An Honest Economy for Marin County
One of America's wealthiest counties — but not everyone shares in that wealth
Marin City is a historically Black community that was shut out of homeownership after World War II. The Canal district in San Rafael is home to immigrant families paying rents they can't afford. At Point Reyes, eleven multi-generational ranching families were pushed off twelve ranches by a private deal with no public hearing. And along the Tomales Bay coast, some of the most productive shellfish and kelp waters in California are disappearing without compensation to the stewards who sustain them. These three bills were written for the Marin that doesn't make the travel magazines.
Three Crises. Three Bills. Real Legislation.
Marin County has a housing justice crisis in two communities named directly in federal legislation, a displaced ranching community at Point Reyes pushed out with no public hearing, and a coastal ecosystem that is producing carbon sequestration and food without being compensated for it. These aren't talking points. They're drafted federal legislation with funding mechanisms, constitutional analysis, and real accountability. Read them yourself and decide.
Marin City, The Canal and Beyond: American Housing Justice Act
Turning rent payments into homeownership — in the two Marin communities named right in the bill
In Marin City, Black families who built warships during World War II were locked out of the homeownership boom that made their white neighbors wealthy. In the Canal district, immigrant families pay some of the highest rents in the Bay Area while building zero equity. This bill names both communities by name in the statute — they are the designated pilot sites written into the law itself. It creates federal pilot programs for rent-to-ownership pathways where 15–30% of every on-time rent payment accrues as real ownership equity over up to 15 years. It establishes community land trusts with 99-year affordability covenants — once affordable, the housing stays affordable. At least one-third of every CLT board must be residents, so the community governs itself. The bill mandates climate-resilient housing standards that cut energy bills while protecting against flooding. And it explicitly prohibits eminent domain in three separate sections — every property acquisition is voluntary, from willing sellers, at fair market value, with free independent legal counsel provided to each seller and a 60-day cooling-off period with full right to rescind.
From Seashore to Stockyard — CA-2 Food Security and Economic Resilience Act
Eleven ranching families. Twelve ranches. No public hearing. This bill demands accountability.
In January 2025, the National Park Service settled a lawsuit with The Nature Conservancy in a $30 million private deal — and eleven multi-generational ranching families were removed from twelve ranches at Point Reyes National Seashore, some after more than a century on the land. No public hearing. NDAs attached. This bill directly addresses that outcome. It requires public hearings before any federal land management decision that displaces agricultural stewards — the kind of transparency that was absent at Point Reyes. It restores the principle that working ranchers, farmers, and fishing families who have been displaced from federal lands have a right of return when circumstances allow. It establishes protections for multi-generational agricultural operations on federal lands so that private conservation deals cannot override lease agreements that families have honored for decades. Beyond Point Reyes, the bill supports the broader CA-2 food economy: food hubs with cold storage in all nine counties, local sourcing requirements for school meals, 25% set-aside of food security funds for tribal food sovereignty programs, and priority funding for food deserts — communities more than 20 miles from a grocery store. For Marin's farmers, ranchers, and fishers, this is the bill that says the federal government must work with the people who steward the land — not around them.
Coastal Carbon Sequestration Dividend Act
Tomales Bay shellfish farmers are doing climate work — they should get paid for it
Tomales Bay is one of the most productive coastal estuaries in California. The oyster farms, kelp beds, and coastal rangelands along the Point Reyes and West Marin coast are doing something remarkable: they're pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and out of the ocean at scale, every single day. Right now, they get nothing for it — while corporations buy fraudulent carbon offsets on the open market. This bill changes that. It creates a federal payment program for verified coastal carbon sequestration, paying coastal stewards directly for the climate work their operations perform: $15–$45 per ton for kelp restoration, $10–$40 per ton for shellfish operations (oysters pull carbonate from seawater as they build their shells — measurable, verifiable, permanent), and $20–$40 per ton for coastal rangeland grazing that builds soil carbon at Point Reyes and beyond. The bill explicitly rejects fraudulent offset credits — payments are for direct, verified, permanent sequestration only, audited by an independent scientific board. It also prioritizes Point Reyes-area ranchers and Marin's coastal shellfish farmers for program access, and includes tribal stewardship recognition for the Coast Miwok and other nations whose traditional practices have sustained these ecosystems. For Marin's coastal economy, this is the bill that turns conservation into income — and makes the people who have always cared for these waters the ones who benefit most.
Every Bill Meets These Standards
Not campaign rhetoric — drafted legislation tested against eight ironclad principles. Read the bills. Check the math. Decide for yourself.