IMPORTANT ISSUES
Reducing the cost of living.
Rising costs are a serious issue: no Californian should have to pick between food, gas, or their rent. Meanwhile politicians keep spending wildly, which causes prices to go up, and raising taxes, including our Gas Tax! What I have fought for and will continue fighting for to keep life more affordable:
- Continued fighting reckless government spending that causes inflation so that your prices will keep going down
- Put more money in your pocket by continuing to block the billions of new taxes Sacramento has proposed, fighting to eliminate the Gas Tax, and returning budget surpluses back to the people as tax relief
- Continued reducing unfair fees and regulations on new housing, so that construction stays cheaper and there is enough affordable housing to purchase or rent
Making our schools work for everyone.
California's K-12 schools are 44th in the nation. This is a disgrace, and it steals opportunity from young people, particularly Black and African-American students. I have continued to fight to make sure a student's education isn't determined by where they live or how wealthy their family is. What I will continue doing to make our schools work for everyone:
- Continued making it easier for parents to get students out of failing schools and into good public or charter schools. Kept fighting for more parental voice in what students are taught and more transparency about how schools are performing
- Fought to pay teachers like our future depends on them, because it does. Continued pushing to reform tenure so that we can reward good teachers and retrain or dismiss bad ones
- Maintained bipartisan efforts to ensure our schools are safe zones where gangs, drugs, and weapons are prohibited, and our students are kept safe
Taking real action to help the homeless off the streets.
The truth that we all see day after day is that many if not most of our homeless are addicted to drugs or alcohol or suffering from mental or physical disabilities. It's also the truth that the homeless camps that have formed are dangerous, with drug dealing, prostitution, and other crimes commonplace. What I have done and will continue doing to solve the homeless crisis:
- Continued fighting to redirect the billions of dollars spent on failing homeless programs toward full-time, in-house drug and mental health treatment centers, and to make it easier to require participation. Pushed for public audits of the billions we have spent on failing homeless programs
- Continued requiring each city to maintain about the same number of clean, safe shelter beds as they have homeless people, with services and help available on-site — then prohibiting outdoor camping
- Kept up the pressure to clean up homeless camps and prevent new ones from forming. Ensured our police have the tools they need to keep us and our property safe while we help get the homeless off the streets and into housing, treatment, and new jobs
Keeping people and property safe again.
Sacramento has let tens of thousands of dangerous felons out of prison early, lowered penalties for drugs and violent crime, and all the while 'progressives' have tried to Defund the Police. I have fought back against these dangerous policies because allowing crime is neither progressive nor liberal. What I have done and will keep doing to restore safety in our community:
- Continued to fight the Defund the Police crowd tooth and nail. Nothing is more dangerous than reducing the number of police on our streets while violent crime increases
- Continued blocking efforts to let violent felons out of prison early. Pushed to maintain adequate prison capacity so violent felons stay off our streets
- Kept fighting to put the victim first: working to restore tough penalties for violent and property crimes so that criminals know there is a price to be paid if they want to harm you or steal your property
Protecting our environment while producing lots of energy
We all want to protect our environment and slow climate change, but the cost of energy — gas and electricity — has been financially crippling California families. I have worked to protect the environment while promoting clean, cheap, and abundant energy. What I will continue doing to make sure we protect the environment and have affordable energy:
- Kept fighting to make sure California stays beautiful: ensuring our ocean and other waters are clean, our air is smog and chemical free, and our communities are safe from dangerous waste or past pollution
- Continued opening the door to clean, green energy by supporting incentives for green energy companies of every kind to operate in California, bring good-paying jobs, and compete for our business as we wean ourselves off fossil fuels
- Maintained California's position as a national and global leader on climate change, including supporting efforts to re-open nuclear power plants in isolated parts of the state, with a responsible plan for disposing of the small amounts of hazardous waste they generate
Cleaning up Sacramento’s waste, fraud, and abuse
In recent years our news has been full of stories about billions of dollars of waste in Sacramento. The Unemployment Office, for instance, paid out over $31 billion in fraudulent claims while Californians — unemployed because of COVID — couldn't get the money they needed to buy groceries or pay the rent. They don't care about wasting your money… I do, and here is what I have been doing and will continue to do:
- Continued pushing for public, nonpartisan audits of every department's spending and effectiveness every year, and publishing the results so taxpayers can see if they are getting their money's worth
- Kept fighting to increase transparency by forcing the state to put all spending online, in real time, on an easy-to-use website — just like other governments do
- Continued holding elected officials and government workers accountable when they use taxpayer money as their own private piggy bank, staying at fancy hotels and eating at expensive restaurants while we pick up the tab
Preventing fire and providing water.
The state has totally failed in stopping massive and lethal fires and in making sure that we have enough water. This is unacceptable: they have the know-how and they have the money. Our desert communities will shrivel up and blow away without water — I have been fighting to secure it and will not stop. What I have done and will continue doing to solve the fire and water problem:
- Continued treating fire as the emergency it is — standing up to radical environmentalists to clear dead trees and undergrowth from our forests, and requiring people to build fire breaks around their homes and businesses
- Kept the pressure on to use the water storage money that voters authorized to actually build water storage — right now. Continued fighting to ensure we have enough water stored to handle several years of drought conditions
- Pushed forward on developing new sources of water — such as desalination plants — and continued working to improve water distribution all around the state so that places with more water can get it to places with less
Giving every person good healthcare options and outcomes.
Every person deserves healthcare peace of mind. No one should be denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition. Serious health conditions shouldn't drive anyone into bankruptcy. Private healthcare, where you get to pick your doctor, is better for you and cheaper than government-run healthcare. These are my core principles, and here is what I have been doing and will continue to do on healthcare:
- Continued fighting to prevent government-run healthcare. A government worker shouldn't decide what doctor you see or when. Further, we still cannot afford the largest tax hike in California history (approximately $400 billion dollars) that government healthcare would cost
- Kept pushing to increase tuition assistance for doctors and nurses, and to offer loan forgiveness for those willing to relocate to communities that need more healthcare professionals
- Continued working to make sure everyone has access to preventative health professionals, mental health counseling, and affordable prescription drugs — and to lower overall healthcare costs by reducing unfair government rules and promoting more competition among providers and insurance companies