• With robust funding for education, we can provide the early childhood education, high quality preschool programs and full day kindergarten for all children in California. The research is very clear that addressing children's educational needs early makes an enormous difference in their eventual success as learners. We need early, early education and intervention --- and we must put in place assessments to identify kids that need additional support and provide it early.
  For this reason, I support Rob Reiner's "Preschool for All" initiative, and I support AB 172, authored by Assembly Member Wilma Chan (D-Oakland) and Senator Marta Escutia (D-Norwalk).
  
  
• Reducing class size to 20 students in early elementary grades was a major initiative of both the Wilson Administration and the Davis Administrations - to the credit of both governors. We need to continue that effort and extend it to all elementary grades as well as to important transition grades such as the first year of middle school and the first year of high school. There is no doubt that the opportunity for greater individual teacher-student interaction and greater teacher attention to struggling students can make a huge difference to overall academic achievement and classroom morale.
  
  
• Our schools need early identification of and intervention for students who are falling behind and sufficient resources to provide for focused intervention and summer school instruction for these kids.
  
  
• We should provide incentives to attract the very best teachers to schools in greatest need
  
  
• We need a highly rigorous curriculum and teachers who are trained in the greatest instructional practices to ensure that our children achieve academically at the highest levels. The fine arts and music education must be part of California's core curriculum, not a luxury that only a few districts can afford. We need to begin a significant and powerful science instruction initiative necessary to ensure our children can succeed in a modern economy.
  
  
• We need to do our best to attract the best possible talent to the teaching profession in California by providing greater tuition assistance for college students who want to go into teaching and by expanding tax breaks & student loan forgiveness for teachers.
  
  
• We need to do our best to attract the best possible talent to the teaching profession in California by providing greater tuition assistance for college students who want to go into teaching and by expanding tax breaks & student loan forgiveness for teachers.
  
  
• Our teachers are the foundation of our system; they do not deserve to be scape-goated for dubious political purposes as the governor is doing. We should instead professionalize teaching --- by providing increased investment in professional development and higher salaries for successful teachers.
  
  
• It is a sin, if not a crime, that children with special education needs cannot get the support they need in our schools, though it is mandated by both state and federal law as it should be. We must ensure adequate state and federal funding for special education services.
  
  
• Charter schools and other local school innovation with appropriate performance standards, demonstration of financial viability, and keen oversight can play a part in meeting California's goal to close the achievement gap that persists in our state and in our country. Innovation and research-based practices should be pursued through alternative approaches. Collaboration with our teachers and other leaders to do what needs to be done to make our students successful in school must always be a priority.
  
  
• It is essential to build partnerships with parents and teach parents to understand and support the habits and study skills necessary for their children to be successful. Parents must understand their ability to model that learning matters and help their children see that knowledge is fun. Our children are our future leaders and we will depend on them.
  
  
• California school districts should train and empower school principals to be quintessential educational leaders and, then, hold them accountable for success.
  
  
• Accountability is essential for every adult and every stakeholder in school. Every decision made by local school districts must be solely made on behalf of students, their academic achievement and their individual well-being.
  
  
• Accountability should leverage our schools to focus more on overall individual student achievement and less on simple passage rates on high-stakes standardized testing.
  
  
• Every student in California should have access to a highly rigorous and relevant curriculum that is taught by a highly trained teacher in a small, individualized classroom. California should lead this simple but successful model of pedagogy.
  
  

Transportation

TRANSPORTATION
The growing crisis in California's transportation system is especially serious in Southern California, and has powerful implications for both our environment and our economy.
While near term fixes to improve the efficiency of our highways and freeways are important, the roots of Southern California congestion must be also addressed by local and state leaders. Sprawling land-use patterns and the region's failure to invest in an effective transit system are exacerbating traffic congestion and increasing air pollution. We need to grow smarter. "Smart growth" means housing along transit corridors and in community centers where residents can walk to services and jobs. Smart development patterns can make our investment in bus and rail transit pay off by increasing the number of transit riders.

Julia strongly supports the implementation of "smart growth" principles on appropriate transportation corridors and in community centers of willing communities. In the Legislature she will promote policies that encourage communities to reflect these principles in their land use policies.

We must expand current bus and rail transit systems. It is the responsibility of elected leaders to provide leadership for these challenges. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is making great efforts to expand transit services in Los Angeles County. As an Assembly member, Julia will join Mayor Villaraigosa to implement his vision of a world-class transit system in Southern California.

The State of California must help by providing additional resources for transit development in urban areas. As a member of the State Assembly, I will work to pass new transportation financing measures. These measures include developer fees and reducing the current requirement to pass local and state transportation bonds from 67% to 55%. With adequate resources, our communities will develop the transit systems we need.


Specific transportation issues of concern to the 41st Assembly District
Traffic in the 41st Assembly District has become a crucial issue. Residents often blame local development decisions, and while unwise local development policies can play a role, a large part of the problem is regional in nature. When the freeway system backs up, traffic floods local streets. Solutions to this problem lie mostly with measures to reduce the burden on our freeway corridors.

To relieve pressure on the 10 Freeway, Julia strongly supports the development of light rail all the way to Santa Monica on the Exposition Corridor right-of-way. A light rail line in the Exposition Corridor is projected to be as busy as the Blue Line to Long Beach, and possibly one of the busiest in the nation. Julia also strongly backs the expansion of the Big Blue Bus and the Metro Rapid Bus systems already operating on Wilshire Boulevard. Expansion of this service to Santa Monica Boulevard and Lincoln Boulevard is vital to the Westside. Other solutions should be considered as well. Julia supports the development of the Red Line subway on Wilshire Blvd to Westwood and the 405 Freeway. Perhaps expanding the subway and/or light rail to Santa Monica will make sense as well.
The incredible congestion on the 101 in the San Fernando Valley is another critical traffic problem. A task force created a set of proposals to solve this problem. Some of measures required significant property acquisition and generated so much local opposition that all the proposals were shelved. In the short term we need to emphasize transit service enhancements. The Rapid Bus Orange Line has performed remarkably well since it was opened. An existing Metrolink line operates in the 101corridor (though outside the 41st Assembly District.) The MTA operates both an east-west and a north-south Metro Rapid Bus program in the Valley. We need to consider ways of increasing service on these existing routes, expanding the north-south Metro Rapid Bus program on boulevards such as Reseda and Sepulveda and perhaps others, and investigate the possibility of state assistance to reduce fares. Other capital-intensive solutions will take longer to complete, so logically our first priorities should be augmenting the new and existing transit services and making major efforts to attract riders.

The Big Blue Bus and MTA's bus service are the backbone of the regional transit system in the 41st Assembly District. They must be expanded first, because we can do so incrementally with smaller amounts of capital. We must, however, anticipate a future where buses are bogged down with cars on overcrowded streets. Alternative dedicated systems like fixed rail transit will be needed as well. The time for planning and implementation is NOW!
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Ocean Pollution
The pollution of our ocean waters is one of the most important environmental issues of our day. In the 41st Assembly District, urban runoff and watershed management are crucial to the health of Santa Monica Bay. Urban runoff and storm water management issues are difficult to manage because, in fact, we all make water and waste decisions daily, sometimes thoughtlessly, as when we dispose of trash and other waste and use the gutter and storm drain system. We need to properly dispose of trash and not use the gutter and storm drain system to do so. The District needs more community-based education programs as well as toxic recycling and disposal programs such as the one in Santa Monica. Communities should be encouraged to provide frequent street sweeping, and proper removal of litter and petroleum-based waste products. We need to increase the amount of permeable surface on both public and private property so rainwater can soak into the earth, rather than run down our streets picking up waste and carrying it to the storm drain system and into the Bay. Water conservation strategies reduce the volume of effluent processed by the Hyperion treatment facility and enable the facility to better treat the water it pour into Santa Monica Bay. Julia supports existing environment requirements on local governments to reduce urban runoff and believes that local governments and school districts can best educate the public to water conservation. A model educational program is the Sustainable Crews program at Santa Monica College.

Air Quality
The Bush Administration has abdicated its responsibility for fighting global climate change. Thankfully, Californians have picked up the baton and run with it. The State of California has led the nation in efforts to promote cleaner alternative fuel and high efficiency technologies. Assemblymember Fran Pavley's historic bill, AB 1493, calls for maximum feasible reductions in greenhouse gases from automobiles. This proposal created a practical roadmap for reducing greenhouse gases and has become a model for the rest of the nation and for the world. AB 32 continues and broadens this effort. Julia strongly supports it.

Continuing the fight for clean air is the responsibility of every Californian and especially those elected to public office. Julia supports the agencies created to address these issues, South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) in Southern California and the California Air Resources Board, and will insist California provide them with adequate funding.

At the same time we must keep a vigilant oversight on these agencies to ensure that they adhere to their environmental mandates. When needed to guarantee air quality, the Legislature must broaden their authority. When agencies adopt aggressive measures to protect our air quality, we must stand behind them, even if the measures are controversial.

Some legislators have been equivocal about aggressive programs, such as the Zero Emission Vehicle program, and some have even threatened to impede these programs. In Sacramento Julia will fight for them.

Julia strongly supports the fleet rules adopted by the SCAQMD requiring public and private fleets to purchase only clean-fueled vehicles. Her own community of Santa Monica has a long-standing aggressive program of acquiring and operating the cleanest available vehicles. Santa Monica's effort demonstrates that these technologies are practical and financially feasible, as well as clean.

The world has only a limited supply of petroleum. As the international demand for gasoline and diesel increases, fuel prices will rise steadily. We need to promote alternative fuels, such as natural gas and electricity, as well as high-efficiency cars such as hybrid electric vehicles.

The State of California must facilitate the entry of hydrogen-powered vehicles into the market place. These vehicles require significant public investment to create a fueling infrastructure throughout the state. California should provide financial resources to develop cleaner advanced automobile and truck technologies. Good examples of a technology to encourage is the Plug-in Hybrid Electric vehicle, which will dramatically decrease fuel consumption and reduce emissions. An outstanding model program is the Carl Moyer Program that promotes alternatives to diesel fuel. These technologies and programs will help eliminate our over-reliance on costly petroleum-based fuels, and help reduce greenhouse gases and harmful criteria pollutants. Julia supports these programs and will champion them in Sacramento.

Airports, harbors and diesel trucks used in interstate commerce are among the worst sources of air pollution. Because local government operators and the federal government has jurisdiction, we must aggressively press appropriate cities to make "greening" of our airports and ports a priority and press Washington DC to meet federal obligations in these areas.

Energy
It is clear that long term reliance upon petroleum-based and other fossil fuel energy resources is an unsustainable prescription that will lead to worsening environmental problems, including global climate change, uncertain supplies, adverse economic consequences as well as international crises, even wars.

We must examine strategies for stretching existing energy supplies, significantly increasing our energy efficiency and developing greater reliance on renewable energy resources such as wind, solar and geothermal power. Public commitments to and investments in these objectives are an essential part of building an alternative and sustainable energy future.

Julia is firmly opposed to the proposed LNG facilities off the California coast in the 41st Assembly District. It makes more sense to invest in conservation and efficiency before we commit to major industrial installations of uncertain risk. Given the enormous uncertainties and inherent risks associated with the ocean environment, industrializing the ocean is unwise. It is true that LNG is an important alternative in the foreseeable future for heavily polluting heavy-duty vehicles. However, the facilities proposed off-shore near Oxnard will not provide LNG for heavy-duty vehicles. They are simply intended to increase our supply of natural gas. Any overland pipeline would do the same.

The Bush administration has not included the State of California and our local authorities in the permit process for the LNG facilities. This is particular disturbing considering the Bush administration's cozy relationship with the oil and natural gas industries. At the very least, the State of California needs to have the authority to sign-off on the safety-related dimensions of these facilities.

Preserving Open Space
Saving the Santa Monica Mountains from Overdevelopment
The preservation of the Santa Monica Mountains from excessive development is important to voters in the 41st Assembly District. In California huge tracts of wilderness areas and mountain land should be preserved for natural habitat, hiking and other appropriate recreation purposes. Currently these areas are vulnerable to development. Once developed, these wilderness areas would be lost forever. Huge developments have been stopped thanks to local community resistance and the efforts of the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy, its allied entities, and key leaders such as Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Senator Sheila Kuehl, and Assembly member Fran Pavley. Examples of developments they have stopped include the Ahmanson Ranch and the Soka University developments. Julia staunchly supports and the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy in these efforts.

Coastal Commission
The Coastal Commission is a mandate from the voters to ensure that our coastal resources be accessible to all Californians and that these resources be treated with sensitivity and be protected from abusive over-development. What would have happened to the California Coast during the past 30 years, especially during this period of runaway real estate inflation, had voters not approved the Coastal Act?

The Coastal Commission was never intended to maintain permanent regulatory authority over all coastal matters. Local governments are supposed to develop their own coastal plans consistent with the Coastal Act. This process has not been easy because of the influence that developers and private land owners exercise on local governments, among other reasons. In some areas, like Malibu, ensuring genuine access to the coast for the entire public has been a challenge. Nevertheless, the Commission needs to be open to new opportunities for dialogue with local communities so that fresh solutions to old disputes can be developed.

Private Enforcement Action of Environmental Laws
A sound and appropriate approach to the enforcement of environmental laws is to allow private citizens to pursue legal action ensuring enforcement of environmental laws. Governmental action alone to ensure enforcement can be very sporadic. It is increasingly difficult to fund the involved agencies and to guarantee that these agencies maintain their commitment to strong enforcement. The commissions in charge of these agencies are appointed bodies and generally reflect the philosophy of the governor or the leadership of the legislature at that moment. Because of this, Californians cannot always be sure that these agencies will make vigorous enforcement a priority. Proposition 65, for example, gives Californians the right of private enforcement through the courts. The record has generally been a successful one, despite complaints from affected industries.

Funding environmental programs and the enforcement of environmental regulations is part of the larger fiscal crisis of both state and local government in California. The crisis that dates to the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978. Our schools, our transportation and health care needs, as well as environmental enforcement and implementation, are at the heart of the crisis. Conservative Republican political interests have made "starve the state" their strategy and have made regulation of any sort ineffectual. Republicans undermine the public schools and poor children's healthcare by under-funding them, and then say, "Look at that mess! Government can't do anything right!"

The major barrier to adequate funding is the 2/3rds rule for approval of the state budget and new tax measures. This gives the conservative Republican minority the power to stop funding programs supported by the majority. Democrats must win 2/3rds of Assembly and Senate seats in order to prevail; Republicans only need to win only 1/3 plus one to stall. Until we end these requirements, we will be forced to find "creative" ways to finance social programs.

Strategies, such as providing for a 55% passage of local school bonds, parcel taxes and transportation bonds can address the financial needs of our schools, transportation and health care, and facilitate flexibility in the state budget. Such flexibility can make increased resources available for environmental programs and enforcement as well as other programs.
We must muster 2/3rds approval in the Legislature for taxes to adequately fund our environmental programs or we must implement fees. The latter provides greater flexibility at the present time.