2020 election: Q&A with June Cutter, candidate for California’s 77th Assembly District

The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board recently emailed a series of questions to Republican June Cutter, who is running for California’s 77th Assembly District against incumbent Assemblyman Brian Maienschein, D-San Diego. Here are the questions and responses.

What more can be done to limit the financial and environmental damage of climate change and wildfires especially?

We need to face the issue of climate change head-on, but our goals must be both practical and feasible. The recent power outages across the state have demonstrated that California is not where it wants to be in terms of renewable energy, but also that it may be harmful to the general public if we turn away from traditional energy sources altogether. Californians living without reliable power in the year 2020 is not acceptable.

Wildfires have increased due to climate change, but they have also increased at a more rapid pace due to negligent maintenance of our forests, and insufficient fire prevention education. All contributing factors must be addressed, including but not simply limited to climate change. We must do everything in our power to reduce the devastation of wildfires in our beautiful state.

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On the topic of climate change, it would be remiss not to discuss the issue of drought and water management. Californians are used to conserving water but limiting individual water use should only be considered after the state government has done its job of repairing, updating, and modernizing our water system. We need to repair and build reservoirs so that we can benefit from all the rainfall we have seen in recent years, especially as our climate changes. We cannot continue letting all our rain flow out to the ocean.

Read our Q&A with the other candidate in this race below:

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2020 election: Q&A with Assemblyman Brian Maienschein, candidate for California’s 77th District

Assemblyman Brian Maienschein is running for re-election in California’s 77th Assembly District.

Sept. 25, 2020

Has the pandemic and so many people working from home made you rethink housing and transportation policies? If so, how?

The pandemic has certainly caused us to think about many different aspects of our lives, including our home and our workplace. Many industries that were reluctant to modernize have now embraced telecommuting with positive results. There are undeniable benefits to working from home, as long as it is done by choice.

Policymakers, businessowners, and the workforce itself will need to examine the issues of housing and transportation in a post-pandemic society. More people working from home will mean less cars on the road, and it may also mean less people using transit as well as a decreased demand for housing in metropolitan areas. This will significantly impact our discussions regarding housing and transportation, as well as the corresponding impact on our environment.

With more people working from home, we also need to talk about repealing AB-5, and the evolution of California’s onerous labor laws in a post-pandemic world once the virus is not what’s keeping us at home.

What specific policy changes do you support after months of racial justice protests to improve law enforcement practices or racial equity?

As a racial minority myself, I do not deny the disparities and injustices that exist in our society. This is a polarizing issue because it goes to the very core of our identity. Ultimately, I believe the vast majority of Americans want the same result – to come together, to heal, and to move away from a social climate that has grown increasingly divisive.

The problem is, we always look for the quick fix – e.g., defunding the police, or race-based affirmative action. But those are not real solutions, they are band-aids. To actually heal our wounds, we must be willing to play the long game and even the playing field for all races at the starting line with a K-12 education system that actually works for all of our children.

I support our law enforcement. Officers lay their lives on the line each day to ensure that our families and communities remains safe. To the extent that any of our officers need better training, education, or external support, we should be talking about increasing their resources, not defunding the police.

What more should the state be doing to improve student distance learning and public education overall?

Our state has done a huge disservice to our children by closing public schools and keeping them closed for such an extended period of time. We should have prioritized the social and emotional well-being of the next generation and found a better way to manage this pandemic.

The fact that private schools and schools in more affluent areas are able to open while our most underserved communities remain locked out of their schools should be a huge red flag to every Californian. Inequity already exists and this is fuel on the fire.

We need to take education out of the hands of special interests and put more control in the hands of parents and educators. Our finest educators have shined in this pandemic. Theirs should be the standard to which every educator is held – both now, and in a post-pandemic world.

As a parent of two school-aged children who has chosen the public education system despite its state-wide shortcomings, I am invested in making our K-12 public education system better – for all kids. I support school choice, healthy competition in the marketplace of education, and holding educators and administrators accountable at all levels. School districts and school boards should be transparent and prioritize spending in actual classrooms to ensure that our students and educators have the tools they need to succeed.

Should taxes in California be increased? If so, which ones?

No. Our state government does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem that is perpetuated by legislators who are not acting as good stewards of the taxpayers’ money. Tax dollars are not monopoly money – they are actual hard-earned dollars that you and I have sent to Sacramento under the assumption that they would fund the basic needs of our communities. We must hold our legislators and our state government bureaucrats accountable. We must cut government waste like the High Speed Rail before we even consider imposing any additional taxes on hard-working Californians. This is particularly true during a pandemic that has decimated the livelihoods of so many.

What is the most important issue we have not raised and why?

Governor Newsom recently signed SB-145 into law. Unfortunately, there has been misrepresentation of the law on both sides, which detracts from a meaningful discussion of what this law really means and the missed opportunity of our legislators to right something that is wrong.

SB-145 expands existing law which affords discretion to judges in requiring sex offender registration for adults who have sexual intercourse with minors (14+) less than 10 years younger than the offender. SB-145 addresses discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community by expanding this discretion to adults who engage in oral copulation and sodomy with minors in the same age bracket.

Opponents of the law, including Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzales, are appalled by the age gap of 10 years and I am too. Historically, proponents of the existing law claimed it was meant to address the situation where an 18-year-old and 16-year-old have sex, and that it would be unfair for the 18-year-old to live the rest of their life as a registered sex offender. In that case, the 10 year age gap is much too broad.

While addressing the inequity of existing law as applied to the LGBTQ+ community, our legislators had the opportunity to make further amendments and narrow the age gap, but they did not to do so. Instead, they expanded a bad law and the number of sexual predators it will benefit. As a mother, I must respectfully bring this issue to your attention and let you know that it is something I intend to fight.