Congressman Doug LaMalfa is the U.S. representative for California’s 1st Congressional district. He is running for reelection against Rose Penelope Yee in November.
LaMalfa was born and raised in Northern California. He earned a degree in agriculture and business from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
District 1 includes:
- Butte County
- Colusa County
- Glenn County
- Lassen County
- Modoc County
- Shasta County
- Siskiyou County
- Sutter County
- Tehama County
- Yuba County.
Besides being a congressman, LaMalfa also manages his family’s farming business. As stated on his website, “As a rice farmer, I understand the unique challenges and obstacles facing our agricultural industry, from excessive state and federal regulations, unpredictable and sometimes catastrophic weather conditions, volatile markets, and significant barriers preventing new and young farmers from gaining stability.”
Agriculture and forestry are the main priorities of LaMalfa. He authored and passed California’s Forest Fire Protection Act of 2004, allowing landowners to make their rural lands fire-safe.
He previously worked as a member of the House Agriculture Committee in which he advocated for eliminating costly direct payments, streamlining federal programs, investing in specialty crops and ensuring farmers have resources to deal with droughts and wildfires, as stated on his website.
Other central issues to LaMalfa are the economy and job creation. He stated on his website he believes in order to build a strong economic recovery that will provide more jobs for Americans, congress needs to “get the fiscal house in order.” He also believes Congress needs a comprehensive review of federal regulations.
LaMalfa opposes certain tax increases and defends California’s Proposition 13, which reformed property tax laws.
As stated on his website, “Doug believes that taxpayers know better than bureaucrats and politicians how to spend and invest their own hard-earned money.”
Education is another central issue to LaMalfa. As stated on his website, he believes the federal government has repeatedly failed to improve educational outcomes for students.
He believes parents should have control over their children’s education, and should have the opportunity to send their children to charter or private schools, or homeschool them. He is also concerned about rising tuition for college students.
Regarding the issue of healthcare, LaMalfa believes all Americans deserve access to quality, affordable health care, as he stated on his website. He stated he supports repealing and replacing Obamacare.
LaMalfa also supports protecting water rights and developing more water storage. He has advocated for increasing California’s water supply and supports projects such as Sites Reservoir and the Auburn Dam.
As stated on LaMalfa’s website, he believes, “Government should do no harm and that limited government means government should do only what people cannot do for themselves, in the most efficient manner possible.”
The election for California’s 1st Congressional district between LaMalfa and Yee will be on Nov. 5.
Bea Williams can be reached at [email protected].
