Jobs and the Economy
It’s time to get California back to work.
As a Green Energy Entrepreneur and Stanford MBA, Josh has created thousands of jobs in and around the bay area by identifying and supporting innovative and socially responsible businesses with progressive labor policies. He has first hand experience in growing the economy and will bring that experience to Sacramento.
While California in general and the Silicon Valley in particular, have been on the cutting edge of green technology, our State has not done enough to ensure that the ideas of today produce the jobs of tomorrow. As an Assemblymember Josh will ensure the government is utilized to create, not cut, well paying jobs in California.
In Sacramento, Josh will demand greater performance from existing tax credits to ensure that they are used to create new local jobs and foster innovation. Additionally, he will focus on building the green economy by rewarding colleges and universities that offer new curriculum and job training to support emerging industries like solar power. Finally Josh will ensure Sacramento identifies or creates “shovel ready” projects right here in California to employ workers trained in the green economy, with a goal of producing100,000 new, well paying jobs in California.
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Education
There is nothing more important to the future of California than education.
Unfortunately, California remains at or near the bottom of nearly every national measurement of education success, including graduation rates, college preparedness, class size, school violence, and real resources.
Today, virtually every act of consequence for education can be blocked by a 1/3 vote, whether at the local level or at the state level. As an Assemblymember Josh will fight to re-empower California's local communities and provide adequate funds for each student's education, support each teacher's professional accomplishment and development, and cut through the red tape to let teachers teach, leaders lead, and students learn.
Josh believes our principal priority as a State should be providing a world-class education for our children. To be competitive in the global economy we must fully fund K-12 at or above proposition 98 levels, provide a higher education system which is accessible to all Californians, and ensure job training is available for workers interested in learning new skills.
As Treasurer and incoming Chair of the Board of Trustees at the University of California at Merced, Josh has worked to combat the lack of adequate funding for education by helping to increase scholarships at the University despite budget cuts from the State.
As a father of two children in the public school system Josh understands that, for California to continue to lead in science, technology and innovation, our kids must excel in math and science, which is why he co-founded National Lab Day – a nationwide initiative endorsed by President Obama that pairs scientists with teachers to foster hands-on science, math and technology learning for students without costing a penny of taxpayer or school money.
As an Assemblymember, Josh will use the experience he gained from building National Lab Day to assist the California Department of Education to implement recent mandates to explore ways to improve student performance in the areas of science and mathematics.
Josh is uniquely qualified to head this implementation, having worked on Capitol Hill implementing federal –level legislation with a focus on operationalizing local involvement of large scale reforms.
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Sustainability and the Environment
As a life-long environmentalist and Green Energy Entrepreneur, Josh will continue to work tirelessly to reverse climate change, improve air quality, reduce the use of toxic materials, and preserve and restore open space in California.
Environmental protection has a profound impact on our health, our economy and our quality of life in California. It has become clear to Josh that the goal of simply protecting what we have isn’t enough. Josh will work with local leaders to make sure California’s future is sustainable, our schools and state buildings are energy efficient, and take advantage of new technologies that will give us a better quality of life.
Josh will champion efforts to use incentives to get local communities to plan for livable, walkable, transportation-oriented neighborhoods. He will design programs which will encourage business entrepreneurs to develop new, cleaner technology and rewards schools and colleges for training students and returning adults for the green jobs of the future.
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Healthcare
Josh supports President Obama’s healthcare plan, but also believes California needs to build on its successes and provide quality, affordable healthcare for every one of our residents. If elected, Josh will become a co-author of SB 810 and work to reward healthy lifestyle choices and make the delivery of healthcare seamless for consumers.
A disproportionate amount of today’s healthcare resources go to consumers and doctors having to fight through red tape to get needed care, causing some doctors to opt-out of accepting insurance all together. To address some of these issues, Josh's Full Circle Fund supports SIRUM, a donation exchange that connects community clinics in need of medicine with manufacturers and larger hospitals with extra supplies to save peoples lives.
While proud of the program run by SIRUM, Josh knows California can, and must, do better. As member of the Assembly, Josh will use his experience to expand the use information technology in both the public and private sectors to make preventive care easier to access.
Government Reform
As a first time candidate, not a career politician, Josh has seen the success, and failures, of government from the perspective of voters just like you. He will use this perspective to fight the special interests in Sacramento and work for the reforms that need to happen to move California forward.
Josh believes that reforming our State’s budgeting process is critical to re-building our economy. Fixing the system will provide more resources and deliver more services and support for people that need it. Neither of these two priorities can be achieved without tackling California’s budgeting quagmire. For too long, the energies and attention of our State have been bogged down in the dysfunction of our current budget process, reckless borrowing, and constantly over-extending under-funded departments. Josh will work to reform our budget so that this attention can be devoted to the core needs of Californians: job creation, education, healthcare, and greater opportunity.
That is why Josh is currently serving as a volunteer signature gatherer for George Lakoff’s ballot measure to require a majority vote to pass a budget or increase revenues in California, and why he supports closing the loopholes in Prop 13 that allow big businesses to use accounting tricks to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.
E-Government
Josh knows that we need to work to bring government into the 21st century and evaluate government functions from the perspective of the consumer. The average citizen in California can pay their taxes online, go to traffic school online, and even register to vote online, but cannot access a central, easily accessible place to find and evaluate information about our State’s budget and legislative priorities. Too often, small businesses in California who want to play by the rules find it impossible to navigate the bureaucracy and do not know where to turn for answers. California recently did not qualify for Federal Race to the Top educational funds in large part because we lack the adequate data systems to track student achievement. Josh has decades of experience in funding, managing, evaluating and implementing online information systems. In the Assembly, Josh will use that experience to bring California government into the information age-directing funding to projects that work, using incentives to free up the good ideas within government and using best practices from the private sector to make government more efficient.
