls." The first one will be on Thursday, August 14 at 6 pm at the South San Francisco Library/Parks & Recreation Center. We will provide light dinner for attendees and a kids corner for potty trained children 2 ½ years and older, subject to capacity.

If you are a parent or grandparent trying to manage high child care cost, are on a waitlist for a child care spot, have left the workforce to take care of your child, or are happy with your child care, we want to hear from you!

This will be the first event in a series of three town halls across San Mateo County to collect stories from parents and childcare providers. The second town hall will be in East Palo Alto on Wednesday, August 27 at 6:30 pm, more details on that soon.

Your voices are essential to better understand your experiences and challenges navigating our current child care system, so please join us on August 14 and make your voices heard.

Evaluating our Behavioral Health Services

San Mateo County is committed to keeping all residents healthy, and that includes mental health. Our Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Department provides services for residents who are on Medi-Cal or are uninsured children or adults dealing with mental health and or substance use conditions. At $340 million this fiscal year, the cost of providing these services is very high and we must ensure that the programs are effective and reduce recidivism. I have the deepest respect for the staff of the department and know they treat some of the most severe cases of mental illness and substance use. During the August 26 board meeting we will have a study session to discuss the performance and efficacy of programs BHRS is providing.

Human Trafficking Free Zone in San Mateo County

Major sporting events, including the Superbowl and World Cup, are coming to the Bay Area next year making it a hotspot for human trafficking. Sex and labor trafficking is one of the world's fastest growing crimes that happens right here in our county but is difficult to recognize if we don't know the signs. San Mateo County has restarted a human trafficking and cybercrime program. Housed in the District Attorney's office, the unit will collaborate with regional law enforcement and advocacy groups to rescue victims and arrest and prosecute traffickers. Preparations will include public awareness campaigns and trainings for law enforcement, hospitality workers, airline workers, and hospital workers.

I initiated an anti-trafficking effort in 2012 while I served in Congress, and we organized dozens of trainings at airports, hotels, and law enforcement departments. Those trainings paid off in 2016 when San Mateo County, for the first time in the county's history, successfully convicted someone for human trafficking and sent him to prison for 13 years. The perpetrator sex trafficked two victims at a hotel in South San Francisco. A hotel clerk who had been trained noticed that the perpetrator kept ordering towels from the front desk and recognized this unusual behavior as a possible sign of human trafficking.

The county had a human trafficking unit that was housed in the sheriff's department until it was shut down in 2022. Supervisor Ray Mueller and I provided $160,000 in Measure K this June to re-establish a pilot program within the DA's office. I'm very glad to see such a strong commitment from all the stakeholders to stamp out this heinous crime. Beyond the sporting events next year, we have to prevent trafficking that takes place in our county behind closed doors every day.

Keeping Transit Moving

You may be following the discussion in the California Legislature of a possible 1/2 cent sales tax for regional transit for the November 2026 ballot. Bay Area transit agencies are facing significant deficits in the coming years. While in Congress, I strongly supported massive federal funding to keep these agencies afloat.

SamTrans board members are presently deciding whether to "opt-in" to participation in the sales tax measure in 2026. The legislature may authorize the tax to be voted upon, but in the end a sales tax measure would be put onto the ballot by gathering the signatures of residents, not by a proposal directly from SamTrans.

I have concerns about increasing the regional sales tax by another 1/2 cent. It will take us to over 10% sales tax for most cities in the county.

There is a different type of tax, called a "gross receipts tax," that I believe more fairly distributes the cost of supporting transit. It's a tax levied on the gross receipts of larger companies that are already benefiting from the services mass transit provides to their employees. It would be similar to an existing tax levied in San Francisco. Larger corporations in the US just received a significant federal tax cut, championed by the President and Congress. They should contribute to sustaining our transit systems.

Discussions about transit funding are ongoing and I will examine all of the proposals as the legislature deliberates in the days ahead.

Before I Go…

Don't be fooled by a new jury duty scam that is asking you to make payments for failing to appear in court. The scammers pretend to be law enforcement officials or court employees and contact you via phone, text, email or mail demanding payments to clear false arrest warrants and fines. Please know that the courts or law enforcement will never contact jurors and request payments, threaten arrest or require you turn yourself in for missing jury service. Should you receive such messages, please report them to [email protected].

I look forward to seeing you at one of my events in August!

All the best,

Jackie