Biden ideas mostly in sync with state, but some feed feuds
A Joe Biden presidency would get California Attorney General Xavier Becerra out of federal court, but it’s not going to end intrastate battles, legal and otherwise.
Californians could find themselves simply moving to different courthouses with Biden’s campaign pushing a number of controversial — and litigationfriendly — state issues.
Biden, for example, wants to see California’s highspeed rail project completed, which plenty of people, Democrats and Republicans alike, characterize as an overpriced boondoggle rather than a muchneeded effort to link the state’s rural interior with San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Then there’s Biden’s call to have federal transit officials work with cities “to build ‘complete streets,’ designed to help drivers, pedestrians, cyclists
and others safely share the road.” That would be the same program Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed in October.
Biden also promises to “expedite permitting” and bring in experts to “help design commonsense zoning and building codes,” something many environmentalists view as shorthand for more development.
Very little of Biden’s program would happen quickly, however.
There will be “a robust public engagement process” for new projects, which in California often translates into drawnout discussions before the first shovel hits the dirt. But Biden is adamant that while Washington can provide the money and the direction, most of the decisions should be made locally.
In climate and other concerns, Biden’s campaign plans say that “the people living in each area must be part of developing the solutions to best address their unique challenges.”
Biden will work “hand in hand with federal, local and state governments to tackle some of our country’s most pressing problems,” said Jessica Mejía, his California campaign director.
Here’s how a Biden presidency could affect the nation’s most populous state:
Immigration
Biden’s plan to reverse President Trump’s immigration policies would end a series of federal fights with California over issues like the border wall, deportation of longtime, undocumented residents and protections for Dreamers, young people brought across the border by their parents.
Biden would end Trump’s public charge rule, which allows immigration officials to deny permanent resident status to those who have received, or they believe are likely to receive, virtually any type of public assistance.
While he would not break up the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, Biden would increase training and demand independent oversight over both ICE and U.S Customs and the Border Patrol.
With more than 2 million undocumented residents in California, Biden’s pledge to push for legislation providing a road map to citizenship would be important for the state. And his call to expand the number of visas for highly skilled workers and end the limits on employmentbased visas by country would be a win for the tech industry.
Taxes, finance
By focusing on changes he characterizes as both progressive and achievable — not to mention less expensive — Biden comes up with a plan that would boost taxes on big business and wealthy Americans by about $3.4 trillion over 10 years. That’s a lot of money, but far less than the tax hikes proposed by some of his Democratic rivals.
Like much of his campaign agenda, Biden’s tax plan calls for moving in the same progressive direction as the party’s leftleaning mainstream, only not quite as far.
While he would reverse Trump’s slash of the corporate income tax to 21%, Biden would move it to 28%, still lower than the preTrump 35%. He would also put a 15% minimum tax on companies that report profits, even if they used legal deductions to cut their taxes to zero, as firms including Amazon, Netflix and Chevron have done in recent years.
Biden would return the top tax rate for the richest Californians to 39.6%, after Trump dropped it to 37%, but he doesn’t include the special surcharges on the superwealthy that both Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, his Democratic rivals, want.
That unwillingness to hit the wealthy harder has led other Democrats to complain that Biden is too close to big companies and the rich.
But at a San Francisco fundraiser in December, Biden told the crowd of wealthy supporters that, “if you elect me, most of you are not going to get a tax cut.” As a senator from Delaware, he said, he knew the state’s uberrich DuPont family didn’t need any help from the government, but “I never demonized them.”
Health care
Biden’s health care plan looks a lot like former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, only on steroids. While he says it builds on Obamacare, it includes plenty of things that never made it into the 2010 law, including a public option insurance plan and increased subsidies for those who can’t afford the full cost of coverage.
“I would call it radically incremental,” said Chris Jennings, a Democratic health care strategist.
The changes would mean far less in California than elsewhere, since only about 7.2% of state residents were uninsured in 2018, according to a U.S. census survey. Contrast that to Texas, where nearly 18% of state residents were without health insurance.
But while an overwhelming percentage of Californians have insurance, many are putting up thousands of dollars each year in costs, deductibles and copayments. Biden’s plan would eliminate the incomeeligibility cap for tax credits and ensure that no family would pay more than 8.5% of income on health insurance.
Biden also would allow anyone to buy a Medicarelike public option insurance plan, which he says would be able to negotiate lower prices from hospitals and doctors.
According to Biden’s campaign, his health plan would cover 97% of Americans. As many Democrats see it, the fact that it’s not 100% is the problem.
Not only are some Americans not covered, but people also are still paying directly for their care, something that wouldn’t happen under the various Medicare for All plans.
“Coverage is not the same as health care,” since that means some people still won’t be able to afford the insurance, said Stephanie Roberson, government relations director for the California Nurses Association, which has long backed a governmentadministered health system. “We need to make sure people can get highquality care at no cost.”
Biden, though, argues that more inclusive plans, with their multitrilliondollar price tags, are not realistic and are too dramatic a change for the country to swallow.
Environment
Biden’s plans to deal with climate change are in sync with what California is proposing. Along with the state, he wants a 100% clean energy economy by 2050, with netzero carbon emissions. Biden also says he will focus on preserving the Clean Air Act and develop tough fuel economy standards designed to ultimately have all new cars run on electricity.
A proposed $400 billion investment in clean energy research and innovation could pay dividends for California farmers, since Biden’s top priority will be developing the next generation of biofuels. Manure, grass, crop residue and other biological material can be turned into reducedemission fuel, his campaign says, and will “create quality jobs across rural America.”
Infrastructure
Biden’s focus on transportation improvements would change the way Californians get around. He plans to spend $1.3 trillion over 10 years in upgrading the nation’s underpinning, with much of it going for competitive grants to cities, counties and states that can show innovative “smart growth” ideas for the money.
They are big plans that would have an effect on California. By 2030, Biden says, he will provide quality public transportation for every city with 100,000 or more residents. In California, that could include as many as 75 cities, all the way down to places like Vacaville, Daly City and San Mateo.
Biden would double federal funding for airport improvements and renovations and upgrade their technology. Other money would go to improve ports.
Then there’s Biden’s plan for “the second great railroad revolution.” He argues that “a 21st century passenger rail system is essential to our competitiveness” as well as to reducing greenhouse gases.
Although there’s no price tag for the rail plan, it would not only work toward finishing California’s highspeed rail system, but also begin construction “of an endtoend highspeed rail system that will connect the coasts.”
Not everyone is convinced that would be money well spent.
“You could argue that federal money makes a difference, but how much money would that be?” said Joe Nation, a Stanford University public policy professor and former San Rafael state assemblyman. “The train would also likely need a longterm subsidy, so it’s tough to make it pencil out, to make economic sense.”
Biden also has plans for the nation’s roads and bridges, making sure that some of the $50 billion for highway repairs in his first year in office “will go directly to cities and towns that own and run most of our roads.”