EDITORIAL: Anne Kepner, state senatorial candidate, answers Bay Area News Group's primary questionnaire

May 26-

Ahead of the June primary election, the Bay Area News Group compiled a list of questions to pose to the candidates for California State Senate District 10. You can find the full questionnaire below. Questionnaires may have been edited for spelling, grammar, length and clarity.

Name: Anne Kepner

Current job title: Community college trustee / attorney / small business owner

Date of birth: January 15, 1969

Political party affiliation: DemocratOther political positions held: Trustee at West Valley-Mission Community College DistrictCity where you reside: Santa Clara

What are the top three problems you're seeking to solve if elected SD 10 Senator?

The top three problems I would help solve are:

1. Lack of affordable housing

2. Lack of opportunity and preparation for well-paying, skilled jobs

3. Lack of affordable health care, particularly for our aging population

Why are you uniquely qualified to address the three problems you've identified above?

I served on the Housing Loan and Rehabilitation Committee in the City of Santa Clara and reviewed applications for grants and zero-interest loans to help persons on fixed incomes remain in their homes. As a college trustee, I have worked to expand educational programs, internship opportunities and partnerships with governmental agencies and private companies. I have also advocated for the expansion of community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees in nursing. As an attorney working to protect the elderly from abuse and exploitation, I am uniquely aware of the support needed to allow our seniors to age in place.

What differentiates you from your most serious competitors for this seat?

As a small business owner, I know the realities of meeting payroll. As an attorney, I have stood up to bad corporate actors to successfully advocate for people who have been harmed due to toxic exposure, elders who have suffered abuse and represented people who suffered devastating losses during the Coyote Creek floods. As a local elected official serving as a college trustee for 12 years, I am aware of the incredible potential of our local agencies to affordably train the workforce of tomorrow.

What Senate committee would you most like to chair, if given the opportunity? And how would that position serve your constituents?

With the significant turnover in the Senate, there is a real opportunity for freshmen legislators to serve on significant committees next year. With that in mind, the Education Committee interests me the most as I think we can expand the role that our community college system plays in preparing the workforce of tomorrow. Success in this area will depend on the integration of the K-12 system and four-year colleges.

You're running to be a lawmaker. If you were going to be remembered for writing and passing one law, what would it be?

Well-paying local jobs. I would like to be remembered for passing a law that modernized vocational pathways to help more people receive degrees and certificates in the community college system. Not everyone is interested in receiving a four-year university degree, and today, not every family can afford one. We need to train a new workforce of specialists, from climate technicians focused on electrification, renewable energy and infrastructure resilience to engineering, firefighting and nursing. We also need to assist California with its health care and safety needs now, while transitioning to a carbon-neutral economy.

You're running to replace Sen. Aisha Wahab. What has Sen. Wahab done right while representing this district?

Sen. Aisha Wahab has led many significant efforts with which I agree. As a mother of three and a legal advocate, I especially admire how she has been a fierce advocate for foster youth, requesting a state audit of the Alameda County Department of Children and Family Services. She also introduced legislation proposing a pilot program to extend foster care services to non-minor dependents up to 22 years of age if they are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness.

How has Sen. Wahab failed this district? And what would you do differently?

I am not interested in calling the work of other public servants failures. There are always critiques. One I have heard from some parts of Senate District 10 is from those who do not feel Sen. Wahab has been as accessible or present as they had hoped her to be, noting she has not met with constituents or quickly responded to some urgent community concerns, particularly around safety. Though District 10 covers a large geographic area and covers two counties, if elected I will be intentional about meeting with constituents in both counties on a regular basis.

What solutions would you support to reduce housing costs in your district? If that's increasing supply, explain the policies you'd support.

We must increase the supply of housing in Senate District 10 and I support building more dense, affordable housing. In addition to promoting transit-oriented development, I believe we need to explore development of housing in more government-owned property with an affordability focus, continue to streamline the approval process for new housing projects and ensure the utilities infrastructure is improved to accommodate new developments.

Why should renters who live in your district vote for you? (If you think you've addressed this in prior answers, then note that.)

For renters, I believe it is far better, and much more cost-effective, to help keep people housed. I am a proponent of programs like Keep Oakland Housed and the Santa Clara County Homelessness Prevention System - and will advocate for greater state assistance for such local organizations that are effectively preventing homelessness.

Why should first-time homebuyers vote for you?

I am supportive of first-time home buyer programs in California that provide down-payment assistance, silent second loans and specialized mortgages. We need to support more people being able to afford homes in our communities as permanent residents contribute to the health and well-being of our neighborhoods.

What actions would you take to tackle homelessness? Do cities and counties need more control over the problem or does the state need to demand more coordination and accountability? How are your policy prescriptions different than what's already been done?

As mentioned, I think offering assistance to keep people housed is critical. Working with the housing insecure population is best handled by local agencies who are aware of and connected to support services. However, if the state is providing resources to these local agencies, it is appropriate to require data and tracking information to determine best practices. There are examples of specific strategies that are showing positive results and thus we must learn how to scale and replicate these successful programs.

Bay Area counties will lose billions in coming years as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. These federal cuts, particularly to health care, are expected to hit Alameda and Santa Clara counties' residents hard. What actions, if any, would you support to protect these counties' budgets, in general, and health care services, in particular?

As unpopular as it may be, I think we must increase revenues, at least for the next five years, to backfill the significant losses we will experience in Alameda and Santa Clara counties and throughout the state. I am supportive of AB 1790, designed to eliminate a tax filing option that allows multinational corporations to exclude foreign subsidy income from California state taxation, an increase in graduated corporate tax structure and limits on business tax credits.

Should California have a single-payer universal health care system? Explain.

Our health care system is broken and not working for far too many people. And, unfortunately, the cuts resulting from H.R. 1 will make health care inaccessible to millions and at the same time make it much more costly for those who are insured. We must begin the process of moving towards a single-payer system. While it is unlikely we will have a federal partner in this effort for some time, we must continue to push for universal coverage in California. In the interim, I am broadly supportive of any effort to help reduce costs and improve access statewide.

Why should your district's commuters vote for you?

I am one of them! I know what it is to sit in your car daily, and I am supportive of investing in our mass transit systems and, in particular, solving the challenge of the "last mile" so our public transportation systems will work better for more commuters and thus relieve pressure on our roadways.

Do you think BART has made enough of the difficult financial choices to right-size the agency? Do you support the proposed sales tax on the November ballot? If not, what should BART be doing to stabilize the transit system?

We need a system that will move people where they want and need to go. In the Bay Area, there are 27 transit agencies and coordination amongst them is challenging, but necessary. Having lived and traveled in cities like San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, I know firsthand that people use public transportation when it is practical to do so. I am supportive of the 2026 ballot measure as I think our climate requires us to improve our system so that it functions and reduces the number of personal vehicles being driven each day.

Please list Bay Area transit governance reform legislation that you would support?

I think our system calls for consolidation and centralization of the decision-making for rider-facing services, particularly mapping and coordinating schedules.

Explain your position on California's High-Speed Rail project.

Like many, I supported the 2008 measure creating high-speed rail and hoped it would materialize. To date, it has not. In today's challenging climate, I am interested in our resources being spent on regional public transit systems. We must get people out of their cars on a daily basis and onto public transportation for their day-to-day traveling.

Joint Venture Silicon Valley estimates 400,000 Bay Area jobs are at risk of being replaced by AI. What role should the state play, if at all, in regulating AI to protect Bay Area workers and/or consumers?

There need to be guardrails in place for the use of AI to better ensure they help, not replace, working people. I am supportive of bills that focus on transparency related to the use of AI and also to ensure humans, particularly in the health care delivery system, have the final authority over AI-generated recommendations. As for job displacement because of AI, the state has a role to play in partnering with private industry, stakeholders and our public education system to ensure people are retrained and prepared to fill the roles required by AI and the new industry.

Would you support legislation to curb children's use of social media?

Yes. As a mother of three, I have grown concerned over the destructive, addictive nature of social media. In Los Angeles County, a jury found Meta and Google liable for negligently designing addictive features that harmed the mental health of a young user. The jury found the algorithms are intentionally engineered to exploit the developing brains of children. This was a bellwether case and there have been similar verdicts in other states. It is important we protect our children and this has become a public health issue and regulation needs to be considered.

What actions would you support to help California balance its chronic deficit? If that's by raising revenues, explain how. If that's by cutting spending, explain how.

As mentioned with the federal cuts from H.R. 1, we must raise revenue by requiring that large corporations and the mega-wealthy, who disproportionately benefit from government investment, pay more. The wealth disparity has grown significantly and even The Wall Street Journal has recently lamented that it is a problem. We must correct the imbalance that persists.

In what ways, if at all, would you support modifying Proposition 13?

Prop. 13 was passed to protect homeowners and now it is in effect protecting commercial property owners. I am supportive of correcting that imbalance.

What are the biggest challenges facing your district's public schools? What actions would you take to improve them?

Declining enrollment and insufficient funding are the two biggest challenges facing public schools in District 10. For insufficient funding, I advocate that schools be funded on enrollment, rather than attendance. For declining enrollment, we need to have more affordable housing in our neighborhoods so more young families can live in Senate District 10. In the community college and California State University system there is a greater possibility of increasing enrollment by expanding and adapting our offerings to meet the needs of our surrounding communities, with which I have direct experience.

What do the biggest contributors to your campaign expect from you?

They expect me to fight for working people, support our public schools and advocate for the elderly.

What more should we know about you that might inform our board's judgment of your capacity to serve this district's constituents?

I am a mother of three. Our daughter is now 30 and our twin sons are 19. In January 2026, our daughter moved out of California as she no longer saw a future here. She and her boyfriend, who are both well-educated, were struggling to find well-paying jobs and could not imagine being able to afford their first home here. I am running for state Senate because I want California to be a place where our next generations can envision their future. I am also very concerned about the growing influence of big corporations in our politics.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 10:45 AM.