Local Legislators React Favorably to Newsom’s Budget

Local representatives reacted favorably to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget late last week.

The $227 billion budget contains $15 billion in economic relief in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, $5 billion in emergency funding for reopening schools, the virus vaccine, small business grants and $2.4 billion that will send $600 in cash payments to 4 million Californians. 

“Today’s budget reflects the challenging times California continues to experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” said Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-Pasadena). “I look forward to working with Gov. Newsom and my colleagues in the Legislature to strengthen and improve the budget to save lives and our economy, while committing to shared priorities like education, affordable housing, and our environment. Our focus, however, at this moment must continue to be the health and well-being of all Californians during this COVID-19 Pandemic.”

Holden said he was encouraged to see the governor had taken his request to ensure that supplemental wage increases for developmental services are not suspended at the end of the year. 

“We sent a letter to the governor highlighting the rate study that shows the intellectual and developmental disability community was underfunded by $1.4 billion, and stressed the need to extend the supplemental wage increase until the rate methodology can be permanently fixed,” Holden said.

The budget now reflects an extension of the sunset date to the end of 2022. Without the extension, thousands of service providers would be at risk shutting their doors.

“Families losing care for their loved ones with intellectual and developmental disabilities community, especially during a pandemic, would be catastrophic,” Holden said.

“After almost a year of living through this Pandemic nightmare, it’s clear that disadvantaged communities are disproportionately affected, whether directly through higher cases, hospitalizations, and deaths or indirectly through lower education quality due to lack of resources. I applaud the governor for recognizing these discrepancies and look forward to working with him to ensure a just recovery,” he said.

Newsom is also allocating $500 million in low-income housing tax credits. 

“One of my primary concerns over the years when it comes to housing policy in California is that we are building mostly luxury units that do not help the people that are actually in need of housing,” said State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-Pasadena). 

“Building more and more unaffordable condos is not the solution. This investment into building the affordable housing that Californians actually need makes me more confident that our state has a real plan to tackle our housing crisis,” Portantino said. 

“Additionally, the governor is proposing increasing funding for construction apprenticeships. Construction jobs are great careers that elevate people out of poverty and unfortunately have a hard time finding qualified employees,” he said.

The state constitution mandates the governor submit a balanced budget proposal by Jan. 10. 

A revised budget is due by May 14. The state Legislature has until June 15 to pass the budget.