SACRAMENTO, CA—Assemblyman Jose Solorio (D-Anaheim) supported the State Assembly’s passage of the 2007-08 budget early this morning.  The budget still needs to pass the State Senate and be signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to be enacted into law.    

“This is a fiscally responsible budget that contains no new taxes, no new programs, pays down debt and has the largest reserve in history.  The budget fully funds K-12 and higher education, including the restoration of academic preparation programs that help more kids succeed in college and contribute to our economy,” said Assemblyman Solorio.

“The budget also funds a handful of budget priorities that I strongly advocated for throughout the budget process, including funding for a new anti-gang Czar and grants to fight gangs, as well as funding to teach English,” said Assemblyman Solorio.

Below are other highlights of the budget proposal:

● Includes $105.7 billion in available General Fund revenues and $103 billion in General Fund expenditures.
● Provides for a $3.4 billion budget reserve, which is the largest in the state’s history and $1.3 billion higher than proposed by the Governor.
● Restores some of the Governor’s most damaging cuts to assistance for the elderly, blind, disabled, and mentally ill.

The budget also contains funding for a number of priorities that Assemblyman Solorio advocated for throughout the budget process:

Anti-Gang Czar and Grants to Fight Gangs:  The budget provides $10 million in much needed gang prevention and intervention funding to curb gang violence in Orange County and elsewhere in the state.  The $10 million in funding would provide for a state Anti-Gang Coordinator and provide grants to cities and community-based organizations for gang prevention, intervention, re-entry, education, job training and skills development, and family and community services (see attachment for more information). 

English Classes For Adults:  The budget contains $50 million in funding for the Community Based English Tutoring Program (CBET) that provides more than 195,000 adults with limited English proficiency with the language and tutoring skills to help their children through school.  Teaching adults English also serves to provide for a more productive workforce.  The CBET program provides $4.5 million in annual funding to 27 Orange County-based education agencies for CBET-funded English tutoring classes all over Orange County (see attachment for more information).

English Learner Best Practices Pilot Program:  The budget provides $1 million in federal Title III carryover funds for an evaluation of the English Learner (EL) Best Practices Pilot Program to identify “best practices” of schools where EL students are demonstrating successful outcomes. 

The Assembly also passed a budget trailer bill, SB 87, that provides for hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax credits for businesses, but doesn’t continue a $185 million a year tax credit program for teachers. 

“I could not vote for SB 87 because I did not believe it was right to increase taxes on teachers to pay for tax breaks for businesses.  I am supportive of various tax credits but I believe we should take a look at all the tax credit proposals out there to assess which ones would be best for creating new jobs and growing the economy,” said Assemblyman Solorio.