League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Riverside, San Bernardino County, CA June 5, 2012 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Member of the State Assembly; District 42

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Budget, Government reform, Higher education, Major issues Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. How will you prioritize the budget choices the Legislature must make to align the state’s income and spending? Answer from Mark Anthony Orozco: Next to creating jobs, balancing the State budget will be my top priority. We can't tax our small businesses and families to death to cure our state's deficit. However,we must balance the budget and I believe we cannot do this with cuts alone. We have to look at fair and equitable taxes for all. That is why I support A TAX REFORM! With the ability to work across the aisle, I will work to find simple and common sense solutions. By providing a transparent budget process, our voters will trust government once again and understand their choices. By auditing the budget line by line, we can identify and eliminate waste spending. We should reduce the size of the state government bureaucracy, consolidate jobs, and expand our use of technology to replace redundant and outdated positions. We need to increase income by relaxing and reducing regulations, reducing business fees and taxes, implementing methods of rewarding those who perform well and providing best service for best value. Putting the business of the people above ideologies and making the legislature accountable to voters and families for every bill they introduce and every vote they cast. I will fight budget cuts to our schools, by re-evaluating both Proposition 98 and 13, while working diligently to make our public universities accessible and affordable to all students, as well as, safeguarding vital public services in health, public safety and veterans affairs. 2. What types of changes or reforms, if any, do you think are important to make our state government function more effectively? Answer from Mark Anthony Orozco: Californians are pleading for change, but government is in the way. It has been hijacked by privileged and private interests. It has forgotten who really pays the bills around here -- it's taking more of your money and giving you less in return. We have got to go beyond the brain-dead politics in Sacramento, and give our people the kind of government they deserve: a government that works for them. In order for government to work for the people: We the people need, A more transparent government. We need to reduce the role of special interests, increase transparency in the law making process, and increase civic engagement. All three can be done by legislation alone, rather than by constitutional amendment. Stopping the process of Gut and Amend legislative bills, in which prior to voting the content of a bill is gutted and replaced by a completely different one. Reform pension, and our state's prison and criminal justice system to reduce incarceration and administration costs and end abuses such as spiking and disability retirement fraud. This includes -- reducing recidivism rates through greater use of drug treatment and rehabilitation programs that are more cost effective than persistent incarceration. Consolidate and streamline state government to save money and improve service. Increase local control to our local governments and our schools. Simplify funding requirements so that local government and school boards have more flexibility in how they spend their money. Reduce the size of the bureaucracy in Sacramento and send the money back to our local cities, and school districts. 3. Fees for public higher education have gone up dramatically and funding has been cut. Is this a priority concern, and if so, what measures would you propose to address it? Answer from Mark Anthony Orozco: I'm a strong supporter of Education. We must invest in California... Investing in higher education is key to increasing our competitiveness and ensuring we have the gold standard of workforces in the world. Rise in personal income is a rise in income tax, our largest state revenue source. The state hurts its own financial future by cutting higher education funding. I will fight budget cuts to our schools, by re-evaluating both Proposition 98 and 13, while working diligently to make our public universities accessible and affordable to ALL students. We must ensure that we hold institutions accountable for their budgets, cut wasteful spending (doing away with bureaucracy) and focus on educating our students in the most cost-effective way. We need to use every tool in our 21st century arsenal from more class offerings through distance and E-Learning. Reform higher education by: going from the traditional 4/5-year degrees to a three-year/two-year degree, focusing on necessary curriculum and eliminating unnecessary courses + saving taxpayers money and decreasing the cost of tuition. By having students focus on their career certifications rather on being career students in our colleges and universities, we will see a higher graduation rate and a lower expense rate saving taxpayers millions of dollars. 4. What other major issues do you think the Legislature must address? What are your own priorities? Answer from Mark Anthony Orozco: My priorities will be putting California back on track. By creating jobs through small business growth; by funding K-12 education and increasing access to higher education for all; by using disciplined common sense in passing our state budget and by maintaining a pulse in the community and with my constituents! The legislature must address and tackle pension reform, prison reform and state bureaucracy size. The legislature should work diligently on presenting a fair and balanced budget! Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. References to opponents are not permitted. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.