Republican candidate proposes decade-long deregulation to spark California construction boom

Republican contender Steve Hilton announced a sweeping economic blueprint that would suspend a range of California’s most restrictive regulations for ten years, with the goal of jump-starting a statewide building surge. In a speech to the Commonwealth Club, he framed the plan as a defense against what he described as rising socialism and a response to high youth unemployment. The agenda calls for a special legislative session to halt statutes such as the California Environmental Quality Act, PAGA litigation, vehicle-miles-traveled rules and various investment taxes, while preserving air and water quality standards.

Hilton acknowledged the difficulty of passing such measures through a Democratic-controlled Legislature and said he would resort to executive authority to achieve portions of the plan gradually. The proposal envisions massive expansion of housing, factories, AI and aerospace facilities, nuclear plants, water infrastructure and new communities, potentially opening about 1 million acres for development. He positioned the initiative as a battle between “builders” and “blockers,” emphasizing growth over regulatory decline.