Kiley Tackles Home Insurance Woes and National Debt in District 3 Town Hall

DISTRICT 3 — California District 3 Representative Kevin Kiley held a town hall with constituents via teleconference on Thursday evening, following up another just ten days prior. Fielding a wide variety of questions, Kiley covered local and federal matters, focusing on social issues, economic problems, government programs and services, infrastructure, and government oversight.

Home insurance was one of the few local-specific issues Kiley was able to address during the town hall. Gabriel, who called in from Cool, California, explained that his home insurance provider, State Farm, had terminated his coverage due to high fire risk. “We were forced to get a FAIR plan with a supplemental additional policy to cover what FAIR wouldn’t cover,” he said, adding, “If a company like State Farm wants to sell auto insurance to Californians, then they should also be required to provide home insurance as well. That way, they can’t just take what they want and cut out the rest.”

Kiley sympathized with Gabriel’s situation, noting that the occurrence was “far too common in California and in many, many parts of our district right now.” Kiley referenced communications he had with Governor Newsom and the California Insurance Commissioner urging them to take action to give insurers more flexibility to prevent them from dropping customers but says his advice was not followed. At the federal level, Kiley introduced the Safe Homes Act, which would give tax credits to homeowners who implement wildfire prevention measures. Kiley also noted that he introduced a tax credit to offset insurance premium increases while he was in the California Assembly, but it failed to pass.

Pivoting to economic issues, Ted from Rocklin, a Democrat, expressed concern about the $36 trillion national debt and its long-term impact. Kiley agreed the debt is unsustainable and added that it affects current generations through high-interest payments and inflation. He supported spending cuts while protecting Social Security, Medicare, and veterans’ benefits. Kiley also advocated for tax relief and deregulation policies, saying, “We absolutely need to work on finding ways to promote economic growth, to promote opportunity... If we have pro-growth economic policies... that’s going to propel significant economic growth.”

A question submitted online asked how Kiley could support the Trump tax cuts given his concerns about the national debt. Kiley supported extending the 2017 tax relief measures to prevent a significant tax increase, including cuts to the standard deduction and child tax credit. He also advocated raising the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap, which he sees as particularly beneficial for Californians due to high state taxes, arguing that tax relief stimulates economic growth and ultimately increases revenue.

Kiley reaffirmed his commitment to safeguarding entitlements many times: “We have to protect Social Security. We have to protect Medicare. We have to protect support for our veterans.” Kiley argued that while Medicaid should be protected, its benefits should be reserved for legal residents only, and he recently introduced legislation to that effect (HR 584).

Several callers touched on the topic of government oversight by Congress. Mary from Nevada City asked if Rep. Kiley would commit to holding senior officials, particularly those in the executive branch, accountable for lying to Congress. Kiley said, “One of the primary functions of Congress is to provide oversight... I’ll absolutely continue to maintain that belief in the role of Congress and the importance of checks and balances.”

Callers from Rocklin and Auburn raised concerns about government overreach relating to federal job cuts. While Kiley supported reforms and cutting government spending, he advocated for protecting vital federal jobs, including those in the Forest Service doing fire mitigation work. “I’m keeping a very close eye on how it affects our district so that I can make sure to highlight and make sure that we don’t have anything happen that’s going to remove our ability to provide vital services,” Kiley expanded.

On social issues, Kiley fielded a question from Adam, a Garden Valley resident, who questioned whether the discussion of transgender athletes in high school sports was over-emphasized. Kiley responded, “I think that there is a basic fairness issue here when it comes to allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports. I think that protecting women’s sports and girls’ sports, especially for our young people at the high school level, [and] at the collegiate level, is really important.” Abigail from Roseville asked if Kiley would vote against a federal abortion ban, to which Kiley responded, “I believe this is a state issue... California has sort of already made its decision.”

In his conclusion, Kiley thanked callers, saying, “I appreciate the chance to hear a broad range of views, especially folks who may disagree with the way things are going or might disagree with particular things that I’m advocating for.” He encouraged constituents to reach out to his office with questions and concerns, particularly if they need help dealing with federal agencies. Kiley says his team has assisted 3,700 families with issues, including securing social security checks, VA benefits, or resolving passport delays. He also committed to continue holding town halls regularly.

Kiley answered 22 live callers and two questions submitted online in just over an hour. Two polls conducted at the beginning of the town hall revealed the majority of listeners felt that the country was on the wrong track, and 60% believed California taxes were too high.