[KHTS] – Dozens of Santa Clarita residents joined Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, and Assemblyman Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, at a “community coffee” event at the Canyon Country Community Center Saturday morning.

Santa Clarita residents were able to voice their concerns about issues such as the High Speed Rail project and vaccine laws.

Both Wilk and Lackey expressed their opposition to the High Speed Rail project.

“The High Speed Rail has completely changed from when it was proposed to the people,” said Lackey. “The costs are huge… The money is not there… The High Speed Rail is a sad circumstance we’re dealing with.”

Wilk said he is “adamantly opposed” to the High Speed Rail project, bringing up that when the project was first introduced, “it was going to cost $45 billion for the full project… and now it is at $68 billion.”

Wilk also brought up that when the project was introduced, it would take approximately two hours and 40 minutes to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

“Now with the blended plan, according to the recent foundation, it can take as long as four hours and ten minutes,” Wilk said. “It was supposed to cost around $50 (per ticket), and now it’s up to $81 and we know it’s going to climb.”

Lackey and Wilk will continue to remind Gov. Jerry Brown of the other demands and pressures that are requiring this funding, according to the assemblymen.

A Santa Clarita resident voiced her concern about Senate Bill 277, regarding the vaccine laws. She said her kids cannot go to school because they are missing two vaccinations.

Brown passed SB 277 this past June, mandating school-aged students to receive specific immunizations and outlaws exemptions due to personal beliefs, according to the bill.

“When I went in and studied (the bill), it’s not about public health…It’s about robbing people of their individual choice, and now we’re going to be banning kids from going to school that are absolutely healthy, which is ridiculous,” said Wilk. “Kids are going to be interacting (in the community). To me, it was the grossest overreach of government power I’ve seen in my three years up there.”

William S. Hart Union High School District officials are preparing to implement the new law.

After July 1, 2016, the bill would prohibit anyone from admitting or advancing any student to the seventh grade level unless the student has been immunized.

“When we tell someone because they’re practicing their faith, that now they are no longer eligible for public education,” said Lackey.

Students who have a letter stating their vaccine exemption due to personal beliefs before Jan. 1, 2016, would still be allowed to remain enrolled in their schools until the next grade span.

During Saturday’s event, Wilk and Lackey explained to the residents of Santa Clarita why it is important to be involved in their state government.

“One of the goals that I set for myself when I got elected was that maybe I could deflate some of the cynicism that exists because, quite honestly, if we went and did a poll, just a street poll on, ‘what do you really think about government?’ we would be aghast at the response we’d get,” said Lackey. “I think most people don’t even care to the point that not only is the trust lost, but so is the interest… Small gatherings like this are how we build it back.”

Lackey represents California’s 36th State Assembly district, which encompassing parts of the Antelope Valley as well as northern parts of Saugus and Canyon Country.

Wilk represents California’s 38th State Assembly district, which consists of the Santa Clarita Valley and Simi Valley, along with parts of Soledad Canyon and the San Fernando Valley.