As California lawmakers returned Monday to Sacramento for the legislative session, Democrats acknowledged a transparent message from voters: California’s sky-high price of dwelling must drop again all the way down to Earth.
“We get it,” Democratic state Sen. Dave Cortese mentioned. “The Democratic Party, has, in effect, just been called out by the voters on that issue.”
The state’s Democrats say they’ll focus this yr on making California extra reasonably priced, and social gathering leaders are more and more railing on the excessive prices of staples equivalent to groceries and residential electrical energy payments.
The explanation? Although Democrats stored their supermajorities in each homes of the Legislature after November’s election, nervousness about inflation helped Republicans make important inroads with working class voters in California, together with within the closely Democratic Bay Space. And within the Legislature, the GOP gained three seats.
Cortese, who represents a lot of Santa Clara County, mentioned voters made it clear that affordability is their “priority number one.”
“The watch word will be affordability,” mentioned Thad Kousser, professor of political science on the College of California, San Diego. “The Legislature and the Governor will be looking for any route they can toward addressing that in the short term and the long term.”
Though state Democrats are in lock step about their priorities this yr, social gathering leaders are tight-lipped to date. A spokesperson for Senate President Mike McGuire didn’t make him out there for an interview.
But Democrats have already launched some affordable-minded measures. One other effort to chop fuel costs, Meeting Invoice 30, would direct the California Air Assets Board to mix extra ethanol into gasoline. Meeting Invoice 6 would direct a state company to check development requirements that drive up dwelling constructing prices and probably suggest relaxed guidelines.
As in years previous, Republicans don’t have almost sufficient votes to halt Democrats’ plans for not less than the following two years. Sen. Brian Jones, the Republican minority chief within the state Senate, could discover frequent floor this session with Democrats on affordability points, he mentioned, however he isn’t afraid to dissent.
“When they’re working on issues that are harmful to Californians, we’re going to fight ’em, and we’re going to present our solutions,” he mentioned.
Thus far, Republicans are pushing plans to reverse controversial amendments to a state air air pollution program, that are anticipated to additional elevate fuel costs, and minimize taxes on fuel and electrical energy.
McGuire and Meeting Speaker Robert Rivas informed CalMatters final month that reasonably priced housing and companies for California’s rising inhabitants of unhoused folks will likely be prime of thoughts this session, in addition to electrical energy payments.
“Obviously, homelessness has been on the top of everyone’s mind here in the Bay Area for a very long time,” mentioned Sen. Josh Becker of Menlo Park, who chairs the Bay Space Caucus.
This session, Becker mentioned he plans to advance “interim housing” options that quickly present shelter for unhoused folks. That may most likely embrace a follow-up invoice to Senate Invoice 1395, a legislation now in impact that seeks to ramp up development of tiny properties by exempting them from the California Environmental High quality Act, he mentioned.
Becker additionally plans to fight rising dwelling energy payments and assist shore up insurance coverage protection for properties in wildfire-prone areas. Final month, California Insurance coverage Commissioner Ricardo Lara unveiled a regulation to revive protection that might permit dwelling insurers to drive up charges by as much as 50%. A spokesperson mentioned Becker, who sits on the Senate’s insurance coverage committee, plans to observe the brand new rules and “step in” later this yr in the event that they’re not making insurance coverage extra reasonably priced or accessible.
“I’m getting outreach from people who are completely losing coverage,” mentioned Becker, whose district contains the Santa Cruz Mountains. “That’s kind of existential. Making sure they’re covered is job one.”
Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco has already launched two payments to chop well being care prices for sufferers. Senate Invoice 40 would cap copays for insulin at $35 for a month provide, and Senate Invoice 41 would regulate pharmacy profit managers — middlemen that affect the price and availability of medicines.
Past “Trump-proofing” California insurance policies and affordability, lawmakers additionally plan to introduce a slew of payments on a variety of matters throughout the brand new legislative session, from synthetic intelligence to training and constitutional conventions. Lawmakers had launched almost 180 payments as of Jan. 5.
Amongst them is a placeholder invoice launched by Assemblyman Marc Berman, a Menlo Park Democrat, to hurry up California’s notoriously gradual vote depend course of, which stretched on for weeks this yr.
“Details still to come,” Berman mentioned.
Initially Printed: January 6, 2025 at 2:10 PM PST
