Once She Retired, She Decided it was Time to get into the Thick of Things

Alma Rubes won't show up on the ballot during a general election, but she still sits under the dome several times a year and is instrumental in passing laws that affect a great many people in the state of California.

She was Senior Assemblywoman for one term and was recently elected Senior Senator. "When I was young I didn't want anything to do with politics," laughed Rubes. "About 1986 I joined the Older Women's League. In 1990 a woman asked me if I would run for the Senior Legislature. I didn't know much about it, but because of my work with the Aging Coalition and being aware of what was going on, I agreed. I ran and won, and now I've been on it ever since."

The Senior Legislature is a grassroots organization of 120 non-partisan corps of volunteers who work with the State Legislature to enact legislation to benefit seniors. They are modeled after the State Legislature and the members are elected from throughout the state.

"We consider anything that affects Seniors, which can be transportation, community and social services, state funding-and then we have insurance and health," explains Rubes. "Senator Mellow is the one who got us started, because senior issues were not being covered by the legislature. They tend to go for the kids, which is fine, because we need to take care of our kids, but we've got a lot of elderly that need cared for too. Since that elderly population is really growing, and it's going to be about one-third of us not long after 2000."

The CSL is funded solely through voluntary contributions made through the State Income Tax Form Check-Off, Line 49, the California Fund for Senior Citizens. "We call ourselves the '49'ers.' We are very much dependent upon that. If the people don't donate to that, they can send it in to the Commission on Aging."

This year, Rubes will be attending the CSL Annual Legislative Session from October 21 through October 24, at the State Capitol in Sacramento. Opening ceremonies will include a swearing-in of newly elected Senior Legislators by the Honorable Bill Jones, Secretary of State, and an address by keynote speaker State Senator Diane Watson, Chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

"On the Coalition, I represent the California Retired Teachers, because I'm a retired teacher, but the people who elect you to the CSL is any senior who is sixty years of age when we hold an election, which is usually the first or second week of March. In Sacramento County, we've gone for absentee ballot. We get people to pass out the absentee ballots that voters can send in."

"We work like a regular Legislature. We have our committees and both houses, the Assembly and the Senate. They all have five committees. But we are non-partisan. We're single-party."

"We have 120 members, just like they do. We have 80 in the Assembly and 40 in the Senate. We copy them all the way through and run the proposals through just like they do on their committees. You learn a lot about the Legislature just by being part of it."

"At the end of May everybody has to have what we call our proposal. And then we get them in to a Legislator and if it is accepted and passes, then it becomes a bill." Bills are submitted in June and July, and gone through to see if the proposals are already in law, which cancels out the proposal. "We'll probably have close to about 110."

Currently, the Granlin and Mellow bills are on the governor's desk waiting to be signed. "We are also working on the High-cap bill, which provides insurance information for seniors so that they're not double-insuring themselves when they shouldn't be, and giving them information on the types of insurance to look for. They just give advice, because they can't tell you what insurance to buy."

Rubes is very involved in a number of committees. "I am on the Joint Rules Committee which meets once a month and on the Planning Committee for the session. I am also on the Legislative Committee, because, being local, we're always called in to do the hearings and to testify for our bills." She also trains new members.

Is there anything Rubes doesn't do? "There are some things you wouldn't believe that I belong to!" The Area Agency put her on the County Dental Advisory Committee, which is part of the Health and Human Services Subcommittee for the county. And, she is on the subcommittee for the county for Mental Health and Aging."

"Of course I belong, locally, to the Woman's Thursday Club. I'm the Vice President of that. I go to Allied Arts, and I attend my church and work with the United Methodist Women." She used to sing in the choir at church, but she said that something had to go.

Rubes has lived in Fair Oaks since 1971. Fresno is her hometown. Her dad was from Visalia, and her grandfather was a farmer in Yolo County. Her great-grandparents came across the plains in 1848 with cattle and settled in Yolo.

Rubes doesn't like term limits for the California Legislature, "Because some of those people have been tremendous help to a lot of people, and I hate to see it when you have someone who is really good losing out. The place they should be voted out is in their precinct, not on the state level." The Seniors have term limits, too. This will be Rubes last term.

When asked if she likes keeping so busy-much busier than before she retired, Rubes laughs, "I'm having fun, but my house needs cleaning."

And what do elected officials think of the Senior Legislators? "One of the Senators who came to speak to us, he stayed over for awhile to see how we worked, and he said 'I wish ours went as smoothly.'"