In a dusty western California town, beneath a punishing 120-degree sun, a woman walks alone. Her car ran out of gas blocks ago. She clutches an empty red gas can in one hand and a fistful of unpaid bills in the other. She’s not just trying to get to work — she’s trying to survive.
As she nears a gas station, she watches the numbers on the pump tick higher. Again. Her heart sinks. Just then, a sleek black SUV pulls up. Out steps a well-dressed politician — polished, smiling, and completely detached from the reality unfolding before her. She fills her tank, hops back in the vehicle, and drives off, leaving the woman behind in the dust.
No words. No help. No explanation.
And perhaps most disturbing of all — no vote.
When the California Legislature had a chance to stand up for people like her, to fight back against rising gas prices, crushing utility bills, and even unfair taxes on tips — many legislators didn’t show up. Some voted against relief outright. Others simply refused to vote at all.
The first opportunity came in the form of Assembly Bill 12, a bill to reverse a looming 65-cent gas price increase set to take effect in 2026 under California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The bill didn’t even get the chance to be debated on the floor. Assembly Democrats blocked a procedural motion to bring it forward. It died quietly — leaving Californians with another hidden tax increase on the horizon.
Then came a second chance: a proposal to reduce electricity and utility rates, aimed at helping families facing skyrocketing power bills and the threat of rolling blackouts. Again, the Legislature blocked it. And again, some lawmakers didn’t even cast a vote.
But the third blow might be the most insulting of all: the refusal to end state taxes on tips.
While restaurant workers, delivery drivers and countless other service employees scrape by in a state already burdened with the highest cost of living in the nation, California Democrats voted to keep taxing their hard-earned tips. A Republican proposal to eliminate state income tax on gratuities — something that would’ve provided immediate, tangible relief to working-class Californians — was voted down. Over 50 lawmakers voted to keep taxing tips. Some remained silent.
What does that say to the countless Californians who rely on those tips to cover rent, groceries and transportation?
It says: “You’re on your own.”
The woman at the gas station isn’t just a fictional character. She represents millions — families working two or three jobs to make ends meet, seniors who ration their electricity to afford prescriptions, and young people drowning in expenses with no relief in sight.
These votes could have made a difference. They could have proven that California’s elected officials still recognize the pain their constituents face every day. Instead, silence and indifference have become a pattern.
Let’s be very clear: not voting is a vote. It is a decision to sit out while others struggle. It is passive approval for the systems that punish working people and protect entrenched interests. Inaction is not neutrality — it’s complicity.
We elect lawmakers to lead, not to hide. To take a stand, not to vanish when the stakes are highest.
But time and again, Sacramento chooses politics over people. When a struggling waitress needed her tips protected, when a delivery driver needed help at the pump, when a family needed a break on their utility bill — our Legislature failed them.
This isn’t partisanship. This is about priorities.
Every Californian deserves better than this. They deserve leaders who are present. They deserve policies that put families before bureaucracy, that reward work instead of penalizing it.
So while some lawmakers enjoy the comfort of climate-controlled offices and taxpayer-funded fuel, the rest of us live with the consequences of their silence. We wait for a break that never comes. We ask for help that never arrives.
If your representative failed to support any of these efforts — or worse, chose not to vote at all — remember that when the gas prices rise, when the lights flicker, or when the state takes a chunk of your tips.
We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking for a fighting chance.
And if our representatives won’t fight for us, maybe it’s time we elect new ones who will.
Patrick Lee Gipson is a Santa Clarita resident and former deputy sheriff. “Right Here, Right Now” appears Saturdays and rotates among local Republicans.
