Ezra Klein

Thank you, Mr. Villaraigosa.

I want to talk a bit about one of the difficult fights that a lot of housing projects have run into, which is the conflict with cities and counties.

And Mr. Becerra, you were State Attorney General when California began suing cities over housing.

You sued Huntington Beach.

You led the San Mateo case that expanded the Housing Accountability Act's zone of authority.

Governor Newsom has now threatened lawsuits against 15 more cities and counties for dragging their feet or opposing state housing law.

Do these lawsuits work to build more housing?

I mean, Huntington Beach, it's been just years of legal wrangling, not new build.

And if they don't, what enforcement tools would you want to use or create as governor to align cities with the state?

But has that law given access to the kinds of penalties that are needed to make it work?

I mean, the Huntington Beach case is interesting because the state and Huntington Beach have gone back and forth.

There was elections in Huntington Beach that led to more opposition.

And to my knowledge, it has not led to the housing being built, that there is some absence of sanction that is sufficient to make the cities that don't want to do it agree with the state.

Let me pick up on the incentives.

One of the lines I thought was interesting in your plan is, quote, we will use a carrot approach as well.

Cities meeting their obligations should be first in line for state resources.

Which state resources?

And let me pick up the question from the other side.

So you have cities, you know, and again, I'll use Huntington Beach as an example, say, we don't want to do this.

The representatives you're dealing with there are elected on a platform of not doing this.