California’s New Budget

The state’s fiscal health is strong. As Assembly budget chair for the last eight budgets, I’m glad to see that our years of fiscal responsibility has positioned our state well to deal with declining revenues. This enables us to protect the progress we’ve made in key priority areas, avoid cuts to core programs and maintain a $38 billion reserve to safeguard against economic uncertainty in California’s new budget. 

I’m especially grateful there was a little flexibility in the budget that allowed me to deliver state funding for a few projects throughout my district. For westside residents, I secured more than $2 million each for two facilities that support vulnerable clients. The first undertaking will help transform a building on Clement Street into a residential care facility for the elderly, with 15 beds and a senior center on the ground floor. The second will make critical infrastructure repairs to an alcohol rehabilitation center in the Haight Ashbury/Buena Vista neighborhood. The urgent and necessary renovation ensures housing and services for people seeking sobriety continues for years to come.

I also successfully obtained resources for a couple of active transportation projects: $1.2 million for protected bike lanes on Arguello Boulevard and $1 million for YBikes, which can purchase more equipment so they can expand bike clubs at more locations within the San Francisco Unified School District. This advances our fight against climate change by reducing our dependency on cars and promotes a healthier lifestyle.

Statewide, the budget touches many lives, strengthening programs and services for those who need the most help and investing in a strong future. Highlights include:

• Housing: Continued investments to help cities address homelessness; housing funding for certain foster youth living outside the home to help them afford the rising costs of living; renewal of the first-time homebuyers ($200 million) and grant programs ($50 million) that help property owners build backyard units, or ADUs.

• Early Childhood: Higher reimbursement rates for child care providers (pending bargaining agreement) and near elimination of fees for families that rely on subsidized child care; continued expansion of Universal Transition Kindergarten.

• K-12 Education: 8% cost-of-living raise for public schools, maintaining historic funding levels and continuation of universal school meals. Grants are still available to help with pandemic-era learning loss.

• Higher Education: Nearly 12,000 more slots at UC and CSU; additional funding for Middle Class Scholarship program; housing grants for campuses to accommodate thousands more students.

• Transit: $5.1 billion lifeline to address fiscal cliff many agencies were facing; keeps buses and trains running, but operators also must improve safety and cleanliness.

• Stronger Safety Net: Previous short-term grant increase of 10% for CalWORKs families made permanent, plus adds another 3.6% increase in Oct; 8.6% COLA for SSI/SSP recipients effective Jan. 1, 2024; more funding for Market Match program, increasing buying power at farmers’ markets for CalFresh recipients.

• Healthcare: Higher reimbursement rates for Medi-Cal providers to increase access to care; lower co-pays and deductibles for Covered California insurance plans.

• Environment: Led efforts to transition to clean vehicles; coastal resiliency to protect against climate change; lead removal from schools. And as a follow-up to stopping Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate, I helped champion another $40 million for AAPI and other communities facing hate to help continue supportive services for victims and violence prevention programs. That brings the three-year total to nearly $250 million, a historic investment for a population whose needs were often not addressed. These extra resources seem to have an impact. The latest report from the California Department of Justice shows hate crimes against AAPI are down 43% in 2022. That’s encouraging news, given the alarming rise since the pandemic began.

To further encourage acceptance and cultural understanding, I additionally secured $4.5 million for the Golden Gate Institute, a historic language school in Japantown whose building is in need of reconstruction. The plans include adding an auditorium that can serve as a community hub. The Chinese Cultural Center, which is being displaced as part of the Portsmouth Square reconfiguration, will also get assistance in the renovation of its new location.

We are fortunate the latest state budget is still improving the lives of Californians. We’ve only been able to do this through smart, responsible actions in years past.

Phil Ting represents the 19th Assembly District, which includes the west side of San Francisco along with the communities of Broadmoor, Colma and Daly City as well as part of South San Francisco.