by Doug LaMalfa
(Doug is a local farmer and he is running for the state senate. The following are Doug’s comments on a few important issues noted in his campaign. He is running in the primary against lawyer Rick Keene, also a local. Both men are conservatives and have a good track record as assemblymen. We hope to bring further information on all the candidates as we get it.)
In my first term, we helped lead the fight to cut the Gray Davis’ car tax, saving California’s working families almost $4 billion. Now it is critical to fight back repeated efforts to raise the car tax and now our state’s sales tax to fill the voids creating by passing unrealistic budgets year after year. In 2008, I stood to again oppose the State Budget that experts rightfully predicted was relying upon unrealistic revenue assumptions and would not make it through the year.
I oppose the unrestrained growth of government on the backs of the homeowner and taxpayer. It is essential that we defend the Proposition 13 and I will continue to do so. I’m proud to have earned consistent A+ ratings from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers’ Association during my six years in the legislature.
We still need a conservative spending cap, keeping government off your back and out of your wallet, but it cannot come at the expense of raising taxes in the interim!
Ask another taxfighter who knows me well:
” Doug LaMalfa is a pro-taxpayer conservative who has a proven record of opposing tax increases and for fighting the liberal big spenders in Sacramento.”
– Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Creating a Business Friendly California
Our region’s number one obstacle to economic development is the fact we’re still in California!
Talking with business owners from Placer County to the Oregon border, they all have similar complaints about dealing with the State of California. We must address this anti-business climate if we expect our economy to rebound.
Excessive regulation, an overreaching bureaucracy and unrealistic policies based upon unsound science are all thwarting the businessperson trying to better their community and provide for their family. When the only expanding business sectors are moving companies and trial attorneys, its clear our state’s dysfunctional policies need to change.
Reform must be systematic. Legislators should be spending more time on agency oversight rather than imposing more restrictions on our economy. Job-killers such as AB 32 give carte blanche to government bureaucrats and special interest attorneys who seek to stop progress and extort prosperity in the name of environmental concern. Policies to improve air and water quality must recognize technological limits and the economic costs of each benefit sought.
Natural Resources & Agriculture
Our natural resources are valuable assets and they must be used wisely. As a fourth generation farmer, I recognize the value of good stewardship of our resources and the bountiful harvest that nature provides again and again. From my position as Vice Chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture, I fought to protect the vital uses of our natural resources from those who would deny human beings the benefit of this blessed land in which we live.
Increasing California’s Water Supply = Preparing for Our Future – California’s future prosperity is clearly linked to a safe and abundant supply of water to meet the demands of agriculture, industry, environmental, health and safety and residential concerns. Throughout our history, California has struggled to achieve a balance among the competing interests staking their claims on a static water supply. Protecting our water rights and increasing California’s water storage are essential to our future.
We must strongly oppose environmental extremism that thwarts the development of water storage projects to meet our growing human needs. We must also proactively support those alternatives that would allow California’s coastal communities to utilize new technologies to develop their own water supply from the ocean.
Fire Protection through Healthy Forest Management – In 2004, I authored the Forest Fire Protection Act, AB 2420 to make it easier and less costly for owners of forest land to thin trees without filing a burdensome Timber Harvest Plan (THP). The recent, devastating forest fires in each of our northern counties were a grim reminder of the catastrophe that awaits if we don’t begin a serious effort to thin trees and remove fuels from our forest lands. The benefits of adopting this economically balanced approach are many. Promoting policies that will make our rural communities safer, preserve our wilderness areas, save wildlife habitat and create jobs will continue to be a priority for me as your representative.
Promoting Agriculture and Our Farm Economy – Agriculture is the backbone of our northern California economy and I will continue to provide a strong voice for our vital farming industries. We must work tirelessly to protect our rural way of life, so that future generations of Californians can benefit from the security of a dependable, sustainable and safe food supply. California helps to feed the world, and we must continue the fight for fair trade throughout the world so that our products – the best quality in the world – will be available to every person who wants them.
Doug LaMalfa is a fourth generation rice farmer and business owner who has lived in Northern California all his life. He and his wife, Jill, along with their four children, Kyle, Allison, Sophia and Natalie make their home on the family farm in Richvale. Doug attended local schools and grew up learning the value of hard work and community service. Doug earned his degree in Ag/Business from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He now manages the family farming business originally founded by his great-grandfather in 1931.
An active leader in Northern California agriculture, Doug was elected as a founding director of the California Rice Commission from Butte County. Doug also served on the Domestic Promotion Committee of the USA Rice Federation.
A conservative Republican in word and deed, Doug LaMalfa has opposed increasing taxes and is a stalwart defender of Proposition 13. With a proven record of fighting on behalf of working families, Doug knows that taxpayers know better than bureaucrats and politicians how to spend and invest their own hard-earned money. He opposed the 2007 and 2008 budgets that have been proven shams that have resulted in California’s current budget crisis.
He has been a strong supporter of private property rights inside and outside the Capitol, authoring a Constitutional Amendment and helping place three initiatives on the ballot to protect Californians against eminent domain abuse.
Water is our most precious natural resource and Doug LaMalfa believes in protecting our water rights and developing more water storage. He has continually advocated for increasing California’s water supply, supporting planned projects such as Sites Reservoir and the Auburn Dam. Doug has been a leader in opposing burdensome environmental regulations that place fairy shrimp and fish ahead of human needs. In 2004, he was the only California Legislator invited to testify at a Congressional Field hearing to restrict the overreaching federal Endangered Species Act.
Agriculture and Forestry have been the backbone of northern California’s economy for generations and Doug LaMalfa has made it a priority to educate his fellow legislators on the importance of resource industries and the beneficial stewardship they provide. Doug successfully authored and passed the Forest Fire Protection Act of 2004 to allow landowners to make their rural lands fire-safe.
Doug helped lead Northern California efforts to protect marriage on both Proposition 22 and Proposition 8 that reaffirmed marriage is only between one man and one woman. He joined the late Assemblyman Bernie Richter as a key early supporter of Proposition 209 that ended race, gender and ethnic quotas in California.
Doug LaMalfa’s firm beliefs are that government should do no harm and that limited government means government should do only what people cannot do for themselves, in the most efficient manner possible.