Kevin Kiley and the issues that matter to California seniors

For California seniors, Washington policy is anything but abstract. Taxes determine how far retirement savings stretch. Medicare policy can determine whether seniors can continue seeing their doctors. Social Security provides a financial foundation for millions of retirees. And in Northern California, wildfire prevention, insurance costs, housing, water and energy prices can determine whether seniors can afford to remain in the communities they call home. Congressman Kevin Kiley of California's 3rd Congressional District has focused much of his work in Congress on these bread-and-butter concerns. One clear example is Social Security. Kiley has opposed reducing Social Security benefits and cosponsored the Social Security Fairness Act, which became law in January 2025. The law repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, provisions that had reduced Social Security benefits for many Americans who also received government pensions. That change was particularly important for retired teachers, police officers, firefighters and other public employees. Kiley has also highlighted provisions of the federal budget law providing additional tax relief for older Americans, including a temporary additional deduction of up to $6,000 for taxpayers age 65 and older, subject to income limitations. His office has outlined provisions affecting seniors, including Medicare physician reimbursement. Another Kiley proposal addresses a problem particularly relevant to California homeowners: what happens when seniors sell longtime homes. Decades of extraordinary increases in California property values can leave retirees with large capital gains. Selling a primary residence can temporarily increase income enough to trigger substantially higher income-related Medicare Part B and Part D premiums. Kiley introduced the Medicare Protection Act, which would provide a one-time exemption for the sale of a principal residence when calculating income used to determine Medicare premiums. That may sound technical until it happens to you. A California senior who bought a modest home decades ago may now be sitting on a substantial paper gain. Selling that house to downsize, relocate near family or enter senior housing shouldn't necessarily produce an unexpected Medicare premium increase. Health-care affordability has also produced some unusual bipartisan work from Kiley. He joined Democratic Congressman Sam Liccardo in introducing the Fix It Act, a proposal intended to temporarily extend enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits while offsetting costs through changes including efforts to reduce Medicare Advantage waste and insurance fraud. The proposal illustrates an important point: health-care affordability doesn't divide neatly along partisan lines. Neither does California's wildfire crisis. Kiley represents an enormous district running along much of the California-Nevada border and encompassing communities near Lake Tahoe and numerous national forests. For many residents, wildfire isn't an environmental-policy abstraction. It can mean evacuations, destroyed homes, soaring insurance premiums, unhealthy air and devastated communities. In 2026, Kiley introduced the Biomass Facility Construction Act, proposing a tax incentive for new biomass facilities. The concept is straightforward. Removing dead wood, brush, limbs and other accumulated forest material can reduce potential wildfire fuel, but communities need economically practical ways to process that material. Kiley has also backed district projects involving fire protection, water treatment, drinking-water infrastructure, transportation, affordable housing and emergency response. There is a broader affordability question tying many of these issues together. California remains an extraordinarily expensive place to retire. Housing, electricity, gasoline, insurance, groceries, taxes and health care all compete for the same retirement dollar. For someone living primarily on Social Security and retirement savings, there isn't always another paycheck available to absorb those increases. That makes fiscal policy, taxation, energy, housing, health care and regulatory policy senior issues whether Washington labels them that way or not. Kiley's background is somewhat unusual for Congress. He was a public-school teacher, attorney, prosecutor and California assemblyman before his election to the House in 2022. His congressional committee assignments have given him a role in debates involving education and the workforce, the judiciary, transportation and infrastructure. California seniors can evaluate Kiley's broader political record for themselves. But on issues directly affecting older Americans, there is a substantive record to examine: Social Security, Medicare premiums, physician access, health-care affordability, taxation, wildfire prevention, infrastructure and California's extraordinarily high cost of living. Those aren't merely Washington issues. For millions of Californians, they are retirement issues—and they deserve serious attention. California's third congressional district should send him back to Washington to continue this work. Saulius "Saul" Anuzis is the president of the 60 Plus American Association of Senior Citizens and a Republican Party politician from the U.S. State of Michigan. He was chairman of the Michigan Republican Party from 2005–2009 and was also a candidate for national chairman of the Republican National Committee in 2009 and 2011, as well as a Member of the RNC from 2005–2012. To contact 60 Plus, please send email to info@60plus.org.