- Welcome to Inland Edition, where we have community conversations with people who make decisions that affect our everyday lives.

My name is Joe Richardson.

I'm a community member, an attorney and your host.

And today, we're going to chat with the first Latina California state Senator of the Republican Party, [background music] the daughter of Mexican immigrants, and a graduate of San Bernardino High School, Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh has taught English language learners in elementary schools and has been a proud realtor for 20 years, firmly believing in home ownership as a cornerstone of the American dream.

She is logical, passionate, and she has a big heart.

We're excited for you to meet her right now.

[gentle upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ - [Joe] I am proud to be here with state Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh.

Thank you for being here!

- Thank you so much for the invitation.

- Let's ask here.

I always kind of talk here because there's always this question of, hey, wow!

How did you get here?

Was it for you, getting you down the path of the road to public service, was it an aha moment?

Was it, you know, one thing?

Or, was it just an evolution of the things that you already do?

- I usually say it was an organic trajectory into the Senate seat.

It wasn't something-- I wasn't a political science major.

I wasn't very political at all, actually.

My husband had run for city council and he had done that, but I wasn't very, very engaged.

And, I think that's-- one of the reasons why that experience, that life experience actually directs how I work as a Senator and my priorities.

Because, I'm taking what I didn't know back then and what I do know now, and trying to empower people and engaging their voice and getting and having them informed.

But, for me, it was very organic.

It started with just volunteering in different capacities starting with volunteering in the classroom with my children.

Then, that evolved to being on the Community Cabinet and the School Site Council.

And, it just started escalating until years later.

A vacancy came up in the school board and the-- one of the school board members and the superintendent knew that I had, you know?

They knew who I was because of the work that I had done in the school district, asked if I would consider-- you know, had I considered applying for the position.

I thought, "I don't have the ability to do that.

I don't have the qualifications."

And, it's funny because they automatically, you know, said, "well, actually you do."

And so, I did!

I applied, and I was appointed to the school board.

And, from there, when the opportunity came, when the predecessor that I took over had termed out came to us and-- him and-- there was another lady that was in local leadership that I called actually.

And, asked "have you considered running for state Senate?"

I said, "no, I haven't.

"I don't have the qualifications.

I'm not-?

No.

No, that has not been part of my plan!"

And, she says, "Well, typical answer of a woman."

Women always hold back and never think that they're ready or don't have the life experiences or the professional experience to be able to do the jobs.

She goes, "Men would be different.

They always say, 'Yes, absolutely.

I will take that.'"

And so, that was very eye-opening.

And, I share that with you because there's a lot of people in our communities who might feel that they don't have the qualifications, that they don't have the preparations, that they are not a political science major.

And, here's the aha moment: You don't have to be a political science major to work in governance.

- Mm hm.

- Our life experiences actually help really impact policy.

Real-life experiences: work in your communities, volunteering, having different experiences working in different spaces.

All of that actually helps you bring a different voice into the legislature.

And, for me, whether I was a daughter of immigrant parents, an English language learner, a teacher of English language learners, a real estate-- a realtor for many years, a mother, someone who volunteered in the classroom, you know, or family-owned businesses.

All of those life experiences actually give you insight into policy.

And so, as I mentioned, it was just an organic transition where life happened.

And, you volunteer, you work in different spaces; people notice.

And then, they go, "ooh, you know what?

Have you considered?"

And, I share that with you because I think there's a lot of people that are just doing the work, whether it's volunteer, whether it's working.

And, they will always have an opportunity to bring that experience to the table in whichever capacity, whether it's city council, whether it's school board, water board, the Assembly, the state Senate.

- Giving us a primer on state government!

There is some such thing as a U.S.

Senator, but you're a state Senator and, you know, there's some interplay between the state Assembly, the state Senate, the governor's office.

Give us a little bit of a one-on-one in where you fit in state government.

- So, I'm so grateful that you asked that question because we do receive a lot of emails or calls advocating for federal law, and we have to remind ourselves.

And, that's one of the reasons why I actually have town halls throughout my district to help people understand government and how I play in that role.

So, in the state of California, we have the governor, right?

The legislature.

We have the governor.

We have 40 Senators and we have 80 Assemblymembers.

So, I am one of 40 Senators that are able to represent.

Well?

Depending on the district, but they say around just under a million people.

- Tell me about things that are unique to the Inland Empire.

My sense is that-- I'm no expert.

But, it seems like we're a little under-resourced to be as large as we are, to have as many people as we have, to have as much need as we do, right?

Talk a little bit about advocating for the Inland Empire and the Inland Empire's role in the health and the success of the state of California.

- So, the Inland Empire is very unique in the sense that we are very varied.

We have some of the largest counties, right?

San Bernardino is one of the largest, if not the largest county, in the state of California.

We're also an area, region, that is continuously growing exponentially.

And so, we have an excellent time-- Historically, we've had some surveys, some studies that have come out that have actually shown that we haven't received an optimal amount of resources in the area.

But, what was beautiful, and I think-- and I'm not sure if it's unique to this time and era, because I can only speak as a Senator who's been in my seat for two-and-a-half years.

But, I can share that being within the Inland Empire is being one of several-- I think we have about 20 members right now with the Inland Empire Caucus, which are both Assemblymembers and Senators, representing both Riverside and San Bernardino County.

We really get along incredibly well.

We've been able to collaborate and come up with-- kind of model it sort of in a way where we looked at "pillars of need" of areas and policy areas that we could come together regardless of party, regardless of house that we serve in, but come together to say, "okay, "this is what we need in the Inland Empire.

This is how we're gonna put our voices together to work together towards achieving the ability to receive those resources in the Inland Empire."

It's interesting because normally much of the policy and a lot of the resources have historically, gone to LA, no offense (both laugh) to LA or-- - It's been a while!

(both laughing) I'm from LA!

See, we talked off-camera about this.

I'm from LA, but hey!

(she laughs) I'm in the Inland Empire now.

That's why I'm doin' the show!

- So, we're grateful to have you here.

- Nah, it's good!

And, I didn't mean it in a bad way, but-?

- No, no.

We're havin' fun.

- Major voices have come out from the LA area and San Francisco.

And, much of the policy has also geared toward that lifestyle that we-- that they have in San Francisco and in LA, but the Inland Empire is still growing, right?

We have those growing pains that need to be addressed.

And so, one of the things that we're doing and working towards is really collaborating together to say, "okay, this is what we need in infrastructure, in education, in various areas".

Seven pillars is what we currently have, and say, "hey, together we can really amplify the voice of the Inland Empire", and it has worked.

One of the touching moments that I had on the Senate floor was when I had one of my colleagues from LA refer to one of the comments that we-- conversations that we had about the Inland Empire needing to expand their infrastructure.

Because, you know, just the capacity that we have of building more homes.

We have the land, right?

So, we have people coming in from Orange County.

We have people coming in from LA, from San Diego, because affordability-wise, the Inland Empire is the place to be, from-- in comparison to the surrounding areas.

So, we have those growing communities.

In fact, one of my cities in the south of my district, Menifee, is one of the top five growing cities, the largest-growing cities, or fastest-growing cities.

There's some areas where we have declining enrollment.

Menifee, itself, is actually increasing their enrollment of students.

So, those are unique things that we have in the Inland Empire.

But, one of the blessings that we have, honestly, is the fact that we have incredible collaboration and friendships with our colleagues in both the Assembly and the Senate.

- You mentioned several subjects.

I wanna talk about education.

- Sure.

- I know that you are passionate about education.

I know you've done some work on the Education Committee.

Tell us about the things that you're seeing in education, what your hopes are for education, what you're proud of doing, and you know, kind of where we go.

'Cause, again, it's another area where California gets to lead and maybe create a template for the rest of the country.

So- - Oh, it's been wonderful.

So, I've had the blessing, I call it as a "blessing," to be able to serve in the Education Committee now for two-and-a-half years.

As a matter of fact, with my chair that's here.

Senator Connie Leyva was my chair.

And, we're able to serve together, both from the Inland Empire.

So, that was a beautiful friendship that we have and camaraderie.

But, I also sit on the budget one, committee, which also has to do with education, but on the financial.

So, the budgeting part of it.

One of the beauties about this past two years is that along with the governor, we actually allocated the most amount of money we've ever allocated towards education.

- Hmm.

- So, we had unprecedented amount of money towards education.

But, with that, one of the things that I am very proud of is that moving forward, when it comes to the budget and the funds that are being allocated, we wanna see more accountability.

- Mm hm.

- So, what we've done in the past is, and I learned this through my committee experience, was that we weren't really following up on our responsibility to see whether or not programs were working and whether or not the funding should continue in specific areas.

So, some of the questions that I would ask at the very beginning coming from local education was "well, how long have we had this program "and how effective has it been?

"Should we continue?

"As experts in your areas, how long should we have "these programs in place before we reassess whether or not they should move forward?"

So, interestingly enough, many were not really-- had not considered that and these were key players in education at the state level.

So, this past year, it was really wonderful to see that within those budgetary allocations, there were components within that, within those allocations, that required to assess the programs within three years.

- Mm hm.

- Depending on which one it was.

But, we started seeing assessments as to okay, requirements as to, "okay, we need to assess "whether or not this is a good program to invest in and whether or not it's actually improving our children."

Because one of the things that I noticed, also-- well, I've noticed many things!

But- - Mm hm.

- Some of the things that I noticed was that we were asking for additional funding, whether it was in the lower grades, so preschool programs, elementary, K-12.

And then, community colleges then CSUs and UCs, asking for extra funding to mitigate learning discrepancies.

And, I said, "well, how long do we need to start or continue to allocate funding without seeing progress?"

Because you'd figure that at some point, the students would be up to par.

And so-- But, we didn't have those components.

We didn't have those requirements, And, one of the things that I learned in the legislature was that it's our job as Assemblymembers, as Senators, to have oversight over- - Right.

- what we do as a state and we haven't.

We don't do that very much because we're so busy with the policy part of it, creating the bills, working our bills through that process, that we just don't have a lot of time or we don't focus on the oversight part of it.

- [Joe] So, let's talk about constituent services.

You know, what do people go to the state senator's office for?

Their local state senator?

How do you help constituents, you, your staff, on a day-to-day basis?

- I focus a lot of on education.

Of course, with my background, one of the things that we really wanna make sure that people understand, constituents, Californians, understand is that their voice has power and that we're there to help them.

Our number one goal as an office here in the district is to make sure that we help our constituents navigate state agencies and departments.

Because as you can imagine, dealing with, you know, the DMV, dealing with EDD, especially during the pandemic and after- - Sure.

- it was EDD was one of the major, major components that we, that constituents needed assistance in.

And, what they don't know is that as you go through the different departments, sometimes it can get pretty lengthy in waiting on the phone or waiting for documents to be received or just communicating with someone.

And so, our office, or any Assemblymember's office, any Senator's office, has direct contact with any state department, state agency, and they have-- and because of that, we're able to facilitate the communication a little faster.

So, I always say, 'cause if you have an issue with, you know, with a state agency or department, give us a try.

You know?

And, we're very good about hiring people who are constituent-service minded.

So, it's service.

Customer service, right?

Making sure that we are there for you to help you.

- What would you say is the hardest part about your job?

- [Rosilicie] I think the hardest part is trying to reach as many constituents as possible.

- Yeah.

- To help 'em, empower them.

And, I say that because people are so busy.

- Yes - Right?

They're in survival mode.

There are many families who are working two, three jobs, maybe more.

Long days.

And so, and then they have children that they have to care for.

And so, they don't have the time to be engaged.

And so, it's so important now that I'm on a different side-- you know, I wasn't a political science major.

I was not even politically savvy, which I think is a good thing for me!

(Joe laughs) - Because, I come in very naive in the politics part and the negative part of it.

So, I come in with the most open heart, just trying to do what is right.

It's hard to communicate with constituents about the importance of being civically engaged.

I think that's one of the biggest challenges that I personally have and I think it's so important that we figure out how do we get people involved in government, in making sure that they know the policies that we're discussing.

And, I say this because there was a comment that one of my colleagues mentioned, in which he said-- We're at a conference and he says, "Rosilicie, this is what Californians want".

You know?

In speaking about policies.

And, I started thinking about that and it really struck me, you know, this is what Californians want.

And, as I was thinking about that, I went home and I'm a ponderer.

I go home and I think, think, think, think.

I think about my votes.

I think about what I said.

I think about, you know, the policy that we're gonna be voting on.

I am a deep thinker.

And, I went home and I was thinking, and really I don't know why it struck me.

I'm not sure that this is what Californians want.

And, I say that because people are so busy they don't know the policies that we're discussing and we're voting on.

So, as-?

And, as I do my town halls through my district, you know, I try to give them as much-- answer questions, and let them know the policy that we're discussing.

And, many of them are absolutely not in agreement with a lot of the policies, but they don't know about them.

And, the number one thing that I hear from my constituents, like, "How is it that we don't know?"

And I said, "Exactly, and which is why I'm here."

I'm here to give you an opportunity to hear some of the policy, answer any questions that you may have.

And, give you the opportunity to be engaged, so that you know and how to follow policy as we discuss it in California, and show you how you can get engaged in voicing your support or opposition in policy.

And so, that's one of the reasons, my motivators, for really keeping in touch, being engaged with my social civic groups in my district and across the board.

I-?

There's some legislators that will only, you know, visit certain people or certain groups that may be friendly on the political side of it.

I'm open to anyone and everyone, because I do believe that when you run, you run with a label.

Right?

And, the label allows people to understand your political philosophy of, you know, how you think the role of government should be.

But once you're elected, your duty, your fiduciary duty, is to represent all of your constituents.

And therefore, it should be your responsibility to make sure and to ensure that you have systems in place that allow you to communicate, meet and interact with all of your constituents, regardless of political sides or demographics.

- Tell me about, if there is some such a thing, a typical day in the life of Senator Ochoa Bogh.

Or, maybe a typical week, because if you do some flying back and forth- - Yeah!

- maybe the fairest thing is to take it over a week, as opposed to a day.

You know, give us some insight into your life as a Senator when you're on the job.

- Absolutely.

So between January and September, the legislators will fly up.

We're in session.

So, we fly up typically, on a Monday morning and come back on Thursday evenings to the district.

So, we're in the district Thursday evenings, depending on when the committees end.

Thursday evenings, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

But, when committees begin, sometimes we have to fly out on Sundays for our work in the capital.

But, when you're in Sacramento, you're meeting with people that are impacted by the policy.

So, stakeholders are impacted by the policy.

So, you meet with various groups that have bills that are moving forward, or bills are impacting their industry, and you have those conferences or meetings with them to see how you can or cannot support those pieces of policy.

You're also working your own bills, deciding what policies, what areas you would like to work in.

So, that's normally the weekday in Sacramento up until committees begin, and that's when you start really delving into the policy within those committees.

So, I personally have 10 committees right now, nine that are currently engaged.

Those really keep me busy as far as-?

Which is great.

There's a double-edged sword.

You have a lot of work that you're constantly going.

This week, I think this past session, I had at least an average two committees a day.

On Mondays, we also have floor session.

On Thursday, we have floor session, unless we have a "special session" in between.

So, you're constantly on the go.

We have 10-, 12-hour days, typically during the session.

And then, on the weekends or on the week, you know, Thursday nights or Fridays, that's normally when I make sure that we have our town halls back here in the district.

Or, we're attending events, meeting with people here, giving or having tours to understand, you know, what's working, not working here in the district.

So, also lengthy days trying to get the most out of it because you don't have a lot of time during those nine months.

And then, once September ends, when we finish our legislative year then we are focused and primarily in our districts, really, truly engaging within our district.

And, that is a beautiful time because, one, you get to be home and sleep in your own bed!

And number two, get to spend time with your family, and number three, you get to really interact with the constituents that you represent.

- Fantastic!

Give us some encouragement for those that, you know, they're-- you talked about a little bit.

There's so much dealing with life but they have to be reminded that, you know, that their voice is important, that they-- what they say matters and encouraging them to be involved, to pay attention to what's going on.

You know?

What do you say, you know, to that person that may feel like too busy, or maybe too discouraged to get involved and to pay attention and to let their voice be heard?

- So, search out your local legislators, you know, your Assemblymembers, your Senators.

Get to know them.

They're more than willing to get to know you and your organizations, your groups, and the bigger the better.

But, go to their offices, meet with the team.

Learn how they do constituent services, how the offices can help you.

But, here's the most important part, I think, and different offices will have different models of how they reach out to the constituents.

But, find out how they mitigate the information of the legislation that is being considered to their community members.

And then, be engaged; meaning, call the office, email the office, or the committee that is handling the policy at that time.

Call, email, or mail a letter.

And, the reason I say that is many people don't know, but the state offices and the Assembly offices have an LCMS database, which when you call, when you email, when you write a letter, you let us know what you feel about policy, whether you support or you oppose a piece of policy, it actually gets logged in.

- Mm hm.

- Your-- the staff actually logs that in and that is helpful for your legislator in Sacramento to know these are the policies that are being engaged with in your community.

And, that gives them-- both the "leg team" and in the sen-?

And, in the case-- our, the Senator, the ability, the insight, into what's important in your community.

So, there's different ways of mitigating that information, but reach out to your local electeds to see, because many Californians are so focused on the federal government and what's going on there.

And, yes, that's important, but state government impacts your personal family life and your work area.

So, it has incredible personal impact on you which is why it's so important for you to be informed on what policies are being discussed and letting your legislator and the committee members know how you feel about that policy.

Your voice has power.

I say own it and definitely use it.

- Well, Senator Ochoa Bogh?

Thank you so much for being with us on Inland Edition, and let's do this again before too long, okay?

- I'd love that!

Thank you.

- And, thanks for watching us on Inland Edition.

Continue to join us as we go down the road toward, yes, building bridges one conversation at a time.

See ya.

[singers vocalizing/ bold drums] [uplifting music and vocals] ♪ ♪ [singers vocalizing/ bold drums] ♪ ♪ [softer music] ♪ ♪ ♪ [music fades]