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LWV League of Women Voters of California Education Fund

Smart Voter
Monterey, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz Counties, CA March 2, 2004 Election
Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues
Member of the State Assembly; District 27; Democratic Party


The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of California and asked of all candidates for this office.

See below for questions on Budget Crisis, Education, Water, Health Insurance

Click on a name for other candidate information.   See also more information about this contest.


1. What does California need to do to address the current budget crisis?

Answer from John Laird:

California must do a number of things to address the current budget crisis: refinance accumulated deficit and address the remaining structural deficit through a combination of cuts and new revenues. Reforms should be made to require a balanced budget and reserve, and to protect against future swings in state fiscal health.


2. What should the state's priorities be for K-12 education? For the Community College System?

Answer from John Laird:

The state must plan for outdated school facilities, an upcoming shortage of teachers, and insure high standards to measure education outcomes for students. The Community College system should receive a fair share of the split in revenues under Proposition 98.


3. What measures would you support to address California's water needs?

Answer from John Laird:

I believe that California should address this issue on a number of fronts: 1) mandate water conservation measures at a state-wide level; 2) have a faster coordinated response to contaminated water taken off-line; 3) ensure equity to all areas of California in distribution of water supply funds; 4) plan for the lessening of California's water bank + the Sierra snowpack + due to climate change, 5) manage groundwater supplies in a more organized manner; and 6) encourage beneficiary-pays, environmentally- sensitive water development.


4. What should the Legislature be doing to address the needs of Californians without health insurance?

Answer from John Laird:

I support SB921, single payer health care, as a method to ensure that all state residents are insured for health care services. I supported SB2, which is a step toward this goal. I believe that enrollment in the Healthy Families program and other programs that extend insurance to children in California should not be capped.


Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League. 

The order of the candidates is random and changes daily.


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Created: May 4, 2004 14:48 PDT
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