Holden Talks Budget, Highlights Bills in State of the State

Assemblyman Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, visited the Monrovia City Council Tuesday night to give his State of the State address.

Holden highlighted some of the bills he authored during the recent legislative session and discussed the state budget, education, and an upcoming water bond voters will be asked to consider. 

The lawmaker, whose 41st District, includes Monrovia, said three of his eight bills before Gov. Jerry Brown have been signed and he is "hopeful of the other five."

“The surface route on 710 is dead," he said. "It’s not going forward and to be able to put those homes back into the community and to restore that community is very important."

He also highlighted Assembly Bill 199, which would require state agencies and institutions to buy from California growers if their prices were lower than their out-of-state competitors. He also spoke on Assembly Bill 250,  designed to provide resources for public/private partnerships to help start up companies, especially those focusing on developing new technologies.

Holden said the California economy is rebounding, with the state reclaiming its ranking of No. 8 for the largest economies in the world. 

The state budget includes a $1.1 billion rainy day fund and pays down $4.2 billion in debt, he said.

"California employers have added jobs for 25 months in a row, the longerst job creation streak in the country," he said.  

The budget also bolsters education funding, he said.  The number of early care and preschool programs have been expanded and the Middle Class Scholarship Program slashes student fees at state colleges and universities by up to 40 percent, he added.

Around $22 billion in new funding will be invested in schools during the next seven years, he said. 

Holden said he supports a new funding formula for K-12 education that would replace the average daily attendance used to calculate how much schools get to average daily enrollment.

“Enrollment numbers are basically the numbers that set the budget in the first place," he said. "We think this is an opportunity to find more resources that can go back into the classroom.”

The state faces $535 billion in infrastructure needs, Holden said.  The lawmaker said he would continue to push to give local leaders more authority to deal with their infrastructure needs.

He also vowed to continue to be a strong supported of the Metro Gold Line project. He and other legislators have had meetings with Metro on the project.

He said that if a new bond measure is put forward for the completion of the project, lawmakers want to make sure that Metro recognizes that the project is not finished until it is built to Montclair and the date to deliver that final stretch is 2022. Assembly Bill 268 includes these provisions.

Holden also highlighted several public safety bills that passed. He said he was disappointed that his bill related to human trafficking died in committee, but that he plans to bring it back in January.  The bill would have enabled law enforcement agencies to intercept the cell phone calls of suspected traffickers, he said.