The Governor just signed the remaining budget bills. 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 our new state budget. Highlights include:

• 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; 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 & CSU; additional funding for Middle Class Scholarship program; housing grants for campuses to accommodate thousands more students
• 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 January 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
• 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 more financing programs that help property owners build backyard units called ADUs
• 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
• Environment: Led efforts to transition to clean vehicles; coastal resiliency to protect against climate change; lead removal from schools
• AAPI Communities: More resources to continue the fight against Asian American/Pacific Islander hate

Over the next few weeks, I will be sending more details about each investment. You'll see California has a bright future.

Have a great summer,