League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
San Francisco County, CA November 4, 2008 Election
	Harmeet K. Dhillon Answers Questions Candidate for Member of the State Assembly; District 13

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of California and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

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

I firmly believe in limiting the size and intrusiveness of government so people are free to work, innovate, and enjoy the blessings of liberty. Fiscal restraint, rather than ever-increasing tax-and-spend policies advocated by an entrenched bureaucracy and cynical politicians, will be my approach. Gimmicks and bond measures provide short-term fixes that mortgage our state's future and ultimately tax and burden the economy even further. We must implement a pay-as-we-go attitude in Sacramento.

Pension reform in the public sector must be reconciled so that our hard-working civil servants receive reasonable benefits commensurate with the private sector. Government must fully disclose all long-term liabilities, including pension and retiree healthcare benefit costs, at all levels of government. Long-term infrastructure needs must be properly budgeted each year to avoid crisis situations and makeshift fiscal solutions.

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

Empowering the next generation of Californians with deep and practical education is critical to our success as both an economy, and a society. Education is our society's great equalizer and a path to economic independence. Education should foster developing lifelong learners who are prepared to participate creatively and productively in American society.

California, our great state, must be a world leader in public schools, libraries and choice schools. All California children should have access to quality education, whether they matriculate to higher education or are motivated and inspired by vocational and career technical education opportunities. All students must learn to read, write, perform basic mathematics in English and to know and appreciate the history of the state of California and the United States.

California parents should be empowered to provide the best education for their children through options such as school choice, voucher, home schooling, licensing of independent and charter schools, and the closure or takeover of failing public schools. Local communities should control the schools to implement curriculum, determine budgets and select the best staff and teachers free from external interference. Teachers should be paid salaries commensurate with their experience and their performance. We must break the stranglehold on the schools by teacher's unions more determined to protect tenure and inefficient administration than to provide quality education and accountability to our children.

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

Responsible market-based health care reform extending the fundamental human need for health care is vital to California's economy and future. A universal, single-payer health care system is a guaranteed path to disaster, ensuring a falling standard of health care, rationing, delays, and inefficiency that characterizes all government monopolies.

California health care providers and insurers must adhere to fundamental principals of fairness, such as offering coverage without regard to pre-existing conditions and charging similar rates for the same procedures regardless of insurance coverage.Small businesses should be encouraged to provide health insurance to their employees through the judicious use of tax credits and self-insurance pools. Californians must have multiple choices for health insurance and health care. The burden for providing access to quality health care must fall on all Californians, not just doctors, hospitals, and businesses.

I support tax credits to individuals as well as private employers, which encourage Californians to obtain and maintain health coverage utilizing free-market approaches.

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

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: September 9, 2008 16:32
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