League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Ventura, Santa Barbara County, CA November 6, 2012 Election
	Das Williams Answers Questions Candidate for Member of the State Assembly; District 37

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

Questions & Answers

1. How will you prioritize the budget choices the Legislature must make to align the state’s income and spending?

Foremost is preventing further cuts to our K-12 education system and find a way to restore our investment in the state's higher education system. Additionally we must find ways to prevent further cuts to essential services for our most vulnerable citizens. This will mean finding creative sources of revenue to provide these services.

2. What types of changes or reforms, if any, do you think are important to make our state government function more effectively?

Continue to look for small things we can do to increase efficiency and create revenue. For example, a bill of mine that streamlines the contracting for dredging services in the Ventura Harbor was signed by Governor Brown,

With AB 482 the Ventura Port District can coordinate and use the same dredging equipment selected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer through a competitive bidding process. That may sound a little wonky, but the bottom line it is an example of making government more efficient and saving tax payer money. Doing multiple things like this will help along with some of the more systemic changes such as the recent pension reform.

3. Fees for public higher education have gone up dramatically and funding has been cut. Is this a priority concern, and if so, what measures would you propose to address it?

This is a major concern for me, we need to work to ensure that our education system can accommodate new students, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

I authored a bill that creates the the first dedicated revenue source for higher education. AB 2442 + California Hope Public Trust, establishes a public trust for the purposes of providing much needed financial support to the University of California (UC), the California State University (CSU) and California Community College (CCC) systems.

The Trust, governed and administered by the Department of General Services (DGS) with input from a 9-person advisory board, is required to assess all state property and identify properties that are currently underutilized or could be developed in a manner to generate new revenue. This is just one example of something I have already done to help restore funding to our higher education system.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. References to opponents are not permitted.

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

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 3, 2012 12:25
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