Candidates for California’s State Assembly District 30—Dawn Addis, Susannah Brown, and Shannon Kessler—are addressing housing, education, and environmental concerns as they campaign for the upcoming election. All three candidates agree that housing is one of the district’s biggest challenges. Kessler and Brown suggested easing regulations to increase housing supply. “I believe that we could reexamine many of the regulations on our policies toward housing and remove, even remove some and rezone and just encourage building. So then buyers, renters have an actual freedom of choice. And then the market, the supply and demand will help solve that problem,” Kessler said. Brown said, “Here’s also things that we could be doing to prioritize as cutting a lot of the red tape in the housing industry in general without, cutting out the important environmental reviews, but streamlining processes that are already in place, and especially, for infill projects that are a lot more, planned and ready to go, we should be able to prioritize that. So the developers and the investors aren’t holding onto these lots for 2 or 3 or more years.” Addis emphasized tailoring solutions to the area’s needs. “A lot of it has to do with creating the right kind of housing for the Central Coast. And that’s why we’ve worked on student housing, on senior housing and housing for people in mobile home residences, knowing that that is some of the most affordable housing on the Central Coast. People also struggle with the high cost of utilities. And so I’ve brought legislation to bring accountability to the utility companies and to work to bring those costs down,” Addis said. Education funding is another priority for the candidates, with each emphasizing different approaches. Addis highlighted the importance of fully funding education and addressing data privacy concerns. “Our children really are our future. And so fully funding education is top of mind to me. I’ve also worked very hard to make sure that with changes in technology, with the advent of AI, with the different edtech platforms that are that our children’s data is secure and that we’ve we’ve done a lot of work on data privacy,” Addis said. Brown focused on the emotional needs of students. “It’s not always academic. Sometimes it’s the emotional needs of our students. They’ve gone through so much over the last few years, and if we’re cutting mental health people in our schools, there could be even more dire needs for them right now that we’re not even addressing. And maybe they don’t make it through the end of high school,” Brown said. Kessler emphasized parental involvement in education. “I support school choice, private school, charter school, and homeschool. I believe that parents need to be included in the decision-making process. They need to be heard by school boards,” Kessler said. “I think that state legislature currently is driving policies that are coming between children and their teachers and their parents, when they should all be working in partnership for the good of the children,” she added. Environmental protections are also a shared priority for the candidates, particularly in light of the recent Vistra battery plant fire in Moss Landing. “I’m a Republican candidate. The environment is of utmost importance to me. Conservation and preservation of our gorgeous coastline, even our hills, valleys and farmlands is a priority for me. And I believe that the tragic Moss Landing meltdown is just beginning to show its harm,” Kessler said. Brown said, “The environmental impact of this should have been explained way before we got to this point, and it should have been more regulated, and especially because it’s right there on the water, and it could affect everybody in the community and beyond.” “Again, it’s proactive leadership. If you know you have a battery plant in your backyard in our region, it needs to be a top priority all the time,” Brown added. Addis emphasized the importance of protecting agricultural lands near Moss Landing. “Moss Landing, as is surrounded by agricultural fields, it’s surrounded by areas where we’re growing food as well as outdoor workers. And so we want to make sure that, no matter where those fields are, no matter where we’re growing the food that it’s safe and that those lands are protected,” Addis said.