Where do SLO County’s State Senate candidates stand on the environment, jobs and housing?
Ballots are on the way to San Luis Obispo County residents, and one race that will be on everyone’s ballot is for the California State Senate.
SLO County is represented by two Senate districts in the state Legislature — District 17 and District 21.
To help as you make your decision, The Tribune has compiled a 2024 Election Voter Guide, meant to give easy access to some of the candidate’s basic facts and stances.
Ballots will be mailed out to every SLO County voter on Oct. 7. Ballot drop-off locations will open the next day, and the last day to vote will be Tuesday, Nov. 5. The last day to register to vote will be Monday, Oct. 21.
In District 17 — covering the northern portion of the county — Republican candidate Tony Virrueta is challenging incumbent John Laird for his four-year seat.
In District 21 — encompassing the South County — college student Elijah Mack is challenging incumbent Monique Limón.
With the exception of Virrueta, all State Senate candidates responded to The Tribune’s survey.
Editor’s note: Some responses have been edited for length or clarity.
District 21
Monique Limón
Who are your top three campaign contributors?
Community members, labor groups and professional groups.
What is your vision for what your district should look like in 5 years? 10 years?
As a lifelong resident of the 21st Senate District, I know the concerns and needs of the district. During my time as state senator and four years in the State Assembly, I have been a strong voice for the Central Coast. If I am re-elected, I will continue to use my experience serving our community to address local, regional and statewide needs. I will prioritize finding solutions for the multiple issues facing our community, including strengthening our economy and jobs, protecting the environment, advancing access to quality healthcare and education and preparing and responding to emergencies and disasters. In the next 5-10 years, I am hopeful we will see advances in these areas, programs are funded, we increase access to quality child care, combat climate change abd wildfires and protect funding for initiatives to address homelessness. I love the Central Coast and want California to thrive and be a place that all of our children can enjoy for years to come.
What do you believe is the most important issue facing your district today, and what will you do to address it?
Cost of living is top of mind. Our teachers, first responders and medical providers cannot afford to raise a family on the Central Coast. The federal government plays the primary role in managing inflation, and it’s not something we can directly legislate at the state level. However, we can work on policy within the jurisdiction of the state to create economic stability. For example, advancing efforts to expand quality, affordable healthcare and supporting cost containment efforts of medication costs. I authored legislation to cap co-payments for cancer medications. I have championed access to child care and helped expand the number of childcare slots in our state, providing more options for working families. As a former educator, I have worked to expand college affordability through the California Middle Class Scholarship and Cal Grants. I will continue to seek relief on issues that impact my constituents on a daily basis and will strive to bring resources and services to our communities.
What steps will you take to address environmental concerns and promote sustainability in your district?
I have a strong environmental record and I am proud to be a leader on climate policy at the state level. I have received numerous recognitions for my work, including the 2023 Green Honoree from California Environmental Voters; 2019 Legacy Award from California State Parks Foundation; and 2018 Green Leadership Award from Green California.
Our community has seen countless wildfires and continues to be threatened by sea-level rise, flooding and other disasters. In an effort to try to mitigate wildfire risk, I have supported budget allocations to pre-position fire equipment in areas known to pose a wildfire risk and to allocate additional resources to local officials to help them prepare and contain a wildfire. I also authored a bill (AB 1956) to ensure emergency notifications are issued in the multiple languages spoken by residents. I will look for legislative opportunities to take action to prevent, lessen the impact and prepare for wildfires and other natural disasters.
How do you plan to foster economic development and job creation in your district?
As an educator, I am supportive of Career Technical Education programs and believe we must encourage and maintain access to programs that prepare our local students for industry jobs that are available currently in our region and to also create pathways for students to stay locally. I worked with local leaders to secure state funding to create a program for local students to have access to pathways in the laser tech industry. This was an effort that was initiated through collaboration and dialogue with the business industry in our region. I will continue to work with business and leaders in our area to identify opportunities to collaborate on economic development opportunities.
Do you support or oppose Proposition 33, which would allow local governments to impose rent controls? Why?
I have not taken a formal position on Proposition 33. Addressing the issue of housing is complex and not a one-size-fits-all approach statewide. However, one common factor is the lack of consistent state funding to increase housing production, especially units that are affordable. I authored a bill to create a statewide funding source to support the construction, acquisition and rehabilitation of workforce housing. While this legislation has not passed, it allowed us to explore and have a conversation on a potential solution. I have worked with legislators on exploring ways of addressing regional opportunities to consider housing production, housing financing, rental and tenant protections and land use and zoning policies that work for the Central Coast. I am certain this topic will continue to come up and I will support legislation that provides tools to help local governments meet their housing needs.
What is one bill you support from the most recent state legislative session and why? What is one you oppose and why?
I authored SB 1061, which has been signed into law, to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports. Medical debt is often driven by factors completely outside of our control — whether due to health care needs that arise from an accident, our genetics or just plain bad luck. When a consumer discovers medical debt on their credit report, they may not know why it is there or who to contact to verify the debt owed is real and accurate. The bill does not forgive debts, however removing medical debt from credit reports will give consumers a better chance to restore their financial health while they take care of their physical and mental health. This year and in previous years I have not supported legislation to expand the sale of alcohol from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. I am concerned about extending the hours of alcohol sales and its impacts on drivers, law enforcement and overall safety of our community.
Elijah Mack
Who are your top three campaign contributors?
My donors are all everyday, private citizens, not corporations or Mega-PACs.
What is your vision for what your district should look like in 5 years? 10 years?
I’d like to see District 21, and all of California, experience a shift in leadership that brings about lower costs of living, affordable housing, less political division and more closeness with the natural world.
One of the slogans for my campaign is “For a New Paradigm in California Politics,” and indeed I hold a vision for our California that begins with this campaign and, with your help, may one day take over the Golden State.
I want to see a California wherein our legislators work to create an environment where our economy, our communities, our culture, and our ecosystems can survive and thrive organically, without dependence on, or corruption by, the weight of bloated government and the interests of lobbyists and elected ideologues; where all are free to live by their own worldviews and ideologies, where the markets are truly free and our communities are strong and tight-knit.
I’d say this vision has a little something for you, me and everyone in our district.
What do you believe is the most important issue facing your district today, and what will you do to address it?
In our district and the state as a whole, bringing down costs of living and bridging our state’s political divide are both the most immediately pressing issues, and the hardest to solve. These affect our living conditions, our mental health, our economic upward-mobility, our family lives and so much more.
California’s current regime leadership has been working to maintain the political frenzy in this state and use it to their advantage, dehumanizing individuals who subscribe to opposing ideologies and fighting to maintain their position in our state’s unaccountable, hegemonic, uniparty system.
When it comes to decreasing costs of living, our legislators are often deep in the pockets of private and NGO interests that want to stifle housing production, decrease market competition, etc., while also, for some reason, always wanting to increase our tax burden and tie up small businesses in red tape. Getting long-term solutions past them will be quite tough.
What steps will you take to address environmental concerns and promote sustainability in your district?
This may sound strange coming from a Republican, but I am quite possibly the most enthusiastic environmentalist on your ballot. Considering myself a classical environmentalist in the same vein as Henry David Thoreau or John Muir, I believe that a harmonious relationship with the natural world is one of the most fundamental components of a mentally, physically and spiritually healthy society.
I’m not about weak reforms that don’t frustrate corporate lobbyists, I’m not trying to criminalize your lawnmower, push for arbitrary deadlines for phasing out gas vehicles or dump your taxpayer dollars into often fruitless solar and wind energy projects. I believe we need to radically progress toward sustainable farming practices, safeguard the biodiversity of our ecosystems, preserve our wilderness, implement clean, efficient and green nuclear energy and develop more localized, circular and self-reliant regional economies.
How do you plan to foster economic development and job creation in your district?
When it comes to fostering economic growth, lowering costs of living and increasing jobs, I believe that it all comes down to cutting taxes and red tape surrounding small, local businesses, freeing the housing markets to build based on demand, cutting protections and benefits that give large corporations and edge in the marketplace, lowering the tax burden on everyday citizens and using my platform as a state legislator to call for sound, anti-inflationary monetary policy on a national level. Believe me, I could go on, but I’m limited in the length of my response.
Ultimately, it’s about fighting for TRULY free markets; the economic conditions that made liberal democracies like ours the most powerful, influential, affluent, nations on earth. There is no doubt such policies will garner long-term results and help heal the majority of economic issues California faces at their root.
Do you support or oppose Proposition 33, which would allow local governments to impose rent controls? Why?
Rent controls are a swing and a miss when it comes to getting to the root of high rents; when it comes to housing, voters can see that style, quantity and density are all based on the whim of state command, not market demand.
Competition in housing is often gravely limited due to undue density restrictions, overbearing zoning laws and the like. When new housing is built in spite of these, many find that the location, quantity of units and price range are totally out of place with what the renters want, what the market demands and what communities see as beneficial, thanks to the choke-hold of regulations and red tape that exists.
I say the ONLY regulations on housing construction should be safety regulations, and some local regulations preserving some historical and significant character of certain communities. Outside of that, build, baby, build! The more housing on the market (whether in the form of high-density apartments or free-standing homes) the lower the market price.
What is one bill you support from the most recent state legislative session and why? What is one you oppose and why?
Forgive me if this doesn’t address the question fully, but I’d like to speak to some issues that, while not the two topics I find the most excellent or abhorrent, I’ve heard the most questions/concerns about from constituents recently.
First, there’s Prop. 36, which, though not placed on the floor during legislative session, was put out to public vote by our legislators. California has seen increasing levels of “minor” violent crimes as well as rampant theft, deeply affecting small-business owners, especially minority business owners in under-served areas of our state. Prop. 36 makes it easier to prosecute repeat offenders of such crimes, discouraging theft and potentially offering means of rehabilitation for addicts with repeat drug offenses.
Then there’s the recent attacks on Prop. 13 protections, which shield everyday homeowners/business owners from increasingly indulgent property taxes. P13 is vital for maintaining affordable living and encouraging generational home ownership.
District 17
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John Laird
Who are your top three campaign contributors?
I have many contributions at the maximum level, but three of them are teachers, nurses and carpenters.
What is your vision for what your district should look like in 5 years? 10 years?
I believe we should move toward sustainable renewable energy, more affordable housing, an economy that allows for all levels of the workforce to afford to live and a region that is best protected against a changing climate.
What do you believe is the most important issue facing your district today, and what will you do to address it?
I believe it is the threats from a changing climate, particularly in boom or bust water supply; fire risk, and the rising seas — coupled with having to lower greenhouse gas emissions. I have already authored a law that plans for fire prevention; a law that plans for sea level rise along the coast, and a law that sets interim targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. I want to continue this work — and make sure that these laws are implemented successfully.
What steps will you take to address environmental concerns and promote sustainability in your district?
I have addressed this in previous answers, but to add, we must figure out ways to continue to foster solar power at the residential level, additional wind power and significant battery storage, if we are to meet our goals of reducing fossil fuel use.
How do you plan to foster economic development and job creation in your district?
The agricultural sector is part of the district’s economy, and I was instrumental in restoring UC Cooperative Agricultural Extension, which provides advice to small farmers to allow them to afford to farm. I supported the rehabilitation and expansion of agricultural educational facilities at four CSU campuses — including Cal Poly — to ensure a trained work force for agriculture.
Do you support or oppose Proposition 33, which would allow local governments to impose rent controls? Why?
I have taken no position on Proposition 33 — it has already been voted down by the voters twice. A major solution is to provide more affordable housing across the state, and I have worked toward that goal. I particularly was a supporter of higher education housing — to relieve the rental pressure in local towns. One 624-unit project is in the pipeline for the Senate district, and I intend to work for more.
What is one bill you support from the most recent state legislative session and why? What is one you oppose and why?
I strongly supported the education bond that the Legislature put on the November ballot. We have patched together money for school repair and new construction — and this will continue that state support for the next few years for this vital community service. I opposed the proposal to severely cut the middle class higher education scholarship program.
This story was originally published October 8, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
