On Nov. 30, Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia completed his fifth and final term in office. It was the finale—for now, at least—of a meteoric political career which began with his election to the Coachella City Council in 2004, at the age of 27. Two years later, Garcia became the first directly elected mayor of Coachella, a position he’d hold for eight years.
In 2014, the Democrat successfully ran to represent Assembly District 56. (After redistricting, he represented AD 36.) In a relatively short time, Garcia demonstrated an uncanny ability to coordinate his legislative objectives with the policy priorities of the governor and the state party—skillfully building consensus within the Assembly to move his priorities toward implementation.
In 2016, Garcia led Assembly efforts to pass Senate Bill 32 and Assembly Bill 197, two pieces of landmark climate-change legislation. The bills established California’s greenhouse gas emission-reduction mandate, while prioritizing climate-related investments in disadvantaged communities most impacted by pollution—including the eastern Coachella Valley, where Garcia grew up. That same year, Garcia became the first freshman legislator in the Assembly’s history to have more than two dozen bills and resolutions signed by the governor (Jerry Brown at the time).
Throughout his five terms, Garcia prioritized Salton Sea mitigation, migrant-worker issues, quality-of-life improvements for eastern Coachella Valley residents, climate-change mitigation, Lithium Valley development and Native American tribal issues. In a recent interview with the Independent, Garcia described his approach to getting things done as “collaborative and strategic as it relates to relationship-building.”
“Ultimately, I was able to elevate this set of issues and many others to a level where they became part of a larger California policy agenda,” he said. “So, when I’m sitting in Jerry Brown’s office talking about the Salton Sea, it wasn’t so much (about) the decades-long problem that the state had ignored addressing. It was me telling him and his team that the Salton Sea was the climate-change issue for our region. Given that climate had been an important issue for Gov. Brown, it wasn’t hard to be able to ultimately align his climate priorities with what I was presenting to him as our climate priorities—and that was the beginning of attention. The first tranche of money that came from the state was $80 million that Jerry Brown approved. Since that effort, the Salton Sea has seen over $500 million in state commitments to develop the Salton Sea Management Plan that is currently under construction. That’s just an example of how we elevated some local issues and folded them into the overall state policy agenda.”
When asked if he had one accomplishment in the Assembly that was the most significant, Garcia instead rattled off a long list.
“With California’s climate-change programs, we made significant modifications for the purpose of making sure that our region could access certain dollars from programs that historically just weren’t making their way to the region,” Garcia said. “We did author the cap-and-trade extension program. … We’ve authored two natural resources bonds: one in 2018, and one just this year that was approved by the voters (with) hundreds of millions of dollars in there for our region, beginning with the Salton Sea and the New River, parks and other types of programs for the mountain conservancies and other significant entities that work in the natural-resources space. … We authored the ‘internet for all’ bill that has seen some major investments in broadband infrastructure for the region. We authored bills related to workforce development, and a tremendous amount of money was (generated) this way. Also, we worked a lot on tribal issues related to water infrastructure … that I think are important to highlight. And, of course, we worked on the expansion of the Desert Healthcare District for the Coachella Valley, and that has turned out to be very beneficial.”
That expansion, which voters approved in 2018, became a literal life-saver when the pandemic arrived.
“COVID is the example I often point to as it relates to the impact that (the DHCD) had in serving very vulnerable populations in the eastern Coachella Valley,” Garcia said. “We could say that many, many lives were saved as a result of the DHCD being able to provide services and resources to a community (where), prior to the expansion of the health-care district, it wouldn’t have happened.
In the just-concluded 2023-24 legislative session, Garcia chaired three committees and served on eight others. According to the FastDemocracy website, he authored or co-authored 150 bills in his last year alone. California legislators are limited to serving 12 years, meaning Garcia could have sought one more two-year term, but no more. We asked him if he thought the 12-year term limit was a good idea.
“I think it is,” Garcia said. “I think it allows for those elected in these roles ample time to get familiarized with the work (and) the policy areas of work … and ultimately have an impact. That timeframe also allows (legislators) the ability to look at the end product, analyze the outcome, and go back and set some kind of corrective action if the outcome wasn’t, or isn’t, reflective of what was intended. … So, I think it’s been a good thing. I decided that 10 years was enough time for us, not 12, but I think 10 to 12 years is plenty of time to do what you said you were going to do.”
Republican Jeff Gonzalez now represents AD 36, after narrowly defeating Democrat Joey Acuña—the candidate Garcia had endorsed—in the general election. What are the biggest issues Gonzalez and his fellow legislators will face in the new session?
“I think the issue of cost is on people’s minds, without a doubt,” Garcia said. “And there’s the public-safety issue that I think people have spoken very loud and clear about (via) state Proposition 36 that was just voted on. (Prop 36 called for increased sentencing for certain drug and theft crimes; it passed overwhelmingly, with more than 68% of the vote.) “Those are definitely two issues that are extremely important to pay attention to, because the people have spoken loud and clear at the ballot (box), and with the candidates that were on the ballot that people chose to elect.”
Garcia said the state was facing “a very challenging time” due to the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
“California has set its path on a clean-energy, clean-economy set of policy proposals that might clash with the new federal administration,” Garcia said. “That could really set California’s vision and mission at a standstill, and/or for that matter, in a different direction. What I believe, though, is that people are concerned about the day-to-day bread-and-butter issues like schools, safety, affordability of housing, cost of living, and those are the challenges from a community perspective. From a state governing (perspective), the budget is going to be something that might be a challenge, and how we fund things will definitely be front and center for the next legislative body.”
Garcia, 47, said he’s looking forward to spending more time with his wife and two children—but he did not rule out running for office again.
“I’m never going to close the door on the opportunity to serve,” Garcia said. “However, I am looking forward to a professional path of work that will allow me to utilize my 20 years in elected office, and my policy expertise in energy, water, tribal affairs and climate policies to contribute to those spaces.
“I’m very interested in the academic world. I started off my journey right out of college, teaching adult education in our community, as well as doing some long-term assignments as an instructor. During my time in elected office, I have always contributed to the academic space, and I’m looking forward to some opportunities in that arena. … During my time in the Assembly, I got to do a bit of academic work at Purdue, at Yale, at the (Harvard) Kennedy School of Government, and at a number of UCs here, (including) Berkeley, UCLA and UC Riverside. I’m looking forward to pursuing some professional opportunities in the academic space.”
Garcia said it’s a challenging time for anyone in office.
“Even within the party infrastructures, people are extremely, extremely divided, and I would say it’s on both sides of the aisle that we’re seeing that, including here in our local communities,” he said. “I believe it is that division that ultimately impacted the outcome of several elections. Until there are some candid discussions internally, I don’t think we’re able to move forward constructively. Ultimately, I think the party leadership and those in elected office have a responsibility to broach those discussions. … There’s a lot of work to do.”