Can a field trip to Sacramento help local leaders get more done?

Sara Rubin here, thinking about how close Sacramento feels to Salinas when traveled by luxury bus. (I more typically travel to Sacramento by train or by driving my car, and either mode feels long.) 

But last Wednesday, April 9, I met up with a group of local elected officials from Assembly District 29, represented by Robert Rivas, for a day trip. We gathered at 7am in Rivas’ district office in Salinas for coffee and breakfast burritos from El Charrito, then boarded the bus to arrive in the Capitol for presentations starting at 10:30am. (The trip perhaps feels shorter thanks to the presence of a few comedians; Salinas City Councilmember Tony Barrera tried halfheartedly to sell bags of cookies for $1 to his busmates, “for my re-election campaign.”) 

Rivas’ star has quickly risen in Sacramento. The former Monterey County staffer turned San Benito County supervisor was first elected to the State Assembly in 2018 in a five-way race, and then in 2023 was elected by his colleagues to the influential position of Speaker of the Assembly. 

This gives Rivas the power to appoint committee chairs and to set the agenda in the Legislature. It also gives him a bright, spacious office decorated with images celebrating farmworkers (a photograph of one of his heroes, UFW cofounder Dolores Huerta, is framed on the wall); a large representation of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars built out of Legos with his daughter sits on his massive, gleaming desk. 

His universe inside the Capitol is just a three-hour drive from Salinas, but it can feel worlds away in a place dominated by special interest groups and influence of big population centers in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. Rivas said when he first arrived, colleagues thought he was from San Bernardino County—they hadn’t even heard of San Benito. “I remember how isolating it felt when I got here,” Rivas said. “My colleagues didn’t know much about the Central Coast, the diverse communities we represent.”

It goes both ways: As Rivas’ role and responsibilities have expanded and he spends more time traveling the entire state, elected leaders in his district feel like he is increasingly hard to reach. 

So he and his staff decided to create a day-long field trip, starting with breakfast burritos on the bus, to bring 18 local elected officials to Sacramento to get a bit of an orientation and connection to Rivas’ world. 

“I have seen firsthand when we work together we are not only stronger, but we are much more effective,” Rivas told the group. “The ability to build relationships here in Sacramento makes all the difference.”

Of course, what difference those relationships make remains to be seen. It’s a tough budget year for the state, so not everyone’s wishlist will be fulfilled. Introductions have been made between local mayors, city council members and county supervisors to state-level elected officials and Assembly staffers working on issues related to transportation, housing and public safety. 

I’ll be watching to see if locals can leverage their day of meet-and-greets into tangible gains for the region.