California State Treasurer Fiona Ma spoke on affordability, housing, economic futures and feminist leadership as the featured speaker for the Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee’s annual “Cosmopolitics” event on Saturday.
At the sold-out event hosted at the Mar Monte hotel, Ma took questions from the audience and moderators about ballot measures, government budgeting, immigration, and what gives her hope. Over 100 people filled the audience, which was studded with local politicians from mayoral candidate Eric Friedman to city council candidates such as Devon Wardlow.
The intimate conversation was moderated by Paula Lopez Ochoa, journalist and former president of the Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee (SBWPC). Christina Pizarro, current president of the organization, led the event.
“We’re very excited to connect the people of Santa Barbara with what’s happening in Sacramento,” Pizarro said. “Fiona Ma’s office manages trillions of dollars, and makes decisions about housing, affordability—the issues we care about most on the Central Coast.”
Pizarro SBWPC was one of the first women’s political organizations on the Central Coast to endorse Treasurer Ma for her ongoing campaign for California state lieutenant governor. Ma has previous connections to Santa Barbara, representing the county from 2014 to 2018 on the State Board of Equalization.
Ma said she often travels to all 58 counties of California to learn about their strengths and unique needs.
“Santa Barbara is very diverse, and it just reminds us of how beautiful and important coastal communities are,” Ma said. “It’s central for climate change and protecting our oceans.”
The conversation began with a question about what Ma has learned about leadership in her time in politics. She said that women who achieve high up positions in politics are often burdened by a sense of guilt that their careers are taking away from other aspects of life—especially when women have to work twice as hard as men to appear qualified. But Ma said that with the right support system, leadership comes naturally to women.
Many questions focused on economic stability for working class families, and their struggles to afford basic needs like groceries, rent and gas. Ma said affordability is the number one issue that every county she visits struggles with.
“In California, we set the standard in terms of climate change,” Ma said. “But that also adds costs. Our gas is cleaner than in every other state, but it costs to require this additive to be added in our gasoline to make it cleaner.”
In terms of housing, Ma said the state has been prioritizing low income and very low income units. But as a result, the middle class has been underserved. Ma supports measures like Proposition 37, which creates a down-payment assistance loan program for any homebuyers.
In a separate interview with the News-Press, Ma also said she supports Proposition 1, which would create an $11.25 billion statewide housing bond for vulnerable demographics like veterans.
Ma said that smart investments for the central coast include funding ADU programs, better permitting processes, neighborhood schools and childcare. She also spoke on budget balancing for local governments, which Santa Barbara has struggled with recently, dipping into emergency reserves.
“It’s either make more money or cut your expenses,” Ma said. “Local governments and city council members must balance based on what revenue comes in.”
She also said that understanding money and being in control of one’s own finances is especially important for women—building economic security is essential to independence. Here, Ma highlighted some California personal finance programs like CalSavers.
The audience then had a chance to ask questions to Treasurer Ma. One member asked for Ma’s stance on Proposition 40, a billionaires’ tax. Ma said it sounds good in theory but doesn’t support it, saying it’s “not well thought out” and doesn’t equitably distribute the revenue.
Pizarro said that the event’s high turnout reflected the excitement and inspiration that blooms from powerful female leadership. Many members of the SBWPC in the audience, especially fellow women of color, were touched by the event.
“I like her transparency with the fiscal process,” Ana Garcia, educator at Santa Barbara City College said. “That and just having a woman of color in the room, that representation is super powerful.”
Another member, JoAnne Meade Young, felt similarly.
“Fiona Ma gets the job done,” Meade Young said. “I’m telling you, with women leaders, I think we have a better chance of turning our democracy around.”
