SACRAMENTO – In a floor session that began Thursday evening and lasted until early Friday morning, the state Assembly passed an historic package of legislation that will, if approved by the voters in November, provide $37.281 billion to the states schools, transportation needs, levee system, and affordable housing programs.

Assembly Member Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego), who joined her Assembly colleagues for the late-night session, said she is particularly gratified by the inclusion of funding for affordable housing in the bond legislation.

“Many of my constituents are vulnerable to the reduction of affordable rental housing units in San Diego in recent years, and only about 20 percent will be able to afford the skyrocketing costs of buying a first home.” Saldaña said. “I am hopeful that this legislation will provide some relief for both renters and first-time home buyers.”

The $2.85 billion allocated to the affordable housing component of the bond measure would provide $395 million to build apartments statewide for seniors, families and person with disabilities. For the state’s first-time homebuyers, $300 million will go to the Cal-Home program, which funds a range of home ownership programs; and $200 million will go to the California Homebuyer Downpayment Assistance Program, which helps first-time homebuyers with down payment and closing costs.

The measure would also provide $10.416 billion for upgrading facilities for the state’s K-12 schools and the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) systems. Almost $2 billion will be dedicated to construction of new K-12 schools throughout the state, while over $3 billion will be used for the rehabilitation and modernization of existing facilities.

Two-hundred million dollars from the new construction and rehabilitation funding will go to small high schools in which students are taught in a more intimate and accountable academic environment.

“People think of infrastructure as just roads and other means to move cars, goods and people,” Saldaña said. “But we have to think of infrastructure as construction necessary to move the state forward – including increasing access to housing and improved facilities for education.”

Of course, the lion’s share of the funding, $19.925 billion will go to improving the state’s transportation infrastructure, including $16.25 billion dedicated to mobility, transit and congestion relief projects throughout the state. Two billion dollars will be given to cities and counties to upgrade their system of roads, while $4 billion will go to rail, bus and transit improvement.

After months of concern about the condition of the levee system the legislature agreed to allocate $4.09 billion to upgrade California’s flood protection system, including significant funding to repair the deteriorating system of levees in the Sacramento River Delta.

The infrastructure package will appear as a four separate bond initiatives on the November 7th ballot.