SAN DIEGO — Tuesday, April 25, the San Diego Unified School District’s board members will consider endorsing California State Sen. Ricardo Lara’s proposed Senate Bill 30 which would prohibit the state from awarding or renewing a public contract with any person who provides goods or services to the Federal Government for construction of a wall, fence, or barrier along California’s Southern Border.
It is Senator Lara’s belief that Senate Bill 30 will reaffirm California’s longstanding commitment to America’s values of inclusion, diversity, and freedom from oppression.
With an endorsement, San Diego Unified would send the message that its Board of Education believes a proposed border wall between California and Mexico would do serious economic, social and environmental harm to its students and the larger San Diego community.
The bill would require any federally funded infrastructure project along California’s southern border that exceeds a cost of $1 billion and that would harm California’s environment – such as endangered species of wildlife and river watersheds, or California’s economy – through trade and tourism, to first be approved by a majority of the voters in a statewide general election.
If passed, Senate Bill 30 would go into effect on January 1, 2018 and prohibit the state from awarding or renewing any contract with any person providing services to the federal government for the construction of a federally funded infrastructure project wall, fence, or other barrier along California’s southern border. As defined, that applies both at the time of bid or proposal of a new contract for goods or services, or at the time of the renewal of an existing contract for goods or services.
San Diego Unified’s school board members are slated to discuss and vote on the matter at tomorrow evening’s regularly scheduled school board meeting – 5 p.m. at the Education Center, 4100 Normal Street in San Diego.
