The Issues

Corporate landlords are gobbling up homes in California, forcing working families to pay rent rather than build wealth through ownership. Oliver supports a property tax penalty on corporate landlords that buy homes in California, and uses the revenue to fund interest-free mortgage loans for working families. Additionally, California must support and pass SB 55, which requires the construction of more affordable homes.

Affordable housing is broken down into three parts: corporate investors abusing the system, tenant protections, and social housing.

Almost half of Californians rent—the second-highest rate in the country after New York. Too many homes are owned by investors, including large landlords who control thousands of single-family houses that should be available to families. With median home prices near $1 million, California needs bold action to help first-time homebuyers compete—and to stop corporations from treating housing like a commodity.

We also have to address loopholes that shrink the long-term housing supply. For example, short-term rental platforms can pull homes off the market, prioritizing tourists over residents and pushing prices higher. California should strengthen rules and enforcement to keep housing available for people who actually live and work here.

And we must not forget tenants. California needs stronger tenant protection laws. As Lieutenant Governor, Oliver will fight for statewide rent control by repealing Costa-Hawkins, repealing the Ellis Act, supporting the right to counsel for tenants, and banning no-fault evictions—so families can stay housed and communities can stay whole.

Oliver will push California to divest from companies that profit from Israeli war crimes and the occupation of Palestine. He will work to ensure that state and local grants in California do not go to companies tied to these abuses, using the United Nations database of businesses linked to settlement activity as a screening tool.

This matters because California’s public institutions manage massive investments. CalSTRS and CalPERS, among the largest funds in the world, hold shares in many global companies, including firms that advocates say are connected to Israel’s military, settlements, and surveillance. The University of California also manages a large endowment, and investment decisions are influenced by the University of California Board of Regents.

On the Regents, Oliver will vote to divest from companies implicated in these systems, and to shift investments toward companies that pay fair wages, protect California’s environment, and respect unions. This includes scrutiny of major corporations such as Chevron, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, where critics have raised concerns about business ties that support Israeli government policies or contracts involving the Israel Defense Forces.

This is about holding the Israeli government and institutions accountable for their actions, and making sure California’s public dollars are not underwriting human rights abuses.

A pathway to citizenship.

No one should be forced to live in limbo, pushed into the shadows, and in an underground economy where exploitation is the norm. Trump’s raids have disproportionately targeted hardworking immigrant parents with U.S. citizen kids, ripping families apart and destabilizing entire communities.

Immigrant communities are not separate from America. They are the caretakers, mentors, coworkers, and parents of American citizens. People who have built lives here, contributed to their neighborhoods, worked hard, and have American family members deserve a clear, fair pathway to citizenship.

Federal immigration enforcement has carried out aggressive operations that communities report as involving unlawful stops, intimidation, and family separation. California must defend civil liberties and ensure that any enforcement activity in the state complies with the Constitution and applicable law.

Oliver’s platform prioritizes protecting Californians from unlawful or abusive federal immigration enforcement by strengthening state and local safeguards, expanding oversight and accountability, and ensuring residents have access to legal support and emergency assistance.

California should reinforce clear rules that limit the use of state and local resources for federal immigration enforcement activities beyond what the law requires, and it should support community-based rapid response networks that provide know-your-rights trainings, connect families to counsel, mobilize volunteer attorneys, and offer short-term food and rental assistance when enforcement actions destabilize households.

Oliver will also use California’s authority under the anti-commandeering doctrine to reduce state participation in federal immigration detention operations. While California cannot directly prohibit federal detention centers, the state is not required to provide discretionary support that enables their operation. The platform supports policies to ensure state and local resources are not used to facilitate detention and that communities have the tools and support they need to stay safe and informed.

Oliver believes the economy works best when working people can actually get ahead. That’s why he supports a $21 minimum wage in California and a government that takes on corporate price-gouging and corruption. When working families have higher wages and real protections, they can afford the basics like healthcare, education, and housing. And when big corporations stop squeezing everyone else, small businesses benefit too, because they depend on customers with money to spend.

Right now, people across California are working hard and still falling behind. Wages have not kept pace with rising costs, and families are stretching every paycheck just to cover rent, food, and gas. Meanwhile, Washington keeps pushing policies that make things worse, including raids that disrupt the farm and day-labor workforce and tariffs that raise prices. If we want to keep housing and food affordable, we have to resist policies that drive up costs and punish the people our economy relies on.

Oliver also believes we need to break corporate control of politics. The so-called “Big Bad Bill” is another example of the same playbook: cutting support for communities while delivering tax breaks to billionaires and large corporations. California deserves leaders who will make corporations pay their fair share, stop polluting our neighborhoods, and stop rigging the system at everyone else’s expense.

Raise taxes on corporations and the ultra-wealthy, lower taxes for working families.

California should shift the tax burden off working people and onto the corporations and billionaires who’ve been getting a free ride. America’s strongest decades of broad-based growth came when the federal tax system asked much more of the very richest, with top marginal income tax rates above 90% through the early 1960s (and peaking at 94% during World War II).

That revenue helped fund public investments that made everyday life more affordable, such as education, infrastructure, and housing.

Fix Proposition 13 so big corporations pay their fair share.

Proposition 13 rolled most property assessments back to 1975–76 values and caps annual increases in assessed value at 2%, unless a property changes ownership or undergoes new construction. As a result, long-held properties, including major commercial parcels, can be taxed far below market value for decades, which significantly limits local property tax revenue.

Oliver supports reversing these corporate loopholes so that large landlords and corporations pay property taxes based on today’s real value. That would generate billions in new revenue for California, revenue that can be reinvested in the basics working families need: affordable housing, strong schools, and healthcare.

Unions make companies stronger, workplaces safer, and workers more confident. Oliver has lived that firsthand. He served as a grievance officer for his union, fighting to protect his coworkers’ rights, pay, and benefits.

As Lieutenant Governor, Oliver will fight for a pro-worker agenda that includes:

• AB 288 and a California alternative to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), so workers aren’t left waiting on a broken federal system.
• Statewide fair scheduling laws, including overtime penalties when employers force workers to return with less than 10 hours of rest between shifts.
• Prioritizing labor peace agreements in California grants and public investments so public dollars support jobs with strong worker protections.
• Stronger safeguards against employer surveillance that invades privacy and chills organizing.
• Limits on workplace AI to prevent companies from using data and algorithms to monitor, profile, or automate disciplinary and firing decisions.

Big Pharma and big insurance shouldn’t be able to buy our politicians, then jack up the price of care and medication to profit off people’s desperation. We spend trillions on healthcare and still get worse outcomes, longer waits, and higher bills. California can do better by providing universal healthcare and affordable child care, so families aren’t forced to choose between rent and a doctor’s visit.

Oliver supports universal single-payer healthcare in California and has signed on to the California Nurses Association (CNA) proposal. He also backs public negotiation of prescription drug prices to bring down costs and expanding medical school capacity to grow California’s healthcare workforce and reduce wait times.

Free, high-quality child care for every California family with children from 6 weeks to 5 years old. Raise wages for child care workers, roughly a quarter of whom live in poverty, so they earn pay comparable to public school teachers. This will strengthen early childhood development, save parents thousands of dollars, and help families stay rooted in the communities they call home.

People should have a choice over their own bodies. Oliver believes everyone should be able to make decisions about their health and their lives without government interference.

Oliver’s platform will fund Planned Parenthood, ensure access to comprehensive reproductive health care, and protect abortion access throughout pregnancy – because these decisions belong to patients and medical providers, not politicians.

Oliver will fight to make higher education and trade schools tuition free, this includes making housing affordable for students so no student has to work long hours or live out of their cars while in school. We do this by:

• Divesting university endowments from genocide, apartheid, fossil fuels, and for profit prisons, and instead invest in students. 
• Paying low income students a stipend when they are in school.

Too many communities no longer trust the police systems that are supposed to protect them. Oliver supports structural change of law enforcement and real investment in what actually keeps people safe: stable housing, quality schools, and accessible healthcare.

Oliver will fight to dismantle the prison-industrial complex, an industry that profits from incarceration and the exploitation of incarcerated people. Oliver believes California should move away from punishment-first policies and toward prevention, accountability, and dignity.

California should treat teachers like the backbone of our communities, not an afterthought. That means paying them what they deserve, supporting strong unions, and making sure classrooms have the resources students actually need.

Oliver’s education priorities:

• Pay teachers more and back unions. Our public dollars should prioritize educators, not agencies like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
• Smaller class sizes. More teachers, more attention for students, and fewer kids falling through the cracks.
• Protect academic freedom. Stand with the California Teachers Association in opposing AB 715 and defending teachers’ right to teach honestly and effectively.
• Support ethnic studies. Students deserve an education that reflects the full story of California.
• Invest in rural and low-income schools. Target funding where it’s hardest to recruit and retain educators, so every student has access to experienced, supported teachers.
• Fix the revenue problem. Advocate for reforming Proposition 13 so big commercial property owners pay their fair share and schools aren’t starved of funding.
• Defend school funding guarantees. Protect Proposition 98, which sets minimum funding levels for public education in California.

Oliver will fight back against any effort by Donald Trump and his administration to privatize, cut, or dismantle Social Security. If federal leaders try to defund it, Oliver will push California to create a state-level backstop so seniors and disabled Californians don’t get left behind. And he will support legal action to hold the administration accountable for undermining a program that working people have paid into their entire lives.

California should be a safe haven for trans people. Oliver believes everyone deserves the freedom to live their life without government interference. He supports protecting access to gender-affirming care, ensuring trans youth can participate in school programs that match who they are, and defending the mental and physical safety of trans people in every community across California.

Invest in renewable energy and real climate solutions, including major funding for wildfire resilience and prevention. Oliver will push for stronger support for California firefighters, with the resources, staffing, and equipment they need to protect communities as fire seasons get longer and more severe.

Young people and entrepreneurs need a real safety net so they can take risks without risking everything. By investing in public programs like housing, education, and healthcare, California can give everyone the freedom to choose work they believe in, start new businesses, and build a future without being one emergency away from disaster.

Everyone deserves a real, equal shot, no matter their race, gender, or background. Oliver supports affirmative action and strong DEI policies that confront the patriarchy and structural racism, and that actively repair the harms of discrimination in schools, workplaces, and public life.

California should restore the ability for public colleges to consider race as one factor in a holistic admissions process, alongside lived experience, neighborhood, and economic background. That means repealing Proposition 209 so campuses in California can build classes that reflect the full diversity of the state and expand opportunity for communities that have been locked out for generations.

Increase funding so every community in California has safe, clean, affordable drinking water, as required under the state’s Human Right to Water policy (Water Code §106.3).

To protect rural communities, California should also limit how much large agricultural users can pump from groundwater basins, especially when overpumping dries wells and causes contamination. Oliver fully supports full enforcement of the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which establishes a statewide framework for local agencies to measure, report, and hold major groundwater users accountable, so communities can see who is pumping how much and ensure sustainability plans are enforced.