League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	San Bernardino, Los Angeles County, CA June 3, 2014 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues State Senator; District 20

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 Fiscal Choices, Water, Education, Your Priorities Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. How would you prioritize the fiscal choices the Legislature must make to align the state’s income and spending? Answer from Sylvia Robles: The impending pension obligation crisis requires that we focus on balancing the budget without the creation of new programs. Proposition 30 was a temporary tax instituted by the voters to help the state meet its obligation to fund schools. The Governor has created a new funding formula for schools giving more money via LCAP to schools with greater needs. I support the Governor's proposal to pay down the "wall of debt." Interest on debt takes away financial resources we need to chip away at the unfunded pension obligation. I want to invite labor to work with the legislature on how to best deal with the unfunded liabilities of our pension fund to protect the system for current and future retirees. Answer from Matthew Munson: We have to live within our means to help align with the income the state receives from taxes and fees. High speed rail may be nice, but it is more that the state has to pay each year to run the system. I also support implementing a bond cap to make sure we do not end up being a slave to huge bond debt. If we go over the bond cap then a higher threshold to pass bonds should happen. Bonds are not free money. Only in emergencies such as earthquakes or fires then you would be able to repair a school with a lower threshold. 2. Given our current drought condition, concern for water rights and usage is an important issue. What solutions would you support to address our water problems? Answer from Sylvia Robles: I support current legislative efforts to craft a "Water Bond" to deal with the problems of capturing and storing surface water, ground water recharge, watershed restoration and Clean Water Act Compliance. Many entities are still not metering water use. The conflict over the Delta environmental impacts must be negotiated. There are ten bills in the legislature. This has been on the legislative agenda for 36 years. If elected I would not let this issue fail. Answer from Matthew Munson: A. Learn from other nations in how they managed their water shortage problems such as Australia. B. Stop the excessive release of water from Folsom Dam that is depleting usable water in California. We barely have any snow pack water and policies that deplete water in reckless ways should be stopped immediately. 3. California high school students rank lower than many states in student performance. What do you see as the ongoing role of the Legislature in addressing this problem? Answer from Sylvia Robles: The legislature must make sure schools are adequately funded, that the revenues are distributed in a timely way. Currently the state is deferring some Proposition 98 funds to districts creating a need for districts to borrow revenue anticipation funds with interest. The state must have a role in working with educators on formulating achievement benchmarks. There must also be some measure of individual teacher/school performance and accountability. I believe we must sit with teachers and administrators and set achievement standards. Answer from Matthew Munson: We need careful monitoring and intervention of students throughout their school career. If a student can not read by the 6th grade at the latest we are weakening the learning potential of our children. Preparing our students better in the earlier grades would help save taxpayer money in the long run. Less remedial classes required in jr.high school, high school and college. 4. What other major issues do you think the Legislature must address? What are your own priorities? Answer from Sylvia Robles: The state must live within its means. Meaning that revenues from Proposition 30 must be recognized as temporary. The pension obligation issue must be faced. I believe we can work with state employees to measure out a plan that least impacts their take home earnings, while restoring pension sustainability. We must all share the pain of resolving this long term dilemma. Pension reform is necessary to make sure we can meet our pension obligation security for current and future retirees. Job creation is key to our long term sustainability as a state and employer. We must look at the $6 billion in Tax Expenditures (subsidies) that go to corporations and see which ones benefit the state. We must stop increasing taxes. Any corporate assistance must have some binding element to benefitting the taxpayer: Job creation. Answer from Matthew Munson: Business competitiveness is the major issue that needs to be addressed. Public services are not funded by fairy dust, we can not expect to hike taxes so high to compensate for the lost residents and businesses in our state. We gain more revenue by adding more residents and businesses to our state instead of scaring them away. My priority is to help restore California's reputation as being the Golden State for opportunity. My grandfather moved from Illinois to California for opportunity and now my friends and family are leaving California for other states. 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.