Issues
Rhonda's 10-Point Business Plan
Rhonda's Priorities
Sacramento is broken. As a small business owner, councilwoman, and two-term mayor, I’ve delivered real results at home using fiscal discipline and common sense as my guiding principles. I will fight relentlessly to make Senate District 34 more affordable, safer, and a better place to do business.
Public Safety
Californians deserve to feel safe in their homes, neighborhoods, and businesses, but Sacramento policies have made that harder than ever. Proposition 47, early release programs, and the dismantling of effective law enforcement tools have emboldened criminals and left communities to suffer the consequences. Smash-and-grab robberies, retail theft, fentanyl on our streets, and rising violent crime are not inevitable, they are the result of policy choices made by politicians who have never had to live with them.
I will be a fierce advocate for restoring law and order in the 34th District. I will fight to repeal the most damaging provisions of Prop 47, hold repeat offenders accountable with real consequences, and ensure prosecutors are working for victims, not criminals. I will support fully funding and staffing our local law enforcement agencies, restore respect for the men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line every day, and oppose any effort to defund or demoralize our police.
Public safety is the foundation of everything else, you can't build a thriving economy, raise a family, or run a small business in a community that doesn't feel safe. I will make sure Sacramento finally gets that message.
Affordability
The affordability crisis didn't happen by accident. It's the direct result of decades of excessive taxes, fees, and regulations piled onto everyday Californians by a Sacramento majority that has never had to worry about making ends meet. Families across the 34th District are working harder than ever and falling further behind. They're paying some of the highest gas prices, energy bills, and income taxes in the nation, and they're watching the dream of homeownership slip further out of reach with every passing year.
I'm going to Sacramento to fight for real relief, not promises, not studies, not task forces. Real relief.
I will work to roll back the hidden fees and mandates driving up prices at the pump and on every utility bill, so families aren't forced to choose between filling their gas tank and keeping the lights on. I will be a defender of Proposition 13, protecting the property tax limits that allow families and seniors to stay in the homes they've worked a lifetime to own. I will push to cut taxes on the essentials, from prescription medicine to overtime pay, so that a hard day's work actually results in a paycheck that goes further. And I will fight to reduce the state-imposed costs and bureaucratic red tape that make building and buying a home in California so expensive that young families are leaving the state rather than putting down roots here.
California is one of the wealthiest states in the world. There is no reason its working families should be priced out of it. I will make affordability a fight, not a talking point.
UNCOVER FRAUD, WASTE & ABUSE
California taxpayers are among the most generous in the nation, and Sacramento has repaid them with decades of mismanagement, runaway spending, and outright fraud. From the billions lost to EDD fraud during the pandemic, to homelessness programs that spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per person with nothing to show for it, to state agencies that can't account for where the money goes, Sacramento has made a habit of treating your tax dollars as an unlimited resource with no strings attached.
I believe that every dollar the government spends belongs to the people first. As your State Senator, I will push for independent audits of the state's most bloated agencies, demand transparency in how homelessness, healthcare, and social service dollars are allocated, and hold bureaucrats accountable when funds go missing or programs fail to deliver results. I will fight to strengthen the role of the State Auditor, close loopholes that allow waste to go undetected, and support real consequences, not just strongly worded reports, when fraud is found.
California doesn't have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem. I will go to Sacramento and say what too few politicians are willing to: the people of this state deserve to know where their money is going, and they deserve better than excuses.
Support for Small Businesses
Small businesses are the backbone of the 34th District, the family-owned restaurants, neighborhood shops, contractors, and entrepreneurs who create jobs, invest in their communities, and keep dollars circulating locally. But Sacramento has spent years making it harder, not easier, to run a small business in California. Skyrocketing taxes, endless regulations, frivolous lawsuit exposure, and rising operating costs have driven businesses out of the state and pushed countless owners to the breaking point.
I know this firsthand. As a small business owner myself, I have navigated the same maze of red tape, licensing burdens, and government overreach that my neighbors face every day. I’m not learning about these challenges from a briefing book, I’ve lived them.
As State Senator, I will fight to cut taxes and reduce the regulatory burdens that strangle small businesses before they ever have a chance to grow. I will push for meaningful PAGA reform to protect employers from predatory lawsuits, advocate for streamlined state licensing processes, and support exemptions from costly benefit mandates for businesses with fewer than 50 employees. I will champion policies that make it easier to open a business, hire local workers, and compete, without Sacramento standing in the way at every turn.
When small businesses thrive, whole communities thrive. I will make sure the 34th District is a place where local entrepreneurs can plant roots, build something, and succeed.
Homelessness
Homelessness is an epidemic in California that we spend billions of dollars on every year with no sign of progress. Rhonda supports empowering local governments and faith-based organizations to increase shelter capacity, while ensuring more accountability and transparency of state-level homelessness programs.