Takeaways from the CBS California Governor's Debate: Candidates' stances on insurance costs, homelessness and more
California's affordability crisis, high gas prices and the future of healthcare funding were among the key issues addressed on Tuesday during the CBS California Governor's Debate, as candidates clashed over how to lower costs and who is to blame for the state's economic pressures.
Some candidates focused on expanding housing production, lowering prescription drug costs and protecting healthcare access, while others argued for cutting regulations, reducing taxes and scaling back the state's role in the economy.
The eight candidates who took the stage at Pomona College included Democrats Xavier Becerra, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter, Tom Steyer, Tony Thurmond and Antonio Villaraigosa, and Republicans Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton.
Anchors and reporters across CBS LA, CBS Bay Area and CBS Sacramento led moderated discussions on topics including California's affordability crisis, the environment and social issues.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the 90-minute debate:
How to restore the "California Dream"
CBS LA anchor Pat Harvey opened Tuesday's debate by asking candidates what they'd do to restore the "California Dream" as prices soar and residents struggle to afford the rising cost of living.
Former Fox News host Steve Hilton vowed to make the state "Califordable" by cutting utilities and making home-buying accessible to young people, though he didn't elaborate on specific policies.
Fellow Republican Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, said the state legislature's progressive agenda is "destroying California." He added that Democrats in the statehouse — where the party holds a supermajority — would have to work with him to carry out the mandate of voters if he's elected.
"It's not how I'm going to respond to them, it's how they're going to respond to me," Bianco said.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said homeownership was "the American Dream," and said he'd work to provide down-payment assistance grants for those looking to purchase a home.
"We will build two million housing units using surplus property that school districts have in every single county in this state," Thurmond said. "And we will build 2.3 million units by the year 2030."
Cutting red tape and regulations for housing construction remained a key talking point for billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer.
"We need to work to shorten and reduce the cost of permitting," he said. "We need to drop the cost of construction."
Antonio Villaraigosa, who previously served as Assembly Speaker and Los Angeles mayor, suggested a first-time buyer assistance program, offering a $25 billion initiative at no cost to the taxpayer that will help them get into their first house.
Former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter said that to meet the housing crisis, California has to build faster.
"California has permitting delays, a lack of labor," she said. "We need to innovate in housing to bring costs down."
Addressing California's high healthcare costs
Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra — who noted he worked on the Affordable Care Act when he served as California attorney general — said the first thing he would do to help protect California against future cuts to healthcare funding is "stop Donald Trump."
"Had Trump allowed the premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act to continue forward, millions of Californians would be able to afford their healthcare insurance," Becerra said.
He then took a shot at Hilton, referring to the president as Hilton's "daddy."
"We need someone who is going to fight Donald Trump, not agree with him," Becerra said.
Hilton offered a sharp response to Becerra: "I think what you just saw there is actually what's wrong with our politics in California."
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan shared a similar sentiment to Becerra on healthcare, calling Mr. Trump's tax cuts "cruel."
Bianco offered a different perspective, arguing that Californians shouldn't worry about what the federal government is doing.
"California is the fourth-largest economy in the world," Bianco said. "What do we care about a cut to medical?"
Tackling California's gas prices, the highest in the nation
Mahan renewed a promise to suspend the gas tax in California as prices continue to skyrocket amid the war in Iran.
"It is the most regressive tax in California," Mahan said. "Working people, rural people are spending three times as much maintaining our roads as wealthy EV owners."
Meanwhile, Becerra claimed cutting the gas tax would upend the state's infrastructure budget. He said he wants "everyone who is sitting here to drive on the roads, cross our bridges, make sure transit is working."
"You have to fund it [all] somehow," he added.
Becerra said he'd instead focus on building homes and lowering prescription drug prices.
Steyer told moderator Julie Watts he believed that California's high gas prices should be blamed on President Trump and the war with Iran.
"That war has driven up prices for everybody in California… and the cost to the oil companies has not gone up a penny," he said.
In a previous interview with CBS News California, Steyer said California should outsource all of its oil refining to other states or countries. Watts asked Steyer to expand on that point.
"What I said was that we should have the ability to outsource everything because we are under the thumb of the oil companies who are jacking up prices," Steyer responded when asked to clarify.
He added that outsourcing would be necessary "if we're going to get held up by the few refineries left in California."
Watts noted that oil companies have pushed back against claims of price gouging.
Porter, Bianco spar over California's FAIR Plan
Porter called California's FAIR Plan, the state's insurance of last resort, a "huge financial liability."
Bianco interrupted Porter's response and called the plan "single-payer."
"Excuse me," Porter replied. "I'm speaking."
Bianco then called the FAIR Plan a "failed environmental policy" that forced insurance companies to flee the state.
Porter argued that California should "insure the insurers" to help bring the companies back.
"There are ways that we can put California state dollars at play to bring down the cost of reinsurance, which would help more people come back into this market and write more affordable policies," she said.
Gubernatorial candidates discuss plans to tackle California's homelessness crisis
All candidates on stage agreed to support a plan to require those experiencing homelessness to enter a treatment facility if they repeatedly refuse assistance.
Porter noted that she'd support it only with proper "safeguards and provisions."
Bianco said he'd support such a plan for mental health services, but not for addiction-related treatment.
"Prop. 47 and these failed policies have made my jails the hotbed for mental health and drug addiction care, and that's not what they're supposed to be for," Bianco said of the 2014 ballot initiative, which reclassified some non-violent crimes and various drug-related offenses from felonies to misdemeanors.
Hilton said existing laws on homelessness must be enforced.
"It is illegal to live and camp on the streets," he said. "We need to increase mental health provisions, so we can take care of people where they should be — in mental health facilities."
Becerra agreed with Hilton, saying that treatment facilities need to be built up in order to keep people in their homes and away from the streets in the first place.
"Let's prevent people from losing their home," He said. "We're not going to watch you lose your home. We will try to help you keep it."
Villaraigosa cited mental health care, addiction treatment and more affordable housing as potential solutions to the crisis.
"It's true we need drug rehab. It's true that we need mental health services. And it's true we need housing," he said.
Wildfire prevention a priority for candidates
With recovery efforts still at the top of the minds of many Angelenos after last year's Palisades and Eaton fires, wildfire prevention was a key topic of Tuesday's debate.
Becerra kicked off the discussion by calling out insurance companies, saying they need to be open and transparent about their pricing models and policies for homeowners, particularly for those in fire-prone areas.
"We have to stop believing that we can get out of this mess unless we invest in prevention now, so we can avoid paying for failure later," he said. "Rate payers have to understand what their risk is, so they can understand what they're going to pay for insurance."
When asked what he'd do to prevent wildfires, Bianco said it was key to identify their "root causes."
"Their root causes were not because of climate change. The root causes, ask anyone, ask the insurance companies, they told [Governor] Newsom that this was going to happen because of failed environmental activism policies that do not allow the clearing of brush — the fuel of these fires — before they take over cities," he said. "This is 100% done by failed policies in California."
When moderator Sara Sadhwani reminded Bianco that the question was what he'd do in office, Thurmond interjected.
"[Bianco] doesn't have any ideas," Thurmond said. "He doesn't know what to do."
"Actually, I've been protecting you for my entire career," Bianco said. "The fire department will tell you — Cal Fire and every city and state agency — will tell you that it is government policies that do not allow them to fix [wildfire conditions] before, in the offseason."
The conversation later moved to Villargairosa, who offered potential solutions to California's growing wildfire problem.
"We've got to expand Cal Fire. We do have to do a lot more with prescribed burns," he said. "We've got to fix the insurance crisis because the people that were affected by [Palisades and Eaton Fires] aren't able to replace their homes. We've got to do an all-of-the-above strategy that understands that climate change is here."
Steyer, who referred to himself as the "change agent" among the candidates, focused on fossil fuel companies. He said as governor, he'd hold them accountable for the homes that burned in the Palisades and Eaton fires last year.
"We need to make them pay for the costs they have had, including all of the houses that burned down and the insurance costs that people are paying to insure those houses."
Porter said that, while in Congress, she did exactly what Steyer suggested.
"In Congress, I had a track record of making polluters pay," she said. "Raising the rental rate and royalty rate for those who drilled, raising bonding requirements to make sure polluters clean up their mess."
Hilton provided a possible solution that involved managing heavily wooded areas across the state.
"There's a very simple, common-sense way to do it, which is to have modern forest management," Hilton said. "So we don't have the fuel load in our forests, we can create jobs and opportunity in rural California and reduce carbon emissions in the process because we won't have the mega wildfires."