The Golden State is in the midst of its Gilded Age. We take enough money from taxpayers to accomplish just about anything we put our minds to. Why is it that we’re failing on just about every front?
From a narrow point of view, California is the most economically prosperous state in the country. If California was its own nation, it would be the world’s fifth largest economy, surpassing both India and the United Kingdom. We have a budget that breaks records nearly every year, due in no small part to the fact that our personal and corporate income taxes are some of the highest in the nation.
However, compared to other states, we rank 49th in affordability, 47th in education, and 46th in infrastructure. It’s no wonder a 2022 study by TopAgency argued California is one of the worst states to live in.
We have the highest population of unsheltered homeless in the nation, rank second to last in the availability of affordable housing, and have a median single-family home price of almost $900,000 as of May 2022. Our students regularly have some of the lowest science and math scores in the country, and we have the highest rate of adults without a high school diploma. Our infrastructure is failing, with some of the worst ranked road conditions in the nation and an energy grid that cannot withstand the demands of the most populous of all 50 states.
However, Californians do not need a handful of datasets to know that the California they live in has been on the decline for years. They need only turn on their TVs or drive through their cities.
Homelessness is rampant, affecting every locale from the suburbs to the Capitol. Our students’ testing scores are so terrible the Superintendent of Public Instruction threatened to delay the release of annual student testing data. All Californians were sent a phone alert in early September that if they didn’t use less electricity, “public health and safety” would be at risk.
The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of California’s state-level elected officials remain out of touch with the concerns of every-day Californians. Our “Golden State” is no more than a gilded farse as we continue to spend exorbitant amounts of money on showy, “look-at-us” policies while skipping over solutions that could actually return us to the California we know we can be.
Need examples? Here are just a few:
Instead of focusing on Californians’ main priorities, such as homelessness, crime, and the high cost of living, the Governor and his supermajority of democratic legislators have banned everything from the sale of gas-powered cars and lawn mowers to produce bags that protect against contamination.
The majority party spend millions promoting electric vehicles that low-income residents cannot afford but refuse to address the fact that “clean” energy policies like SB 1020 (Larid, 2022) are decreasing the availability of electricity. Californians now pay the 2nd highest electric rates in the nation, mostly because we generate less electricity per capita than 47 other states. Did I mention that California only produces less than 1% of the world’s carbon emissions?
Though wildfires continue to level entire towns and offset any emission reductions we accomplish, the state refused to manage our forests or invest in wildfire prevention until it was too late. Instead, they blatantly lied about their efforts, claiming they had treated 90,000 acres with fuel breaks and prescribed burns when in reality, the number was closer to 11,300 acres.
Our cities and law enforcement have their hands tied in cleaning up homeless encampments, despite the fact that they pose a health and safety risk to both those experiencing homelessness and those in the surrounding communities. Nearly 230 homeless individuals died last year in Sacramento alone – half from substance abuse – yet the majority party refuses to move forward legislation, such as SB 1350 (Melendez, 2022) and SB 1298 (Ochoa Bogh, 2022), that would have helped address the fentanyl crisis and increased mental health facilities’ bed capacities.
Although abortion is by no means under threat in California, the Governor announced $200 million in taxpayer funds to expand access to it. The same exact day, he vetoed AB 1692 (Voepel, 2022), which would have funded data regarding female veterans’ mental health, citing its potential costs and the need to “spend diligently.”
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Violent crimes, such as homicide and rape, have increased in recent years. Our robbery, motor vehicle theft, and substance abuse rates are among the highest in the country. Despite these increases, the Department of Justice reports the number of overall arrests continues to decrease. More crimes are being committed but less people are being held accountable due to soft-on-crime-but-hard-on-victims policies such as SB 73 (Wiener, 2021), SB 81 (Skinner, 2021), and SB 483 (Allen, 2021), all of which limit the ability of judges to impose stricter sentences.
The state has more than enough resources to address our concerns but they lack the will to do so. California is not golden, but gilded; a failing state with a surface-level appearance of prosperity given the sheer size of our economy and the unrealistic promises of our officials. It is up to the voters to look beyond the grandstanding and realize that in order to keep the lights on, a change must be made.
Hopefully, that change begins in November.
Melissa Melendez represents the 28th District in the State Senate.