2020 California Democratic primary: Pete Buttigieg on wildfires, housing, aging and greenhouse gas emissions

Like most of the western United States, California’s wildfires are becoming more destructive with more severe weather, unchecked home building in fire-prone areas, and fire suppression that puts forests at greater risk for larger, more catastrophic fires in the future. As President, how would you do to help break this cycle for the sake of both people and ecosystems? — Malcolm North, Research Scientist, US Forest Service, Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

California’s devastating wildfires are one example of the accelerated impacts of climate change. This is one of the most pressing security challenges of our era and it will absolutely be a top priority under my administration. To stem the impacts of climate change my administration will get our country to net-zero emissions no later than 2050, by implementing a bold and achievable Green New Deal. We will enact a price on carbon and use the revenue to send rebates directly to Americans’ pockets. We will also quadruple federal clean energy R&D funding to invest more than $200 billion in developing new technologies as well as create three investment funds to spur clean technology development and fund locally-led clean energy projects, particularly in disadvantaged communities.

Promoting resilient infrastructure is crucial to preparing communities against climate change. The American Clean Energy Bank and Regional Resilience Hubs that I am proposing will finance local investments in resilient infrastructure. My administration will develop federal guidelines for investments in and implementation of new approaches, including nature-based solutions, that make our natural resources and communities safer and more resilient. We will also establish a National Catastrophic Extreme Weather Insurance (CEWI) program to provide stability to individuals and communities who experience the major disruptions caused by climate change and other natural risks such as earthquakes. We will build a resilient nation that can stand up to the extreme weather and sea level rise we are already facing, and lead the world in bringing our international partners and local leaders together to solve this crisis.

California has a 3.5 million home shortage, we rank 49 out of the 50 states in homes per capita and, over the last 60 years, our population has almost tripled while our housing production has collapsed by 75%. Our shortage isn’t just subsidized housing for low income people, though we certainly have a shortage of subsidized housing. It’s also just regular old housing for the middle class. In addition to more funding for subsidized low-income housing, what will you do as president to force states like California to get back to basics — actually building enough so that everyone can have a home? — State Sen. Scott Wiener, San Francisco

Our country has a housing crisis — not just a lack of affordable housing for those with the lowest incomes, but also not enough homes for working and middle class Americans. The scarcity of housing drives up prices and pushes families further away from jobs and opportunities. I’ve proposed to dramatically increase federal support for affordable housing. We can unlock access to affordable housing for over 7 million American families by making significant investments in new affordable housing, Housing Choice Vouchers, and low-income homeownership programs.

But investment alone is not enough. In too many cities, restrictive local zoning and other building requirements limit housing development and contribute to housing shortages. I will require any city or county receiving federal housing funds to facilitate a participative, community-oriented process to set affordable housing strategy. This will include considering zoning reforms and other locally-determined rules that constrain new construction. This requirement is similar to the procedure for considering zoning impacts under the suspended Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule. In cities with the highest rent burdens and most restrictive zoning requirements, I will instruct HUD to implement progressive restrictions of federal funding if localities fail to participate in such a process and implement necessary changes to keep housing affordable for their residents. Cities will continue to have the ability to take different approaches to upzoning, for example targeting transit-adjacent areas, implementing city-wide zoning reforms but restricting high-rise buildings to certain areas, or allowing accessory dwelling units in single family neighborhoods.

There are also very simple solutions to the issues that many middle class Americans face, including affording a home: raising wages and lowering costs. Economic progress has to mean that we are actually earning enough to live on. We need an economy where everyone is valued and respected in the workplace. Politicians are using GDP as a measure of success, instead of what matters most to workers: a rising income. When you target the wrong number, you get the wrong policies. As President, I will measure our success by the success of working Americans and their families. I will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, roll back corporate tax cuts on corporations and the wealthy, and lower costs in our health care system by passing Medicare For All Who Want It and lowering prescription drug prices.

Americans are aging across all backgrounds, cultures, and geographies, and more than 41 million adults serve as family caregivers. California is taking action to create a Master Plan For Aging so it can best serve older adults with daily living needs and their family caregivers. What steps are you taking to create a Master Plan For Aging for our nation? — Bruce Chernof M.D., SCAN Foundation, Long Beach

I am committed to making long-term care more affordable because no one should worry whether they have sufficient savings to retire or whether to move their spouse to a nursing home. My administration will establish a new, universal long-term care insurance program called Long-Term Care America to provide eligible seniors $90 a day for as long as they need it. We will also revitalize the private long-term care insurance market. Through these policies, the public and private sectors will work together to provide comprehensive long-term care insurance while strengthening the safety net for older people with lower incomes.

We will also honor and support our nation’s caregivers, who are primarily women and disproportionately people of color and immigrants. We will value family care work like professional employment by counting years spent caring for a child, elderly, or disabled dependent toward Social Security benefits. America will need nearly 8 million new care jobs by 2026, even as these high-turnover jobs involve long hours, low pay and frequent abuse. So we’ll support care workers by setting a $15 minimum wage, implementing new work standards, and expanding programs to train more caregivers and create ladders for advancement. And we’ll ensure these workers can unionize because care jobs should be good jobs.

California has, of course, long had special authority to issue its own standards to curb pollution from vehicles. Since 2009, it has harmonized its automobile greenhouse gas standards with the federal government so that we have a uniform national program. The Trump Administration has proposed rolling back the uniform national program and has also revoked California’s permission to issue them separately. As President, would you support a single national program to cut carbon pollution from cars (as the Obama Administration did) or would you allow California to have stronger standards for itself and those states that opt into the California standards to push technology farther and faster? — Environmental Law Professor Ann Carlson, UCLA

California has been a climate leader, and has enacted a range of groundbreaking policies to cut emissions and improve public health. The timeline on climate has been decided by science -- and the right time to get to net-zero carbon emissions was yesterday. That is why my climate action plan requires net-zero emissions for all new passenger vehicles by 2035 and all new heavy-duty vehicles, buses, trains, ships and aircraft by 2040. However, while we are still producing internal combustion vehicles we need to make sure that they are as efficient as possible. Therefore, I will have my EPA and DOT create stronger performance-based CAFE standards that increase miles per gallon every year until all new vehicles are zero emissions vehicles. We will work hand in hand with California and other states to ensure we are creating the strongest regulations, but if California decides it should have stronger standards then we will continue the previous arrangement that the EPA, DOT, and California had in place before the Trump rollback of these important environmental standards.

What do the candidates think about issues important to Calif.?:

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2020 California Democratic primary: Elizabeth Warren on wildfires, housing, aging and greenhouse gas emissions More: 2020 California Democratic primary: Michael Bloomberg on wildfires, housing, aging and greenhouse gas emissions

2020 California Democratic primary: Michael Bloomberg on wildfires, housing, aging and greenhouse gas emissions More: 2020 California Democratic primary: Tom Steyer on wildfires, housing, aging and greenhouse gas emissions

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California issues:

More: We asked presidential candidates: What would you do for seniors?

We asked presidential candidates: What would you do for seniors? More: We asked presidential candidates: How should we confront California wildfires?

We asked presidential candidates: How should we confront California wildfires? More: We asked presidential candidates: Should California set its own emission standards?

We asked presidential candidates: Should California set its own emission standards? More: We asked presidential candidates: What would you do about California's housing crisis?

Sam Metz covers politics. Reach him at samuel.metz@desertsun.com or on Twitter @metzsam.