Issues

Growing up and living in Los Angeles, John knows the concerns that families in the 46th District want addressed: good jobs at fair wages, access to quality, affordable health care, safe schools where their kids can learn, and improved air and water quality. All too often, our elected leaders forget why they wanted to be elected in the first place. When John is in the Assembly, he won't forget the issues that brought him there.

John has spent his life fighting for working families, and he will bring that same spirit to the Assembly. Below are some of the issues that John will focus on as a Member of the California Assembly.

Working Families & The Economy

John has been on the front lines of nearly every issue facing working people over the last 15 years and has a long list of accomplishments helping to create jobs and protect wages. A member of the Painters Union, now with the UFCW, John was an instrumental leader in restoring the 8-hour workday with overtime in California. John has played a leading role in the battle to increase the minimum wage. As a lifelong community advocate, John has helped strengthen local hiring criteria for prevailing wage jobs in the construction industry.

In the Assembly, John will focus on:

• Making the living wage a reality in California
• Creating quality, well-paying jobs in the 46th District
• Protecting workers' pensions and retirement benefits
• True health care reform so that doctors, not insurance companies, are determining our care
• Preserving the 8 hour workday with paid overtime
• Promoting smart small business growth in the 46th District
• Boosting investment in California's growing green economy to create jobs

Health Care

John believes that everyone deserves access to affordable health care coverage. It is a moral outrage that so many go without this basic need, especially our children. However, it is not simply access to health insurance alone that worries families. The lack of hospitals and health care facilities, the cost of prescription drugs, and portability of coverage when individuals change jobs are issues that working families grapple with every day. John understands that in order to tackle these problems, a comprehensive approach to health care is needed.

In the Assembly, John will focus on:

• Restoring funding for the Healthy Services Program so that our children have health insurance
• Fighting to keep regional trauma centers like King Drew open, safe and effective
• Ensuring that there are sufficient number of health care facilities that serve the Los Angeles area
• Containing overall health care costs
• Making prescription drugs affordable and using the state of California's buying power to purchase prescription drugs at volume discounts
• Preventing insurance companies from canceling or denying coverage to those in need of care

Education

John understands that nothing is more important to our children than the education that they receive. A world-class education is no longer a luxury for a child. It is a necessity. The children in our communities today are no longer competing solely against other children in their neighborhood. They are competing against kids from all over the world – from India to China.

However, regardless of the new schools we have built, no child can learn in the absence of safe schools and safe neighborhoods. Children have a right to attend school free from the drugs, violence, and especially gang influences that permeate some of our neighborhoods.

In the Assembly, John will focus on:

• Keeping Prop 98 school funding requirements intact and fully funding public schools
• Working for passage of the Dream Act
• Fighting to raise teacher salaries so that we can attract and keep the best professionals in our schools
• Increasing teacher training and retention programs
• Recruiting the best and the brightest students to choose teaching as a profession
• Raising per pupil spending to the top 10% in the nation
• Ensuring that safety comes first at every school in the 46th District
• Working with state and local law enforcement officials to combat gang violence
• Funding after-school programs, tutoring, and gang intervention and prevention programs

The Environment

John knows that the air we breathe and the water we drink directly effect the quality of life for all Los Angeles residents. As a former Board Member of the California League of Conservation Voters, John is the only candidate in this race with deep ties to California's environmental community. Tending to the environment is not only about preserving the beauty that California possesses but also about improving the day-to-day lives of the people who live and work here.

In the Assembly, John will focus on:

• Decreasing air pollution to reduce childhood asthma
• Ensuring that our drinking water is safe
• Fighting for funds to clean up existing Brownfield locations
• Banning any imports with toxic materials, especially lead toys
• Increasing funding for public transit 

Budget

John realizes that the California state budget is a reflection of our priorities. In order for California to continue to serve as the trendsetter for the United States, our budget must make the necessary investments both for today and for our future. From education to health care to the economy, John will stand on the side of working Californians and against the special interests that have come to dominate our politics.

In the Assembly, John will focus on:

• Working to balance the budget in a way that does not threaten ordinary workers
• Providing additional funding for K-12 education
• Making college more affordable and accessible for our children
• Expanding access to affordable health care for all Californians
• Protecting our natural resources
• Fighting to curb global warming

Civil Rights & LGBT Issues

John has been a leader in the civil rights arena throughout his adult life and has an extensive record lobbying on behalf of marriage equality, immigrant rights, hate crimes legislation, and a woman’s right to choose. As a member of the Assembly, John will support and promote greater tolerance and inclusion for all Californians, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation.

In the Assembly, John will focus on:

• Establishing marriage equality
• Defending hate crimes legislation
• Defeating efforts to restrict a woman’s right to choose
• Advocating for fully-funded, comprehensive and medically-accurate sex education programs
• Improving wages, health care and benefits for working immigrants
• Redoubling culturally competent HIV/AIDS outreach efforts to address the disproportionate rise of infections in minority communities