Last week, the Senate Special Committee on Pandemic Emergency Response was officially formed to further address the COVID-19 pandemic afflicting the state. Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins appointed 11 state senators to the committee, including Senators Patricia Bates and Brian Jones.
“I am ready to serve on this committee to review how we responded as a state to the COVID-19 pandemic and, more importantly, work to better prepare ourselves for any similar emergency we may face in the future,” stated Jones.
Jones’ foresight is crucial, as the current pandemic was virtually impossible to predict and sufficiently prepare for. However, that need not be the case in the future. We’ve seen just how devastating a virus from the other side of the planet can be here at home, and must be ready for such an outbreak should it happen again.
“We’ve lost over 750 Californians, another 23,000 have been diagnosed with Coronavirus, thousands of businesses have been decimated, and hundreds of thousands of Californians have lost their jobs,” Jones added. “While, in many ways, we set the example in how to properly deal with the crisis, there are undoubtedly plenty of things we need to learn from this situation and change our state’s future response to emergencies to better protect all Californians.”
It’s this prudent attitude that has saved lives in the midst of this crisis, and will be needed again to save lives in any future crisis. Having Senator Brian Jones on this committee is vital to ensuring public accountability and transparency—which is what Californians need from government leaders during this time.
