We need to address the issue of affordability by working on new affordable housing developments. We can do this through inclusionary zoning statewide. and potentially repealing Costa-Hopkins.

I believe that if we can put aside our preconceived notions about eachother then we can sit and talk rationally and we often come to find that we have much more in common than we thought. In Sacramento I plan to be an example of this as I will work with legislators from both sides of the aisle to help craft and enact the best legislation possible for this district. I believe that if we as elected officials set the example of civility then we can help to improve the level of civility in this country.

Water and the environtment are two key topics for me, I want to make sure that my district's water needs are met and I think that we should look at all methods of making this happen. It is important to take a look at all options so that we can find a system that fulfills our needs but does not negatively affect our environment. Montebello, which is in this district, uses recycled water for many uses where potable is not necessary. This sets an example for the rest of our district, and hopefully our state,n of one way that we may be able to achieve this balance.

I have during my time in public service taken steps to help kid's in low-income communities. As an LA County Library Comissioner I have worked to increase access to state of the art libraries for low-income areas. I proudly helped to bring one such library to Pico Rivera, which is here in this district. I have also through my work with the United States Military Academy at West Point helped to increase their diversity and helped young people from my district get through the admissions process. These experiences have shown me that what kids in these areas need is resources and access to opportunities that are often held for those with mor privileged upbringings. I will work to make sure that resources are distributed equitably and that educational opportuniities are available to low-income students.

As an ally of labor I have long fought to make sure that all workers are compensated fairly, work in safe environments, and recieve the benefits they have earned. I have been a memebr of UAW and have marched with locak police and teachers. I believe that even government workers deserve to be protected and in sacramento I will look closely at this issue to see how we might be able to make sure that workers are guaranteed tje benefits they have earned.

We need measures like SB540 (affordable housing quotas) and SB167/AB768 that strengthen the Housing Accountability Act and make it easier to increase supply.

I absolutely agree that there has been a decline in civility in our public life. This is due in part to the polarisation of our politics and also the anonymity provided by the internet.

As Mayor of Artesia, I was one of the first to hire an environmental consultant. I sit on the board of Eco-Rapid Transit which is taking cars off the streets and reducing emissions. My background is in finance, and I know that it is always better to plan for the long term. We need to make changes now, not ignore the problem because it will cost more in the future.

I support grey water recycling, investment in renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure.

I want free community college tuition. We can pay for a lot of this by cutting waste. Last year we discovered that UC could not account for $175m. This is equivalent to sending 8,000 students to community college for 2 years. Once we’ve squeezed every penny of value, we can look at increasing taxes, but there’s a huge amount to be saved by cutting duplication and waste and cracking down on corruption. 

Unfunded pension liability is a serious and a complex issue, local and state wide. With my finance background I will not only work with several other professionals to make sure this issue is properly addressed but also use my experience to minimize the issue. I will do this by using straegies like a good asset allocation model, invest in better short term, mid term, and long term investment vehicles and by rebalancing portfolios with better returns.

HOUSING 

The state has only begun to address its housing challenges but pledged to do more next year.We need additional incentives to expedite, build and increase the supply (helping to force down the rents and prices of homes)

Streamline the housing approval process, cut red tape that drags out building approval time and ease restrictive zoning laws.  

Provide new funding for low-income housing developments, seek to lower the cost of construction. Strengthen the state’s Housing Accountability Act, which works toward prevent communities from killing proposed housing projects or homeless shelters.

Local governments need to designate certain areas for housing development known as Workforce Housing Opportunity Zones, especially near city centers close to jobs and public transit. 

Proposals that come forward should have: 30 percent of all units sold or rented to moderate-income households, 15 percent sold or rented to low-income households, 5 percent sold or rented to very low-income households and 10 percent of market-rate projects set aside for low-income people. 

Civility and Respect in America

Whether it is at work, school or a local town hall meeting; incivility is becoming the social norm in our country. We all need to take responsibility for reversing this trend. Given the speech and behavior of people everywhere including our President, Americans feel it is appropriate to resort to insults or sometimes even physical assault. Young children seeing this behavior believe it is okay to disrespect others because of their color or religious beliefs. aHow do we turn this disturbing trend around?

We all need to work together, agree to disagree without resorting to name calling, changes won’t happen overnight; but if we commit ourselves to the cause we can revive civility and respect in this country. Learning a little about someone’s life goes a long way to understanding and accepting our differences.Understanding each other helps us get along with each other and build mutual understanding.

It is time for all of us to lead by example and reestablish civility and respect as standards for acceptable behavior. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” Let’s start by be the change we wish to see in the world.

Changing climate 

California is already a leader in lowering emissions and the Safeguarding California Plan shows what the state is doing to address the impacts so we create a more resilient future. 

The permanence and magnitude of climate changes will require an ongoing aggressive commitment to action, the best available science, and respect for the state’s communities. We need to continue working across party lines modernizing and strengthening state water, transportation, energy and natural infrastructure and continue developing a cutting-edge scientific understanding of how climate change impacts us.

 We must continue to proactively invest in our most vulnerable communities, continue funding the expansion of recycled water to increase drought resilience, adopt regulations to increase the collection of urban storm water and embed climate change consideration into all programs and activities.

 Continue to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy, improve efficiency, reduce water consumption in order to help reduce the carbon footprint. The less climate change there is - the less we have to deal with the impacts.

I believe we must expand proven programs that support the health and well-being of children. Quality Education Investment Act awarded certain low performing schools extra funding if they agreed to conform to a number of policy changes like reducing class sizes and keeping an experienced teaching staff at the school.

We also need to attract teachers, not attack teachers. California’s teacher shortage, significantly impacts school districts with the largest concentrations of low-income students and English learners. This is not unacceptable. We must develop and encourage state and local incentives to attract highly qualified candidates into the teaching profession to make sure that high-needs students have access to the teachers and educational resources they deserve.

The fragmented state of our education system has stymied efforts to fully address the needs of the most at-risk students. 

California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) promised additional resources to low-income students, foster youth and English-language learners, who face persistent achievement gaps.We must confront structures, policies, practices, and mind-sets that perpetuate inequities.

There are no overnight transformations available, it takes hard work sustained over time by stable school staffs and managers, high-quality preschool, true bilingual education, schools enlisting parents as partners maintaining a climate of high expectations, caring, and trust.

Pension funding has become a major political controversy in the wake of the economic crisis. Policymakers are grappling with underfunding in state and local pension plans are constrained in their ability to fairly share the burdens of reform, with sacrifices falling more heavily on new workers than on current workers. Changing the status quo will require both legislative action and legal argument.  

State and local governments are going to have to make major changes to pension benefits, taxes, or services and any of these actions will be painful. Some states and cities have deep pension deficits that will warp civic priorities and local politics for years. California is already among the states confronting this issue and many other states and cities will likely join over time.  But some painful possibilities or options could be discussed further: 

Cut benefits or raise employee contributions for new workers. 

Cut benefits or raise employee contributions for new service by existing workers. 

Cut benefits or raise employee contributions for past service by existing workers. 

Reduce inflation indexing for existing benefits. 

Raise taxes and increase contributions to the pension funds. 

Cut services and use the money for increased contributions. 

Take more investment risk since more than half of the assets are invested in stocks. 

There is no simple, easy solution to this problem and a great deal more research is needed, even ceasing to dig the hole deeper is not easy, since the status quo of solid benefits and deceptively low apparent costs have been a happy false paradise for many politicians, employees, and union leaders. Essentially, it requires either a division of the pain among employees/retirees, taxpayers or a “bailout” by either federal government assistance or the luck of favorable financial market conditions.