SACRAMENTO – Assembly Member Anna Caballero today welcomed the Assembly’s late night passage of a compromise budget that she called a good bipartisan effort.

“This budget contains no new taxes, pays down debt and has the largest reserve in history,” said Caballero.  “But it still preserves funding for education, aid to Medi-Cal and mentally ill homeless people, and funds the Williamson Act to protect agricultural lands.” 

Caballero added:  “I’m particularly pleased that we managed to get $9.5 million into the budget for grants to local communities to work on preventing youth violence.”

Caballero is the chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Youth Violence Prevention.  The committee held three hearings as the budget was being developed, highlighting the need for state assistance to help communities develop and fund violence prevention and intervention programs.

“This budget is not all rosy,” said Caballero.  “I am very concerned that the growth in the budget reserve came at the expense of public transit funds that are badly needed in my district and elsewhere.  Earlier this year, I fought to get full funding for buses and other transportation services when the governor proposed taking transit money earlier this year.

“But we needed six Republican votes to get to the two-thirds super majority needed to pass a budget,” she added.  “The Republicans insisted on cuts to put $1.4 billion more into a budget reserve.”

“We were 19 days without a budget for the people of California,” said Caballero.  “It was time to cut the tough bargains and get the state back to work.”

The budget bill now moves to the state Senate for consideration.  The state will not have a new budget until the legislation has been passed by both legislative houses.

Details of the Budget:

1. Creates a $3.4 billion dollar reserve, 62% larger than the Governor's proposed May Revision
2. Transfers $1.257 billion of gas taxes to the general fund
3. Repays $2.5 billion in bond obligations, $1 billion more than required
4. Preserves the Williamson Act to protect agricultural lands
5. Rejects cuts to CalWORKS proposed by the Governor
6. Fully funds aid to Medi-Cal and the homeless mentally ill
7. Fully funds K-12 education and higher education – including restoring academic preparation programs that help more kids succeed in college and contribute to our economy. 
8. Funds implementation of AB 32, California’s landmark global warming prevention bill.
9. Provides $9.5 million in matching grants to local communities to keep kids out of gangs and gangs out of neighborhoods.