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By Jessyka Heredia
March 2, 2023 (San Diego’s East County) – Dr. Akilah Weber is no stranger to serving in government. Locally she has served as a La Mesa councilmember as well as in her current role as the 79th State Assembly member. We spoke with Weber via Zoom to find out what her goals are as a State Senator if elected, covering issues including education, healthcare, reproductive rights, disaster response, and projects to help local communities.
Background
Dr. Weber has represented California’s 79th State Assembly District since 2021. She is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist and founder of the Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology Division at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. She previously worked as an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at UCSD, according to her website.
She is a native San Diegan who grew up in Oak Park and currently is a resident of La Mesa. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Xavier University and her medical degree from the University of Rochester Medical School. Dr. Weber completed her residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Chicago Cook County Hospital and her fellowship in Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
Accomplishments
Weber told ECM that when she ran for City Council in La Mesa in 2018, “We needed more diversity on the Council, not only with race and gender but also in background because many of them had a legal background.”
During her tenure on the La Mesa City Council. Weber worked on issues such as, “implementing our Climate action plan” and “dealing with our policing in our city. Unfortunately, that was the time when we had those unfortunate riots that occurred.”
Weber also worked to help guide the city through the pandemic and model a program to address homelessness that was successful in getting many people off the streets.
Weber stated that when the 79th State Assembly seat became vacant in 2021, she decided to run for the same reasons she ran in La Mesa:” To make sure that we had different kinds of voices in Sacramento.”
Since she took office in the Assembly, Weber said, “I’ve had around 18 bills signed. I focus on the social determinacy of health because that is truly what creates healthy or unhealthy communities.”
Weber explained, “All of my bills, whether their education, environmental, housing, health really deal with how we can create healthier communities through all of these different policy avenues.”
Education Goals
ECM asked Weber about her ideas on how she could help get test scores raised in TK-12th grade after many schools are seeing a decline in scores, as well as gain more accomplishment in education for students and schools.
Weber explained, “I am a mom of two children who are going through our education system. In California we have amazing universities. We have some of the best universities in the country. People are scrambling internationally to get into our universities.”
She said that with our current system, we are not “adequately preparing every child in our state to be competitive.” Weber expressed that university is not for all kids ,but that she feels every child should be given that opportunity if they chose that path.
Weber said she knows there is work to be done. She vowed to continue to do the work to help education as she has been doing in State Assembly, such as prioritizing working with lower performing students to make sure those students are getting more resources and receive more finances to put programs in place to bring up their scores.
Weber mentioned that another component to helping raise scores and accomplishments for students is oversight in making sure the funds are going to what is intended and to make sure these programs are working.
ECM asked Weber if she had any thoughts on how to keep the cost of tuition down for students in California universities. She replied that the issues in California are twofold, “Can my child get in? The other part is how many slots that they have allotted for in-state versus out of state. About a year ago, we voted to increase the number of slots specifically for in-state students.”
Weber stated that the state is currently looking at affordability very carefully. She sat on the Higher Education Committee in the State Assembly for around two years. Weber explained that we need to ensure there are enough grant opportunities and loan opportunities and interest free loan opportunities.
Healthcare
ECM asked Weber how she can help Californian’s get better access to good affordable healthcare if elected to State Senate.
She replied, “I’m glad you asked about access, because a lot of people talk about being insured, and having insurance does not guarantee access. You can have health insurance but if your next physician or your primary care provider is an hour away, that is not having access.”
Weber is also on the Health Committee in the Assembly and is currently the chair on the Health Budget Committee in the assembly. She says this is something she is focusing on every week when she is up in Sacramento.
Another thing that needs to be addressed is reimbursement rates for providers, so that doctors can afford to take more clients regardless of the type of insurance a patient has, she explained.
Weber confirmed, “We are putting more money in to increase the reimbursement, increase access, increase the number of providers.” She added that California has hospitals closing and this has impacted patients in those areas.
Abortion has been banned in several states around the country, so ECM wanted to hear Dr.Weber’s plans to protect a women’s right to choose, and whether she was in support of allowing women to come to California from states that have banned abortion while protecting their identities.
Weber stated, “I am an OBGYN, so women’s reproductive health is extremely important to me. California has done very well in the area of protecting reproductive rights, protecting women’s right to choose. We have now enshrined in our Constitution and a lot of the bills that we have passed to ensure that you can get a safe abortion here without having a lot of different barriers such as cost or access.”
Weber has secured funding in the budget to ensure that “cost would not be a barrier to these women” as well as addressing the legal issue so that providers would not be held legally liable not only in California, but anywhere else as well.
Weber also stated that California is a safe haven for “women outside of California to be able to come here...As an OBGYN, I believe that it is a women’s right to choose and that having access to comprehensive reproductive health is good healthcare.”
Budget and crisis prevention
ECM noted that after the recent floods, there is a need for more funding in communities that were impacted. How can California Improve the budget that is estimated to be over $60 billion and what can be done to not cut crucial programs for underserved communities?
Weber explained, “I’m going to lean towards the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) projection of a $78 billion deficit with at least $30 million ongoing for the next few years at least.”
Weber said that after the floods that recently happened here in January, her district was impacted. Weber noted, “That was a lack of focus from the local government to ensure that all areas are prepared, all areas are cleaned out, especially those that have already been designated potential danger zone, potential flood threat are prepared and ready.”
She indicated she is happy that the federal government has sent FEMA funds to our region to help those residents that were impacted.
For the future, she stated, “As chair of Health Budget I am a part of the entire General Budget Committee, and this is something that we are discussing multiple times a week. Not just how we get through this year. but how do we set up a scenario where future years are not in such a crisis as we are now.”
Weber reiterated that more oversite is needed in the budget to assure that “we are funding programs that are fully utilizing the money” and to look at other potential revenue sources.
Weber talked about getting more funding from the federal government, so we don’t have to cut health care services.
Goals to help local communities
Weber did a lot for Parks and Rec and community engagement centered around families. ECM wanted to know what Weber plans to make her goals and focus if elected to State Senate?
Weber said, “I think it’s very fortunate I served at a local level before I went to the state level. It is really at the local level where people feel things on a daily basis. If you don’t have a park to go and play with your kid or just walk your dog, that’s an issue. If you don’t have the funding to improve your roads and recognizing that cities, especially our smaller cities are very crunched in terms of the finances that they have.”
Weber elaborated that she aims to “provide some of those resources back into the community that people need.” She gave an example on how she worked to get funding for MacArthur Park in La Mesa to get a bathroom built which gave a positive impact to park visitors.amd also the little league that also has space at that park. Weber championed at the state level to get that funding.
Working from the local level first has really made community her focus, Weber said, and she has continued those efforts at the state level in the Assembly. She will continue those efforts if elected to the State Senate, Dr. Weber concluded.
Dr. Weber's opponent, Republican Bob Divine, did not respond to an interview request.
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