Senator Tim Leslie on the Issues

By Tim Leslie

Lists Senator Leslie's position on a number of current issues facing Californians, including taxes, education, welfare reform, racial quotas, and crime.

EDUCATION Tim Leslie is a long-time advocate of stronger standards, increased parental involvement in schools, and greater local control. Tim Leslie co-authored legislation to reduce class sizes and wrote a new law to keep teachers convicted of sex and drug crimes from ever returning to the classroom.

BI-LINGUAL EDUCATION Supports the "English for the Children" Initiative which dismantles bi-lingual education by requiring that all public school instruction be conducted in English.

ABORTION Tim Leslie is pro-life. He opposes partial-birth abortions, authored SCA 17 to require parental consent for the abortion of a minor, and opposes state funding of abortions.

THE ENVIRONMENT Tim Leslie believes we need to strike a balance between economic and enviornmental concerns. He supports reform of enviornmental laws that put a greater value on obscure insects than on the lives and jobs of working people.

IMMIGRATION Supported Proposition 187 (Save our State). Supported a resolution calling upon the federal government to reimburse the state for its expenditures on illegal immigration.

THE ECONOMY Consistently given 100% ratings by the State Chamber of Commerce. A consistent advocate of efforts to reduce taxes and regulations on California's job creators.

SECOND AMENDMENT Tim Leslie is a strong defender of the Second Amendment. He believes law abiding citizens have a right to own firearms. He has also consistently advocated tougher penalties for those who use firearms in the commission of a crime.

WELFARE REFORM Long before it became popular, Tim Leslie was pushing legislation that limited the length of stays on welfare, increased educational training, cracked down on welfare fraud, and supported efforts to reduce benefits to welfare recipients who fail to keep their children in school.

RACIAL QUOTAS Tim Leslie co-authored legislation to end requirements that government consider the color of a person's skin in its hiring practices. Tim Leslie was an honorary co-chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative. He is endorsed by Ward Connerly.

DRUG ABUSE Prior to his election to the State Assembly, Tim Leslie was a founding member of Community Action Against Drug Abuse. As a leader of that organization, Tim Leslie helped organize a successful campaign to get the legislature to outlaw the public sale of drug paraphernalia. In the legislature, Tim Leslie has continued his fight against drug abuse by supporting tougher penalties on dealers and authoring legislation to outlaw new designer drugs.

SAFER STREETS Authored the Teen Driver Safety Act which will save hundreds of lives every year by improving the training teen drivers receive before they are allowed to drive at night or with passengers in their cars.

TORT REFORM Tim Leslie has authored legislation to limit punitive damages. He has backed efforts to reign in out-of-control expenditures since his election to the State Assembly.

CRIME Co-author of Three Strikes, author of legislation to punish drunk drivers, and co-author of a measure to publicize the names of child molesters, Tim Leslie wrote legislation to prevent criminals from cashing welfare checks.

GOVERNMENT WASTE Tim Leslie co-authored legislation to require government to use zero-based budgeting and require it to justify every dime it spends--every year.

UTILITY RESTRUCTURING Senator Leslie co-authored a massive utility restructuring plan that will slash residential utility rates by 20% by 2002.

HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGES Senator Leslie co-authored legislation prohibiting the recognition of same sex marriages performed in other states.