What Assembly District 6 candidates want you to know about them
(FOX40.COM) — The primary election to represent State Assembly District 6 is on March 5.
FOX40.com distributed a questionnaire to candidates so that they could clarify to residents what they consider to be the key issues facing the district.
FOX40.com reached out to all 10 candidates, but candidates Nikki Ellis and Kevin Olmar Martinez did not complete the survey.
Below are the responses from the candidates who responded. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order.
Emmanuel Amanfor
Occupation: Community Re-entry Services Supervisor
Bio: Emmanuel is a husband, father of 4 (1-15 ages), housing commissioner, educator, public servant (state dept. supervisor), public health practitioner (Masters of Public Health), immigrated to U.S., nationally known as a correctional change maker, homeowner, small business owner, legislative policy director, and much more. Emmanuel’s lived experiences and professional experience demonstrate his commitment to the people and is represented with his last name as part of his campaign slogan, ‘A man for’ the people!
Other relevant experience: Sacramento Housing Commissioner- Chair; City of Sacramento Personnel Board-Vice Chair; California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation-Division of Rehabilitative Programs; Department of Health Care Services- Children Youth Behavioral Health Inititative
Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
Key Issues
Housing: Homeless crisis and purchase of homes
I have worked tirelessly with our elected officials and housing agencies to secure housing and program resources for those experiencing low-income challenges. Mental Health services and wrap-around services are needed. I plan to plant the seed of hope and support to those who want to purchase affordable homes.
Public Safety: Community, retail theft, police accountability
Public safety is important for a community to thrive and grow. Working with local leaders to address Retail Theft through data and stronger consequences to offenders. Accountability for officer misconduct is necessary. I oversee these misconduct for Sacramento City Officers as a City Personnel Board Member.
Economic Development
Rebuilding businesses impacted by the pandemic, transparency on grant requests and awards. Increase of job opportunities for job seekers and entrepreneurs.
Campaign Website: AmanforAssembly.com
Measures and candidates on the primary election ballot in Sacramento County
Sean Frame
Occupation: Design materials for educators who provide testing to English Learners and students with disabilities, Sacramento County Office of Education
Bio: I am currently a shop steward for local CSEA 480, a union made up of custodians, cooks, paraeducators and other school staff for the Sacramento County Board of Education. My life fundamentally changed the day I got the call that all parents dread, there’s been a shooting at your son’s school. My son was in the second grade, and his school principal had been shot and killed on campus during the school day. This led to my service on the school board, where I discovered that 70% of the students in our district were food insecure, and a full 10% were homeless. That’s why I’m running for Assembly, to fix the problems that our schools aren’t equipped to solve and make government work again for the people, not just the powerful.
Other relevant experience: 20+year Small Business owner, 9-year school board trustee
Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
Key Issues
Housing and Homelessness
Housing and supporting our Unhoused Population is my top priority. We currently have 10,000 unhoused residents in Sacramento, but 30,000 more are thought to be housing insecure. I believe that the state needs to declare a State of Emergency in order to secure the resources and structure necessary to immediately house our unhoused while working towards longer-term solutions. I will fight to build more affordable housing, ban Wall Street private equity from owning single-family homes, (Invitation Homes, the largest homeowner in CA, was just fined millions for rent gouging), bring back rent control, fund mental health services, and declare a state of emergency in housing.
Battling the Climate Crisis
I was forced to relocate my family due to the increasing fire risk and soaring cost of fire insurance. As the 4th largest economy in the world, I believe that California can and should be a global leader when it comes to solving our climate crisis. I will fight for solutions that prioritize people over corporate profits, bring carbon emissions to net zero, and rapidly accelerate the greening of our economy with sustainable, good-paying jobs.
Single Payer Healthcare for ALL Californians
Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege reserved for the wealthy. Unfortunately, we’ve given for-profit insurance companies and for-profit hospitals all of the power to decide who lives or dies. I know this all too well because I could have died of melanoma after my doctor initially refused to provide a simple referral to a dermatologist. Meanwhile, 50,000 people in California are going bankrupt every year due to medical debt. I support creating a CA-based, Single Payer/Medicare for ALL plan for ALL Californians. It’s time to focus on providing actual healthcare, not funding for insurance companies.
Campaign Website: SeanFrame.com
Who is running for the Sacramento City Council District 2 seat?
Rosanna Herber
Occupation: SMUD Board President
Bio: I moved here 40 years ago and fell in love with Sacramento. I immediately started working for a Councilwoman at City Hall (4 years) and later worked at SMUD (20 years) until I retired. I was elected to the SMUD Board in 2018 and again in 2022. I’m now the President of the SMUD Board.
Other relevant experience: I’m a Soroptimist, Finance Chair for the Sacramento History Museum, Fundraising member of the Sacramento LGBT Center’s Welcome Home Committee, and member of the Women and Girl’s Advancement Committee. Former Neighborhood President of Curtis Park. Past experience includes being a Steering Committee Member for the Sacramento Advocates for Rail and Transit, appointed by the Mayor to the Sacramento Transit Authority, Past Board member for the Center for Spiritual Awareness, the Mercy Homeless Advisory Committee, Lili Valley Water Company, Greater Broadway Partnership PBID, StageSigns and the Lambda Community Players.
Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
Key Issues
Housing and Homelessness
We need to build more housing and find ways to better shelter the unhoused. We must get people off the street into some sort of lodging with wrap-around services.
Once elected, I’ll convene a gathering with elected officials from the County and the six cities in our region to share information and discuss how we can better coordinate the delivery of homeless services now and in the future. I know these elected officials and have good relationships with them and we can work together to better address homelessness. I’ll work hard to get more money to fund Project Turnkey, a program for local governments to purchase and rehabilitate hotels, motels, apartment buildings and vacant properties for the unhoused.
We must set a priority that veterans and children with their adult caretakers should receive services first. I’ll ask for more accountability and transparency to make sure our state dollars are well spent. Finally, I’ll work to provide dollars to local governments to help folks who are on the edge of homelessness so they don’t become homeless.
Climate Change
As the SMUD Board President, I will bring the experience of overseeing and balancing a $2 billion budget. At SMUD, we have kept the rates low, 50% lower than PG&E, while providing excellent customer service and combating climate change. SMUD is the first large utility in the nation to set the goal of being zero carbon by 2030. We are building new solar and wind power, providing workforce development for students in underserved communities who want to work in the trades, while engaging with citizens and businesses to show them how to remove carbon (pollution) from their daily lives. We need to get serious about fighting climate change. I will take the successes we have learned at SMUD and apply this experience to the Assembly to create change on a larger scale.
Child Care
I worked with parents to save the Childcare Center at SMUD and then worked to expand it. The Center was scheduled to be closed, but parents came forward to the SMUD Board to urge them to keep it open. In Sacramento, only 25% of the need for childcare services is being met. The SMUD Board asked staff not to close the Center and find alternatives. Then, I got elected to the SMUD Board and suggested that staff develop a partnership with Sacramento State and the UC Health Center to build a childcare center to serve all three public entities and the neighborhood. Four years later, there is new childcare facility on Folsom Blvd with double the spaces (200 spaces.)
The fact that working parents have such a hard time finding childcare is bad for business. Parents work better when they know their children are cared for and safe. When we build new buildings, there are requirements for trees, parking, landscaping, curbs and sidewalks. We should also require childcare to be included in all new State buildings that are built. Childcare will allow more women to work and that will be good for the economy and working families.
Campaign website: RosannaHerber.org/
Maggy Krell
Occupation: Deputy Attorney General
Bio: As Planned Parenthood’s lawyer, I fought to protect choice and access to healthcare in California. As Deputy Attorney General, I helped take down the largest sex trafficking operation in America and helped survivors rebuild their lives. I received a career achievement award from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children for my work. When kids were being separated from their mothers and put in cages, I flew to the border as a volunteer lawyer to help reunite families.
Other relevant experience: Chief Counsel, Planned Parenthood
Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
Key Issues
Child Safety
Working closely with Sheriff Cooper and District Attorney Ho, who are key supporters in my campaign, to write laws that better protect children.
Cost of Living
Addressing the unacceptable fact that the cost of living in California is 42% higher than the rest of the country.
Education
As the mother of 2 teenagers, I will ensure that kids have access to quality education and affordable higher education and vocational opportunities.
Campaign Website: MaggyKrellforAssembly.com
Who is running for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Dianne Feinstein?
Carlos Marquez
Occupation: Small Business Owner
Bio: As ACLU California’s executive director, I partnered with Planned Parenthood to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, earning a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte. As president of a local non-profit housing provider, I helped establish a groundbreaking shelter for unhoused youth, and as an education advocate, I negotiated a once-in-a-generation legislative bargain between teachers’ unions and public charter schools, including enacting a $300 million block grant for low-performing students. I’ve delivered by working with both parties, unions and business and I’ll do the same in the Assembly. I reside in Southside Park with my husband, Michael.
Other relevant experience: Director, ACLU California Action (fmr.); President, Sacramento LGBT Community Center (fmr.); Board Member, Sacramento Literacy Foundation
Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
Key Issues
Homelessness
Getting our homelessness crisis under control will be a top priority of mine in the Assembly. I will call for an audit of state and local spending on homelessness to identify programs that are working and eliminate those that are not. Then, I would exhibit desperately needed regional leadership by convening city and county officials for public hearings to urge more collaboration in local government, target our spending on the expansion of mental health and addiction programs, and pursue legislation that accelerates the production of housing so that costs go down for all. Solving the homeless crisis is complex but with more transparency, our constituents can better hold the Legislature accountable for producing actual results. As president of a nonprofit housing provider, I helped establish a shelter for unhoused LGBTQ+ youth. I will put that experience to work in the Legislature.
Public Safety
Cracking down on gun violence, reducing fentanyl deaths, and dismantling organized retail theft operations must be prioritized. While California has some of the strongest bans on assault weapons in the country, there is more we can do. I’ll fight to keep weapons of war off our streets and crack down on 3-D printed “ghost guns.” Our laws must be fully enforced to prosecute and dismantle professional retail theft rings, as demonstrated by our District Attorney and local law enforcement through their newly established organized retail theft unit. This unit was possible due in part to state funding. I will work with law enforcement to measure the effectiveness of such units and renew future funding if proven effective. To combat the uptick in fentanyl overdoses, I will advocate to expand rehabilitation and treatment programs and deter the sale and trafficking of high quantities of fentanyl by fully enforcing our laws on the books.
Education
I will prioritize policies that improve literacy rates among our public school students. I currently serve on the board of the Sacramento Literacy Foundation. While serving as a statewide education leader, I successfully enacted a $300 million block grant dedicated to low-performing students. In the Assembly, I will Invest in proven programs to raise literacy rates, especially in underserved communities, and pay classroom teachers a living wage and remove barriers to teaching to address California’s teacher shortage.
Campaign Website: CarlosForSacramento.com
Yuba County primary election: Here’s the measures and candidates on the ballot
Evan Minton
Occupation: Nonprofit Policy Executive
Bio: Evan has dedicated nearly two decades to improving the lives of Californians. Throughout his life, he has taken on the hard battles for the good of all people, and he has delivered. Now, Evan is running for Assembly to continue fighting for our community in the State Legislature. Evan has served as a policy advocate to expand access to health care, including mental health care; as a legislative aide protecting voting rights and safeguarding workers’ rights; and as a national trailblazer fighting for the rights of the transgender community.
Other relevant experience:
Currently, he is the Senior CA State Policy Manager at Voices for Progress (V4P). During his time in the Assembly and at V4P, Evan helped move forward critical legislation on housing access, economic opportunity, climate action, campaign finance reform, and gender equity.
Evan is deeply engaged in issues affecting his community and throughout the region, including as:
Sacramento County Mental Health Board Appointee, helping to deliver funding for youth in the foster care system.
Midtown Neighborhood Association Board Member, advocating for more affordable housing and increased services for our unhoused neighbors and to keep Midtown vibrant and hospitable for all.
He has also served on countless other boards and organizations, including as a Commissioner on the Sacramento Human Rights and Fair Housing Commission, Co-President for the Sacramento National Organization for Women (NOW), and Northern California Chair of the California Democratic Party’s LGBTQ Caucus.
Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
Key Issues
Economic security, including housing and healthcare affordability and access
Environmental justice and solutions to climate change
LGBTQ+ rights and protections, especially for those most marginalized
Campaign Website: MintonForAssembly.com/
These candidates and measures will be on the Placer County primary election ballot
Preston Romero
Occupation: Policy Analyst, California State Senate
Bio: Preston has called California home for more than a decade and is ready to give back to a place that’s given him so much. Dedicated towards the goal of improving public safety, making progress towards resolving rampant homelessness and tackling skyrocketing unaffordability, Preston believes in policies that will lift every Californian rather than continue divisive policies that promote the interests over one group for another. Preston is running for change, running for results and running to make Sacramento work better for all of us.
Other relevant experience: Member, Sacramento County Adult and Aging Commission (former), President, Log Cabin Republicans of Sacramento
Party Affiliation: Republican Party
Key Issues
Public Safety
Broken glass, broken dreams and broken promises litter the streets of California because of reckless policy that prioritizes criminals at the expense of an unsuspecting public. We have seen what living under a decade of Prop. 47 (2014) and seven years under Prop. 57 (2016) has done to our state. It’s time to repeal these measures and adopt new legislation that restores sanity and law and order back to our state.
As the law-abiding public continues to bear the brunt of continuously rising crime, I will work to affirm the right to self-defense and the right to protect your family and your property through necessary and appropriate force.
Cost of Living
The cost of living in California has dramatically increased over the past decade and within the last few years, we’ve seen historic rises in the prices of goods and services.
For example, you’re probably more than aware that $100 worth of groceries today doesn’t look the same as it would have last year. And you’ve also noticed that the price of your favorite fast food meals have gone up and will continue to do so. Inflation and over regulation costs everyone.
We need to cut taxes, fees and regulations that force businesses, producers and manufacturers to pass any imposed costs onto the customer.
Homelessness
In just the past five years, California has spent over $20 billion towards the homelessness crisis. Unfortunately, the problem has gotten worse here in Sacramento and throughout California.
To make a real impact in cleaning up and solving this problem, we need to:
Outline realistic, attainable goals towards prevention and recidivism
Understand and build upon the successes and what’s working while being creative about new approaches and perspectives.
Equipping and empowering counties and cities with the tools they need to succeed and holding them accountable to meeting or exceeding benchmarks and targets.
An accountable and proactive state and local partnership is the only way we can succeed. To ensure success, we will need to build the infrastructure and commit to a plan of action and enforcement.
I am proposing to replicate a successful out-of-state program to reduce the homeless population by creating inclusive campus sites that provide short term emergency shelter, medical services, mental health and addiction treatment, life skills and job training and veterinarian care for support/companion animals.
With recently passed legislation, California has a real opportunity to make meaningful progress in the goal of reducing the homeless population and offering many people a second chance.
Campaign Website: PrestonRomero.com
Paula Villescaz
Occupation: San Juan Unified School District Board Member
Bio: Paula Villescaz is currently a School Board Member in the San Juan Unified School District and works as the Associate Director of Member Engagement for the County Welfare Directors Association. Paula previously served as Assistant Secretary for the California Health and Human Services Agency throughout the COVID-10 pandemic response efforts and worked for 8 years for the California State Assembly as a Principal Consultant to the Assembly Health Committee. Paula is a new mom, a first generation high school and college graduate, a cancer survivor, a school board member, and a healthcare policy leader.
Other relevant experience: Former Assistant Secretary for California Health and Human Services Agency; Principal Consultant for the Assembly Health Committee; San Juan Unified School District Board Member
Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
Key Issues
Protect, fully fund, and improve public education
Ensuring access to high quality health care for all Californians
Tackle our housing and homelessness crisis and address the rising costs of living that are hurting families and seniors
Campaign Website: PaulaVillescaz.com
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