NEW: Gray Got Rich From Gas Tax Supporting Family’s Construction Company
Hi there,
There’s a wild story out today on how Rep. Adam Gray made a fortune after being the deciding vote for the California gas tax.
After the gas tax passed, Gray’s family’s brand new construction company won several contracts with the gas tax revenue – ranging from building a gas station, convenience store and a 133-room Hilton Garden Inn.
Gray is now part-owner of that company…and has made over a million from his salary and stakes in the company.
Read more below.
Thomas Catenacci
Washington Free Beacon
September 18, 2026
As a California state assemblymember, Democratic Rep. Adam Gray cast the deciding vote to help pass controversial legislation increasing the state’s tax on gasoline. As part of the deal California lawmakers struck to pass it, Gray’s district received a sizable infrastructure grant that his cousin’s newly established construction company—from which Gray himself has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars and is now a part owner of—cashed in on.
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The $100 million grant funded a 4.5-mile four-lane expressway connecting the University of California, Merced, campus to surrounding communities, something that has proven to be a boon personally for Gray and his cousin David Marvulli. The project—which county leaders personally credited Gray for and which Gray cut the ribbon for when it opened in 2022—paved the way for a new business plaza along the expressway that its developer hopes will eventually become an entertainment, shopping, and food center—and Marvulli’s eponymous construction contracting company, Marvulli Inc., won the contract to build a gas station, convenience store, and the anchor project for that plaza, a $36 million 133-room Hilton Garden Inn that opened earlier this year. Those appear to represent Marvulli Inc.’s first hotel and gas station projects.
It makes sense that Gray would attend the grand opening: He has reported involvement in his cousin’s various business ventures for years dating back to his assemblymember days and, in federal financial disclosures, reported earning $366,112 in salary income from Marvulli Inc. between 2024 and 2025. He took an up to $250,000 stake in the company in 2025. The value of that stake has surged to as much as $500,000, and Gray earned as much as $100,000 in profit from the stake last year, his most recent disclosures show. Both the value increase and profit may reasonably be tied to Marvulli Inc.’s work at the Hilton-anchored plaza.
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After the gas tax passed, Merced County awarded several public infrastructure, repair, and renovation contracts to Marvulli Inc. According to a Washington Free Beacon analysis, Marvulli Inc. won at least seven such contracts worth $30.4 million between 2020 and 2025.
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In his financial disclosures, Gray reported earning as much as $1 million in rent income from the complex in 2023, just one year after he and his cousin acquired it—and before any renovation could be complete.
Read more here.
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