It was a routine phone call from my sister in Tennessee that brought home the absurdity of California’s cost of living. She was practically beaming through the line as she told me she’d just filled her tank for $1.89 a gallon. I congratulated her, genuinely—good news is good news, after all. Then I shared my own experience from that same week: $5.43 per gallon at a station near home in Santa Maria/Orcutt. The conversation paused, the kind of silence that speaks louder than words. How could two sisters, living in the same country, face such wildly different realities at the pump?
That moment stuck with me, especially as it echoed a debate I had with Assemblyman Gregg Hart during a candidates’ forum on October 7, 2024, hosted by the League of Women Voters. The question was pointed: “What would you do to limit the flood of regulations and improve transparency between the state government and California’s citizens?”
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