I’ve been writing about my frustrations with the House legislative achievements. Week after week, House Republicans have brought message bills to the floor for votes. This is while the nation faces some very important and difficult challenges. Message bills may sound nice back home in some of the highly gerrymandered districts, but no bill will become law without the tough work of compromising with the other side.

But, there is some good news: this week we did pass an important bill – H.R. 699, the Email Privacy Act. This bill was passed with unanimous support – no dissenting votes. That’s what happens when people work together – we can actually get things done. This bill requires government agencies and law enforcement agencies to have a warrant to obtain emails and other electronic information older than 180 days from servers. Now it’s time for the Senate to get something like this passed.

I’m proud of my House colleagues on both sides of the aisle for this achievement. We need to put that sort of cooperation to use in getting more things done, like appropriations or a budget, instead of continuing these partisan message bills.

By the way, my comprehensive water bill that will push California, and indeed all states, toward creating sustainable water infrastructure will be introduced by late May, so be on the lookout for it.

Jerry