Coffee and Conversation With Senator Ted Gaines

Fair Oaks residents want California Senator for Senate District 1, Ted Gaines (R-Roseville) to be more engaged with their community, something he understands.

“I’m going to do everything I can to remain that way,” Gaines said.

In his opinion, though, it’s a fine balance of engagement and remaining somewhat hands-off, too.

“I’m very hands off and Libertarian in a sense,” he said. “I feel that the state shouldn’t be imposing anymore than it needs to.”

Tuesday morning at the senator met with residents to discuss issues not only impacting the county and state, but how those issues hit closer to home.

“It gives me an opportunity to listen to my constituents,” Gaines said. “It also gives me an opportunity to update them on what’s happening at the Capitol.”

During the 30-minute meeting, Gaines tackled topics offered up by his audience ranging from efforts to balance the state’s budget and the importance of reforming the job creation process to concerns over the inclusion of marijuana dispensaries in Fair Oaks and similar communities.

“We need to provide more career paths for those who don’t want to get a four-year degree,” Gaines said. “I feel like we don’t lift them up like we should be. We all focus on everyone needing to get a college degree; if you don’t get a college degree, then for some reason you’re not as good as the person who has one and that’s just not true.”

Gaines believes the process for job creation needs to be more streamlined and less “heavy-handed.”

“One thing you can look at for anything that is constructed – any sort of building or home that is constructed in California – we could look at the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and look at reforming that,” Gaines said.

The definition of the act has been retooled and tweaked so many times, Gaines explains, that it no longer stands for what it did in its inception.

 “You can object to color of the paint on the structure and that can be a rationale for litigation for a violation of CEQA,” Gaines said. “We’re way too far beyond the original intent of CEQA and that needs to be narrowed back down to its original intent.”

Overall, Gaines believes reigning in certain CEQA regulations could in essence improve the construction job market, which would in turn lead to employment demand.

Residents also raised their concerns about the pending decision to allow medical marijuana dispensaries operate in areas close to residential zones and how that could impact the community.

“I wouldn’t let the economy trump a bad decision for society,” Gaines said. “I think the more we liberalize the use of marijuana, the more challenges we will have within our society.”

The senator believes if there is a medicinal use for marijuana it should be prescribed by a doctor and distributed through a pharmacy.

“I would let the science determine how that ought to be administered for medical use,” Gaines said. “I think a lot of these excuses for medical marijuana are not valid in my mind.”

In the end, Gaines believes sifting through issues like these and linking the impact back to the community starts with incremental change and small gains.

“We are unfortunately living in such a consumer-driven economy,” Gaines said. “We need to figure out a way to manufacture more here in the United States and do it in a competitive way.”