Ahead of the June primary election, the Southern California News Group compiled a list of questions to pose to the candidates who wish to represent you. You can find the full questionnaire below. Questionnaires may have been edited for spelling, grammar, length and, in some instances, to remove hate speech and offensive language.
Name: Ali Taj
Current job title: Councilmember/Small Businessman
Age: 57
Political party affiliation: Democratic
Incumbent: No
Other political positions held: I was first elected to the Artesia City Council in 2013, serving as Mayor as recently as last year. I have also been elected to serve as the Vice President of the California Contract Cities Association (2021-2024), and First Vice President and then President of the League of California Cities (2020-2023), Director Los Angeles County Sanitation District, member of EC Committee of SCAG, and Chair of Eco Rapid Transit (Orangeline) a JPA for the METRO project Southeast Gateway Line.
City where you reside: Artesia
Campaign website or social media: ali4assembly.com
Do you believe balancing the state budget should rely more on spending cuts, new revenue streams or a combination? Tell us how you would propose tackling California’s projected budget deficit. (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
Simply raising taxes and fees should never be the first choice when budgets come under strain. When new revenues do need to be considered, it is critical officials are open and transparent with residents and businesses about what they are going to be getting for their money. In Artesia, we modeled that philosophy in 2024 when asking voters to consider Measure AAA to fund public safety programs. Our community knew we wouldn’t ask to raise revenues first, and that we wanted them to know the specific types of programs that would be supported, which is why 68.4% voted “yes” that November. Too often, a false dichotomy of revenues and services is presented. For example, I opposed (President Donald) Trump’s Big, Ugly, Bill because its tax cut disproportionately benefited the wealthy, while increasing healthcare costs for the middle and working class, only exacerbating the “K-Shaped” economy.
For you, what’s a non-starter when talking about budget cuts? Why? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
I believe public safety programs should be protected. Not only because one of the most important roles of government is to help people feel, and actually be, safe. But also, time and time and time again, we have seen what happens when our paramedics, firefighters, and law enforcement officers do not have the resources they need. It has been barely a year since the Eaton and Palisades fires left 30 people dead, burned more than 16,000 structures, and created more than $50 billion in damages. Cutting these services is the very definition of being penny-wise and pound-foolish. When it is nearly 100 degrees in March, we already know everyone in Southern California is going to rightfully be holding their collective breath the next time the Santa Anas start to blow.
What are the top three most pressing issues facing the state, and what would you propose, as a state legislator, to address them? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
My overall top legislative priorities are:
1) Affordability/Housing: My top priority is addressing affordability, and particularly in finding workable, pragmatic solutions to lower the costs and barriers to building the additional housing the state desperately needs.
2) Transit: In addition, I want to use my experience from the League of Cities to stimulate transit-oriented projects throughout Southern California. I know such projects can interconnect communities across city and county boundaries, which is particularly critical in a district like the 67th Assembly.
3) Business/Economic Growth: I also want to encourage small business growth in California, so more such businesses can start and stay in the state. We need to do more to allow businesses to offer opportunities for future generations.
What specific policy would you champion in the statehouse to improve the cost of living for residents? Would you see this having an immediate impact on Californians or would it take some time? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
Cost of living impacts families throughout their day, from gassing up the car to take the kids to school, to paying the rent/mortgage on the house they come home to, to going to the grocery store to hopefully have enough left to buy dinner. We need all-in solutions. As an example, my son lives at the other end of the district in Fullerton and, despite he and his wife both being working professionals, they could not have bought their home without help with a down payment. What happened in the subsequent 25 years since I was starting out? The answer is simple: The state has not been building enough housing. That is not an accidental outcome. From impact fees, to cumbersome zoning rules, to byzantine approval processes, to some jurisdictions simply not wanting to build more housing, this represents a failing of government that hurts everyone. Landlords. Tenants. Families buying their first home. Everyone. As the only candidate in AD 67 with real business experience, I actually understand what it means to support supply-side reforms and support cutting red tape that increases costs, extends timelines, and makes too many projects infeasible.
There have been numerous efforts made in the state legislature to curtail federal immigration enforcement in California, from prohibitions on agents wearing masks to banning federal officers from future employment in a public agency. Do you see any area where the state could better protect its residents from the federal government’s widespread immigration crackdown? Would you prefer the state work more hand-in-hand with the federal government on immigration? Where does the role as a state legislator fall into your beliefs here? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
I absolutely believe the Legislature will need to continue to step up and fight back against the overreach of the Trump Administration. Securing borders does not mean terrorizing communities and families. I also believe in leading by example. During last year’s ICE raids, I organized a press event with local law enforcement and elected officials to make clear that we would not be aiding and abetting these attacks on our communities and to highlight our joint stand against the negative impacts of those raids on our local economy, residents, and businesses. I believe my ability to strike that balance is one of the reasons I have been endorsed by more public safety organizations than any other candidate, including by the Police Officers Associations of Buena Park, Cypress, and Fullerton and the association for Los Angeles for deputies.
Health care costs — like in many other areas — are continuing to rise. What policies, specifically, would you support or like to champion that could lower premiums or out-of-pocket expenses? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
Affordability is clearly a top concern for most Californians. And other than housing costs, perhaps nothing has the potential to upend a family’s budget more dramatically than the costs of health care. Even in dense urban areas like Orange and Los Angeles, every clinic or facility lost due to the high costs of operating them has a real impact on patients. Addressing the state’s role in alleviating these burdens is all the more critical given destructive federal policies, whether it be likely cuts to Medicaid pushing more patients into higher-cost, higher-risk emergency care, or the rollback of Roe v Wade protections, causing more patients to come to California, further stretching provider capacity. Large systematic change continues to be very difficult to achieve on the federal level for the foreseeable future. Therefore, I support the state’s ongoing efforts to seek improvements within the current system to expand access to more individuals and families.
Would you support expanding state health care programs to ensure more residents — including those who are not citizens — are covered? How would you propose the state fund such an expansion? Or, how would you propose the people who cannot afford health care still get the necessary care they need without expanding state programs? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
First, I strongly opposed Trump’s Big, Ugly, Bill as exactly the wrong type of policy to move the country and state forward, in particular because of its devastating cuts to healthcare funding. In California, its timing is particularly (and painfully) ironic as our voters have made clear the need to invest in health and human service programs. For example, Proposition 35, the Protect Access to Health Care Act of 2024, passed last year with more than two-thirds of voters in Assembly District 67. For regular Californians, it must feel a bit like a salmon fighting the current swimming upstream. Unfortunately, as with too many areas of public policy, the state will have to step in and backfill services that are being cut on the federal level. It also means that as federal funding becomes more unstable and less predictable, we must also try to protect healthcare funding within the state budget, ensuring those dollars are protected within the state’s budget cycles to avoid short-term funding issues doing long-term harm to our medical system.
As part of combating homelessness, elected officials often talk about the need to prevent people from losing their homes in the first place. What policies or programs should the state adopt to make housing more affordable for renters and homeowners? What do you propose the state do to incentivize housing development and expedite such projects? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
We have a supply crisis which is exacerbating an affordability crisis. We need MORE. More subsidized housing, more market-rate housing, and more types of housing: from single family, to transit-oriented, to “missing middle”, to ADUs, and more. We need big swings at the fences as we have seen from the Legislature. After legislation fast-tracking housing near transit systems was signed by Gov. (Gavin) Newsom, he cited my statement supporting the legislation, “By giving cities the flexibility to add housing where services and transit already exist, SB 79 will help us meet the needs of residents without overextending our infrastructure. It’s a balanced and thoughtful policy that moves us closer to real housing affordability in California.” But we also need local leaders willing to look for every opportunity, even if they seem small. In the last two years in Artesia, we have approved 179 new housing units, approved a mixed-use overlay ordinance to allow for more density and affordable housing, approved the Downtown Specific Plan, which includes additional development opportunities near the Southeast Gateway Line transit stop, and moved forward with a new housing element that includes more than 1,000 more homes, of which 57% would need to be affordable.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law in 2023 authorizing state energy regulators to penalize oil companies making excessive profits. But the California Energy Commission put off imposing the penalties last year after two oil refineries, which represent nearly a fifth of California’s refining capacity, said they would shut down operations. Those announcements prompted many to be concerned about soaring gas prices. What do you think of the commission’s decision? And how would you, as a state legislator, propose balancing California’s climate goals with protecting consumers from high gas prices at the pump? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
I support moving towards a clean, zero-carbon energy future, including interim goals to measure progress, evaluate what steps are working and which may need to be adapted. Problems arise when the goal seems to be to celebrate PR victories, versus setting realistic goals and measuring success in meeting them. A major reason that governments have been slow to adapt to climate change is that long-term economic impacts were either not recognized or simply ignored. It has been the very definition of a negative externality, where those reaping the economic benefits (of burning fossil fuels) are not paying the economic costs (of climate change). That said, it is a false dichotomy to suggest that in finally recognizing and accounting for those real, long-term costs, we should ignore the real, short-term pain those costs can inflict on struggling families.
In 2024, voters approved Proposition 36 to increase penalties for certain drug and retail theft crimes and make available a drug treatment option for some who plead guilty to felony drug possession. Would you, as a legislator, demand that more funding for behavioral health treatments be included in the budget? How would you ensure that money is used properly? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
I publicly and unapologetically supported Proposition 36. I am a proud Democrat. And while many of the goals of Proposition 47 remain laudable, too many in my party ignored the clear and obvious negative impacts in our communities and need to address drug and retail crime. As a small-town mayor and father, I know the impacts of drug-related crimes on our children and our families. And given my professional background, I recognized the corrosive effects of retail crime on our business community. 74.2% of voters in Assembly District 67 agreed and voted “yes”, so to ensure the voters’ will is addressed, finding stable funding of its mandates, including treatment options that have proven effective, is a top immediate concern.
What role should the state play in ensuring hospitals and doctors are providing gender-affirming care to LGBTQ+ residents? Similarly, what role do you believe the state could play should other states adopt policies that restrict that care? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
I absolutely support the individual right to make individual decisions regarding health care. I specifically oppose the Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Skrmetti that states can ban certain healthcare treatments and believe California must continue to guarantee access. We need to recognize these attacks are not occurring in isolation but are part of a broader attack on comprehensive reproductive health care services, including access to family planning, abortion, prenatal care, vaccines, and sexually transmitted disease screening and treatment.
Governments around the world are increasingly considering an age ban or other restrictions on social media use among young people, citing mental health and other concerns. Do you believe it’s the state’s responsibility to regulate social media use? Why or why not? And what specific restrictions or safeguards would you propose as a state lawmaker? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
I selfishly probably share the same sentiment a lot of other grandparents have, which is to be glad that my child was fully grown before social media became so ubiquitous in our lives. That said, I do still worry about my son, and whether he has the tools to protect his two daughters (and my two grandchildren) in an ever-changing world. It is hard to deny that children today are often more anxious and stressed than they ever have been before, and their parents rightfully are looking for help. I believe California has already taken several constructive steps in this regard, but with the courts now actively stepping in, it is clear more will need to be done and the state should be looking broadly for solutions and others’ experiences, both nationally and internationally.
Artificial intelligence has become a ubiquitous part of our lives. Yet public concerns remain that there aren’t enough regulations governing when or how AI should be used, and that the technology would replace jobs and leave too many Californians unemployed. How specifically would you balance such concerns with the desire to foster innovation and have California remain a leader in this space? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
AI clearly has and will continue to have a transformative effect on the world, national, state, and local economies. These are changes that we are just barely beginning to understand. We need to ensure the benefits of AI are of benefit to real Californians. But just as the personal computer, cell phone, and Internet have proven, innovation needs to be harnessed, not feared. Unfortunately, there can often be an instinct to regulate first, and understand second. This can result in a hodge-podge of differing and inconsistent standards which fail to further policy goals while unnecessarily constraining innovation. For example, voters adopted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, then the California Privacy Act of 2020, and before those laws could even be fully absorbed, new changes were already being proposed. As a businessman, I know instability and inconsistency is the enemy of growth.
Statistically, violent crime rates in California is on the decline, but still, residents are not feeling safe or at ease in their communities. How do you see your role in the state legislature in addressing the underlying issues that make Californians feel unsafe in their own neighborhoods? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
Sacramento politicians tend to forget how actual people live their lives. Just like the Bureau of Labor Statistics can say whatever it wants about how inflation is up or down, but that doesn’t really matter if a carton of eggs costs you a dollar more than it did a week before, crime statistics do not have a lot of meaning if you have to push a button and wait 10 minutes at the drug store for someone to unlock a case just so you can buy shampoo, or if you have to worry about the person doing drugs on the route your kids use to get to school instead of getting the intervention and treatment they need. As someone who works in business, I can attest that statistics absolutely matter. But as someone who has represented my small community for more than a decade, I can tell you they also don’t tell the whole story.
What’s a hidden talent you have? (Please answer in 250 words or less.)
I speak seven languages, including English, French, German, Dutch, Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi.