Chris Rogers On The Issues
Fire and Homeowner’s Insurance
For Sacramento insiders, the cost of fire insurance may seem like a nuisance. But for the people of the North Coast, it’s a crisis. With many people experiencing six and even ten-times year-over-year premium increases, many families are being forced to choose between groceries and fire insurance – if they can get it at all. We need to take immediate action to reign in costs both with private insurers and the CA Fair Plan.
Climate Change
The North Coast has felt the sting of climate change. Between sea-level rise, increasing average temperatures, and catastrophic wildfires, our communities have been some of the first to experience the full brunt of a changing world. But addressing climate change goes well beyond only adapting and protecting our communities from its worst impacts. With our forests and grasslands serving as massive carbon sinks, and the natural resources to generate nearly unbound renewable energy, the North Coast is also primed to be an important part of the solution.
Rural Hospitals and Universal Healthcare
Healthcare is a human right. In the world’s fifth largest economy, we can switch to universal, single-payer health care – but we have to be bold enough to stand up to private insurers like Blue Shield. Universal healthcare also means making sure that rural communities have local access to the care they need, including reproductive health. We need to invest in not only maintaining but expanding rural healthcare and hospital access throughout the district.
A Modern and Equitable Rural Economy
In the last decade, the community economies of the North Coast have been hit hard. Between increasing cost of living and decreasing opportunity, it’s harder and harder to get by. Our communities need opportunity, and they need investment. We must continue to foster sustainable agricultural and natural-resource economies while investing in the green electrical and broadband infrastructure essential to the North Coast’s participation in the economy of the future.
Housing and Homelessness
The first step to reducing homelessness has to be reducing the housing shortage. Too many of our friends and neighbors are just a missed paycheck, or medical emergency, away from not being able to make rent. Further, programs like Fort Bragg’s Care Response Unit and Santa Rosa’s InResponse provide the links to services that the chronically homeless need to be able to begin stabilizing and reentering the community.
Holding PG&E Accountable
After their recent rate hikes, PG&E is now the most expensive utility provider in the nation. And while they prepare to resume paying dividends to their investors, it’s ratepayers that end up on the hook for their lack of investment in their own infrastructure. We need legislators in Sacramento who will hold PG&E accountable and ensure that the California Public Utilities Commission starts advocating for the needs of the North Coast’s working families.