SACRAMENTO >> State Sen. Mike McGuire’s new committee assignments for the upcoming legislative session will afford him the opportunity to pay for delayed infrastructure investment and help push back against conservative policies likely to come from the incoming Trump administration, McGuire said last week.
McGuire earlier this month was appointed chairman of the Governance and Finance Committee, which oversees all state and local revenue as well as planning and land use, and he was also appointed a member of the Budget and Fiscal Review Committee and the Budget Subcommittee on Resources, Environmental Protection, Energy, and Transportation. In his new roles, McGuire hopes to play a key part in lawmakers’ efforts to fix the state’s roads, preserve state programs, and continue California’s leadership on national issues, he said.
One of McGuire’s “top priorities” is to pass a transportation bill that would raise $6 billion a year to pay for deferred maintenance and repairs for state highways as well as county and city roads, he said. Deferred repairs for state roads and bridges have left the state with a $59 billion shortfall for needed repairs over the next decade, and local roads and bridges face a shortfall of $78 billion, according to the text of the bill.
AB 1, which was introduced earlier this year, would raise funds through a $38 inflation-adjustable increase in the state’s annual vehicle-registration fee, a new $165 inflation-adjustable fee for zero-emissions vehicles, a $0.012 gasoline-tax increase, and other non-restricted revenue, according to the Legislature’s online overview of the bill.
If enacted, the Department of Transportation would apportion $7 million to the County of Mendocino alone, which in a state report had some of the worst roadways. Indeed, Mendocino County rated behind Lake County for the condition of its traffic routes.
McGuire is committed to shielding the state’s food-stamp program and health-care exchange from potential cuts or changes enacted by soon-to-be-president Donald Trump, who has been harshly critical of government-assistance programs, he said. He will likely participate in negotiations with the federal government to minimize reductions in federal aid to state programs and compensate for cuts with state revenue, he said.
The state’s CalFresh program is funded almost entirely by the federal government, which contributes about $8 billion a year, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
About 1.3 million Californians are enrolled in subsidized insurance policies offered through Covered California. McGuire said he intends to fight to ensure the most vulnerable residents receive needed services.
He intends to push the Legislature toward maintaining California’s aggressive approach to fighting climate change, he said. The Legislature, which passed a law in 2006 mandating drastic reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions, will continue to serve as an example of environmental stewardship despite the incoming Trump administration’s possible withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, an international accord to reduce emissions that was signed by 195 countries in 2015, he said.
McGuire also vowed to protect the state’s ongoing experiment with marijuana legalization. The presumptive nominee for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has voiced his desire to reverse the federal government’s current tolerance for liberalized state policies on the drug.
“Mendocino County for many decades has been the hub for cannabis, and the nominee for attorney general wants to roll back the federal government’s policy on cannabis to what we saw in the 1950s,” McGuire said.
“California voters have spoken, and they want to see legalization of cannabis,” McGuire added. “And we believe we will have to defend the voice of California voters on this issue.”
