SENATE DISTRICT 39 ATKINS: WE MUST FULLY RESPOND TO SYSTEMIC RACISM
Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, is being challenged on the fall ballot by Republican Linda Blankenship. Atkins is running for re-election. Blankenship advanced to the runoff election as a write-in candidate. Below are their answers to a
Q:
What more can be done to limit the financial and environmental damage of climate change and wildfires especially?
A:
I served on the San Diego City Council after our fires in 2003 and 2007, when wildfires in California had not yet become so prevalent. Our experience in establishing recovery and prevention protocols was learn-as-we-go. That experience reinforces my approach to what California needs now: a comprehensive action plan where all the documented facts, proposals and existing policies are assessed by the Legislature and governor and implemented in a timely and transparent manner so Californians know what to expect and what happens if those expectations are not met. The Senate has made wildfire prevention and response a top priority. We began the year with a comprehensive bond proposal with significant funding for proven programs and projects like fire breaks, prescribed burns, fire safe councils and back-up power systems. Due to the economic uncertainty, the bond was not placed on the ballot, but the Senate proposed several other funding sources. In response to our efforts, shortly before the end of session, the governor proposed a combination of funding from the state’s cap-andtrade program, existing bonds and onetime general fund expenditures. When the Senate returns, we will be prepared to act. I will also bring back climate legislation that I set aside this year in order to focus on the pandemic and economic recovery. That bill helps local communities address sea level rise, which is particularly important to San Diego’s economy and our military. Fires, f loods, air quality — again, we have to look at the whole picture.
Q:
Has the pandemic and so many people working from home made you rethink housing and transportation policies? If so, how?
A:
COVID-19 has exacerbated what was an already-critical need for more affordable housing and more housing supply in our state. It is true that determinations around increasing density cannot wait for the state’s transportation issues to be resolved — these things can and should occur together — but we can’t allow the absence of finality on one issue to justify continued delay on the other. And, of course, even as we adapt to potential new commute realities, California’s ongoing work to fix our unsafe roads and bridges must continue as well. Housing has been a priority of mine since my days on the San Diego City Council. That’s why this year, I authored two bills — SB 1120 and SB 995 —
that were part of a Senate housing package aimed at increasing the housing supply and creating more opportunities for homeowners. Unfortunately, those bills fell victim to timing, and will be reintroduced next year. SB 1120 was about rethinking our housing policy by increasing density in smart ways that maintain neighborhood character, since the importance of local decision-making and community planning group input is something I have carried with me since my City Council days. SB 995 took a proven CEQA streamlining proposal for large scale projects and greatly expanded its scope by lowering the threshold for eligible projects. It took me two years to get my landmark affordable housing bill enacted. Our work, and my resolve, on housing and transportation will pick up where we left off next session.
Q:
What specific policy changes do you support after months of racial justice protests to improve law enforcement practices or racial equity?
A:
Systemic racism has been allowed to take root in our country for 400 years. That won’t vanish overnight. We have no choice but to change. Every elected official needs to keep working with our communities to help ensure law enforcement moves in the right direction — toward de-escalation, away from militarization, with more outreach and community policing. This year the California Legislature put Propositions 16 and 17 on the ballot to give voters the chance to erase some of the stains racism has placed on our society, by removing barriers to public institutions even considering race in decision-making and by restoring voting rights to formerly incarcerated individuals who are reentering their communities. Important bills on ethnic studies also became law. Those actions might not have occurred without the surge in support for a new way of doing things. One bill that was not able to be taken up this year by the Legislature’s constitutional deadline was important legislation by Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, to increase accountability for law enforcement personnel guilty of misconduct. As I did working with Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, on AB 392, which reformed law enforcement’s use of force, I have committed to Sen. Bradford that the Senate will work with him and the California Legislative Black Caucus to carry the momentum behind this bill forward and get it enacted into law.
Q:
What more should the state be doing to improve student distance learning and public education overall? A:
Providing a quality public education to our state’s youth is one of California’s most important responsibilities. Certainly, the pandemic reshaped how instruction is being delivered, but I am proud of the efforts we took in the Legislature this year to protect education funding and provide the resources that our schools needed — from daycares to universities — to keep students and staff safe and continuing to move ahead.I support the need to safeguard students and families from the threat of the coronavirus, and I empathize with parents and guardians in San Diego and throughout California who are grappling with yet another round of distance learning, while also continuing to work and support their families. We need to do all we can to help them navigate this challenging new frontier and to ensure that students and parents have the resources they need to be successful, from reliable internet access to counseling services. We also must make sure that our vulnerable students — especially lowincome, English learners, Black and Latinx students, and special needs students — are not disproportionately impacted. In addition, a key component to ensuring that distance learning can work is access to broadband. Children in the fifth-largest economy of the world should not be doing homework in fast food parking lots because they lack access to broadband. The Senate passed SB 1130, although the Assembly shelved the measure, to expand broadband infrastructure to both rural and urban broadband deserts. This will remain one of our highest priorities as we return next session.
Q:
Should taxes in California be increased? If so, which ones?
A:
California’s economy took a giant hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though a decade of prudent budgeting and building reserves by the Legislature and governor put us in the best position to deal with that hit, the impact will still require creative solutions that don’t impact the bottom line of working families. That’s why this past spring, the Senate began working with stakeholders on solutions to California’s budget shortfall as well as our historic economic stimulus package.The central piece of our approach was the responsible state budget we passed that avoided major service cuts and middle-class taxes that would have added to our state’s economic problems. We crafted an important compromise to save renters from eviction and protect mom and pop landlords and updated protections to help struggling middle-class families keep their homes during bankruptcy proceedings. We also deferred tax payments for both individuals and businesses in California, and for a fourth consecutive year, we expanded the California Earned Income Tax Credit, a program I am proud to have championed that continues to help millions of working Californians. And, with an eye to protecting and helping our state’s small businesses, we established a $100 million hiring tax credit to help get Californians back to work — a bill that Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed.
Q:
What is the most important issue we have not raised and why? A:
One issue makes a difference both for the topics discussed above as well as for other critical issues such as increasing Californians access to health care, and that’s the importance of making sure Californians count. Census counting is coming to a close at the end of September. Billions of federal dollars and our representation in Washington, D.C. is at stake, so it is important that anyone in our region who hasn’t completed the Census do so now. For each person not counted, California loses about $1,000 each year. That is a loss of $10,000 to our community over 10 years for each person not counted here. Your responses to the census are safe and confidential, and they will help bring funds for schools, hospitals and roads.