{"id":247514,"date":"2026-04-01T23:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T23:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/247514\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T23:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T23:38:12","slug":"california-governor-candidates-talk-water-regulations-at-fresno-state-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/247514\/","title":{"rendered":"California Governor Candidates Talk Water, Regulations at Fresno State Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cutting regulations and increasing water supply were the consensus themes at a forum Wednesday in Fresno among six candidates for California governor.<\/p>\n

The gubernatorial hopefuls met on stage at the Resnick Student Union on the Fresno State campus to discuss affordability and agriculture.<\/p>\n

All presented messages that overregulation is hurting farming and vowed to cut regulations. Several advocated an \u201call of the above\u201d approach on energy, homebuilding, and water storage. Some were more specific than others. All positioned themselves as friends of farmers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, D-San Jose, called for \u201ccomprehensive CEQA reform,\u201d referring to the state law requiring construction to comply with environmental regulations. He also called for an \u201call of the above\u201d energy strategy and said he would suspend the gas tax.<\/p>\n

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los Angeles, said he wants to reduce regulations on refineries, including a moratorium on state air board regulations. He proposed a gas tax\u00a0rebate when prices reach $5.50 a gallon.<\/p>\n

Former Fox News contributor Steve Hilton, R-Atherton, blasted Democrats on the stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single Democrat should start with an apology for what their party has done to this area and this industry,\u201d Hilton said in his opening remarks. Among the specific policies he discussed were reducing vehicle registration fees to a flat $71 and opening offshore oil drilling to reduce gas prices to $3 a gallon.<\/p>\n

Hilton\u2019s approach resonated with others, such as former Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, who said she wants to build housing faster to reduce costs. She said she agrees with Hilton\u2019s plan to eliminate the state income tax for all\u00a0earners making less than $100,000 yearly.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily farmers and smaller farmers are losing, day after day, year after year. It is to the peril of not just our agricultural communities but the entire country,\u201d Porter said in her opening remarks.<\/p>\n

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, R-Woodcrest, said he would eliminate regulations and taxes through a stroke of a pen.<\/p>\n

Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, D-Sacramento, said he would declare a state of emergency to increase affordable housing construction. He also vowed to freeze insurance and energy rates until a study is completed on why they are so high in the first place.<\/p>\n

The Western Growers Association and several other groups sponsored the event, which was livestreamed. Several executives from the agricultural companies attended the 90-minute event. Former Assemblymember Kristin Olsen-Cate and Fresno County Supervisor Buddy Mendes moderated.<\/p>\n

Agreements on Water<\/p>\n

All candidates agreed the state needs to relax policies to increase the water supply.<\/p>\n

Becerra said farmers need more \u201cpredictability\u201d on water allotment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater is more precious than gold. Let\u2019s make it work,\u201d Becerra said.<\/p>\n

Bianco called for the building of \u201cmassive dams,\u201d but environmental regulations prevent doing so.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an ideological, Democratic agenda that if they want to fix, they have complete control. They could have done it yesterday,\u201d Bianco said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is partisan. It\u2019s a choice,\u201d Hilton said. He vowed to appoint people to water boards to help achieve his goal of increasing water allotments.<\/p>\n

Mahan criticized the state\u2019s water conveyance system as outdated and losing water. He called it \u201ca crime\u201d that it has taken this long to build more water storage.<\/p>\n

Porter said regulations are \u201cchoking off\u201d farming. She said farmers have already innovated and stretched enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no magic wand to create more water,\u201d Porter said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Former Fox News TV commentator Steve Hilton, R-Atherton (middle) makes a point during an April 1, 2026 gubernatorial debate in Fresno. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, R-Woodcrest (left) and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, D-San Jose, look on. (GV Wire\/Jahz Tello)
\nPartisan Solutions?<\/p>\n

Hilton continued his attacks, saying the Democratic Party needs to \u201cabandon the climate dogma\u201d that he blames for high prices.<\/p>\n

Villaraigosa said if you make issues partisan, \u201cyou\u2019re never going to get elected in this state.\u201d That elicited a guffaw from Porter.<\/p>\n

Hilton responded to the call for less partisanship by saying it was the \u201carrogance of one-party rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat contempt for the voters of this state,\u201d Hilton said.<\/p>\n

As Mahan responded, rejecting \u201cbinary, partisan oversimplification,\u201d Hilton shook his head in disagreement.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump was only mentioned by name twice by Porter in her closing statement.<\/p>\n

Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, was among several elected officials andcandidates\u00a0attending the debate. He has not made an endorsement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, makes a point at a gubernatorial debate at Fresno State on April 1, 2026. (GV Wire\/Jahz Tello)
\nOther Candidates and Other Events<\/p>\n

Tom Steyer, D-San Francisco, a billionaire businessperson who has blanketed California airwaves with his campaign message, did not appear in Fresno. His campaign said he had an event in the Tijuana River Valley. Steyer did announce a town hall in Fresno on April 7 at 6:15 p.m. at a yet-to-be revealed location.<\/p>\n

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Livermore, did not attend. Organizers previously said he had prior commitments.<\/p>\n

Mendes referred to Steyer and Swalwell as \u201cchicken hearts\u201d for not attending.<\/p>\n

Another, lesser-hyped, gubernatorial forum takes place later on Wednesday. The UC Merced Community and Labor Center is partnering with other groups to host five candidates \u2014 Becerra, Mahan, Porter, Villaraigosa, and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, D-Richmond. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. at Fresno City College.<\/p>\n

The added debate drew criticism from one candidate, former state Controller Betty Yee, D-San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m disappointed I can\u2019t attend this forum in the Central Valley, where I have visited on a regular basis to listen to the voices of its diverse communities. The forum is scheduled at the start of Passover when families and communities gather for the Seder meal and the ritual of retelling the story of the Exodus and reflecting on its significance today,\u201d Yee wrote on her X page.<\/p>\n

Hilton also had an event planned after the debate in downtown Fresno with Pastor Jim Franklin to discuss the \u201cfamily first agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Betty Yee responded to a second governor debate in Fresno, criticizing it for the timing. (X\/Betty T. Yee)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cutting regulations and increasing water supply were the consensus themes at a forum Wednesday in Fresno among six…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-247514","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}