COUNTYWIDE : Candidate Proposes Child Impact Report

Democratic congressional candidate Anita Perez Ferguson called Monday for every piece of pending legislation to be reviewed for its impact on children.

“We want to ensure that children’s concerns are not forgotten,” said Perez Ferguson, who is challenging U. S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) in November for the 23rd Congressional District seat.

The district covers all of Ventura County, except Thousand Oaks.

Speaking at a sparsely attended round-table discussion at the Oxnard Community Center, Perez Ferguson said her proposed Children’s Impact Report would look at the effects of pending legislation on a child’s education, health, safety and financial well-being.

Once such an analysis is completed, she said, “we can see whether this is a bill we want to support.”

The Congressional Office of Management and Budget and related agencies such as the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services are already set up to review the negative impacts of proposed legislation, she said.

As a result, she said, the child-related analysis would come at little cost.

Perez Ferguson, wearing a Children’s Defense Fund button that read “Leave No Child Behind,” said the child advocacy group gave Gallegly a 21.2% rating for his past votes on measures affecting children.

Gallegly defended his voting record. He also dismissed the Children’s Defense Fund rating, saying the group supports only the “extremely liberal” legislators with whom Perez Ferguson chooses to associate herself.

Gallegly criticized Perez Ferguson’s proposal, saying it would only add another layer of bureaucracy.

“Her whole approach to almost every problem is consistent with the real liberal folks in this country that firmly believe government and governmental intervention is the solution to all our problems,” he said.