Sam Liccardo
San Jose
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Official: @repliccardo. US Rep for CA 16th District. Former Mayor of San José. Despite being 60% water, I’m a big eater. @kohl_garcia's Husband.
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Articles by Sam Liccardo
Liccardo: Why China is winning the war America started in Iran
One hundred days have passed since the American and Israeli missile strikes on Iran, and Donald Trump just announced the umpteenth, likely nonexistent, “peace deal.” This gives us ample time to answer the simplistic — but not simple — question: “Who is winning this war?” Of course, China isn’t fighting in Iran. And yes, they’re still winning.
AI doesn’t need a regulator. It needs a referee.
AI doesn’t need a regulator. It needs a referee. (washingtonpost.com) AI doesn’t need a regulator. It needs a referee. By Sam Liccardo 2026052216570200 Thursday's announcement that the Trump administration will delay its executive order on increased government scrutiny of artificial intelligence models provides a breather in its whiplash-inducing approach to the technology. The administration first proposed penalizing states with AI safety regulations without any federal substitute.
AI & Tech Brief from The Washington Post – Online Newsletter
a-post-about-ai-generative-ai-and-news-about-artificial Benjamin Guggenheim By Benjamin Guggenheim ** In an exclusive interview, Rep. Sam Liccardo, who represents parts of Silicon Valley, tells me Congress is incapable of regulating AI and shares his idea for bridging the gap. ** World leaders are building out their own “sovereign AI” infrastructure to reduce dependence on U.S. and Chinese infrastructure. We dive into what that means for businesses.
Opinion | Congress Shouldn’t Stop AI Innovation
We need to minimize its disruption, but calls for a moratorium are wrongheaded. Americans are understandably anxious about artificial intelligence, and politicians are eager to assuage their fears before the midterm elections. When confronting the perils of lost jobs and skyrocketing utility bills, some of my colleagues feel compelled to hit the brakes on President Trump’s all-gas approach to AI. Sen.
Reaction to U.S. capture of Venezuela’s Maduro
This image of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in U.S. custody aboard the USS Iwo Jima was released by President Trump. Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-San Jose, who represents Palo Alto in the House, says President Trump’s decision to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is illegal.
A better budget: Governance by grown-ups
Many Americans might understandably believe, amid all of the wailing and teeth-gnashing over devastating cuts to Medicaid, food programs, and student aid spending, the GOP leadership must be proposing a budget that will reduce our monstrous $1.9 trillion deficit. They would be wrong.
A better budget: Governance by grown-ups
Many Americans might understandably believe, amid all of the wailing and teeth-gnashing over devastating cuts to Medicaid, food programs, and student aid spending, the GOP leadership must be proposing a budget that will reduce our monstrous $1.9 trillion deficit. They would be wrong.
Liccardo: Democrats need an innovation agenda to win back Silicon Valley tech leaders
Throughout my campaign for Congress last year, I heard repeated griping from Silicon Valley business and technology leaders about Biden-era barriers to innovation. Many shared frustrations with blunderbuss antitrust enforcement, foot-dragging on Medicare approvals for life-saving drugs, regulation by litigation, or red tape. Above all, they complained about “tech-bashing,” treating every early stage company like it was Amazon, which they conceded deserved scrutiny.
MEME Act (H.R. 1712)
Add a note about this bill. Your note is for you and will not be shared with anyone. Because you are a member of panel, your positions on legislation and notes below will be shared with the panel administrators. (More Info) To amend chapter 131 of title 5, United States Code, with respect to prohibited financial transactions. The bill’s titles are written by its sponsor. Sponsor and status Introduced Feb. 27, 2025 119th Congress (2025–2027) Status Introduced on Feb.
Sam Liccardo: It's The Counting | San Jose Inside
“It's not the voting that’s democracy; it’s the counting.” – Tom Stoppard While the primary election in 16th Congressional District produced an oddity of a tied vote for second place, a recount is nearly complete. In the next several days, county elections officials will finish their work, and declare whether one or both of my current opponents will face me in the November General Election.
Liccardo: Bills Too Damn High
Bay Area residents got a shock in with the hike in their January energy bills. Those rates will increase—again—in April. These rising energy bills follow higher bills for insurance, food, water and medicine – not to mention the already-punishing cost of rent or a mortgage. The bills are just too damn high. Contrary to the belief of some, these higher bills aren’t simply the result of some generalized “inflation,” which declined sharply in recent months.
Congress Can Do Something About Homelessness, By Supporting Local Innovation | San Jose Inside
As mayor of the Bay Area’s largest city, I visited the U.S. Capitol regularly seeking partnership on critical issues facing our communities, like homelessness and crime. “Those are local issues,” I heard all too often. We know better. Forty-four of America’s largest 50 cities have more than 1,000 unhoused residents. Homelessness spiked 12% nationally last year, leaving 653,000 Americans out in the cold on any given night. This is a national crisis, and Congress needs to treat it like one.
Liccardo: PG&E hasn’t earned a big rate increase
In the countdown to Thursday’s California Public Utilities Commission hearing on PG&E’s request for you will continue to endure a deluge of PG&E advertising on TV and the internet. PG&E executives hope the ads may help you feel better about a for-profit electric utility whose rates have skyrocketed 38% since 2021. More likely, though, you won’t. Questions will arise.
PG&E’s poor safety record & performance shows it has not earned a big rate increase | Opinion Original
In the countdown to the Thursday, Nov. 2 California Public Utilities Commission hearing on PG&E’s request for you will continue to endure a deluge of PG&E advertising on the TV and internet. PG&E executives hope that the ads may help you feel better about a for-profit electric utility whose rates have skyrocketed 38% since 2021. More likely, though, you won’t. Questions will arise.
PG&E must curb wasteful spending before receiving rate hike Original
At least 51.2 million reasons should compel the California Public Utilities Commission to carefully scrutinize PG&E’s demand for an 18% rate hike next week. It’s a symptom of a much larger disease at PG&E — and indeed, in the CPUC’s regulatory oversight. Residential rates have already doubled since 2006 and nearly tripled for low-income customers, according to The Utility Reform Network.
Gridded census data is coming, says bureau geographer
In addition to datasets based on mercurial census tracts and census blocks, the U.S. Census Bureau will soon begin publishing datasets in a more reliable gridded format, an agency geographer said during an online event Thursday.
Opinion | 400 Million Guns Aren’t Going to Just Go Away. In San Jose, We’re Trying Something New.
Guest Essay Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. By Sam Liccardo Mr. Liccardo, a Democrat, has been the mayor of San Jose, Calif., since 2015. He is a former federal and local prosecutor. Sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter Get expert analysis of the news and a guide to the big ideas shaping the world every weekday morning.
While you were focused on elections, California proposed making it harder to add more solar power
Sam Liccardo, Barry Cinnamon, Craig Lewis Nov. 13, 2022 Despite the hurricanes that recently devastated communities from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Tampa, Fla., homeowners with solar panels and batteries overwhelmingly reported no disruptions to their electricity. Meanwhile, in south San Jose, residents have suffered through power outages 10 times in the past two months.
Opinion: Please don’t call quick-build transitional housing ‘tiny homes’
Every major city grappling with homelessness can point only to an array of imperfect solutions. With learning, innovation and iteration, however, those solutions can improve. Yet too often our public discourse about homelessness — in headlines and social media — remains mired in a “failure mindset” overlooking the solutions that actually work.
California Voice: Strong alliances could put a dent in the meth epidemic
Drug addiction has become an ideological Rorschach test: a disease meriting treatment for some, and a crime deserving punishment for others. California’s methamphetamine epidemic challenges these polarized perspectives, because the drug inflicts both devastating harm on users and (too often violent) victimization on others. Reducing meth’s many harms requires that we beat our ideological swords into pragmatic plowshares.
Opinion: Strong alliances could put a dent in California's meth epidemic
Drug addiction has become an ideological Rorschach test: a disease meriting treatment for some, and a crime deserving punishment for others. California’s methamphetamine epidemic challenges these polarized perspectives, because the drug inflicts both devastating harm on users and (too often violent) victimization on others. Reducing meth’s many harms requires that we beat our ideological swords into pragmatic plowshares.
From San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo: The Facts About Police Staffing Original
“Truth is the first casualty in war.” –Ethel Annikin, 1915 “......while wage negotiations and political campaigns subject the truth to their own unique variety of butt-kicking.” –Sam Liccardo, 2022 The last time that police staffing aroused controversy in San Jose, I refused the demands of some protesters to “defund the police” in 2020. Anti-police protesters responded by painting expletives on my wife’s and my home after one demonstration.
County must re-think release of dangerous pandemic-era inmates Original
Santa Clara County has quietly undergone a pandemic-era experiment of releasing unprecedented numbers of jail inmates. Before the county Board of Supervisors pursues its policy of “depopulating the jail” any further, it should heed the lessons of our recent experience. In November of 2020, San Jose police arrested a 29-year-old man for alleged child molestation. The next day, a Superior Court judge released the defendant without bail — over the objection of the Santa Clara County District Attorney.
Roadway Fatalities Require a Focused – not Flailing – Response | San Jose Inside
A week ago, we lost a 25-year-old resident Diego Castanon to another tragic roadway fatality. According to news accounts, Diego rode his Yamaha motorcycle off Story Road near Capitol Expressway and collided with an electrical box and light pole on the curb. Our families have lost loved ones in traffic-related deaths at an unprecedented rate in recent months–23 such deaths in 2022 alone.
The Back Story: B
As a Board Member of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), I don’t purport to speak for the agency. On several occasions, I’ve publicly criticized VTA, to urge a much more aggressive transformation of a costly, underperforming light rail system, and to reign in unsustainable budgetary decisions.
Column: How cities can deal with gun violence
Column: How cities can deal with gun violence The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department released images of items found in 57-year-old Samuel Cassidy's home. Cassidy was identified as the gunman in a mass shooting at a Valley Transit Authority rail yard in San Jose, California, that claimed the lives of nine people. Cassidy committed suicide.
Op-Ed: My city's new gun control laws will help more than waiting on Congress to do something Original
A gunman holding four people hostage at a Colleyville, Texas, synagogue this weekend provides another reminder of the daily threat of gun violence to our local communities. San Jose, where I am mayor, is hardly immune: Our 1 million residents have endured three mass shootings in three years, along with hundreds of gun-inflicted killings, suicides and serious injuries.
California Voice: Solar metering rules could pit utilities, rooftop customers
Most regulatory battles before the California Public Utilities Commission capture scant attention, yet one imminent decision carries big stakes: revisions to “Net Energy Metering” rules making rooftop solar less affordable for Californians.
Want to act on broadband? Start here.
Written by Sam Liccardo and Loranne Ausley Sep 30, 2021 | STATESCOOP As we seek to rebuild a more equitable America coming out of the pandemic, much has been made of the transformational potential of aid flowing from the federal government to states and localities across the country. In no area is this opportunity more evident than in the struggle to get every American connected to reliable, affordable broadband.
Opinion: Reducing homelessness depends on sustaining pandemic’s urgency
This pandemic will pass, but our epidemic of homelessness will persist. Our greatest opportunity to reduce homelessness depends on our ability to heed the lessons of this pandemic and to sustain its urgency. More housing would help, yet the Bay Area presents daunting obstacles for builders. The cost to build a Bay Area apartment complex exceeds $750,000 per door, and each project requires three to five years to develop.
Opinion: Reducing homelessness depends on sustaining pandemic’s urgency
This pandemic will pass, but our epidemic of homelessness will persist. Our greatest opportunity to reduce homelessness depends on our ability to heed the lessons of this pandemic and to sustain its urgency. More housing would help, yet the Bay Area presents daunting obstacles for builders. The cost to build a Bay Area apartment complex exceeds $750,000 per door, and each project requires three to five years to develop.
California's gun-control wars sway the U.S. on Apple Podcasts
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25 min California banned assault weapons in 1989, and the nation followed. Now that ban is in jeopardy. Here's why, and what could happen next. 25 min
By Patrick McGreevy Verified, Gustavo Arellano Verified, Ashlea Brown, Lauren Raab, Sam Liccardo, Shannon Lin Verified, Shani Hilton, Myron Kaplan, Denise Guerra, Mario Diaz, Marina Pena
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Apple Podcasts
Column: Californians should be seeing red over electricity rate hikes
I just voted to hike electricity rates in San Jose. Many other mayors and public officials sitting on boards of municipal and community-choice utilities — serving tens of millions of Californians — have done the same in recent weeks. You should be mad as hell about it — especially because local utilities’ wholesale costs to provide electricity have not increased a dime. They’ve actually dropped. So why increase rates? The California Public Utilities Commission doesn’t give us much choice.
Guest Commentary | Seeing red over electricity rate hikes in state
By Sam Liccardo I just voted to hike electricity rates in San Jose. Many other mayors and public officials sitting on boards of municipal and community-choice utilities — serving tens of millions of Californians — have done the same in recent weeks. You should be mad as hell about it — especially because local utilities’ wholesale costs to provide electricity have not increased a dime. They’ve actually dropped. So why increase rates?
San Jose mayor: Gun owners should cover the cost of gun violence Original
Sam Liccardo is the mayor of San Jose, America's 10th largest city. He has written op-eds published by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Hill and the Mercury News. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion at CNN. (CNN)In my city, a mass shooting took the lives of nine people at a transit rail yard in May.
Fresno’s Jerry Dyer joins San Jose’s mayor in supporting high-speed rail project
A bridge for the California High Speed Rail crosses Highway 99 and Cedar Avenue during construction of the high-speed railway on Thursday, March 4, 2021. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com Despite the deep and widespread suffering of this pandemic, this crisis will pass. Other crises, however, will persist. An affordable housing shortage will continue to plague high-growth, coastal communities like the Bay Area.
Opinion: We can open our schools and and keep our teachers safe
Throughout this pandemic, we have been urged to “follow the science.” The medical experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, U.S. Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Rochelle Wollensky, and top California Department of Public Health officials have roundly concluded that schools — particularly elementary schools — can safely reopen without vaccinating teachers.
Opinion: We can open our schools and and keep our teachers safe
Throughout this pandemic, we have been urged to “follow the science.” The medical experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, U.S. Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Rochelle Wollensky, and top California Department of Public Health officials have roundly concluded that schools — particularly elementary schools — can safely reopen without vaccinating teachers.
San Jose mayor, Santa Clara DA: ‘We resolve to combat antisemitism’ – J.
When the coronavirus pandemic struck last March, a series of attacks on Asian Americans demanded a firm response. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office produced a public service announcement cautioning against blaming the Covid-19 outbreak on a particular group. “When you attack a member of our community because of their ethnicity, the color of their skin or where you think someone is from, then you have attacked us all,” declared the voiceover.
Silicon Valley's exodus: Stop blaming tech
Much has been made of the “Silicon Valley Exodus.” The conventional wisdom holds that the discovery of feasible remote work arrangements during this pandemic has employers — and their employees — fleeing the Bay Area for more affordable destinations. While true, that narrative remains incomplete; Austin, Texas, for example, isn’t a particularly cheap housing market. More important, it evades harder questions. Policy choices got us here.
Viewing Yesterday’s Symbols with Today’s Eyes
San José has many urgent and critical priorities in this moment: a pandemic, a deep recession, and an affordable housing crisis, among others. They deserve our undivided attention. They also require the strength and focus of an undivided community. For the third time in three decades, debate over the Thomas Fallon Statue has reopened old wounds and deepened divides. I am calling for the commencement of the City’s standard process to remove the Fallon Statue.
Trump's second impeachment after Capitol riots isn't enough. He needs to go to prison. Original
The second impeachment of President Donald Trump has concluded, not with a bang, but with a whimper. Whether it results in a Senate conviction or not, impeachment amounts to a feeble punishment for a man who will have left office anyway. We cannot satisfy ourselves with the prosecution of the pelt-wearing members of the mob. Prosecuting only the puppets gives license to future puppet masters.
After the Election: Governing by Grown-Ups
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo “What do we do now?” —Bill McKay, “The Candidate” The smoke has cleared: the Electoral College has certified the result, the highest courts have refused to intervene, and even many leading Republicans have accepted the inevitable. As if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris didn’t have enough difficulty securing this hard-fought election six weeks after the last vote was cast, the toughest turf lies ahead: governing.
When this COVID-19 wave passes, California must prioritize kids and open our schools Original
Amid our nine-month pandemic, political forces have swung open the doors of California’s bars, card clubs and marijuana dispensaries while we closed schools and stranded our children. Meanwhile, most nations in Western Europe prioritized keeping schools open safely, even while imposing curfews and closing businesses in recent weeks. They got it right; we didn’t. We now face spiking infection rates that have put 40 California counties back under the most restrictive conditions for public activity.
Opinion: Measure G would make San Jose police more accountable Original
“Our goal is to create a beloved community, and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” ― Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the four months since the killing of George Floyd, Americans of every color and creed have cried out for racial justice, reform and reimagination of public safety in America’s cities. We have employed our voices, and now it is incumbent upon us to deploy our votes.
San José Mayor and L.A. Supervisor Call for CPUC "Exit Fee" Reform
SAN JOSÉ, Calif., Sept. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- San José Mayor Sam Liccardo and Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl today called on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to increase transparency and accountability for California's "Big Three" investor-owned utilities as the companies prepare to levy hefty fees on California consumers via a confidential and murky process.
California’s three big utility companies stand in the way of consumer choice
Opinion // Open Forum “With great power comes an even greater electricity bill.” — Anonymous One planet, dozens of cities and 10 million Californians collectively benefited during the past decade from the creation of community choice aggregators, or CCAs, in local communities throughout the state.
Opinion | Do we want Uber and Lyft to disappear? Here's a way to help them, and their workers.
Half of some 1 million gig workers in the Golden State are poised to lose income thanks to a new law expected to cause Uber and Lyft to shut down. If a court allows the law’s implementation to precede in the coming weeks, as is likely, the economic pain of many communities, including my own city of San Jose, will only deepen. The on-demand economy enables thousands of struggling residents to earn supplemental income to make rent amid a pandemic of unemployment.
California legislators should pass bill to compel cities to end homelessness
Opinion // Open Forum As mayors of big cities in California, we cannot ignore an unacceptable fact which the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated. Alongside one of the greatest concentrations of wealth and innovation in the world, thousands of people sleep outdoors on sheets of cardboard or in flimsy tents. The problem shocks the conscience and worsens by the day.
Focus On Worker Health Will Drive Econ. Recovery
Sam Liccardo & Bryan Barnett The Hill July 21, 2020 eed not pit the health of our workers and our businesses against each other. We need both. Let's end the stalemate in Washington, and get America back to workâ?"safely. We n Read Full Article »
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