JOBS

By Nick Karno

Nick Karno's plan to get Californians back to work

Our economic emergency must be addressed immediately. The economy must be redirected towards a sustainable model, both for the Environment and for Career Development, and it is up to the State to help businesses move in that direction. If elected, I would work to:

Stimulate growth in the ¡°Green Economy¡±. The State should do everything in its power to encourage renewable energy, energy efficiency, water conservation, green building, alternative fuel cars, and non-toxic, perishable waste products. This should be our first priority, and I want to make the 53rd District the new ¡°Silicon Valley¡± for Cleantech and other sustainable industries.

Implement AB 32, the landmark Global Warming Act of 2006, and help the Western Climate Initiative develop a working Cap & Trade market system. Through a successful Cap & Trade system, new businesses will emerge that curtail or eliminate green-house gas emissions that are threatening our planet. Companies that span a wide range of sectors, including renewable energy, agriculture and urban waste management, industrial efficiency, and forestry will emerge as the companies of tomorrow.

Provide tax incentives to businesses that create ¡°apprenticeships¡± for jobs involving highly technical training. Today, thousands of students go into debt to learn computer programming, film and new media technical skills, accounting, and other trades.

Help fund energy efficiency non-profits that have proven successful in other cities, like the Cambridge Energy Alliance. With the right support from government, these groups can partner with local municipalities, green builders, local banks, and utilities to ¡°green¡± small businesses and residences. Capital improvements are financed by the banks and paid off by the consumer through the savings realized form consuming less energy. These programs have worked in other cities, and they can work in California.

Assist in alternatives to daily commuting by providing tax incentives for telecommuting and satellite office sharing. Many of our large public transportation projects are costly and won¡¯t be usable for another 10 to 30 years. We need to cut down on our driving now. Studies have shown that workers can be as productive, if not more, when given the opportunity to work from remote locations ¨C and with the technological innovations of internet video conferencing, we should be encouraging these improvements to our quality of life so that we don¡¯t spend so many hours in our cars.

Assist all municipalities and companies with large fleets to use alternative fuel vehicles. In some cases, the cost of upgrading our trucks is too costly. Government should help our businesses make an easy transition to alternative fuels that are safe for our Environment and help us achieve energy independence.

There are amazing new technologies developing that can stop and reverse the environmental damage we¡¯ve created. Provided we have real leadership in our government, we will see a new Environmental revolution spurred by the private sector. These new green businesses will be our path to a better economy, which will in turn create more jobs. But we can¡¯t just focus on the Green Sector ¨C we must help all businesses thrive in California to improve our way of life.