Nov. 2022 Election: Q&A with Gov. Gavin Newsom, candidate for California governor – The San Diego Union-Tribune
Democratic incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom is being challenged on the Nov. 8 ballot by State Sen. Brian Dahle to be Californias governor for the next four years. The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board sent each a 17-question written survey. Here are Newsoms responses.
Q: What would be your main goal as governor for the next four years and how would you demonstrate to Californians that it is being accomplished?
A: I dont think any of us could have predicted four years ago what the future would hold. A global pandemic and economic recovery, successive years of climate change fueled record wildfires, a historic drought and countless other crises. No one can predict what the next four years will bring California. As your governor, I promise you: Whatever challenges come our way, I will always lead the California Way based on compassion, common sense, telling the truth, following science, treasuring our diversity, defending our democracy, protecting our planet and always planting seeds for the future.
Q: A recent Public Policy Institute of California poll showed 68 percent of Californians dont feel that government is doing enough to combat the drought. What will you do as governor to improve the states water supply and reliability?
A: To match the pace of climate change, California must move smarter and faster to update our water systems. During my first months in office, I called for a comprehensive water resilience portfolio. The portfolio prioritized 10 key actions to secure Californias water future. Over the last two years, weve made serious progress, including balancing our groundwater basins, updating infrastructure, restoring river systems including the nations largest dam removal effort on the Klamath River, and improving water management through technological advancements and voluntary agreements.
California is investing over $8 billion in these actions to secure the future of Californias water supply.
The most recent, historic $5.2 billion investment in California water systems has enabled emergency drought response, improved conservation and allowed for local water suppliers to become more resilient to drought. This year, my administration has doubled down on those efforts, with an additional $2.8 billion for drought relief to hard-hit communities, water conservation, protection for fish and wildlife, and long-term infrastructure to permanently strengthen drought resilience.
We have invested billions in securing the future of Californias water supply. Just last week, we announced a new, focused water supply strategy that updates state priorities based on new data and accelerating climate change.
This strategy includes creating storage space for up to 4 million acre-feet of water, recycling and reusing at least 800,000 acre-feet of water per year by 2030. Another strategy includes freeing up 500,000 acre-feet of water for new purposes each year by permanently eliminating water, waste and using water more efficiently, making new water available for use by capturing stormwater and desalinating ocean water and salty water in groundwater basins, diversifying supplies and making the most of high flows during storm events.
Q: As the drought worsens, how would you balance potential water restrictions with the sustainability of Californias agricultural industry for those who depend on it for work and food?
A: Weve seen our farmers and ranchers make significant progress in conserving water and deploying smarter irrigation strategies since the last drought. The Central Valley produces a fourth of the nations food. It is not easy to grow that much food, let alone while trying to reduce water, but our farmers have figured how to do it and improved their yield to water ratio, while theyre at it. Between 1980 and 2015, Californias agricultural sector produced 38 percent more food with 14 percent less water.
Additionally, in May, the California Department of Conservation announced the award of more than $40 million to regional organizations working to reduce groundwater reliance and create local environmental and economic opportunities through land-use changes. The grants explore whether some agricultural lands might be put into alternative uses to reduce water demand and the burden on local aquifers.
To manage through this dry period and ensure our long-term water supply reliability in the face of climate change, we all have to do our part to conserve and invest in creating new water supplies and stretching those that we have.
Thats why my administration launched a new strategy document called Californias Water Supply Strategy, Adapting to a Hotter, Drier Future, which calls for investing in new sources of water supply, accelerating projects and modernizing how the state manages water through new technology.
To help make up for the water supplies California could lose over the next two decades due to hotter, drier weather, the strategy prioritizes actions to capture, recycle, de-salt and conserve more water. These actions include creating storage space for up to 4 million acre-feet of water, which will allow us to capitalize on big storms when they do occur and store water for dry periods; recycling and reusing at least 800,000 acre-feet of water per year by 2030, enabling better and safer use of wastewater currently discharged to the ocean; freeing up 500,000 acre-feet of water through more efficient water use and conservation, helping make up for water lost due to climate change; and making new water available for use by capturing stormwater and desalinating ocean water and salty water in groundwater basins, diversifying supplies and making the most of high flows during storm events.
These actions are identified broadly in our water resilience portfolio the states master plan for water released in 2020 but they will be expedited given the urgency of climate-driven changes.
Over the last three years, California has earmarked more than $8 billion to modernize water infrastructure and management. The historic three-year, $5.2 billion investment in California water systems enacted in 2021-22 has enabled emergency drought response, improved water conservation to stretch water supplies, and enabled scores of local drought resilience projects. The 2022-23 budget includes an additional $2.8 billion for drought relief to hard-hit communities, water conservation, environmental protection for fish and wildlife and long-term drought resilience projects.
Q: Gun Violence Archive data show California had an average of 44 mass shootings per year between 2013 and 2021, nearly one a week. How would you balance gun safety with the constitutional rights of gun owners?
A: California has led the way when it comes to common-sense gun safety. By enacting gun violence prevention laws such as universal background checks, red flag laws and a ban on assault weapons, California has cut its gun death rate in half. In fact, Californias gun death rate is now 58 percent lower than the national average, and ranks the 44th lowest in the nation.
Just this year, I continued that charge by fast-tracking vital gun safety policies, including a bill modeled after a perverse Texas abortion law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, making California the first state to allow individuals to sue those making, selling, transporting or distributing illegal weapons for damages.
California will continue to show the nation what smart gun policies do: Save lives.
Q: Californians are increasingly concerned with rising crime after it fell to historic lows in 2020. What would you do to reduce crime and ensure the safety of Californians?
A: Every Californian deserves to feel safe whether thats at home, at the park or at work. While long-term crime trends in California are down in almost every category, states across America have seen a recent uptick in organized retail theft and other violent crimes, particularly those involving a firearm.
I believe we must invest in public safety while also tackling the root causes of crime. This last year, I released my Real Public Safety Plan that focuses on three main areas to keep our streets safe:
1. Bolstering local law enforcement response to stop and apprehend criminals by providing new grants to local law enforcement and prosecutors so they have the resources they need to apprehend and prosecute criminals, and creating a permanent Smash and Grab Enforcement Unit, operated by the California Highway Patrol, to crack down on organized retail and auto theft across the state.
2. Ensuring prosecutors are holding perpetrators accountable.
3. Getting guns and drugs off our streets.
Q: California has nearly 700 prisoners on death row, and the state hasnt executed anyone since 2006. How will your administration approach the death penalty over the next four years?
A: Im a strong opponent of the death penalty. I believe the intentional killing of another human being is wrong full stop.
I know that many Californians believe the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for heinous crimes. Even so, the implementation of the death penalty has been a catastrophe. Its wasted billions of dollars without deterring crime or providing any benefit to public safety. Its discriminatory unevenly and disproportionately applied against people of color, people with mental disabilities and people in poverty and completely irreparable when the system makes a mistake.
I couldnt, in good conscience, allow this system to go on. In my first few months as governor, I signed an executive order placing a moratorium on the death penalty, withdrawing Californias legal injection protocols, and immediately closing the execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison. I stand by this approach.
Q: Six years after the passage of Proposition 64 to legalize recreational marijuana, concerns about the health of the cannabis industry and public health are growing. What would you do differently to oversee the industry in the next four years? What, if anything, should change?
A: The task of creating a well-regulated commercial cannabis market in California the oldest and largest market in the nation has matched the scale of the market. Its an enormous challenge, however; even before Proposition 64 landed on the ballot, the Blue Ribbon Commission smartly warned that legalization would not be an event. It is a process that takes time and a commitment to constantly assess and adjust.
My administration has done this, taking significant and swift steps to modify the framework that was put in place in 2016 with the passage of Proposition 64.
In just two years, we created one department to license and regulate the industry, greatly simplifying and streamlining local government and business engagement with Californias cannabis regulators enhanced resources to strengthen our enforcement efforts and better support local law enforcement, increasing state capacity to support local law enforcement and make a larger dent in the illegal market. A proof point of this is the Department of Cannabis Controls recent announcement that it just exceeded $1 billion in illegal product seizures, meaning less product that could harm consumers and less unfair competition to our legal operators. I also just reformed statewide cannabis taxation, reducing costs to participate in the legal market, and increasing the states ability to hold bad actors accountable.
These efforts represent the tip of the iceberg, and we have a lot of work to do before California can be held up as a model for the nation. While our cannabis regulatory framework seeks to uphold a number of important California values environmental stewardship, reinvestment in overpoliced communities and strong local engagement, to name a few many of the policies incorporated into the Medical and Adult Use Cannabis and Regulation Safety Act leave us wanting when put into practice.
More local participation, safe retail access, lower barriers to licensing compliance and capital resources that meet the needs of the diversity of our market are all necessary to foster a truly safe, sustainable and equitable market. Alongside this, enforcement against egregious illegal actors criminal enterprises that traffic workers, harm our drought-stricken waterways, threaten violence against our communities and threaten the viability of our market must also increase.
Q: California has 2 million undocumented immigrants. What would you say to them and what would you say to others who dont want undocumented people in the state?
A: Californias strength comes from our diversity.
The Trump handbook of a closed-door immigration policy is both ineffective and cruel. It does not stop people from seeking protection or opportunity at the border. Instead, it has caused a massive backlog in our asylum system and forced migrants to take dangerous routes, including relying on human smugglers.
In California, weve advanced a national model that keeps people safe, both border communities and migrants, while spending billions less than states like Texas.
Our nations economic growth has been stifled by Republicans refusal to enact comprehensive immigration reform. Inflation is increasing and supply chains are breaking down in part because we do not have enough workers to fill essential jobs. That is a direct result of our national failure on immigration policy.
California has relied on immigration to regenerate and reinvent our economy and support local communities. Immigrants are the embodiment of Californias entrepreneurial spirit and are the key to our states success.
Twenty-five California companies that are on the Fortune 500 list were founded by immigrants or children of immigrants. Nationwide, a quarter of all new companies are created by immigrants. That number jumps to 42 percent in California.
From Silicon Valley to the Central Valley, California depends on immigrants.
Simply locking our doors and closing our borders hurts our economy, is contrary to our values and jeopardizes future growth. We can and must create an immigration system that respects borders, keeps our economy competitive and reflects our values.
Q: Californias economy relies heavily on income taxes tied to capital gains and can fluctuate wildly. How would you ensure that it is prepared for a potential reversal of fortune with the economy?
A: Its true. Californias revenues can skyrocket one year and plummet the next, and its my responsibility as governor to budget with this in mind.
There are a few things weve done to prepare:
First, weve saved more than $37 billion in budgetary reserves. In tough times, these reserves will help us protect our most important programs and services.
Second, weve put well over $10 billion to reduce pension liabilities. Well be putting in more in the coming years if revenues allow. This isnt flashy, but its critical to the fiscal health of our state in the long term.
Third, weve used the vast majority of our surplus funds for one-time purposes including transformative investments in climate, infrastructure, education and more. This year, 93 percent of our discretionary surplus was allocated for one-time purposes. In other words, we dont assume that we can put these surplus dollars to use year after year, because we cant.
Q: What will you do in Sacramento to combat climate change?
A: From day one, my administration has been laser focused on the issue of climate change enacting nation-leading policies that will not only lead to a brighter future for the state, but the entire world.
California is standing up to Big Oil, eliminating all new gas cars by 2035 and pushing for stronger setback laws to keep our communities safe from the harms of oil drilling.
Just this last year, California invested in a record $54 billion climate commitment and world-leading efforts to cut carbon pollution and move toward an oil-free future. Now, I am pushing to codify our statewide carbon neutrality goal to dramatically reduce climate pollution by 2045; adopt a more aggressive 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target going from 40 percent to 55 percent below the 1990 level; establish a setback distance of 3,200 feet between any new oil well and homes, schools or parks; create new clean electricity targets, and advance natural and engineered technologies to remove carbon pollution by establishing a clear regulatory framework for carbon removal and carbon capture, utilization and sequestration.
So long as I am governor, California will continue to lead the way for America and the rest of the world on the meaningful actions necessary to combat the climate crisis we all face.
Q: What do you see as the biggest hurdles to California overcoming greener transportation models and how would you overcome them?
A: Transportation is our biggest source of carbon emissions, so one of my top priorities is to make greener transportation options available for as many Californians as possible.
Lets start with zero-emission vehicles. It wasnt that long ago when people laughed at the idea of an electric car. Now, thanks in large part to Californias nation-leading vehicle standards and powerhouse economy, zero-emission vehicles are more accessible than ever. Through the state budget, weve put in billions of dollars into across-the-board zero-emission vehicle adoption, including $6.1 billion this year alone.
We are also expanding and improving other transportation options for Californians. Again, were investing billions of dollars into improving our transportation system, including $14.8 billion this year. This includes making sure we finish up the Central Valley segment of the high-speed rail.
Finally, were making it easier for Californians to live where they work. High housing costs have pushed Californians further and further away from job centers making commute miserable and filling up our air with pollutants. I will discuss our housing initiatives in more detail later on, but Ill note here that were investing nearly $1 billion this year for the kinds of downtown-oriented housing projects that make life easier for Californians and help us meet our climate goals.
Q: What reforms or changes are needed in Californias schools to ensure student success?
A: Californias 2022 education budget is $170 billion larger than the entire budgets of 48 states. Were doing so much to strengthen our public education system that its hard to put into words.
Our first goal is to make sure that education reflects the lived realities of our students. Californians are extraordinarily diverse, and we will see better outcomes when our education systems are built around that.
Thats why weve invested tens of billions of dollars into childcare slots, universal transitional kindergarten for all 4-year-olds, universal meals, expanded before- and after-school programs, and more. This is the kind of comprehensive support that helps students and families not just succeed but thrive. (Contrast this to red states, where theyre banning books and demonizing students, families and teachers for who they are and calling it reform.)
Our second goal is to help our people power our future. We want Californians to be able to choose meaningful careers that allow them to support their families, contribute to their communities, and help our state tackle its greatest challenges.
To do this, were reinvesting billions of dollars back into our higher education system. We even struck agreements with the University of California, California State University and California Community College systems that make these investments contingent on student success and job outcomes.
Im hopeful that more and more Californians will see the tangible results of these investments in the coming years and that, taken altogether, they will truly transform our public education system.
Q: The Employment Development Department has been plagued by scandal because of backlogged unemployment claims and massive fraud. How will you improve this agency?
A: Lets be clear: What happened at the Employment Development Department was inexcusable, and Ive directed my staff to do everything it can to right the ship.
So far, weve made a lot of progress. We established an Employment Development Department strike team, which has helped make its services much more user-friendly. We now have easy-to-access dashboards as well as chat bot and text messaging systems. We didnt have these basic tools in place before the pandemic. We also hired thousands of temporary employees and redirected staff to assist the Unemployment Insurance branch and extend call center hours.
Were also cracking down on fraud. I created a Task Force on Pandemic Unemployment Insurance Fraud, which has led to hundreds of arrests and convictions and thousands of active investigations stopping fraudsters and holding them accountable for ripping off the state. The Employment Development Department has since recovered over $1 billion in Unemployment Insurance funds.
But the root cause is antiquated, legacy government systems that dont serve Californians well in the 21st century. Weve done a lot on this too, from creating an Office of Data and Innovation to investing millions into government innovation and technology modernization. This isnt flashy work, but its the kind of thing that prevents another EDD scandal from happening years or decades into the future.
Q: Reducing homelessness has been a focus for all levels of government, especially state government, in recent years. What would you do differently over the next four years?
A: Our homelessness crisis is a challenge that was long in the making the tragic product of insufficient affordable housing supply and the hollowing-out of our mental and behavioral health system since the 1970s and 1980s.
We are doing everything we can to turn the tide. Since I took office, weve invested over $17 billion to combat homelessness. These dollars dwarf anything the state had done before. We pioneered Homekey which delivers shelter beds faster and cheaper by converting existing buildings and were holding local governments accountable by making them demonstrate that theyre putting our dollars to good use.
Mental and behavioral health are a large part of this crisis. If we cant provide comprehensive treatment, we wont be able to help a lot of people. A big chunk of our $17 billion-plus homelessness investment includes funding to create housing and treatment options for people with behavioral health challenges. Were also leveraging Medi-Cal to provide timely behavioral health care to people experiencing homelessness, in times of crisis.
This is also why my administration worked with the Legislature to develop CARE Court a framework for providing care and services to Californians experiencing mental health and substance use crises. I look forward to working with the Legislature to get CARE Court done this year, and its my hope that this will support the thousands of Californians living on our streets who have been the hardest to reach.
Q: What can and should the state government do to address the high cost of housing?
A: Housing, too, is an issue long in the making. For decades, local governments didnt build anywhere near enough housing. The state wasnt doing much to force their hands, even though state law requires local governments to accommodate housing growth.
Under my administration, were changing this. Within my first month in office, we sued Huntington Beach for its failure to build enough homes putting the four dozen other cities not following state law on notice. We established the Housing Accountability Unit within the Department of Housing and Community Development, which has the tools to enforce state housing law. And we empowered the California Department of Housing and Community to force cities to rewrite bad housing plans and to review practices in cities with too many barriers.
Were backing up these significant policy changes with significant state investments about $13 billion for housing between last year and this years budgets. These dollars will accelerate the development of affordable housing, particularly in downtown-oriented areas with shorter commutes, and support homeownership opportunities.
Ive also worked with the Legislature to sign dozens of bills to address the high cost of housing, including Assembly Bill 1482, which caps rent increases at no more than 10 percent in a 12-month period.
Q: Californias population has declined for the past two years. What does that fact say about the state? Would you try to reverse this trend, and how?
A: The last two years have been challenging, to say the least, so I dont want to make any conclusions about trends. But I do know that Californians are increasingly concerned that the high cost of living is putting the California dream out of reach.
I want to reassure Californians that we hear you and we are going to do everything we can. Ive outlined many of our key priorities, from climate change to education to housing and homelessness. Theres even more I could talk about from the affordable insulin were going to manufacture to the billions of dollars in tax rebates were putting back in Californians pockets.
California punches above its weight because leaders before us were ambitious enough, and audacious enough, to build this state up from the ground. Now, our task is to stay on top amid new and unprecedented challenges. That is not easy. But we have made incredible progress during my first term, and Im excited to do even more in my second term.
Q: Why should voters elect you over your opponent?
A: In recent years, Californians have faced some of our toughest challenges. And I have been inspired by the courage and resilience of our residents, from firefighters to health workers to teachers, parents and kids. Through it all, California is still standing tall and stronger than ever. We have all been humbled by the past few years. All of us had our resolve tested, and we have overcome unthinkable trials. I would be honored to continue charting Californias path forward for the next four years and tackle whatever challenges lay ahead.
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Nov. 2022 Election: Q&A with Gov. Gavin Newsom, candidate for California governor - The San Diego Union-Tribune