71ST ASSEMBLY DISTRICT LAVERTU: MY FOCUS WILL BE ON A NEW JOB ECONOMY
Two-term incumbent Assemblyman Randy Voepel, R-Santee, and Democratic businesswoman Liz “Elizabeth” Lavertu are on the fall ballot in a district that includes Alpine, El Cajon, Julian, Ramona, Santee and parts of Riverside County. Below are their full answers to a series of questions posed by The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board via email.
Q:What more can be done to limit the financial and environmental damage of climate change and wildfires especially?
A:
Wildfire season is something all Californians have adapted to and learned to expect, but the last few years we have all truly been tested to our limits. We can and must do a better job of making our state a safe and reliable place to call home, where we can still enjoy all that California has to offer. We deserve a government that holds utility companies accountable when they neglect to repair and replace old infrastructure. We need leaders who want to eliminate the red tape and bureaucratic nonsense that currently turns California’s forest maintenance and fire prevention into a game of “this is mine, that’s yours” with the federal government. We should be laser-focused on enacting common-sense forestry practices and investing in research that finds new and better ways of getting ahead of fire season, making it shorter and less severe. We absolutely must do more to help those displaced by wildfire, and make sure that they are financially supported as they recover and rebuild. I want to help make sure that hard-working Californians who love this state and love their homes are able to pass them on to their kids and grandkids, and that the climate and beauty of our great state are preserved for them to care for and respect, as we do.
Q:
Has the pandemic and so many people working from home made you rethink housing and transportation policies? If so, how?
A:
Many Americans are adapting to a very new and different way of life, myself included. While my views on housing and transportation have not been altered by the current pandemic, COVID-19 has certainly made the need for change even more obvious. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to housing or transportation, and our tax dollars ought to be spent carefully and responsibly on projects that truly benefit each and every community in our district. We must preserve our back country, stopping sprawl
development in areas that have minimal infrastructure and are difficult to evacuate and protect from wildfire. We should enhance our current public transportation system in urban and suburban communities and build housing for all income levels so our essential workers can afford to live in the communities they serve. And we must do more to combat the serious and growing tragedy of homelessness in our area, by supporting organizations that are already doing good work, and increasing funding for services that support mental health, combat addiction, and help our unhoused neighbors begin again.
Q:
What specific policy changes do you support after months of racial justice protests to improve law enforcement practices or racial equity?
A:
We must increase and continuously develop comprehensive training for unconscious bias and diversity in our police force. We must provide much more funding to organizations that support and rehabilitate people suffering from mental illness, addiction and homelessness, and we must also heavily invest in programs we know can help prevent gang involvement and crime. And we must make sure that when lives are lost due to police misconduct or racial bias, qualified immunity doesn’t prevent families from getting justice for their loved ones. We should look into reintroducing Assembly Bill 1599 by Assembly member Jordan Cunningham, which would prevent cops guilty of serious misconduct or crime from relocating to another unit and avoiding discipline or removal. We must help our police men and women do their jobs by making their jobs safer, but we must help our underserved communities feel much safer, too, by investing in these neighborhoods and helping them thrive.
Q:
What more should the state be doing to improve student distance learning and public education overall?
A:
As a mother of two, I care deeply about improving schools and making learning accessible for all our kids. I don’t want any child to miss out on their education because their family can’t afford a computer, childcare or their internet bill. Sadly, so many families are being forced into making impossible decisions due to the pandemic, but the honest truth is that many of them were just barely hanging on before the current public health crisis. Our state can do so much more to assist these families and help all kids learn from a distance, by making sure public schools are capable of getting school supplies and computers to families who can’t afford them, by providing wider access to free public Wi-Fi, and making sure all of our neighborhoods have access to internet service. We must also make sure families who used to rely on free school lunches to feed their children are able to find and use the resources they need to get food on the table. Our tax dollars should be spent on things we can see and benefit from, but schools have been forgotten time and time again by our current leaders. Teachers, school nurses and counselors should be paid like professionals, and we must renovate our schools inside and out, making funding for schools and early childhood education a top priority. I will always be a fierce advocate for all of our kids and I have the guts to take on any obstacle in the way of better schools and brighter futures.
Q:
Should taxes in California be increased? If so, which ones?
With the pandemic ravaging our communities, discussing raising taxes on the average person or on small businesses seems laughable. We Californians know a thing or two about high taxes, but right now we should be getting assistance from our government, not being asked for more of our hard-earned money. I will not consider raising any tax on our working class and underserved communities, nor would I consider taxing small businesses that are just barely getting by. Our government can’t ask for any more from average Californians than it already has, but it can and should offer much more help!
Q:
What is the most important issue we have not raised and why?
A:
With over 2 million Californians unemployed due to COVID-19, we are all facing the stark reality that many of those jobs may not be returning. We must begin the process of growing a new job economy here in our community, and I believe one of the smartest things we can do is to invest in bringing new livable wage jobs to our district in fields such as biotech, renewable energy, behavior and mental health, and fully fund shovel-ready projects on infrastructure we desperately need. The great thing about drawing in biotech jobs in particular is that so many of our residents actually commute to Sorrento Valley to work in the field already. If we brought those jobs home, we’d see a lot less traffic, which I know is something we all deal with every week. I’m full of ideas on how to grow our community, replace lost jobs and help workers get trained in new fields that pay more and benefit our district.