League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
San Francisco County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
	David Chiu Answers Questions Candidate for Member of the State Assembly; District 17

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. How would you prioritize the fiscal choices the Legislature must make to align the state’s income and spending?

As Board President and as a member of the Budget Committee, I have been at the center of helping to balance consecutive years of major budget deficits - with budgets that ensure that our city lives within its means and protects vital services for our most vulnerable residents. I also championed landmark budget reform legislation to ensure that we're focused on long-term fiscal trends, and passed ethics legislation to ensure transparency in lobbying. I want to bring my experience with community-based budgeting, community-based planning, and community-based policing to Sacramento.

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?

I would prioritize greater water use efficiencies, including better uses of rainwater, graywater, and blackwater, focus on recycling and conservation, better capture urban storm water, and encourage more local self-reliance on water. In an era of climate change, the only answer can't be just to build larger pipes, because abundant water may not be available in the coming decades. We need to rethink our relationship with water. As President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, I am proud to have successfully championed groundbreaking legislation that advances on-site water reuse in new developments, to allow for the on-site collection, treatment and reuse of water. This program has saved millions of gallons of water, resulted in significant savings, and reduced sewer flows and building footprints.

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?

As an Assemblymember, I would prioritize California's highest-need schools and students and closing our unacceptable achievement gap. I would support policies like the Local Control Funding Formula that, besides offering local districts greater control and flexibility in spending state funds, allocates increased funding to districts with higher percentages of low-income, foster youth and English learner students. I would also advocate for increased state assistance to our most challenged public schools, and not support policies that exacerbate over testing and teaching to the tests.

As President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, I have been an outspoken proponent of the DREAM act, and I twice led the fight to allow immigrant parents to vote in School Board elections. I also passed San Francisco's Language Access Ordinance to require City departments to improve access to city services for limited-English-speaking individuals, including funding for translation services. In Sacramento, I would continue to work to ensure all Californians have access to a high quality of education regardless of background or immigration status. I would support immigration reform packages that provide greater access to free education for immigrant families. I would also advocate to strengthen language acquisition in our schools, whether through increasing resources for specialized classroom materials for English Learners, expanded bilingual programming, or greater funding for professional development opportunities for teachers with limited English students.

4. What other major issues do you think the Legislature must address? What are your own priorities?

My priorities are creating jobs, developing more affordable housing, protecting our environment, improving public education, fixing public transit, keeping the public healthy and safe, and increasing government transparency.

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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.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: July 16, 2014 10:39
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