Joy Frew, a Democrat and retired government employee, is one of six candidates running in the crowded race for the open 75th Assembly District, representing a vast swath of East County.
To help inform voters, the San Diego Union-Tribune asked all the candidates a series of the same questions about their priorities, positions and campaigns. Their emailed answers have been lightly edited for clarity.
Why are you running, and what makes you the best candidate?
I am running to present voters with a real choice in policies and approach to problem-solving, as compared to the last election. I am independent from party bosses and backroom manipulators. I look at science, data and facts to make my decisions. I’m not afraid to vote on things that might not be the most popular.
I have the experience, having worked in government at the county, state and federal levels. I’m retired from the U.S. Treasury Department. I know how government works.
As an active volunteer with the American Association of University Women (AAUW), I am already involved with analyzing legislation. I founded the Fallbrook Climate Action Team nine years ago. I’ve come to know experts in the field that I can discuss these issues with. I’ve also been a longtime proponent of single-payer healthcare and public transit.
What are the top 3 issues facing this district and California generally?
The most important issue is housing, affordability and homelessness. Climate change is hitting our district hard. Health care is affecting everybody, especially in rural areas with hospital closures and limited clinic hours.
What are the first 3 things you would do in your first term in the Legislature?
I will introduce a bill for a statewide housing-first program that will entitle Californians to have housing as a right. Where there is a deficit of housing, the state should build it. In state-built housing, the rent should be capped at 30% of the family’s income. Since housing would be guaranteed as a right, the people who still live on sidewalks or parks would get intervention from civil service social workers connecting the unhoused to treatment centers or care facilities where their illnesses can be treated.
I will introduce a bill to study small-scale grids, including rooftop solar on rentals as well as owner-occupied buildings and small-scale wind turbines. If we utilized the energy available to us, would we still be looking at the massive out-of-state grid systems the investor-owned utilities tell us we need?
I will be supporting public transit.
What would you do to curb climate change and its effects on California, including the fact that those effects are often borne disproportionately by communities of color?
I will be a strong supporter of public transit and the need to bring climate science into flood planning. I want to bring in available resources to ensure that low-income neighborhoods have effective drainage to prevent flooding. I want to lead the development of a plan to ensure that public facilities in rural areas, such as libraries, can be open seven days a week to be used as cooling zones during high-heat days. I will push for a plan that encourages the installation of solar power on apartments and rental housing, to lower their utility costs for heating and cooling.
What would you do to combat California’s housing, affordability and homelessness crises?
I said quite a bit about this in question 3. Additionally, I will support a bill to limit short-term rentals such as Airbnb to be no more than 20 percent of any city or census-designated place (CDP).
I will also introduce a bill that bans hedge funds from the single-family home market. Scarcity of homes drives up competition and prices. Hedge funds particularly sap the affordable market, competing with first-time home buyers. Hedge funds use their considerable financial reserves to offer cash for affordable homes, and then they rent these houses at market rates to the same people that might otherwise be able to buy those homes.
Do you personally support Proposition 1? Why or why not?
Yes, I strongly support Proposition 1. I worked in the food stamp program in the late 1970s. I saw the increase in homelessness back then while Reagan was cutting back on social programs and funding for outpatient clinics. For decades, mentally ill people have been left to fend for themselves. The old institutions weren’t perfect, and we can do far better. We know more now. Leaving people to suffer on the streets and create safety problems is unacceptable.
Do you support or oppose stricter gun laws and background checks? Which, and if you support them, to what extent?
I support stricter gun laws and background checks. I support buyback programs. California has the strongest gun laws in the country with some of the lowest rates of gun deaths and ownership. California has 8.7 gun deaths per 100,000 compared to the national average of 14.4. We should also give local officials the authority to ban gun purchases to individuals who pose a danger.
Do you support or oppose asking voters to roll back elements of Proposition 47, by which they recategorized some nonviolent crimes as misdemeanors 10 years ago? Why or why not? Do you personally support or oppose making changes to Prop. 47?
According to a Los Angeles Times December 2023 editorial, retailers were inflating their losses from retail theft. Smash-and-grab burglaries are already felonies because the value of the goods taken is usually more than $950. The reason retailers are locking up their merchandise is because they don’t want their clerks facing armed shoplifters since too many people are carrying guns now. Armed robbery is a felony.
I am not in favor of changing Prop. 47. It has saved a lot of money by keeping young people out of the prison pipeline for minor offenses.
Californians will vote this year on whether to repeal Proposition 8, a 2008 same-sex marriage ban that has been unenforceable since the Supreme Court ruling legalized same-sex marriage but that remains on the books. Will you personally vote for or against repealing Prop. 8?
I will vote for repealing Prop. 8.
