Dave Cortese: extend cap-and-trade, fund high-speed rail
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TRANSPO SENATE LEADER: FUND HIGH SPEED RAIL STUDY
The Legislature should extend the cap-and-trade program and direct $1 billion a year to California’s beleaguered high-speed rail project. That’s according to state Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, who spoke out Monday to shore up support for his related legislation, Senate Bill 545.
On Friday, the High Speed Rail Authority released a report that said the bullet train project could be up and running between Merced and Bakersfield by 2032 but still had funding gaps that threatened its ability to connect cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Cortese — flanked by rail authority chief executive Ian Choudri, and representatives from organized labor and business — spoke at a press conference in support of SB 545, which would require California to commission a study of the economic advantages for businesses and other opportunities near areas close to planned railways.
Cortese, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, made the case that if California invested more dollars into high-speed rail, then the private sector would follow.
“As a representative for Silicon Valley, which converted from ... orchards in my lifetime, dairies, farms, to the greatest economic force in the country in a single county,” he said, “that all happens with public investment, then private investment follows.”
High-speed rail, which voters first greenlit in 2008, has become a target for local Republicans and those in the White House who see it as a symbol for government waste. Vice committee chair state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, accused Democrats of “moving the goalposts” and complained about the project’s “delay, rising costs and endless raids on cap-and-trade revenues.”
“The only thing high-speed about this bullet train is the speed at which they (Democrats) waste money,” he said in a statement.
WILL A GOP DISTRICT PUNT FOR THE OTHER PARTY?
Via William Melhado...
Former NFL kicker Chris Kluwe hopes he can use his star power to flip a solidly Republican Assembly district blue next year. The footballer and LGBTQ+ rights advocate has been gathering attention in his home of Orange County by criticizing policies of Republican local leaders.
Kluwe announced his campaign for Assembly District 72 after Assemblymember Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach, who currently represents the seat, announced her intention to not seek a third term. Instead, Dixon is running for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.
Dixon won the district last year by 19 points, but Kluwe hopes that voters’ distaste with President Donald Trump, and candidates aligned with him, will be enough for Orange County voters to back a Democrat.
“From children to seniors, many in our communities are struggling under the chaos perpetuated by MAGA extremists at the local and national levels,” Kluwe said in a Monday statement. “Orange County residents want, and deserve, leaders in public office who have the courage to do the right thing for their constituents, not just when it is politically convenient, and I have proven multiple times I am willing to fight when a fight is required, regardless of the cost to myself.”
Kluwe gained political prominence earlier this year after he was arrested for disrupting an assembly during a Huntington Beach City Council meeting during which he denounced Trump’s Make America Great Again policies as a “Nazi movement.”
Kluwe played as a punter from 2005 to 2012 for the Minnesota Vikings. During and after his time in the NFL, Kluwe was an outspoken advocate for same-sex marriage. He alleged that the Vikings released him from the team over his support for gay marriage. Kluwe and the team settled rather than take the issue to trial.
Kluwe’s proposals include zoning reform to accelerate the construction of more affordable housing and more regulation around artificial intelligence to ensure it is safely used in schools and workplaces.
Three other candidates have filed statements of intent to run in the Southern California district. Two Republicans are in the race: Huntington Beach Councilmember Gracey Van Der Mark and former Assemblymember Matthew Harper. Another Democrat, U.S. Coast Guard veteran Jordan Kirby, is also in the race.
A HEALTHCARE GOVERNOR? Via Nicole Nixon...
Billing himself as a future “healthcare governor,” Xavier Becerra touted his experience expanding access to care and fighting President Donald Trump during a Sacramento campaign stop Monday.
At Pucci’s, a 95-year-old East Sacramento pharmacy, Becerra also picked up an endorsement from the California Partnership for Health, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of health clinics that serve low-income and rural patients.
“Health care is on the ballot in 2026, make no mistake about that,” he said said, pointing to President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” which will cut $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade and yanked funding for Planned Parenthood clinics and grants for medical research.
Becerra was joined by the pharmacy’s owners, Joel Hockman and Dr. Clint Hopkins, as well as CPH Executive Director Leslie Abasta-Cummings, who said it was the first time the nonprofit group has endorsed a candidate for governor. “That’s how important this moment is,” she said, adding the health care industry is facing “unprecedented” headwinds.
“As AG, I beat Donald Trump by defending the Affordable Care Act all the way to the Supreme Court, and we won,” he said. “Under my leadership as Secretary of Health and Human Services, more Americans than ever secured their own health care coverage.”
Many of those gains are expected to be erased under cuts to Medicaid and other federal subsidies.
Becerra also weighed in on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to freeze Medi-Cal enrollment for some undocumented immigrants to help balance the state budget, calling it “penny-wise but pound-foolish.”
“When our families come to visit the doctor, it’s not because it’s a choice, it’s a necessity,” he said, predicting that emergency room visits, “ the most expensive way to get help,” will rise as they become the safety net for people without insurance.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“They’re having backroom deals, making decisions without our knowledge, and then trying to ram those decisions down our throat.”
—California Republican Party chair Corrin Rankin on why Republicans are suing again to stop Democrats’ redistricting plan.
Best of The Bee:
- California Republicans sue again to stop Newsom’s redistricting plan, via Lia Russell
- California unions held their ground last year but face big tests in 2025, via Cathie Anderson
- What’s in a district? Rural Californians react to Democratic gerrymandering play, via Nicole Nixon & Lia Russell
This story was originally published August 26, 2025 at 4:55 AM.
