Fighting for a Livable Cost of Living

Californians have made it clear that the cost of living is too high—and they’re right.

Groceries, gas, housing, and healthcare are too expensive. Childcare, car payments, cable, and college are too expensive. Enjoying excursions with loved ones and enjoying a hard-earned retirement are too often out of reach. The list is virtually endless, and so are your bills.

At California DOJ, you can bet your bottom dollar that we are doing everything in our power to put more money back into your pockets so that every Californian can afford to live here without breaking the bank.

California DOJ’s new Affordability Response Team brings together experts from across the department to double down on our efforts to investigate and go after practices, policies, corporations, and scam artists that are unlawfully raising costs in every aspect of Californians’ lives.

This team will be laser-focused on addressing eight key areas where prices have become out of control.

The list is long because, unfortunately, there are a lot of areas where Californians are getting ripped off.

The good news is, we’re not starting from scratch. We have a proven track record of success in ending unlawful conduct that drives up prices in each and every one of these areas.

Don’t just take my word for it, we’ve got the receipts.

Just last month, we stopped Agri Stats from unlawfully coordinating meat prices that was jacking up the cost of chicken, pork, and turkey.

We’re currently in court fighting Amazon’s illegal price fixing scheme that’s artificially driving up prices on countless products Californians buy every day, including clothes, pet supplies, eye drops, and plant fertilizer.

We sued Trump over both of his unlawful attempts to impose tariffs that raised prices for consumers and businesses and we won, both times.

Through DOJ’s Housing Justice Team, we’re making sure cities across the state are doing their part to address the housing crisis. Since 2021, we’ve led cities to plan for 32,000 new homes and helped unlock entitlements to build another 50,000.

We pushed back against the Trump Administration’s proposal to expand catastrophic health insurance plans that would leave families with minimal coverage and huge out-of-pocket bills and fought a rule that would create significant barriers to getting health coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

We sued and blocked the Trump Administration from illegally freezing over $10 billion in federal funding for childcare and family assistance programs.

We held one of the nation’s largest hospital systems accountable for requiring entry-level nurses to use their own money to repay the hospital for a mandatory training program if they left within two years of employment.

And our Antitrust Law Section is taking on monopolies across industries that raise prices, hurt workers, and cut out options for consumers. That includes stopping a megamerger of grocery behemoths Kroger and Albertsons and blocking broadcast giants Nexstar and Tegna from merging — both of which would result in higher costs and fewer jobs.

From consumer protection to antitrust enforcement, housing, healthcare, corporate fraud, workers’ rights, and more, our team is all in when it comes to combatting the affordability crisis and making the cost of living more livable.

The bottom line is this: Californians feel like they’re paying too much for just about everything, and they’re right.

Consumer prices as of April were at their highest in almost three years yet, most people’s incomes aren’t keeping up with inflation and nearly a quarter of Californians 18-24 live in poverty.

As everyday families are pinching pennies, Elon Musk is poised to become the world’s first trillionaire and the typical CEO of a major corporation took home $17.7 million last year, a pay increase of nearly 6%.

That just doesn’t add up.

While our president boasts that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situations,”

I’m here to say: California DOJ is thinking about your bills, your budgets, your ability to afford living in this state and country.

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I know what it’s like to be a young parent and feel strangled by the costs of diapers and daycare. I know what it’s like to rent for years because jumping into the housing market is not feasible. I know what it’s like to support retired parents just trying to age at home near their families.

Californians deserve better.

They deserve fair prices and a fair market; fair pay and good benefits for a hard day’s work; affordable healthcare, childcare, and education. They deserve to rent or buy a home without drowning in the cost. They deserve to know that they’re not being cheated by corporations that break the law and take advantage of workers and consumers to fill their coffers. And they deserve a federal government that’s willing to fight for them, not one that’s all-too-eager to cozy up to billionaire donors and roll over for big corporations.

That may not come any day soon, but Californians can count on us to be in their corner. California DOJ is fighting to make sure that all Californians have a real chance to go after their California Dream.

California’s the fourth largest economy in the world and we have some of the strongest antitrust and consumer protections on the books. DOJ’s Affordability Response Team is here to enforce every single one to keep your costs down and keep our economy thriving.