Countywide : 3 Posts Open on Senior Legislature

The filing period opened last week for candidates for three Ventura County positions in the California Senior Legislature.

Candidates must be registered voters and at least 60 years old to serve in the 1993-95 session of the Senior Legislature, said Joann Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Area Agency on Aging.

To qualify for the ballot, applicants must submit a petition with the signatures of 50 registered voters who are at least 60 and who live in Ventura County. The filing period ends Dec. 23.

Polling sites for the March 9 election will be determined by local senior communities. In 1990, 1,191 voters cast ballots for five candidates at 18 polling sites, Wilson said.

Every October, the 120 elected representatives of the California Senior Legislature meet in Sacramento, develop legislative proposals and then recommend 10 high-priority bills to the Legislature.

The rest of the year, Wilson said, the senior legislators “advocate, encourage and cajole” their elected officials to pass the package and speak about the issues to local senior groups.

County residents now serving in the Senior Legislature are Joe Gaynes, a senior state senator from Camarillo, and Maxine Culp of Ventura and Lee Strohbehn of Ojai, both members of the senior assembly.