Issues

Economy | Education | Environment | Diversity| Health & Safety | Water
Until we fix the dysfunction in Sacramento it will be impossible to address the real issues that impact Californians.

Our first priority must be to reform the way that California is governed. There are times when change becomes exceedingly possible, because the need for change has become too great for convention to resist – this is one of those times. Key leaders, organizations, and local government officials are all uniting in a call for governance reform.

I am already working with those inside and outside of the Capitol to champion and fight for change.

I support:

• Changing the relationship between Sacramento and local governments. Cities, school districts, and counties are closer to the communities they serve and need the authority to meet local needs.
  
  
• Aligning revenue and responsibility at the local level with clear protections for local revenues.
  
  
• A return to a simple majority vote to adopt a state budget.
  
  
• Changing the state government budgeting process to a two year cycle with performance measurements and outcomes attached to expenditures.
  
  
• Establishing an enforceable reserve policy so that the state has a “savings account”.
  
  
• Reforming the initiative process so that there is a higher threshold for qualifying measures for the ballot and requiring that all measures that involve financing clearly identify a new source of funding or the elimination of some other state expenditure.

We cannot waste this opportunity for reform.

Economy | Education | Environment | Diversity| Health & Safety | Water
A strong economy is vital to the well being of all Californians.

One of the hallmarks of our state has been our consistent ability to innovate and create. California’s agricultural production has been second to none. While maintaining our strong agricultural production, we created a defense and aerospace industry in the years following World War II. That industry was a precursor to our leadership in information technology. We remain on the cutting edge of software and technology.

The California economy can still grow if we fully unleash the potential of our people.

With investments in nano-technology, bioscience, clean energy, and green technology, we are poised to be the leaders in some of the highest growth new industries. As we shift from fossil fuel to alternative energy sources there will be higher-paying “green collar” jobs created.

Our community colleges can play an important role in re-training displaced workers for these new and emerging jobs. There needs to be a strong partnership between the business sector and our educational system so that our companies get the skilled workers they need, and our workforce is prepared for the new global economy.

Government must foster innovation and economic growth. Incentives and appropriate tax policies can assist those who are developing new businesses, but policies can also be looked at to help retain jobs that are shifting overseas or to neighboring states.

Though government has a role in nurturing our economy, it must also play a role in regulating it. The key here is finding the right balance between the free market and overregulation. We have seen the devastating effects on our financial industry when deregulation was the mode. We have also seen industries strangled from overregulation. It is important that we also guarantee that the rights of workers are protected and that we ensure their health and safety in the workplace.

California can create good jobs in cutting edge industries and, thus, secure our quality of life.

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The level of investment that California is making toward our education system is disgraceful.

As our economy rebounds, the first priority for new state revenue must be to our schools, but spending more is not enough, we must also spend more wisely.

Compared to the other 49 states, our per pupil expenditures rank near the bottom. To compete in the global economy, California needs an educated and prepared workforce. Our failures in education are also a factor in the growing prison population, as most inmates lack basic literacy skills.

I support increased funding for our schools, but I also favor shifting from categorical funding to general support. I believe that local school boards and local school personnel are those best positioned to allocate educational dollars. Small class sizes, longer school years, and rewarding teacher excellence are all actions that local school boards could take if given the resources. We must retain our most talented teachers, but with potentially a third of our teachers retiring in the next decade, we must also attract new professionals.

Preschool has been demonstrated to have a positive impact on future school performance and I support having universal preschool available to all who want it. Extended day care, child care, and afterschool care are also important for working parents. Schools can be the focus of care and services in a community.

Just as we should support early education, we must also make investments in higher education. We must invest in our state college and university systems so that tuition is not a barrier to those who seek graduation and advanced degrees. Our community college system has great potential as an entry to advanced education, but it also has great potential for career education in many trades and vocations, and can play a vital role in reeducating our workforce for an ever-shifting spectrum of jobs.

If we do not make education a priority and invest in our children, we put our future at risk.

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I fully believe in the philosophy that the earth is not left to us by our parents, but rather lent to us by our children.

We truly are the stewards of this time and place, and unfortunately we too often neglect the most permanent of our legacies.

Stewardship requires that we protect our air and water, that we protect our soils and lands from erosion and contamination, and that we preserve what limited natural resources we have left. It also requires that we foster growth and development that utilize sustainable practices. We cannot turn to sprawl to inefficiently house our people, we must focus on higher density, in-fill development where public transportation exists or can be built. Poorly planned sprawl increases vehicle miles traveled and adds to greenhouse gas emissions. Good urban planning is essential. The alternative is to forfeit our agriculture, our forests, and our future.

California has long been a global leader on issues of clean air and clean water. Our current economic and fiscal crisis cannot be used as an excuse to retreat from this leadership, if anything it is a reminder of the consequences of mismanagement.

California faces a unique environmental challenge brought about by global warming and the related consequence of sea level rise. As a state with a long and beautiful coastline we need to fully study how sea level rise will impact our coastal communities and industries. There are places where sea level rise will negatively impact built infrastructure, threatening bridges, ports, and homes. We need to better understand how all of this will impact California, and plan accordingly.

In every decision, thought ought to be given to environmental consequences.

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One of the great strengths of California is our diversity.

We will soon be a state where no single group or segment represents a majority of our population.

Our diversity, be it of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, or political opinion, needs to be celebrated. We need to understand that we as Californians have more in common than in conflict.

Hard won civil rights need to be protected. No one should fear discrimination at school, in the workplace, or in the community. I support marriage equality for all.

Our young people need to be given opportunities to contribute to their communities. At my initiative youth now participate on the various boards and commissions of county government. There is also a new role for volunteerism with our growing senior population whose wisdom and experience must not be squandered.

There is no place for hate speech or hate crimes in our diverse society. Most importantly, our leaders need to help us see ourselves in each other. It is imperative that our leaders model civility in the public arena.

Respect and understanding are essential in our diverse state.

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Government has a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of all.

With the passage of the recent healthcare reform bill, the Obama administration has succeeded in fulfilling a promise that Democrats have been making for a generation, providing health care that is available for all. While I applaud this achievement, I would like to see California go father. At a minimum, we ought to have universal health coverage for our children. We in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties have accomplished this at the local level, but every child in this state deserves the same.

As our population continues to age, there will be a shift in need from acute care to more chronic care management. We need to prepare for this change in our healthcare delivery system and embrace preventative care as a healthier and more cost-effective alternative. We also need to work to make sure that the system is efficient by providing greater opportunities for cooperation and coordination between providers, to improve care and drive down consumer costs.

Californians will continue to be challenged by disaster. We have faced fires, floods, and tremors that shook the foundations of our cities, but over and over again we have survived and rebuilt. Preparing for disasters and emergencies must be a shared responsibility of the government and each and every individual.

We must be as proactive in planning for natural disasters, as we would be in planning for pandemic illness and terrorism. Planning for these natural disasters means carefully considering where we decide to build, and how.

As it relates to public safety, our criminal justice system needs major reform. We cannot sustain a bloated and overcrowded state prison system, and the solution is not simply to release thousands of inmates onto the streets every time we reach capacity. Our state has to better invest in treatment and rehabilitation services in order to stop the revolving door and drive down what is currently the highest recidivism rate in the country.

In San Mateo County we have focused on re-entry services for those in our county jail and have created an innovative Drug Court which addresses the substance abuse problems which are often the root cause of incarceration.

Safety in our communities also requires that the men and women who protect us as law enforcement officers, firefighters, and first responders need to have adequate support and the tools to do their jobs.

There is much we can do to make our people and our communities healthier and safer.

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California desperately needs a comprehensive water policy.

Our many needs for water: domestic, agricultural, industrial, recreational, and resource protection must all be balanced.

Much of our state’s water supply infrastructure was built over thirty-years ago, from plans first drafted over fifty-years ago – when our state had roughly one-third of its current population. However, no one could have predicted the true growth of our state, and certainly no one has adequately planned this system for the growth we will see in the years to come.

The majority of the water in our state is in the north and the majority of the need for that water is in the central and southern parts of the state, however, we can no longer look to mountains of the north to meet our growing needs. The Sierra Nevada Mountains have long served as our state’s reservoir, but global warming is shrinking the Sierra snowpack and more of our precipitation will fall as rain in the future.

It will be critically important that we figure out how to capture, store, and transmit the rain that falls on California. While technical solutions can be engineered to move this water, any solution must consider the consequences to the entire ecosystem. Particular attention must be paid to the San Francisco Bay Delta due to its fragile nature.

Conservation must be a key element of any water policy, but we will also need to aggressively explore water recycling and desalination. Newer technologies make desalination more cost-effective, but major environmental issues must still be resolved if this technology is to be used to meet California’s unquenchable thirst.

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