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Volume 1, Edition 4 - January 2007
New Latino Caucus Member Profile
Assemblymember Jose Solorio:
"From the Fields to the Assembly"
 In 1995, Jose Solorio
converted his Mercedes-Benz sedan to run on vegetable oil as a way to help
preserve the environment. He is a strict vegetarian who has a passion
for searching out unique Asian restaurants to eat at with his wife Linn and
two sons Michael Andrew (age 8) and Diego Tian (age 4). And he likes
to compete with his two sons on their mini hand-held
Nintendo DS game devices, playing games
such as Mario Kart and Mario v. Donkey Kong
II.
“Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, but
its always fun,” says Assemblymember
Solorio, who attributes his success and happiness to simple yet important
values that he learned from his parents growing up in fields of the Central
Valley. “Study hard. Work hard. Treat everyone equally. Take care of
your family.”
As
the foreign-born son of migrant farm workers, Assemblymember Solorio has
gone from laboring in the fields as a teenager along side his parents, to
earning a masters degree in public policy from Harvard University,
to being elected to the Santa Ana City Council and now the California State
Assembly.
Assemblymember
Solorio, whose wife is a high school history teacher, said education will
be his top priority in the Assembly.
He is working on putting together a package of bills to address the
achievement gap between English learners and native English speakers.
As
the chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee, Solorio will also be very
engaged in the critical need to reform the state’s prison system and other
pressing public safety issues.
By
encouraging strategic investments and reforms in education, infrastructure,
economic development and public safety, Assemblymember Solorio believes California can be a
place where all residents can achieve their dreams. He did it and he
knows others can too.
Capitol Welcomes New Polanco
Fellows
On January 3, 2007
the capital building welcomed six new Polanco Fellows to the dynamic world of policy making. This is the fourth class of  Polanco Fellows, bringing a total of 24 young Latinos who have served in the capital since the program’s inception in 2003. Members of the 2006-2007 class are now
placed in various offices of both the Senate and the Assembly, after
completing a 3-month executive placement at a government agency.
- Sara Bachez, a graduate of UC Berkeley, completed her executive placement at the Department of Health, and is working in the office of the Chair of the Senate Health Committee, Senator Sheila Kuehl.
- Antonio Ortega, a
graduate of UC Riverside, completed his executive placement at the
Student Aid Commission and is working in the office of Senator Abel
Maldonado.
- Catalina Hayes-Bautista,
a graduate of UC Berkeley, completed her executive placement at
CalPERS and is working with Assembly Majority Whip Fiona Ma’s office.
- Jorge Madrid, a graduate
of UC Santa Barbara, completed his executive placement at the State Treasurers
Office and is working in the office of the Latino Caucus Chair,
Assemblymember Joe Coto.
- Carolina Salazar, a
graduate of Mills
College,
completed her executive placement at the Department of Housing and Community
Development and is working in the office of the Chair of the Senate
Housing Committee, Senator Alan Lowenthal.
- Esmeralda Soria, a
graduate of UC Berkeley, completed her executive placement in the
office of the Attorney General and is working in the office of the
Latino Caucus Vic Chair, Senator Gil Cedillo.
During
the legislative session, fellows will carry
legislation, research and analyze bills, meet with constituents, and attend
hearings on critical public policy issues. At the end of the
program, because of the quality of the candidates selected for this
program, most fellows are strongly recruited for open positions. Many of the Polanco Fellow graduates are
working in the legislature or pursuing Masters or Doctorate degrees.
Latinos in California Politics: Fun Facts
Latinos have been involved in California politics from the very
beginnings, in fact:
- Eight
of the 48 signers of the original 1849 California Constitution were
Latino.
And…
- The origional California
Constitution was written in both English and Spanish and provided that
all major legislation was to be written in both languages.
Latino Caucus Prepares for the
2007 State Budget
Over 40 Members and staff attended the
Legislative Latino Caucus Budget Briefing by Legislative Analyst Elizabeth
Hill on Monday, January
8, 2007. Liz Hill’s briefing was informative and focused,
and she welcomed Members’ input.
Hill made it clear that the state's fiscal
condition remains serious. Although the budget shortfall — current
spending in excess of current revenues — is expected to decline from $5.5
billion in 2007-08 to $5 billion in 2008-09, any shortfall places a burden
of debt on future budgets. Hill emphasized that repaying past
budgetary borrowing constitutes a significant portion of the current
budget. The LAO projects that the state will have a carry over of about
$3.1 billion from the current year to offset some of the 2007-08 shortfall.
Hill discussed funding for education, a primary
Latino Caucus priority. She said that the Proposition 98 education-funding
guarantee may exceed growth and cost-of-living adjustments by more than $2
billion in 2010-11 and 2011-12, the last two years of LAO’s current
forecast. She suggested that the Legislature begin to set priorities
in K-14 spending to account for the predicted increase in revenues.
Hill also informed members that the LAO has published several reports in
the K-12 area concerning migrant education, English Language Learners, high
school reform and career technical education. In addition, Hill
discussed the Governor’s prison reform package presented last month.
Members reacted to the information
presented. Assemblymember Kevin De
Leon compared per-pupil investment in education with the cost of
incarcerating citizens, and expressed concern about the rise of a
prison-industrial complex in the future. Assemblymember
Nicole Parra and Senator Gloria Negrete-McLeod both asked pointed questions
regarding the corrections budget and prison reform.
In response to a concern expressed by
Assemblymember Jose Solorio that the public expected quick action on
infrastructure projects, Hill stated there are now 68 pots of available
money, of which 22 are new and contain about $18.3 billion. According
to the LAO, most of this money will need to be appropriated through the
budget bill or through separate legislation. Regardless of the vehicle, the
Legislature will have the opportunity to provide direction, establish
criteria, create allocation mechanisms and require accountability for the
implementation of any new programs using these funds.
You can find a detailed LAO analysis of each of
the bond measures at http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot_source/Propositions.aspx.
California State Assembly
New Rules Committee Members
Speaker Fabian Nunez, appointed the
following regular members to the Assembly Rules
Committee. As previously announced, the chair is Asm. Hector De
La Torre and the vice chair is Asm. Sam Blakeslee. The
newly appointed members are:
·
Anthony Adams
·
Greg Aghazarian
·
Richard Alarcón
·
Wilmer Amina Carter
·
John Benoit
·
Mike Davis
·
Mark DeSaulnier
·
Paul Krekorian
·
Tony Mendoza
·
Loni Hancock, Democratic Alternate
WEB ADDRESS
http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/LatinoCaucus/
DISTRICT OFFICE:
100 Paseo De San Antonio, Suite
319 San Jose,
CA 95113
Phone: (408) 277-1220 Fax: (408) 277-1036
CAPITOL OFFICE:
State Capitol P.O. Box 942849 Sacramento, CA 94249-0023 Phone: (916) 319-2023
Fax: (916) 319-2123
For more
information, please contact: Minnie Santillan at 319-2023 or minnie.santillan@asm.ca.gov
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