Affordability a key issue for Cal Dems, Republicans in new year
Alan Riquelmy
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — The speaker of the California Assembly started the new session of the Legislature by invoking affordability.
Speaker Robert Rivas, a Salinas Democrat, spoke to the state’s values as well. He pointed to its tolerance and equality. He noted that abortion and same-sex marriage are enshrined rights in the Golden State.
And then he veered toward affordability.
“We must chart a new path forward and renew the California dream by focusing on affordability,” Rivas said on Dec. 2, the first day of the 2025-26 session.
“The anxiety that many Californians are feeling right now, asking themselves: Can I pay my rent next month? Do I have to cut back on groceries? Can I afford to pay my electric bill?” the speaker added moments later.
Assemblymember James Gallagher, a Yuba City Republican and his chamber’s minority leader, pointed to Rivas’ comments on affordability in an interview with Courthouse News. He sees his party gaining two seats in the Assembly and one in the state Senate as pushing Democrats on the issue, as their policies have been “disastrous.”
Gallagher called affordability his top issue.
“We need to make California affordable again,” he said.
The Dec. 2 session of both legislative chambers served as an organizational day. Members took their oaths of office and began introducing bills. The real work starts Jan. 6, when the Legislature reconvenes.
The parties have different paths toward achieving affordability. Gallagher questioned how the state can reduce utility, gasoline and housing costs. He said it’s wrong for the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Air Resources Board — whose boards are comprised of unelected officials — to have power over raising those costs.
“I think you will see Republicans push for more oversight,” he added.
Rivas’ office said he was unavailable for comment.
In a statement to Courthouse News, Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire said his chamber will focus on making life more affordable, building housing, fighting homelessness and increasing the number of good-paying jobs in the state.
“We’re hitting the ground running on both regular session and special session when we return in January,” the North Coast Democrat said. “The stakes are high, but so is the energy and enthusiasm.”
Governor Gavin Newsom called the special session days after Donald Trump secured the presidency. Newsom has said he wants to Trump-proof the state. It’s expected the Legislature will commit millions of dollars to the state Department of Justice for anticipated litigation.
State Senator Suzette Martinez Valladares, a Santa Clarita Republican, called the special session “a headline-grabbing stunt” in a statement to Courthouse News. She argued that pulling money away from policies that could help people’s pocketbooks for a symbolic fight with Trump undermines the mandate voters delivered with the Nov. 5 passage of Proposition 36.
That ballot measure increased penalties for certain theft and drug offenses, undoing parts of the decade-old Proposition 47.
“As for me and a number of my legislative colleagues, we will be prioritizing public safety, affordability, and meaningful reforms over partisan distractions,” Valladares said.
Parallels
James Adams, a University of California, Davis political science professor, sees parallels between Trump’s win nationally and California Republicans flipping some seats in the Legislature.
When running in the 2020 presidential election, Kamala Harris — who ultimately became President Joe Biden’s vice president — ran on progressive issues like Medicare for All. For the 2024 presidential election, Harris emphasized her prosecutorial experience, Adams said.
It’s a change he noticed in California Democrats running for office as well, adding it was no surprise that voters ousted two Democratic district attorneys in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, respectively. Those defeats, and the passage of Proposition 36, show that Californians want to be tough on crime.
Adams saw public dissatisfaction with all systems — political, educational and health care. That translated into a loss for the party in power.
“I’m sure it hurt Kamala Harris and I’m sure it hurt Democrats, who are the supermajority party in California,” he said.
Looking forward, Adams said issues on the national stage will include taxes and immigration. And some bills already introduced in the Legislature for the upcoming session bear out that prediction on the state level.
Assembly Bill 4 — introduced by Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, a Fresno Democrat — would remove an existing barrier undocumented immigrants face when applying for the state’s health benefit exchange.
Currently, the exchange must apply for a federal waiver to allow people restricted from it to gain coverage. Arambula’s bill would remove that restriction, as well as have a program that grants coverage to people who otherwise can’t access it because of their immigration status.
There are two immigration-related bills at odds with each other.
Assembly Bill 15 — written by Assemblymember Mike Gipson, a Carson Democrat — would stop the state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from detaining someone based on an immigration hold or transferring them to an immigration authority, if they are eligible for release. It would also repeal existing laws that require the corrections department to work with the federal government when conducting deportation hearings on undocumented immigrants in state prison.
Assemblymember Bill Essayli, a Corona Republican, introduced Assembly Bill 85. It would require state law enforcement to cooperate with immigration authorities by holding and transferring someone, and providing release information if they have a felony conviction.
Republicans also have filed bills focused on policies they see as increasing costs.
Assembly Bill 12, written by Gallagher and two others, would void parts of an amendment made at the air resources board’s November meeting to the state’s low carbon fuel standard.
Republicans have argued that the amendment will lead to higher prices at the pump.
“Unfortunately, Gavin Newsom doesn’t want oversight or accountability,” Gallagher said.