California Assembly District 44 primary election voter guide

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The race to fill the U.S. Senate seat of the late Dianne Feinstein has created a domino effect that has cascaded down to the San Fernando Valley’s local seats in the California Assembly.

Incumbent Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), who currently represents the area in Sacramento, is not seeking reelection. Instead, she’s running for Congress, angling for the seat held by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who is in the race to succeed Feinstein in the Senate.

The San Fernando Valley district, which includes Burbank and a wide swath of the city of Los Angeles, is seeing its first primary without an incumbent since 2016. The two candidates who receive the most votes in the March 5 primary will advance to the general election in November.

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Who are the candidates?

Six Democrats, one Republican and one candidate who lists no party preference will appear on the primary ballot.

Elen Asatryan, Democrat, Glendale City Council member.

Asatryan is an Armenian immigrant who moved to Glendale at age 10 and rose through the city’s school district. She has won the backing of California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and state Sens. Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank) and Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park).

Ed Han, Democrat, UCLA law lecturer.

Han is a Korean immigrant and a product of Glendale Unified schools. A former assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, he is now a law lecturer at UCLA. Han said he is running to preserve the American dream. He has been endorsed by the liberal political action committee VoteVets and the bipartisan recruiting organization New Politics, which helps former members of the military and national service organizations run for office.

Steve Pierson, Democrat, progressive activist.

Pierson worked as a Southern California field director for the progressive political group Swing Left, which helped flip control of the U.S. House back to Democrats in the “blue wave” of 2018. A SAG-AFTRA member, he previously worked as a sound engineer and mixer and ran a postproduction sound studio in Hollywood. He has been endorsed by the California Teachers Assn., former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer and labor leader Dolores Huerta.

Nick Schultz, Democrat, mayor of Burbank.

Schultz is Burbank’s mayor and a member of its City Council, as well as a prosecutor with the California Department of Justice. He has the backing of a number of local labor unions, including those that represent workers in the California State University system, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and the city and county of Los Angeles, state campaign finance records show.

Schultz has also been endorsed by Friedman and local Democratic clubs. He narrowly missed winning the California Democratic Party’s endorsement, receiving the votes of 59.32% of delegates, just short of the 60% required.

Other candidates include:

Tony Rodriguez, Republican, a construction manager endorsed by the California Republican Party.
Adam Summer, no party preference, a personal trainer and entrepreneur.
Adam Pryor, Democrat, a recent graduate of UC Riverside.
Carmenita Helligar, Democrat, an e-commerce chief executive.

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Where is the district?

The 44th Assembly District includes most of the eastern San Fernando Valley. The district cuts a somewhat V-shaped swath through northeastern L.A. County, from part of Pacoima in the northwest to the Angeles National Forest above Sunland-Tujunga in the northeast, running down through Burbank and northern Glendale to part of Pasadena in the southeast, with a leg then stretching west to the 405 Freeway through neighborhoods including Valley Village, North Hollywood, Studio City and Sherman Oaks.

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Housing and homelessness

Han said that addressing homelessness starts with supporting social and mental health programs while tackling the shortage of affordable housing. He was disappointed that the homeless rate rose by 10% last year and that military veterans were hit hard.

“As someone who serves in uniform, it is distressing that nearly 1 in 10 unhoused people are veterans,” Han said. “We must do more.”

Rodriguez said legislators need to ensure that committees dealing with issues related to homelessness have representatives who are “actual homeless, mental health and addiction success stories.”

Schultz said he would support policies in Sacramento to help streamline housing production, but worried that renters could slide into homelessness before new units are available. He said he would push for legislation that would stabilize rents statewide and would require landlords to pay more than one month’s relocation costs for tenants in no-fault evictions. He also suggested a law that would ensure a tenant’s right to legal counsel for housing issues.

Pierson said he would focus on incentives to boost housing production along major corridors, including an expedited review process under California environmental law for affordable-housing projects.

Asatryan said homelessness and affordability discussions must focus on building more housing. She said she would champion policies to increase access to housing programs for people earning up to $120,000.

Helligar said she wanted to see better oversight of government expenditures for housing and homelessness, including Measure H, a quarter-cent sales tax increase to pay for apartment vouchers and social services for unhoused residents.

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Film tax credits

The 44th Assembly District is home to Walt Disney Studios. Thousands of residents are employed by the film industry and are still finding their financial footing after the strikes last year by Hollywood actors and writers.

Several candidates said they support an expansion of California’s film tax credit system, which currently allocates $330 million per fiscal year through 2030.

That level of funding is “woefully insufficient to even be competitive with other states,” Pierson said. He said he would push to make California’s tax credit funding commensurate with that of New York state, which now offers $700 million annually. An expansion of California’s tax credits would “more than pay for itself,” he said.

Schultz echoed the New York benchmark, and said the tax-credit program should be a “permanent fixture” rather than a program that the Legislature extends every few years. He also said he would push to close a loophole that bars animation studios from claiming the same credits.

Han said he was in favor of bolstering the program and issuing more credits. He compared film tax credits to benefits taxpayers receive for fostering children or having electric vehicles.

“If we’re serious about creating entertainment jobs here, we must maintain these priorities,” he said.

Asatryan said she is a “staunch supporter” of film tax credits and would consider exploring more funding to retain and “actively foster” growth and success.

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