Boys and Girls Club honors Assemblymember Muratsuchi
Mike Herrera, Steve Napolitano, Al Muratsuchi, and Lou Baglietto Thursday night at the Elks Lodge. Photo courtesy of Melissa Uribe
Thursday night at the Redondo Beach Elks Lodge, the Boys and Girls Club of the South Bay presented Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi with the Legislator of the Year Award, as recognition of his efforts to save the club from financial ruin.
“The Boys and Girls Club of the South Bay provides invaluable resources and services to local kids and families,” Muratsuchi said. “It was an honor to assist them when they needed it.”
Assemblymember Muratsuchi introduced Assembly Bill 835 this year after the Boys and Girls Club’s Executive Director, Mike Herrera, informed him that the organization was in financial distress.
“Assemblymember Muratsuchi opened up the communication between us and the Department of Housing and Community Development,” Herrera said. “The Boys and Girls Club of the South Bay and I will be forever grateful to him because he helped saved our institution.”
According to Herrera, the Club had an outstanding loan debt whose terms could not be renegotiated. The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) believed it did not have authority to renegotiate the terms of the loan that was issued by the Child Care Facilities Financing Program (CCFFP) and administered by the now defunct Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency. AB 835 would have given the HCD the authority to modify loans made under the CCFFP, and ultimately save the Boys and Girls Club of the South Bay.
Muratsuchi held AB 835 in Senate Appropriations Committee at HCD’s request. The legislation brought the issue to the attention of the HCD Director, and soon after the agency’s chief legal counsel determined that they did indeed have the authority to modify loans made under the CCFFP.