Alexei Koseff
| CalMatters
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The leaders of the state Legislature have a message for voters: We know you’re frustrated with how expensive California is — and we’re going to fix it.
After a painful election that sparked recriminations and soul-searching among Democrats across the country, state Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas are returning to Sacramento recommitted to addressing the affordability issues that appear to have pushed more voters toward the Republican Party in November.
As a new two-year legislative session kicked off on Monday at the state Capitol, McGuire and Rivas told CalMatters in separate interviews that the priority will be advancing policies that lower the cost of living for working Californians, including by building more housing, making energy cheaper and improving public infrastructure.
“Our only way forward is to acknowledge that we have to do better,” Rivas, a Salinas Democrat, said. “It’s clear — we haven’t done enough.”
Just don’t expect any dramatic changes under the dome. Despite losing a handful of seats, both leaders are adamant that returning Democratic supermajorities signal that voters are still on board with their values, if not always the outcomes of their governance.
Instead, the most significant difference in Sacramento next year is likely to be the shadow of a new president, Republican Donald Trump, who made California a punching bag on the campaign trail and has repeatedly threatened the state.
With many in state government resuming the resistance posture that defined California’s relationship to Trump during his first term from 2017 to 2021 — a concurrent special session called by Gov. Gavin Newsom to provide as much as $25 million for expected litigation also convened on Monday — it’s unclear how the Legislature will balance those competing interests and whether responding to Trump will ultimately distract from the work that the leaders say needs to happen on affordability.
“I firmly believe that we have to fight the damaging and destructive policies that Donald Trump is going to advance,” McGuire, a Santa Rosa Democrat, said. “We’re going to need to fight the Trump administration, but we can’t take our eye off all the challenges we need to fix.”
Taking losses in stride
The November election was undoubtedly a disappointment, though not a disaster, for legislative Democrats in California.
The Assembly caucus defended all of its incumbents but picked up none of the Republican districts it targeted and lost two open seats that had previously been held by Democrats. The Senate caucus also failed to flip its target districts, and members are fuming after a union ally helped the GOP take out one of their own, the first sitting Senate Democrat to lose in a presidential election in more than four decades.
It was the best showing in a decade for legislative Republicans — all the more remarkable because Trump, who California Democrats have successfully used as a foil for years, was on the ballot. The party has celebrated it as proof that voters are fed up with how the Democrats in charge have handled affordability, homelessness and crime.
“As Californians grow increasingly frustrated with the failures of Democrat leadership, they are shifting toward Republican solutions,” Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones of San Diego said in a statement last week.
Democrats nevertheless maintain total control in Sacramento, including 60 out of 80 seats in the Assembly and 30 out of 40 seats in the Senate. McGuire and Rivas insist those results refute the notion that they have fallen out of step with what Californians want.
Rivas called it a “clear mandate” for Democrats — to focus on the issues that matter to voters, prove they are serious about governing and follow through with better outcomes.
“No, I don’t think we are out of touch,” he said. “It’s not about changing who we are, but it’s about changing our approach to addressing these many challenges.”
McGuire was even more resolute that legislative Democrats had won in a landslide.
“Do we need to reflect? Absolutely. But the numbers don’t lie,” he said. “The Senate Republican Caucus still fits into a minivan.”
Crime not a priority
The leaders have few details yet about how exactly they will address the cost of living in the coming session, as members continue to develop their legislative agendas.
McGuire said his caucus would advance an affordability plan “that makes the lives of working Californians and seniors better” and “go to the mat to fix our homelessness crisis.” Rivas said he expected housing to be at the top of the list for his caucus, as well as reviving a package of bills to lower energy prices that fell short last session.
One issue that does not appear to be a priority is crime, a source of increasing anxiety and frustration for many Californians, even after voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36, which strengthens penalties for some drug and theft offenses.
Legislative Democrats largely backed Newsom earlier this year as he unsuccessfully tried to negotiate the measure off the November ballot. It ultimately won approval from more than 68% of voters, reversing a decade-long trend of the electorate loosening California’s criminal justice laws.
McGuire and Rivas defended their approach, which included passing a dozen bills cracking down on retail theft this summer as negotiations over the ballot measure fizzled — a legislative package that McGuire argues will do far more to solve the problem than Proposition 36.
Though he said lawmakers “need to listen” to the fact that voters wanted to go even further, McGuire did not commit to any additional action.
Rivas said he is serious about holding people who break the law accountable, but added that it is important to ensure more services, such as drug rehabilitation, are available to prevent a return to an earlier era where California’s prisons were deemed unconstitutionally overcrowded.
“This is more than just sending people to jail. This is about alternatives to incarceration,” Rivas said. “There is a pendulum. It swings hard left, hard right. We want to do an adequate job where that pendulum does not swing at all.”
The Trump factor
The Democratic leaders’ plans could be upended by what Trump decides to do when he takes office on Jan. 20.
Fighting back against the president became an inescapable focus of California officials during Trump’s first term. While the Legislature passed laws to protect the environment, prevent cooperation with immigration enforcement and even try to pry loose Trump’s tax returns, the state sued his administration more than 120 times over policy disputes.
Just two days after Trump won the presidency again last month, Newsom called a special session seeking additional funding for the state Department of Justice and other state agencies as officials prepare another barrage of litigation. Battles are expected this time over access to abortion medication, California’s commitment to phasing out gas-powered cars and protections for immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.
McGuire said the special session is important so that California can move with speed to “build a legal firewall” as it did before.
“The United States of America is in the calm before the storm. The hurricane is about to hit,” he said. “And shame on us if we’re not battening down the hatches.”
While he’s “all in” on any genuine opportunity to work with Trump to benefit California, McGuire said “there’s also a dark red line” that he won’t accept the president crossing.
“I take Donald Trump at his word. He’s coming for those who don’t agree, and California is in the bullseye,” McGuire said. “If the president-elect tries to undermine our state, undermine our democracy, he’ll quickly see how determined the people of California truly are.”
But they may not be as determined as they were eight years ago. Trump’s second victory, including in the popular vote this time around, has been met by many Democrats more with resignation than defiance.
Even Rivas seems disinclined to leap back into the fray. He said California would defend its values, but with much of that work already done, lawmakers could focus instead on better serving working people and Latino communities who have felt left behind.
“This is not 2016,” he said. “Find an area in the last eight years where California hasn’t Trump-proofed already. Now is the time to roll up our sleeves.”
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Publish date : 2024-12-02 05:28:00
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