During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Story Is,” California gubernatorial candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said California has issues with costs, unemployment, and business creation, but dodged on whether the inflation issue is the fault of Democrats.
Host Elex Michaelson asked, “So, let’s talk about the cost of living…California has the highest cost of housing, highest price of gas — according to AAA — most homeless people. We know that. And California has –.”
Swalwell cut in to say, “We’re also — we have the highest unemployment rate in the country. We also have the fewest new small business starts. And I want us to be a start-up nation again, as a nation-state. I’m going to give a tax holiday to every small business for their first three years. I don’t want you to worry about your taxes. I want you to create jobs, increase business-to-business revenue for those small businesses that have been in existence, and just add on new businesses to California and set a tone that California is open to business, particularly small business and entrepreneurs.”
Michaelson then asked, “But, right now, the state’s leadership is all Democratic, Democratic governor, two Democratic senators, Democratic supermajorities. Don’t Democrats bear some of the responsibility or most of the responsibility for the fact that it’s so expensive in this state?”
Swalwell responded, “Well, look, we are suffering inflation across the country.”
Michaelson then cut in to counter, “But we’ve been having this problem before all the inflation issues.”
Swalwell responded, “Sure. And I’m not going to look to the past. I’m running to be the governor next year.”
Swalwell added that he’ll declare a statewide housing emergency on his first day in office and “require every agency in this state to make a decision within 90 days on any pending housing project”, a requirement that would pause CEQA environmental regulations, along with longer-term reforms to CEQA environmental regulations. He further stated that he wants an above-the-line credit for TV and film and for the state to be “the easiest place to film, not the hardest place to film.”
Swalwell further said that he doesn’t want oil refineries to leave the state and wants an all-of-the-above energy policy. He also called for expanding public-private partnerships and giving more rights to family members to fight homelessness. Swalwell also stated that he wants to digitize the DMV.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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