Democratic candidates for governor look to expand failed policies

The race for California’s governor has ramped up with seven of our candidates gathering for a debate on Tuesday sponsored by the Black Action Alliance. 

It featured Democratic candidates, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, billionaire and climate activist Tom Steyer, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, and former State Controller Betty Yee. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco was unable to attend, which left political commentator Steve Hilton as the lone Republican. 

Hilton took the opportunity to chastise Bianco for taking a knee during a BLM rally and drop a Trump-inspired takedown: “Chad Bianco has more baggage than LAX. We cannot have BLM-Bianco, the shifty sheriff as our candidate.” It’s an odd strategy to insult a candidate for governor of California for supporting progressive causes. 

The Democrats on the other hand took the opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to lost progressive policies, even when those initiatives are demonstrably misguided. Every one of them confirmed that if elected governor, they would choose to complete the California High-Speed Rail project. The project has had massive cost overruns with barely any of it completed and continuing that project is clearly a huge waste of taxpayer dollars – such waste is no barrier to the Democratic field.

Apart from just throwing money directly into the garbage, they demonstrated their commitment to continuing the mistakes of the past. Both Becerra and Steyer expressed support for the state unnecessarily meddling in the housing market with Becerra stating that he “will stabilize rent so that renters aren’t being gouged” and Steyer listing rent control as one of his strategies for lowering housing costs. 

Apparently, Steyer has had a change of heart about rent control given that last July he wrote on Twitter, “While it aims to protect tenants, it often reduces housing supply, discourages new construction, and fuels long-term displacement.” 

Steyer even demonstrated that he’s aware of the research that strongly suggests that rent control hurts those that it is intended to help, writing in that same post, “A landmark study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that expanding rent control in San Francisco reduced the city’s rental supply by about 15% and increased market rents by 5.1%. Similarly, a study across 27 U.S. metros—including New York and Los Angeles—found rent-control measures were linked to significant drops in total housing units, especially outside the poorest neighborhoods.”

Why Steyer has changed his mind despite his familiarity with the evidence that rent control is counterproductive is anyone’s guess.

On the affordability problem and wildfire recovery Becerra also stated that as governor he would freeze utility prices and home insurance premiums. Steyer similarly claimed that, “It’s the job of the governor to go to those [home] insurance companies and insist they charge fair rates.” 

Utility costs and home insurance rates undoubtedly contribute to the affordability problem in California. Between 2014 and 2024, the price of electricity almost doubled, which makes candidates who make such promises attractive to voters.

While there are many drivers of utility rate increases including the state’s ambitious climate change agenda, wildfire-related costs and grid upgrades are among the most significant according to a report by the California Legislature’s Nonpartisan Fiscal and Policy Advisor. Utility rate freezes would only disincentivize utility companies from upgrading their transmission infrastructure, possibly setting the stage for more destructive wildfires in the future. 

In that same vein, Becerra and Steyer’s proposals to freeze or lower home insurance premiums would only worsen the conditions that led to the catastrophe that was the Palisades and Eaton fires last year. The state has failed to allow insurance companies to adequately price and mitigate risk, which drove them to abandon the state’s insurance market, leading to homeowners having to rely on the state’s inadequately funded insurer of last resort, the FAIR Plan. 

All of the candidates spoke at length about cutting red tape and streamlining environmental policies, indicating that they do have the ability to learn. As well-intentioned as Democratic candidates may or may not be, our state would surely benefit if they would take the leap and abandon the misguided policies of the past. Freezing utility rates and rent control may sound wonderful but they are the product of fantastical thinking that is divorced from reality.

Rafael Perez is a columnist for the Southern California News Group. He is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Rochester. You can reach him at rafaelperezocregister@gmail.com.