• Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) applauded the recently passed state budget in a statement she released on June 13, saying she supports the state’s focus on education, housing, and disaster prevention and response. “At a time when California has a strong economy and a healthy surplus, we passed a budget today that very carefully plans for our future while meeting the challenges facing Californians today,” Jackson wrote. “We have put away the largest reserves in our state’s history, while providing record funding to our schools, increasing investments in early care and education, in our community colleges and universities, and providing support for wildfire prevention and response.” Jackson wrote that she supports the inclusion of $2.4 billion to address California’s housing and homelessness “crisis,” and funding that will extend paid family leave from six to eight weeks. The budget also includes funding for the state’s growing senior population, including $5 million to fund a program at the California Department of Aging to help older adults reduce the risk of falls at home, a program Jackson said she prioritized through Senate Bill 280, which is on its way through the state Assembly. “All of the funding prioritized in today’s budget helps California boldly rise to meet its challenges while wisely planning for our future,” Jackson wrote.
• Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo) opposed the recently passed state budget in a statement he released on June 13, saying the budget will do little to promote a healthy economy. “California has a middle class that is getting squeezed out and left behind,” Cunningham wrote in the statement. “This budget is the largest in our state’s history, having grown by 66 percent in less than a decade, but does little for the middle class.” Cunningham wrote that while a healthy economy needs a well-funded education system, the funding increase for K-12 education in the most recent budget “barely keeps up with inflation” and should offer more support for Career Technical Education. The budget, he wrote, also fails to include critical funding for vertical prosecution of human trafficking. “Rural counties like ours have been fighting to combat human trafficking, which is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world,” Cunningham wrote. “The state needs to support those efforts.” Cunningham voted against the 2019-20 California budget, but it passed on June 13.
• In a letter sent on June 11, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Mike Thompson (both D-California) and 17 of their congressional colleagues, including Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), called on the Trump administration to take action that would remove tariffs on U.S. wine sold in Japan and China. Tariffs on U.S. wine sold in China rose to 54 percent this month, up from 14 percent in March 2018. In Japan, the tariff on U.S. wine is 15 percent. In both countries, foreign competitors face either significantly lower or no tariffs. “As you conduct trade negotiations with China and Japan, we expect that you will consult closely with Congress on your objectives, requests, and progress,” the members wrote in the letter. “We urge you to ensure that any new agreements result in the removal of all tariffs, retaliatory or otherwise, on U.S. wine. The administration must do all it can to support the international competitiveness of U.S. agriculture.”
