Big Wins for Our Communities at This Week’s Board Meeting

Media
4 days ago
3 min read

I wanted to share a quick and uplifting recap of what we accomplished at this week’s Board of Supervisors meeting — because these weren’t just votes; they were real actions that will impact families, homeowners, seniors, veterans, and communities across San Diego County.

We advanced three major efforts — each focused on safety, affordability, and protecting the place we call home.

Making Homeownership Possible Again

One of the most exciting steps we took was passing my initiative with County Assessor Jordan Marks to push the federal government to finally modernize capital gains exclusions on home sales.

Why does this matter for our communities? Because too many seniors and long-time homeowners are stuck — unable to downsize, relocate closer to family, or move into homes that better fit their needs without being hit with massive taxes. Meanwhile, young families can’t find homes because the market is frozen.

Updating these decades-old thresholds will help free up supply, open the door to first-time buyers, and protect the American Dream for the next generation. This is about empowering seniors, veterans, families, and middle-class homeowners across our region.

Protecting Our Coastline & Quality of Life

We also reaffirmed our long-standing opposition to offshore oil drilling. San Diegans have been clear: our coastline is central to who we are. It supports tourism, recreation, fishing, small businesses — and serves as a training ground for thousands of service members at Camp Pendleton and along our coast.

Industrializing our coastline with drilling rigs would put all of that at risk. We stood again for clean beaches, military readiness, and the natural beauty that makes our region home.

Tackling the San Onofre Nuclear Waste Challenge

For more than a decade, 1,400 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel have sat along our coastline with no long-term plan. This week, we took our most proactive step yet by pushing forward a partnership-driven effort to relocate and reprocess the waste — using national laboratories, advanced technology, and proven research partners.

This is about community safety, smart innovation, and long-term energy security. Californians pay some of the highest electricity rates in the country, and when energy is expensive, everything is expensive — food, housing, transportation, everyday necessities. If we can safely move and reprocess this material and reduce costs for families, everyone wins.

Standing Up Against Misplaced Priorities

I also voted NO on a proposal to hand out $20 million in bonuses funded by one-time reserves. Reserves are meant for emergencies and front-line public safety — not ongoing payroll. Families are stretched thin with rising costs, and government should be tightening its belt, not dipping into reserves and then turning around to push new tax increases.

Residents deserve transparency and responsible budgeting, and I’ll keep fighting for both.