{"id":318463,"date":"2023-01-10T10:03:24","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T18:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/?p=318463"},"modified":"2023-01-06T10:07:35","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T18:07:35","slug":"sen-atkins-diverse-legislature-will-bring-solutions-despite-budget-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/sen-atkins-diverse-legislature-will-bring-solutions-despite-budget-woes\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Atkins: Diverse legislature will bring solutions despite budget woes"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am deeply humbled that my colleagues have again entrusted me with the responsibility and honor to lead as the President pro Tempore of the Senate. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As I reflect on my combined 12 years in the Assembly and Senate, I\u2019m struck by how much the California Legislature has changed and grown to truly reflect the 40 million people who call our state home. After the swearing in of members of both houses last month, the Legislature is the most diverse the state has ever seen \u2013 including historic numbers of women, Latinx and LGBTQ people. That diversity will be our strength as we go about the People\u2019s business.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Over the last few years, we have worked hard to find solutions to some of our state\u2019s biggest problems: from wildfires to housing and health care. We have made great strides on getting real relief to families struggling to make rent, and keep up with rising costs at the gas pump and in the grocery store. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As we begin a new two-year session, we still have our work cut out for us. Climate change is a daily threat, homelessness persists, and we face a challenging financial future. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In years past, the recent report from the Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office forecasting budget deficits would have kick-started talks of painful cuts and middle class tax increases \u2013 not anymore. We have prepared for this moment. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a> Over the past decade,\u00a0California\u2019s leaders have turned our state\u2019s\u00a0fiscal condition around and made responsible\u00a0budgeting our top priority. We built our reserves to record highs, paid down debts, and avoided committing one-time resources to ongoing purposes,\u00a0while\u00a0also making historic progress with new commitments that strengthen the middle class, assist struggling Californians, and fight climate change.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to our responsible approach, we are confident\u00a0that\u00a0we can protect our progress and craft a state budget without ongoing cuts to schools and other core programs or\u00a0taxing middle class families.<\/span> We will be continuing our historic work on climate and wildfires, homelessness and affordable housing, and access to important services, such as health care and metal health \u2013 all issues of equity laid bare by the pandemic.<\/p>\n

As the new year begins, I feel a sense of increasing hope, optimism, and resolve. There are still great challenges ahead, from growing extremism, to climate, to housing, but I\u2019m noticing more of a willingness among reasonable people and elected officials to come together when it matters.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I remain grateful for the privilege of representing you, and I wish each of you a happy and prosperous 2023.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am deeply humbled that my colleagues have again entrusted me with the responsibility and honor to lead as the President pro Tempore of the Senate. As I reflect on my combined 12 years in the Assembly and Senate, I\u2019m struck by how much the California Legislature has changed and grown to truly reflect the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":859,"featured_media":231614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11556","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Sen. Toni Atkins, again chosen as Calif. Senate Pro Tem, praises diverse legislature, assuages worries about budget.","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"3","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11556,11547,11552,11555],"tags":[13310,12363,14944,14945,14946],"class_list":["post-318463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-downtown-news","category-features","category-opinion","category-uptown-news","tag-budget","tag-california","tag-legislature","tag-pro-tempore","tag-toni-atkins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/859"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}