Countywide : Seniors’ Group to Meet in Sacramento

Seven county senior citizens will meet with their peers from around the state this week in the chambers of the State Capitol in Sacramento to hammer out a list of 10 legislative proposals.

The senior citizens will lobby for those proposals when the Legislature is back in session.

The California Senior Legislature, a lobbying group, will use the floor and committee rooms of the Legislature to consider more than 140 proposals made by senior citizens from all over California.

Newport Beach resident C. Edward Wolfe will occupy the podium of Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. “It’s very mind-boggling,” said Wolfe, a retired real-estate appraiser. “I man the podium and keep discipline in the house.”

Brown and Governor Pete Wilson will address the senior citizens Tuesday at the Capitol.

The senior citizens will hold a news conference Friday to announce their top 10 legislative priorities for the year.

Wolfe said the group had three of their proposals passed into law last year. One bill banned doctors from recommending patients to clinics in which the doctors have a financial interest.

Another bill funded in-home care programs as an alternative to more costly institution services.

Wolfe said one proposed bill this year calls for improvement of the health system. “We’re all waiting for the universal health-care system, but meanwhile we’ll fine-tune the old one,” he said.