By Kevin Kiley – May 9, 2024
It’s true. The state is raising the gas tax again. It will now be 60 cents per gallon. And this was just part of a dizzying week of insanity and ineptitude in California:
- The high-speed rail authority unveiled a “bridge to nowhere” that took 9 years and cost $11 billion.
- Newsom asked for more money to figure out what happened to the $24 billion he lost track of in homelessness spending.
- Politico reported of the gas-car ban: “Gavin Newsom is coming for your car, and he wants you to know it.”
- Tent encampments continued to spread on California campuses, and universities are even caving to their demands.
I took to the House Floor to call on Newsom and the Legislature to stop the gas tax increase – or better yet, suspend it altogether. And we are fighting back on every other front as well:
I’ve received a new committee assignment, joining House Transportation and Infrastructure, where I’m working to re-direct money from High-Speed Rail to our roads and highways.
- We are awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass – where I’ve asked the Court to allow homeless tent encampments to be cleared.
- We’ve passed a bill in the House to stop Newsom’s gas-car ban, by removing the federal waiver that he used to impose it.
- I introduced a Resolution in the House calling on universities to end all illegal encampments, and appeared on Inside California Politics to make sure our universities got the message.
There were also two major hearings this week. At one, I repeatedly asked Education Secretary Cardona to denounce what is happening on campuses; incredibly, he refused.
At the second, we brought in Berkeley School District’s Superintendent, as the campus chaos is infecting K-12 schools. During my questioning, she admitted using a “Liberated Ethnic Studies” curriculum that focuses on “dismantling capitalism” and has been likened to “Nazi propaganda.”
Following the hearing, I called for California’s new “ethnic studies” high school graduation requirement not to go into effect, given the risk it will spread such indoctrination throughout the state.
Help me restore sanity in California
Kevin Kiley is a California Congressman
