What do you think the Occupy Wall Street protests have accomplished?

People are angry, and I don’t blame them. Unemployment and foreclosures remain at record highs in some areas, the wealthiest in our country are dodging taxes, and the solution from an obstructionist House Republican Majority is [to] cut federal funding for programs for the most in need.

It is clear that people are mad as hell, and I don’t blame them. It is therefore no surprise that the ‘Occupy’ movement has spread from coast to coast. The things that were once within the reach of every family—housing, healthcare and education—now seem like distant luxuries.

This has all taken a heavy toll on our nation. Our country’s middle class is losing hope in the American Dream, and those struggling to hang on, living paycheck-to-paycheck, find themselves being squeezed and pushed into poverty. 

Along with Supervisor Neal Coonerty, you urged the Board of Supervisors to vote to support Proposition 1481 (which they did, unanimously). What would the Proposition do, and why does the Board feel it is necessary to support?

Following years of cuts in California's education system, a coalition of students, professors, and other activists has begun a signature-gathering campaign to place the Oil Extraction Tax to Rescue Education Proposition Initiative Statute (Proposition 1481) on the ballot.

The Proposition would mandate a 15 percent fee on the value per barrel of crude oil extracted from California. This fee would produce approximately $3 billion annually for California education, which would be allocated to grades K-12 (30 percent), Community Colleges (48 percent), the California State University system (11 percent), and the University of California system (11 percent). These funds will be used to lower college and university tuitions, restore cut class sections, rehire laid-off professors and teachers, and reduce class sizes in grades K-12, as well as for other classroom instruction and non-capital needs.

Fresh off the heels of the last legislative session, Assemblymember Bill Monning stopped by GT headquarters to answer some questions about what was accomplished, his bid for state senate, what the heck to do about the sorry state of California, and much more.

Looking back at the legislative year that just ended, what were some of the highlights?

The clear highlight, what eclipsed everything, was the budget. The good, the bad and the ugly. We achieved a budget agreement by the constitutional deadline of June 30 for the first time in years. In part we were able to do that because we have majority vote now to pass a budget, but we were still unable to get the two-thirds necessary to go to the voters to extend current revenues, so that meant we had to cut deeper. The bad and the ugly is the budget that was balanced on time required further cuts to higher education, and health and human services.

Do you think President Barack Obama made the right case to congress and the nation about his plan to stimulate the economy and create jobs?

I spent Congress’ August recess meeting with people up and down the Central Coast, including holding a series of town halls, and everywhere I went there was one issue on everyone’s minds: job creation. People are tired of the political games taking place in Washington, and simply want their government to address the dire needs of millions of unemployed workers, and families living pay check to pay check.

I think the American Jobs Act presented by President Obama gives our country a clear way forward by investing in areas that create jobs today and well into the future. While some of the ideas presented by the president might not seem revolutionary, they are the most basic and surest way to get people working now. 

What is being done at a governmental level to prepare the county for climate change?

Efforts to reduce human contributions to causes of climate change are under way in the county of Santa Cruz. One of these efforts involves preparation of a Climate Action Strategy (CAS), also sometimes called a Climate Action Plan. A Climate Action Strategy or Plan provides the framework for local implementation of AB 32, and for compliance with SB 97 and SB 375, which are three pieces of state legislation that address local responsibilities related to climate change and sustainable community planning.