Water and Flood Control

Protecting our north state water rights and increasing water storage and flood protection are all crucial to our local economy.

Our forefathers had the great foresight to develop and harness our natural resources. They built the great waterworks projects that provide water to our farms and cities. They reclaimed farmland from the swamp by building our levee system and keeping back the floodwaters. These systems are in bad need of upgrade and repair. We need to ensure local levee projects like the Feather River West Levee Project, Marysville Ring Levee, and the Hamilton City J-Levee are brought to completion.

The 2011 Water Bond is flawed in that it contains billions of dollars for environmental projects that would not improve our water situation in California and, in the case of the money for dam removal in Siskiyou County, would actually make the problem worse. Its only redeeming feature is the $3 billion allocated for new water storage and the “area of origin” protections. Now politicians in Sacramento are proposing to reduce that $3 billion down to $1 billion, effectively killing any new storage project. I believe the bond needs to be greatly reduced, removing the money for bugs and shrubs and dam removal, and focusing the money on new water storage.

The Peripheral Tunnels are a double barrel shotgun pointed at our water rights. Furthermore, it will cost $25 billion dollars when a $6 billion bond would build us two new water storage projects. We need to work to stop this expensive fix and instead work on a system of new water storage, and explore concepts like desalinization and recycled water to meet the great demands on the system south of the Delta.

Taxation

I’m proud to be the only candidate for Assembly in our district endorsed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. I won’t accept any plan to alter Prop. 13 or raise taxes on already overburdened California taxpayers.

The current tax structure in California is burdensome and ineffective. High taxes drive businesses away, kill jobs, and ruin family finances. I will work to reduce the tax burden and stop the state from over-spending and stealing tax dollars from local governments.

The CDF Fire Tax that is being imposed as a result of the 2011-2012 budget is a boondoggle that will not result in any additional fire suppression/protection for North State residents. I support the efforts of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in bringing a lawsuit against the State as I believe this is an unconstitutional tax that should have required a 2/3 vote to be implemented. At the same time, I would work to repeal this tax in the Assembly.

Early Prison Release – Public Safety Realignment

I oppose the Governor’s plan for early release of nearly 50,000 prison inmates. AB 109 (Public Safety Realignment) is bad public policy. It was hasty legislation that was largely a function of the State once again kicking its financial problem down on the counties.

First, we need to ensure that dangerous criminals are kept out of our communities. AB 109 does not do this – it allows dangerous felons (who may have a recent non-violent offense but have a history of violence) to be placed in County jails that may not have the proper security or capacity to hold them. Local law enforcement should have the ability to identify those that are truly dangerous and divert them to State prison or other secure facilities. We also need to remove the roadblocks to expanding county jail capacity, as this will be needed to handle the current influx.

For the truly low-level offenders, our local Sheriffs and Probation departments have developed creative programs that are reducing recidivism and saving taxpayer dollars. We need to continue to support and promote such programs.

Education

We need to re-focus education on essential knowledge and skills, remove the agendas from the classroom, and ready our children for the job market. I believe we need to reform education funding and give local school boards, parents, and teachers the flexibility to adopt education plans suitable to their local needs, economy, and culture. So much of education money is spent at the state level establishing one-size-fits all educational plans that are more about the agendas of special interests than the education our children. That money needs to get back down to the local level. College preparation is important, but vocational education should be available to help train our children for jobs that will be ready for them upon graduation from high school.

Health Care

Obamacare is a disaster for our health care system. Long-term it will result only in higher premium costs, fewer doctors and inevitable rationing and lower quality care for everyone. Over a million Californians have lost their insurance coverage because of this disastrous law. Seniors on Medicare are already paying more for health services because Obamacare took money away from the successful Medicare system. People will be subject to the whims of the government controlled system instead of being able to individually manage their own health care needs. By restoring the doctor-patient relationship, increasing local medical clinics, and allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines we can increase the access and quality of health care for all people. I believe we also need strong tort reform and a requirement that those with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage.

2nd Amendment

The 2nd Amendment is clear that citizens have the constitutional right to bear arms. This is not a right that is limited to hunting and sporting activities, it is meant to secure the rights of the people versus an overbearing government. That is why it is contained in the Bill of Rights, which established the fundamental rights of individuals living under our government. Recent legislation passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Brown only serves to undermine this right for law-abiding citizens. Meanwhile, the gun violence we have seen is perpetrated by criminals who care nothing for our law or our Constitution. Disarming and hamstringing our responsible citizens’ constitutional gun rights will do nothing to stop this gun violence and in fact will make it worse because now only the criminals will be armed. As your Assemblyman I will fight to protect and preserve our 2nd Amendment rights.