Senator Durazo Responds to Governor Newsom's Proposed Budget

LOS ANGELES - In response to Governor Newsom's proposed state budget released this morning, Senator María Elena Durazo issued the following statement:

"2020 pulled back the curtain on the inequities across so many of our institutions - our public health system, our employment system, and the housing market to name a few. In 2021, we need to legislate and direct our budget with these inequities front & center and pass policy that will bring about a just recovery to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout. Governor Newsom’s preliminary budget proposal is strong in many areas to do just that, including his desire for early action on creating quality jobs for Californians, building more affordable housing and zero-emission infrastructure, expanding the earned-income task credit, and helping our state’s small businesses during this unprecedented crisis. 

The devil is in the details when it comes to job creation, workforce development, and green infrastructure. If we are going to follow through on these priorities, we as a legislature need a guarantee from the Governor that these resources will go toward creating quality, well-paid jobs and careers for Californians, and that our tax dollars will not continue to subsidize the business ventures of the world’s newest richest man who continues to undermine our state, our public health guidelines, and our labor standards. 

Finally, we must do more to protect our most at-risk communities. We will continue the fight this year to expand Medi-Cal coverage to seniors who are only currently disqualified from coverage due to their immigration status, a glaring omission in the Governor’s budget. Both seniors and the Latino community, and especially the cross-section of the two, have been hit hardest by this virus. It is unconscionable that we continue to let 25,000 of our seniors who have paid taxes and contributed to our economy for decades live without medical coverage.”

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Senator María Elena Durazo represents the 24th Senate District in California which includes the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Glassell Park, Mt. Washington, Cypress Park, Lincoln Heights, Atwater Village, Elysian Valley, Arlington Heights, Echo Park, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, East Hollywood, Little Armenia, Thai Town, Larchmont, Koreatown, Pico-Union, Westlake-MacArthur Park, Historic Filipinotown, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Arts District, Civic Center, City Terrace, and East Los Angeles.