VOEPEL: WE MUST PRIORITIZE PEOPLE’S MENTAL HEALTH
Q:What more can be done to limit the financial and environmental damage of climate change and wildfires especially?
A:
I thoroughly enjoy the beautiful nature that is present throughout my district. We need to prioritize its protection by increasing funding to our state’s fire and forest protection services.
The brave men and women who protect us every day need the proper staffing, equipment and training, and we must ensure they can get that. Additional measures must be taken in order to manage the forests properly.
While we want to be good stewards of the environment, we also need to make sure that the goals that are being mandated are realistic. The governor’s latest directive of no gas-powered cars being sold in California after 2035 is a prime example. In our state this year we forced families to suffer from rolling blackouts in the middle of a heat wave, because we did not have enough electricity.
It is these sort of partisan plans that endanger the lives of everyone. If we aren’t able to keep the power on when there is high demand on the grid, how can adding more demand for power be realistic?
Q:
Has the pandemic and so many people working from home made you rethink housing and transportation policies? If so, how?
A:The pandemic has changed many things in our lives, but my views on housing and transportation have not changed. We need to continue to improve our roads and infrastructure, that way the people of the state are easily able to commute to wherever they may need to go.
I believe that during this time when there were less people on the road would have been a great time to improve our transportation infrastructure using the funds from the gas tax that we have all been forced to pay.
Q:
What specific policy changes do you support after months of racial justice protests to improve law enforcement practices or racial equity?
A:
A policy change I support is to increase training for officers to help expose them to real-life situations. This can only be accomplished by increasing funding to law enforcement to ensure all officers in the line of duty receive the necessary support and training.
I support law enforcement and believe that officers should be at the head of the table when discussing changes.
Q:
What more should the state be doing to improve student distance learning and public education overall?
A:
Every student should be provided what they need to be successful with distance learning. The school districts in
the 71st District have been doing a great job of making sure the students have the tools they need. Additionally, Proposition 98 was intended as a “f loor” for funding, not a “ceiling,” so we need to fund education at a higher level.
Q:
Should taxes in California be increased? If so, which ones?
A:
No, we do not need increased taxes. The state doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a very severe spending problem.
Many of the legislators in our great state choose to spend money on unnecessary and ineffective programs.
Before we ask the taxpayers to bail us out again, we need to examine our own spending.
One example is authorizing $25 million to enforce AB 5 during a time when businesses and citizens are struggling is a prime example of misguided priorities. The funding being channeled to the high-speed rail could also be eliminated.
Raising taxes during this unprecedented time would be detrimental to the economic recovery of our state, leaving taxpayers with less money in their pockets is not even a consideration at this time.
Q:
What is the most important issue we have not raised and why?
A:
The dire consequences that this pandemic have caused in the mental and physical health of the citizens. The increase in suicides, increases in relapses of substance abuse, increases in domestic violence. These issues need to be addressed.
Many of these people are stuck at home and are suffering in silence.