California, San Mateo County legislators are happy with state budget proposal

The proposed budget would be around $286 billion, with $213 billion in the general fund. The budget plan has another significant projected reserve of $34.6 billion, with close to $20.9 billion in rainy day fund deposits, $9.7 billion in school stabilization reserve and $3.1 billion in operating reserve. The state Constitution requires the governor to submit a balanced budget to the Legislature every Jan. 10. The submittal provides a detailed look at the state’s funding plan for the upcoming fiscal year beginning July 1. Between Jan. 10 and July allows for legislative review and potential adjustments.

Mullin highlighted climate change as a significant funding priority moving forward, particularly for San Mateo County residents dealing with sea level rise, wildfires and drought. The budget proposes $1.2 billion over two years to address forest health and fire prevention and $400 million to address prolonged wildfire season effects. It also includes $750 million in general funds to address immediate drought response.

“As a member of the Budget Committee, I will continue to be a strong advocate for additional funding to address climate change throughout the state, with a focus on local projects that will help address sea level rise, an issue that directly impacts San Mateo County and the Bay Area,” Mullin said by email.

Mullin was grateful the governor proposed restoring research and development tax credits to help more than 200 life sciences companies in his district maintain competitive advantages. He said the state must take more steps to address economic uncertainty for residents, including finding more funding for people and small businesses who need it most.

Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, supported increased funding for higher education reform and firearm violence research and programming. He said the budget proposes an additional $105 million to help implement a common course numbering system for California Community Colleges and $2 million for the UC Davis Firearm Violence Research Center and expand on his previous legislative work.

“As we face another year of uncertainty due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are fortunate to have an extraordinary $45.7 billion budget surplus, which will allow us to make critically important investments in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, homelessness and housing, and wildfires, drought and climate change,” Berman said in a statement.

Since issues of climate change, affordable housing, homelessness, transit infrastructure are both San Mateo County and state issues, Berman was confident increased funding would help the county. He cited the proposal calling for $1.5 billion to accelerate affordable housing development, $2 billion to address homelessness and more than $2 billion for transit and rail.

“While the budget proposal doesn’t yet have specific allocations to individual projects, because so many of San Mateo County’s highest priorities are also priorities in the governor’s budget, I have every confidence that the county will benefit greatly from the state’s allocation of funds,” Berman said by email.

State Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, commended the budget and its work to address decarbonization, wind energy, long-duration energy storage, education and transportation. He highlighted $22.5 billion for Climate Action investments, including $6.1 billion proposed over five years to catalyze the transition to zero-emission vehicles and $2 billion in clean energy investments.

“Transportation investments include a proposed $750 million for bike-pedestrian-and-community connectivity projects, $500 million for grade separations for safety and to ease traffic congestion, and $400 million for climate adaptations, key areas of interest particularly for the Peninsula,” Becker said.

Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, suggested taking early budget actions like more COVID sick time to respond to a surge of omicron cases. He highlighted universal transitional kindergarten, services for mental health and infrastructure improvements as significant funding wins.

“I am equally excited about the governor’s continued support in expanding health care coverage for all Californians and the opportunities to invest more in California’s oil-free future to fight climate change,” Ting said in a statement.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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