Countywide : 7 Senior Citizens Prepare to Represent Their Peers

Seven senior citizens will represent the county next week at the seventh annual session of the California Senior Legislature in Sacramento.

Two “senators” and five “assemblymen” will represent 400,000 senior citizens living in Orange County. In all, about 40 senators and 80 assembly representatives from 33 districts will meet in sessions at the Capitol Monday through Thursday.

The legislature was created to provide a forum for those 60 and older to set legislative priorities. By the session’s end, the representatives will have 10 top-priority proposals to present to “real legislators,” said senior assemblyman Edwin Powell of Placentia.

Most of the Senior Legislature’s proposals eventually become law, Powell said. Eight of last year’s 10 proposals passed.

Powell said he will introduce a proposal to grant charitable groups partial or full immunity from civil lawsuits arising from members’ conducting of the group’s business.

Powell said his proposal was prompted after he learned that friends who feared being sued in case of an accident chose not to serve on the board of an organization that provides free transportation for the needy.

The other Orange County representatives are senators Wilfred Armstrong of Buena Park and Neel Buell of Costa Mesa and assemblymen James Townsend of Huntington Beach, Muriel Nelson of Anaheim, Helen Mills of Laguna Hills and Marcella Surowic of Santa Ana.