League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
State of California (Sacramento, Butte, Placer, Sutter, Yuba, Tehama, Glenn, Colusa Counties) June 3, 2014 Election
	CJ Jawahar Answers Questions Candidate for State Senator; District 4

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 would you prioritize the fiscal choices the Legislature must make to align the state’s income and spending?

California's proposed budget for 2014-15 is poised to take advantage of the recovering economy. Yet, past budgetary borrowing, unfunded retirement obligations, bond costs and deferred maintenance have created long term liabilities that totals hundreds of billions of dollars. Fiscal prudence must be order of the day. It is very crucial for us to well prepare our younger generation to sustain our economy. My first priority will be to maintain the funding for education at all levels. Healthy people can only make California's economy healthy. Easy access to health care would be my priority. we need to revamp our aging infrastructures.

2. Given our current drought condition, concern for water rights and usage is an important issue. What solutions would you support to address our water problems?

Not having adequate surface and under ground water storage is creating huge strain on our water sharing and usage policies. I will support creating more up-stream/off-stream water storage facilities.I will advocate for efficient water usage techniques, switching crops to conserve water.

3. California high school students rank lower than many states in student performance. What do you see as the ongoing role of the Legislature in addressing this problem?

Reducing class size, adopting Common Core Standards and allocating funds to advance technology at lower grades, addressing some of the social issues such as truancy, dropouts, poverty, mental health can increase performance among the students from low-income families.

4. What other major issues do you think the Legislature must address? What are your own priorities?

Ban Hydraulic Fracking. Work with oil companies to find alternative methods for oil extraction. Create enough water storage before we plan for water delivery. Protect the existing environmental regulations. Help undocumented farm workers to get legal status and help farmers to find agricultural labor in a timely manner. Education reform, criminal justice reform and tax reform will be some of my priorities.

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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: May 5, 2014 21:57
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