TRUCKEE, Calif. – At Wednesday’s Truckee Chamber Government Action Committee meeting, California state senator Marie Alvarado-Gil spoke with what she called one of the most unique and diverse towns in her jurisdiction. Alvarado-Gil addressed concerns about topics and urged the representatives to share their stories and issues with her.

Alvarado-Gil has served as the state senator for District 4 since 2022, switching her party affiliation to Republican late last year in response to Democratic policies on crime. However, her views still lean left of moderate, as evidenced by some of her responses to Chamber members.

“The town of Truckee is absolutely different than anywhere else in my district,” said Alvarado-Gil, who represents 21 cities and 16 tribal nations, 3 of which are not yet federally recognized, throughout her district.

The senator spent most of her time fielding questions about the concerns that attendees brought up to her.

Healthcare

It’s a hot topic for those primarily served by Tahoe Forest Health, which is a critical access hospital whose funding will change due to the recently passed H.R. 1, also called the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Alvarado-Gil lives in Jackson, Calif. and recognized the diversity of healthcare delivery throughout California, especially in the rural areas, which she primarily serves. She shared a story of how her daughter, who stayed with Alvarado-Gil during her pregnancy, wasn’t able to access maternity care in Jackson and had to go to Sacramento for adequate care.

The senator didn’t feel confident that California’s legislature would come together to fix the issue, since it’s not polling in the top 5 issues for the state, but said that they were working on access to care, funding and building a pipeline of providers.

Immigration

Attendees relayed to the senator that there was an atmosphere of “fear and absolute terror” among immigrants in the Truckee community, especially those attending community college. Alvarado-Gil acknowledged the fear, but also stated that places in California seeking sanctuary status were not following the law.

“There is a mass deportation effort in California… and it’s not a fight we’re going to win,” said Alvarado-Gil in reference to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s clash with the Trump administration. But she also recognized that immigrants make up a massive portion of the agricultural and tourism industries throughout California.

On that note, Alvarado-Gil also told a member that she could possibly intervene with regard to expediting J-1 visas, which aligns with her platform of strengthening the workforce in the state.

Housing

With the passing of SB 130, which lessens some CEQA requirements for housing projects, attendees asked the senator about how housing was being treated in the state senate. According to Alvarado-Gil, three of the top 5 issues are related to housing, so it’s a major focus among the legislature.

She commended the Truckee Artist Lofts and the town’s focus on the arts, as someone who opened a performing arts-focused charter school in the past. Chamber members suggested that they stay in contact with her about the lessons learned from the Truckee Artist Lofts, along with Coldstream Commons.

She went on to say that solutions such as “land grabs” around transportation hubs would make more accessible housing and mentioned that the government could, in the future, buy up scorched land for housing—which could have a big impact in the Tahoe-Truckee area.

She also referenced that sales of public lands or land givebacks for housing could make it cheaper for housing development to happen throughout her district.

Alvarado-Gil recognized the difficulty with housing in conjunction with rising insurance rates, leading people to move to areas with less costs of living and weakening the residency and workforce of an area.

“It’s the reality of having a border district and it’s something we’ve been seeing. But we can’t compete with Nevada’s workforce infrastructure,” said the senator regarding Truckee workers moving to Reno and Carson City. “California has a lot of money for housing and workforce support, but it’s our priorities we haven’t gotten straight.”

Environment and fire safety

While federal cuts are being made to environmental initiatives, the state has continued to pledge money to fire safety and environment. “The question is if they’ll add more,” said Alvarado-Gil.

She went on to say that changes probably won’t be clear until September, but that the legislature has pushed through $30 million for conservation funding.

Gov. Newsom just passed SB 229 on Tuesday, Alvarado-Gil’s bill that expands peace and correctional officers’ authority to enhance emergency response capabilities, including to wildfire response. But she also spoke about another bill before the Los Angeles fires that stalled in the Assembly.

“I was on the insurance committee before the fires and when we came back to session in January, it was to these devastating fires,” said the senator. The FAIR plan, which provides basic fire insurance coverage for high-risk properties, required a bailout of $1 billion to compensate for the damages incurred during the L.A. fires. Homeowners and insurers across the state have had increases in costs to pay for it, while according to Alvarado-Gil, checks to the families who have been affected have bounced.

“It’s the biggest black eye California has gotten… since it happened with issues we were already looking at,” said Alvarado-Gil.

Utility companies, which also have raised their rates in part to pay for climbing fire insurance costs, were front of mind for some chamber members. Alvarado-Gil encouraged people to contact and comment on the California Public Utilities Commission’s page, especially regarding topics like this, which prevent people from interest in electric-powered vehicles.

“I’m concerned about the energy space,” said Alvarado-Gil. She also mentioned that an executive order stopped California’s initiative to phase out gas-powered vehicles, but the state is suing the Trump administration on that issue, among others.

Looking to the future

When asked about what’s giving her hope, the senator said that she was glad to have protected funding for schools. “The educator in me came out… protecting cuts to UCs and Cal States makes me hopeful that we are still valuing education.”

She was also glad that CalTrans has plenty of money for repairs to roads and bridges. “It’s not that we’re underfunded, we’re understaffed… we need to make it cool to work in trades and public services,” said Alvarado-Gil.

Lastly, she expressed that she was hopeful that California recreation was alive and thriving.

Alvarado-Gil encouraged Truckee residents to reach out to her about their issues, which you can do at https://sr04.senate.ca.gov/contact-me.

Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.