Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Walters : California and the Political Food Chain
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 4 years ago on
March 24, 2021

Share

While the relationships among the various levels of American government are often cooperative, always lurking in the background is what one might characterize as a political food chain.

Officials plot constantly to impose their will on counterparts occupying lower links of the chain while avoiding similar efforts by those above them — all in the name of better governance, of course.

We’re seeing one example of the syndrome now in the efforts of California’s legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom to confront California’s housing crisis. They want to compel local governments, particularly cities, to make more land available for high-density housing to serve low- and moderate-income families, and override local zoning laws that favor single-family homes on large lots.

Dan Walters

Opinion

Locals See State Efforts as Heavy Handed

Local officials tend to view the state’s efforts as heavy-handed, one-size-fits-all violations of their traditional rights to control land use and thus shape the atmosphere of their communities. But advocates of state intervention say it’s needed to overcome not-in-my-backyard resistance that discriminates against the poor and the non-white.

As state officials strive to impose their will on local governments, they often resist the federal government’s efforts to do the same on states. California’s former attorney general, Xavier Becerra, filed more than 100 lawsuits against the federal government during Donald Trump’s presidency, many of which asserted the principle of states’ rights to resist decrees from Washington.

Becerra now heads the federal health and welfare agency and can be expected to crack the whip on any states that resist federal policies in the programs he manages. That’s how the food chain works; it’s not personal animosity, just institutional jousting for control.

Dispute Over Restrictions on Federal Relief Funds

The recently enacted $1.9 trillion “stimulus” that Becerra’s new boss, President Joe Biden, pushed through Congress provides another example. It gives state and local governments $350 billion in aid, supposedly to make up for revenue losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. But one provision prohibits recipients from using the windfall to reduce taxes, and that has generated criticism from state officials of all ideological stripes that it interferes with their ability to manage their finances.

In California, politicians and interest groups on the left say it could prevent them from reducing tax burdens on the poor, such as expansion of the earned income tax credit, and small businesses.

State Finance Direrctor Keely Bosler told Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a letter that strictly applying the tax cut prohibition would “limit a state’s ability to adopt policies that support federal goals and could thus constrain the economic benefits that were intended by the authorization of these funds.”

“We’re trying to provide additional relief to businesses that took it in the teeth during the recession,” H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for Bosler’s Department of Finance, said. “We don’t want to go down that road until we’ve got further clarification from Washington.”

California business groups, meanwhile, say that the tax cut ban would undermine efforts to restore two business tax breaks that the state suspended last year when it appeared that COVID-19 would devastate state finances. With state revenues now running more than $14 billion over estimates, business leaders say that the tax breaks, which amount to more than $4 billion a year, should be reinstated.

The business-backed California Taxpayers Association and 16 other state taxpayer organizations also sent a letter to Yellen seeking clarity on what states can and cannot do under the tax cut language. The stimulus law gives her the authority to make those decisions in a classic example of how the intergovernmental food chain works.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

[activecampaign form=19]

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Madera County Wildfire Prompts Evacuation Warnings, Road Closures

DON'T MISS

Sanger Police Seek Public’s Help to Find Missing Teen

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Everyone Should Immediately Evacuate Tehran

DON'T MISS

Inside Trump’s Extraordinary Turnaround on Immigration Raids

DON'T MISS

Trump Approval Steady at 42%, Support Weakens for His Immigration Policy, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

DON'T MISS

Person Rescued from Fresno Canal, Third Incident in Recent Days

DON'T MISS

Arias Dodges Questions About His False Fresno ICE Raid Claim

DON'T MISS

Iranian State TV Halts Live Broadcast After Israeli Strike

DON'T MISS

Global Markets Recover on Iran Ceasefire Reports, Central Banks in Focus

DON'T MISS

Madera Man Sentenced to Over 21 Years for Fentanyl, Meth Trafficking

UP NEXT

Sanger Police Seek Public’s Help to Find Missing Teen

UP NEXT

Trump Says Everyone Should Immediately Evacuate Tehran

UP NEXT

Inside Trump’s Extraordinary Turnaround on Immigration Raids

UP NEXT

Trump Approval Steady at 42%, Support Weakens for His Immigration Policy, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

UP NEXT

Person Rescued from Fresno Canal, Third Incident in Recent Days

UP NEXT

Arias Dodges Questions About His False Fresno ICE Raid Claim

UP NEXT

Iranian State TV Halts Live Broadcast After Israeli Strike

UP NEXT

Global Markets Recover on Iran Ceasefire Reports, Central Banks in Focus

UP NEXT

Madera Man Sentenced to Over 21 Years for Fentanyl, Meth Trafficking

UP NEXT

Touring a Tunnel That Leads Underneath a Hospital in Southern Gaza

Inside Trump’s Extraordinary Turnaround on Immigration Raids

17 hours ago

Trump Approval Steady at 42%, Support Weakens for His Immigration Policy, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

17 hours ago

Person Rescued from Fresno Canal, Third Incident in Recent Days

17 hours ago

Arias Dodges Questions About His False Fresno ICE Raid Claim

17 hours ago

Iranian State TV Halts Live Broadcast After Israeli Strike

19 hours ago

Global Markets Recover on Iran Ceasefire Reports, Central Banks in Focus

19 hours ago

Madera Man Sentenced to Over 21 Years for Fentanyl, Meth Trafficking

19 hours ago

Touring a Tunnel That Leads Underneath a Hospital in Southern Gaza

19 hours ago

Suspect in Minnesota Lawmaker Killing Visited Other Legislators’ Homes, Prosecutors Say

19 hours ago

Spyware From US-Backed Israeli Firm Targeted European Journalists, Report Finds

20 hours ago

Madera County Wildfire Prompts Evacuation Warnings, Road Closures

A wildfire burning near Raymond Road and Avenue 16 in Madera County has prompted evacuation warnings and road closures, authorities said Mon...

15 hours ago

A wildfire near Raymond Road and Avenue 16 in Madera County has prompted evacuation warnings and road closures as officials urge residents to prepare to leave if threatened on Monday, June 16, 2025. (Madera County SO)
15 hours ago

Madera County Wildfire Prompts Evacuation Warnings, Road Closures

Sanger police are searching for Kaylani Thompson, 17, who went missing Saturday, June 14, 2025, after leaving her home and was last seen getting into a white sedan. (Sanger PD)
15 hours ago

Sanger Police Seek Public’s Help to Find Missing Teen

A view of the cityscape in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 16, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
16 hours ago

Trump Says Everyone Should Immediately Evacuate Tehran

17 hours ago

Inside Trump’s Extraordinary Turnaround on Immigration Raids

President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
17 hours ago

Trump Approval Steady at 42%, Support Weakens for His Immigration Policy, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

A person was rescued from a Fresno canal Monday, June 16, 2025, near Dakota and Ninth Street, marking the third such incident in recent days, officials said. (Fresno FD)
17 hours ago

Person Rescued from Fresno Canal, Third Incident in Recent Days

17 hours ago

Arias Dodges Questions About His False Fresno ICE Raid Claim

19 hours ago

Iranian State TV Halts Live Broadcast After Israeli Strike

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend