California Candidates Ignore Unelected Agencies

Candidates for Congress, governor, and various state offices promise to make California affordable again, build new housing, fight the “special interests,” and so forth. Missing in the rhetoric are the powerful agencies that operate beyond the reach of the voters. Consider, for example, the California Air Resources Board.

On Thursday, CARB will vote on updates to its “cap and invest” program, which forces energy companies to buy allowances and fund climate projects. CARB director Lauren Sanchez, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, remains committed to the state’s “climate goals,” which she calls “some of the most ambitious in the country if not the world.”

The vote comes as workers and businesses choose to leave California, including the recent closure of two key refineries. Californians are rightly concerned that CARB will prompt other refiners to depart and further boost the price of gasoline. As the people should know, sky-high gasoline prices have been one of CARB’s goals from the start.

Back in the 1990s, when gasoline sold for approximately $1.20 a gallon, recurring CARB boss Mary Nichols, a lawyer, not a scientist, touted $5-a-gallon for gas as a great thing. Nichols championed Assembly Bill 32, the “Global Warming Solutions Act,” with a host of new regulations. In 2017, Lt. Gov. Newsom supported Senate Bill 1, increasing the state’s gasoline excise tax by 12 cents and diesel tax by 20 cents.

Gov. Newsom’s CARB appointee Lauren Sanchez is an architect of the “cap and invest” program, formerly “cap and trade.” Nichols and Sanchez never had to face the voters, and in that elite status, they are not alone.

The California Coastal Commission, a legacy of recurring governor Jerry Brown, is an unelected body that overrides scores of elected governments on land-use issues. The CCC’s regulatory zealots run roughshod over property rights and expand corruption. In 1993, for example, commissioner Mark Nathanson was sentenced to prison for shaking down Hollywood celebrities for bribes.

The CCC’s anti-development ideology has made coastal residency practically impossible for working people, but the damage is more extensive. In 2022, the Commission rejected a desalination plant that would have provided Orange County with abundant fresh water. Commissioner Dayna Bochco, an entertainment lawyer and wife of the late “Doogie Howser M.D.” producer Steven Bochco, explained that “the ocean is under attack from climate change already.”

More recently, the Commission opposed launches by SpaceX from Vandenberg Space Force Base, which has conducted jet and missile launches since the late 1950s. For the commissioners, the problem was the politics of Elon Musk. Commissioner Susan Lowenberg, an appointee of Newsom, complained that “our own government is thumbing their nose at another branch of our government,” without explaining that her “branch of government” is not elected by the people.

Dr. Kate Huckelbridge joined the CCC as a staffer and in 2022 was appointed executive director by fellow commissioners, all appointed by politicians. In effect, that doubles the affront to the people of California, whose taxes support the CCC.

The scores of elected city and county governments on California’s coast are perfectly capable of handling land-use and environmental issues. Despite the abuses of power and waste of taxpayer dollars, no California governor has openly proposed the elimination of the Coastal Commission.

Newsom eliminated CCC permit requirements for those who lost homes in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires. That was small consolation for those who still face the regulatory regime of Los Angeles County. As of January, fewer than one dozen homes have been rebuilt. The homeless victims have a right to wonder why they needed any CCC permit in the first place, and what purpose, if any, is served by CARB.

The tradeoff here is not the environment versus pollution. It’s climate change superstition versus economic reality. In this dynamic, unelected bureaucrats exclude the people from the resources of their own state, from the Pacific Ocean to oil reserves, in which California ranks seventh among the 50 states, according to the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA).

If they truly want to make California more affordable, candidates for public office need to make clear their stand on unelected bureaucracies such as CARB and the CCC. Thursday, when CARB makes the call on refineries, would be a good time for the announcement.