ISSUES
Affordability and Cost of Living
The cost of living in California has reached a point where too many families feel squeezed from every direction. No one should be forced to decide which basic necessity they can afford in a given week. Rapid price increases, higher taxes, and layers of costly regulations have put enormous pressure on residents and small businesses alike.
Decisions made in Sacramento have contributed to this problem. State leaders continue to introduce new taxes and fees, including increases to the gas tax, which hits working families hardest. Every trip to the pump, the grocery store, and the utility company costs more than it should. These policies have limited opportunity and pushed many to consider leaving California altogether.
Improving affordability means lowering the everyday costs that families actually feel. That means stopping unnecessary new taxes and fees and letting people keep more of what they earn. Housing is one of the biggest pressures of all. Excessive fees and regulations have made building new homes far more expensive, slowing construction and driving up the price of every home and every rent check.
California should be a state where people can get ahead, not fall behind. By lowering costs, removing needless barriers, and encouraging economic growth, we can create an environment where families and businesses have the opportunity to thrive again.
Coastal Protection and Environmental Stewardship
As a lifelong Oceanside resident, I know protecting our coastline is one of the most important issues facing our district. California’s coastal communities are experiencing real and visible impacts from erosion, shifting currents, and the loss of beach areas that families rely on for recreation, tourism, and quality of life. Here at home, these changes have contributed to rocky stretches of shoreline and long-term concerns about the future of our beaches.
Communities up and down the state are working with coastal experts, residents, and policymakers to better understand these challenges and explore practical ways to safeguard both public access and the natural environment. Addressing coastal erosion requires cooperation, science-based planning, and a commitment to preserving our shoreline for the generations that will come after us.
Our coastline is a defining part of who we are. Recognizing the environmental pressures facing our district is essential to protecting our beaches, supporting our coastal economy, and ensuring that the next generation inherits a healthy and resilient shoreline.
Public Safety and Supporting Law Enforcement
Every community deserves to feel safe, and the government's first responsibility is to protect its residents. Families should be able to walk in their neighborhoods, run their businesses, and let their children play outside without fear. That requires a practical, balanced approach to public safety.
Law enforcement officers and prosecutors play a crucial role in maintaining order, and they need clear laws, strong support, and the right tools to respond effectively when crime occurs. Communities also benefit when the justice system is fair, consistent, and focused on reducing repeat offenses.
Recent state policies have created confusion, weakened accountability, and too often prioritized offenders over law-abiding residents. These choices have real consequences for safety. We must return to a commonsense approach that takes crime seriously while recognizing the dignity of every person involved.
Voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36 to strengthen penalties for serious drug and firearm offenses and ensure repeat offenders face appropriate consequences. Yet Sacramento has failed to fully fund its implementation. Ignoring the will of the people and underfunding key safety measures leaves law enforcement without the resources to keep communities secure. Fully funding Proposition 36 is essential to restoring accountability and protecting Californians.
Supporting law enforcement, strengthening consequences for serious and repeat offenders, and rejecting policies that make communities less safe are vital to rebuilding trust in our public safety system. With empathy, fairness, and practical solutions, we can build safer neighborhoods and a stronger future for all Californians.
Good Governance and Accountability in Sacramento
Californians work hard for their money. They deserve a government that respects it. For too long, Sacramento has spent like the money would never run out. The results have not matched the promises, and the waste has piled up.
Look at the record. The state has wasted tens of billions of dollars on homelessness, and the problem only got worse. No one can even say where all the money went. The high speed rail was supposed to be affordable. Instead the costs keep climbing, the trains still are not running, and the waste keeps growing. And after years of record revenue, the state is now 18 billion dollars short. That is what happens when Sacramento wastes money instead of managing it.
When the government wastes money, families pay the price. Higher taxes. Higher costs. Less help where it is needed most. Good governance is simple. Cut the waste. Demand results for every dollar. End the projects that do not work. Bring back the same discipline that families and small businesses live by every day.
Sacramento needs more accountability and more transparency. With a real focus on results and an end to the waste, we can protect taxpayers and rebuild trust in how California is run.
Restoring Local Control
The people who know a community best are the ones who live there. Local leaders and families understand their own neighborhoods far better than officials hundreds of miles away in Sacramento. Yet the state keeps handing down one size fits all mandates that ignore what makes each community unique.
Nowhere is this clearer than with housing. We need more of it, and responsible development is the answer. Unfortunately, to fit state mandates, communities are being forced to take on high density housing that does not match local plans and puts further strain on traffic, jobs, schools, and infrastructure that were never built for it.
A community like Oceanside may have very different needs than a community like Mission Viejo. Each one knows its own streets, its own residents, and how it should grow. Those decisions belong with the people who live with the results, not with a mandate written in Sacramento.
I will stand up for the right of our communities to govern themselves and develop on their own terms. By returning these decisions to the people closest to them, we can build a California that grows the right way, from the ground up rather than the top down.