GONZALEZ: I WILL KEEP PUSHING FOR BETTER JOB QUALITY
Q:What more can be done to limit the financial and environmental damage of climate change and wildfires?
A:
Climate change is real, it’s happening, and not enough is being done to slow its impacts on our state. This is a state, national and international issue.
We need to continue to cut carbon emissions from our daily lives, we need every industry that consumes large amounts of energy to reform their practices to cut carbon, and we need to stop the dangerous statements of our president and others who refuse to acknowledge the science that is explaining why this is happening.
We’ve made a lot of strides toward a greener, safer, lower-carbon future. But we need to achieve zero carbon emissions to reverse the devastating effects of climate change. We are on our way to greening the electrical grid, but we must cut down on tailpipe emissions from personal vehicle use and from industries that move goods and people. We must simultaneously increase the number of zero-emission vehicles and fully fund and expand clean public transit. The primary source of greenhouse gas emissions that are creating these erratic weather patterns that are causing and stoking the wildfires is now tailpipe emissions.
We also need to pass a climate resiliency bond to fund proven ways we can mitigate wildfires, coastal erosion and other expensive impacts of our current climate crisis.
Q:
Has the pandemic and so many people working from home made you rethink housing and transportation policies? If so, how?
A:
I think the pandemic has made it clear that employers can provide employees with more f lexibility in doing their work without stripping them of basic workplace protections. I hope that we continue to utilize that option post-COVID-19 as a way to help alleviate housing, transportation and child-care issues.
With regard to housing, we have seen that overcrowded living quarters can lead to health consequences, as COVID-19 has disproportionately ravaged areas where people don’t have adequate housing opportunities. Students with insufficient space to work from home in communities like mine
have also suffered. We need to continue to build affordable housing in places where it makes sense, along transportation hubs and near our service sector jobs that will never be done from home. Every family deserves a place to live where they can stay healthy and children can thrive.
As far as transportation is concerned, our region is so far behind in making necessary improvements to our public transportation system. My concern is without investments, we won’t be prepared to serve the public once the pandemic is behind us and we will fall further behind than where we were before COVID-19 hit. Investments in building a first-class public transportation system are also a huge job creator, something that would be helpful during the impending recession.
Q:
What specific policy changes do you support after months of racial justice protests to improve law enforcement practices or racial equity?
A:
I’m proud of my record of supporting criminal justice and police reform that has created more accountability for law enforcement in California. We worked hard to develop requirements for body cameras and to make those records and other important records available to the public. The public deserves, and I support, increased transparency about how their communities are being policed. I was a co-author of Dr. Shirley Weber’s use-of-force bill (Assembly Bill 392), but we also need standards for less-than-lethal use of force weapons. I plan to reintroduce that bill next year. I am supporting Proposition B on the ballot in San Diego to establish an independent commission on police practice. I also look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on a much-needed police decertification process that is fair and makes sense on both the local and statewide level.
But racial inequities, especially for Black and Latino families, spread far beyond our relationships with the police. We have seen decades of institutionalized degradation and loss of opportunity, largely due to a 1996 ban on allowing racial and gender diversity to be considered in school admissions, job hiring and public contracting. We have the exciting opportunity to change that this election by voting yes on Proposition 16. It will allow us to openly and honestly review our policies in public education and employment and correct what has caused women and communities of color to fall so far behind in equal pay and equal opportunity.
Q:
What more should the state be doing to improve student distance learning and public education overall?
A:
California has to find a way to get our kids back to school safely. Distance learning does not work for a great number of families, especially those without the employment f lexibility or resources to make it work. Digital divide issues have been exacerbated by this pandemic, and the state must fund a way to finally achieve broadband for all. We also must provide school districts and families with resources focused on narrowing the opportunity gap that is growing during this pandemic. We need a specific focus on kids with special needs, English learners and other students who have suffered disproportionate learning loss during this time. Finally, the state should mandate f lexibility in allowing families the opportunity to simply redo the year that too many kids have lost.
Q:
Should taxes in California be increased? If so, which ones?
A:
I am supporting Proposition 15 to close property tax loopholes that are benefiting wealthy corporations but stretching our public resources for schools, health care, public safety and social services that reduce homelessness. It’s a targeted reform that will really benefit our local schools and public services even though 92 percent of the new revenue will come from the most expensive 10 percent of the state’s nonresidential commercial property.
I continue to support increasing taxes on massive corporations and billionaires, while relieving the need for regressive taxes that disproportionately hurt the working and middle classes. It is inconceivable that we pay more on the tax to purchase a tool box from Amazon than Amazon pays each year on its earnings.
Q:
What is the most important issue we have not raised and why?
A:
Job quality is the most important issue for the communities I represent and the overall economy, but it is often not given the attention it deserves. The stock market alone cannot be the major indicator of where our economy is headed when the wealthiest 1 percent own half of it. Workers are being asked to work more for less, as corporations increase their profits.
We need an honest discussion about what workers should expect from their jobs during and after this pandemic in terms of minimum wages, health care, safety protections and what happens if you end up losing your job. Do you get unemployment insurance benefits? Will you get rehired if your employer’s business is able to hire again?
This is why voting No on Proposition 22 is so important. Uber and Lyft are spending $181 million to deny their drivers basic employee rights like overtime and sick leave, while underfunding our Social Security, Medicare and unemployment funds.
We need to keep pushing for better jobs. Every person who is willing to work 40 or 50 hours a week should be able to live without being forced to rely on government services or in fear of losing their housing. The future of work can’t be the total dissolution of living wages and workplace benefits.