Half a dozen people are vying to replace termed-out state Treasurer Fiona Ma in the June 2 primary election.
They include state Sen. Anna Caballero, retired businesswoman Jennifer Hawks, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Realtor David Serpa, activist Glenn Turner and state Board of Equalization member Tony Vazquez.
Caballero, Kounalakis and Vazquez are Democrats while Hawks and Serpa are Republicans. Turner is a member of the Green Party.
The treasurer of California is essentially the state banker, whose responsibilities include managing investments, administering the sale of bonds and notes and cutting checks when money is spent by the state controller or state agencies.
The treasurer also serves on several commissions, including the boards of two state pension funds, has a say in the financing of various public works projects and plays a critical role in affordable housing-related financing efforts.
To help you get to know the candidates better, we asked the candidates to answer a series of questions on topics ranging from the financing of affordable housing and whether the state should divest from Israel to greater fiscal oversight and managing the state’s debt.
Four candidates — Hawks, Kounalakis, Serpa and Vazquez — filled out our questionnaire, and we’ll dive into their responses regarding affordable housing below.
But we’ll start with their backgrounds — and why each candidate believes they should be California’s next treasurer.
Hawks, a Bay Area resident, said that as a retired businesswoman and as someone who raised a child as a single mom, she knows “what it means to balance a budget for both a company and a household” and how to manage complex budgets.
Career politicians “treat our state’s funds like a blank check,” Hawks said, vowing instead to “bring the discipline, transparency and tough love that I learned from years as a business owner to Sacramento.”
For Hawks, one of the most important jobs of the treasurer is to decrease California’s debt burden in order to improve its credit rating, which in turn would lower interest rates when the state seeks financing.
Kounalakis, meanwhile, spent more than two decades running her family’s housing development business before becoming the first woman to be elected lieutenant governor in California.
Now completing her second term as the state’s second-in-command, Kounalakis, who calls San Francisco home, said that for the past several years, she’s overseen major state assets, supported housing and infrastructure projects, and made sure public resources are managed responsibly and transparently.
Her priorities as treasurer would include expanding affordable housing and infrastructure, as well as protecting state retirement funds. Another priority would be to expand access to wealth-building programs such as CalSavers, CalKIDS, ScholarShare 529 and CalABLE so that families can save for future educational expenses, retirement and long-term financial security, she said.
Serpa believes the most important job of the treasurer is to get the state back to having a surplus budget. The former Marine Corps member-turned Realtor also stressed fiscal responsibility.
“We are the most overtaxed, overburdened, overregulated people in the country. Yet, we increase taxes, tolls, tickets, fees and registration and call it ‘revenue,’” Serpa said, suggesting that “revenue” has turned into “another word for ‘extortion.’”
“What qualifies me to manage the people’s treasure and the people’s trust?” asked the Riverside County resident. “I have been poor, rich and everything in between. I made $1 million and lost it. … A business mentor of mine taught me: freedom is financial freedom. I understand economic systems.”
Having served as a Santa Monica City Council member and mayor, Vazquez said he has experience in bringing together different interest groups. Now, as a member of the state Board of Equalization, Vazquez said he’s worked to ensure everyone pays their fair share of property taxes.
For Vazquez, the treasurer’s role is not only to oversee all state investments directly and to make sure they’re providing the highest yields, but also to “balance the needs of the state (housing, education, employment) with investments that may not yield the highest returns but can be supported by the general fund.”
“While the general fund may be impacted, the overall wealth of the state through issues such as housing, education and employment will be enhanced,” he said.
Caballero, a state senator who previously served as mayor of Salinas, listed a number of priorities on her campaign website, including building more affordable housing and tackling homelessness, supporting healthcare access, expanding retirement security for public employees, championing school infrastructure projects, investing in anti-violence programs, supporting veterans and advancing gender equity.
Turner described herself on her website as a lifelong activist and former small business owner from the Bay Area whose background is in grassroots organizing. She said her campaign is about “aligning our money with our morals” and pledged to ensure that state dollars are invested “ethically, sustainably, and responsibly” and not used to benefit war profiteers, fossil fuel companies or billionaires “complicit in human rights abuses.”
Affordable housing
When it comes to affordable housing, Vazquez proposed establishing a statewide commission tasked with coming up with strategies to boost financing opportunities for such projects.
He also suggested turning to the state’s major pension funds as a funding source.
“I have had major meetings with developers and the California Indian Tribal Councils, who are very interested in leveraging their housing dollars with California pension funds to build more affordable housing,” Vazquez said.
Serpa criticized bureaucratic rules, regulations and fees and said the government needs to step aside to allow the “largest housing boom in American history” to take place.
He suggested the treasurer’s office work with the federal government to open up 300,000 acres of public land that the state manages to build five new charter cities or to sell individual lots directly to Californians.
“This would allow individuals to build again,” Serpa said. “Individuals, small to midsize builders and boutique and specialty builders would once again be able to thrive, bringing competition back into the market through deregulation at the state level.”
Both Kounalakis and Hawks, meanwhile, mentioned improving California’s bond rating in order to reduce interest rates when it comes to lowering state borrowing costs.
Kounalakis said she’d work to keep reserve funds strong and debt-service ratios stable while demonstrating disciplined long-term financial planning.
“By strengthening California’s credit profile, we can reduce borrowing costs across all housing projects and deliver more units with the same public investment,” Kounalakis said.
Kounalakis also said she’d push for expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, better aligning it with tax-exempt bonds. In addition, she’d prioritize projects close to jobs and transit that are considered lower risk, thus making financing more efficient while quickening housing production.
Hawks also spoke of improving the state’s bond rating as a strategy.
For every $1 billion the state borrows, a half-percentage-point decrease in interest rate would save taxpayers $5 million annually, she said.
Hawks said she’d mandate an annual debt affordability study to compare California’s debt load to peer states while setting a strict borrowing limit, enforce a debt-service ratio ceiling and conduct an annual fiscal stress test to model how California’s debt would perform in case there’s a recession.
“With transparency and solid budgeting plans, I am confident we can improve the state’s credit rating and get lower interest rates, in turn lowering borrowing costs for public projects,” Hawks said.
To learn more about the candidates and their responses to our other questions, check out our online voter guide.
Election Day is June 2. The top two vote-getters in this race will advance to the November general election.