Subcommittee #1 (Education) Laird (D-Santa Cruz) Chair, Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa), and Pérez (D-Pasadena)
Ensuring Education Funding is Maximized to Help California Students Succeed. The subcommittee discussed the Governor’s proposed budget for 2025-26, which would put Proposition 98 spending at nearly $19,000 per pupil, an increase of nearly 59 percent since 2019-2020. Despite this growth in spending, California students are below the state standards in English language arts and mathematics, and only 45 percent of high school graduates are college- or career-ready. Senator Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa) emphasized the need to take a comprehensive look at recent and future investments in education programs and noted that the state needs to “think outside the box about what is working and not working as we move forward in our budget, because I want to make sure that we make the best use of our revenues moving forward and see the progress in the students’ outcomes.”
Subcommittee #2 (Resources, Environmental Protection, and Energy) Allen (D-Santa Monica) Chair, Choi (R-Irvine), Blakespear (D-Encinitas), and McNerney (D- Pleasanton)
Republican Lawmaker Questions Lack of Bond Funding for Critical Infrastructure Needs. During the subcommittee’s discussion of proposals for the recently enacted climate bond, Senator Choi (R—Irvine) expressed concerns regarding the lack of funding allocated for the Delta Tunnels project, an initiative designed to modernize California’s water delivery system. The project’s primary objective is to mitigate disruptions caused by potential threats such as sea level rise, levee failures, and earthquakes. While the project has faced opposition from certain stakeholders regarding funding and environmental implications, local water districts have contributed nearly $10 million towards the planning and design phases. Despite the current climate bond’s absence of additional funding for the Delta Tunnels, Senator Choi underscored the project’s significance to his district and urged fellow lawmakers to secure the necessary funding for its construction and completion. “This,” he stressed, “will guarantee California’s water security and climate resilience for the future.”
Subcommittee #3 (Health and Human Services) Weber Pierson (D-San Diego) Chair, Grove (R-Bakersfield), Menjivar (D-San Fernando Valley)
Democrats Cut Life-Saving Funds that Combat Fentanyl Crisis. The subcommittee’s first action in shaping the 2025-26 budget was to foolishly remove $8.4 million in funding from the state’s Naloxone Distribution Program. This program pays for thousands of boxes of the quick-acting overdose-reversal nasal spray, commonly known as Narcan, and distributes those boxes, free of charge, to law enforcement, fire and health departments, schools, and other first responders. The Democrats’ action will make it harder to supply these first responders with Narcan. This action is shocking given that drug overdoses are the leading cause of young adult mortality in California, often caused by the dangerous use of fentanyl. Democrats stated that they intend to reroute the funds to “harm reduction” non-profits that often distribute syringes and smoking pipes. Senate Republicans believe it is misguided to deprive law enforcement and other first responders of this live-saving funding in order to prop up addiction enabling programs, and will work to restore the $8.4 million to first responders.
Subcommittee #4 (State Administration and General Government) Cabaldon (D-Yolo) Chair, Niello (R-Fair Oaks), and Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles)
Ineffective Public Policy Prioritized Over Affordable Housing Production. The subcommittee discussed affordable housing programs, including financing options and state subsidies. California provides nearly $1 billion annually to affordable housing programs, and since 2019, has provided an additional $12 billion in discretionary one-time initiatives. However, state policies such as prevailing wage and solar requirements drive up the cost to build subsidized housing, reducing the total number of units built with state resources. Senator Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks) questioned the deployment of funds and the number of units built, wondering which was more important to the Administration: building more affordable housing or the assumed benefit of labor and environmental mandates. Those current policies actually work in opposition to housing goals, and the number of Californians in need of affordable housing continues to increase.
Subcommittee #5 (Corrections, Public Safety, Judiciary, Labor, and Transportation) Richardson (D-San Pedro) Chair, Seyarto (R-Murrieta), Wahab (D-Hayward), and Durazo (D-Los Angeles)
Governor Snubs Voters, Choosing Not to Fund Proposition 36. The subcommittee discussed several court-based programs that seek to reduce incarceration by sending offenders to treatment, but delayed taking action on those issues until a later hearing. Conspicuously absent from the agenda was the treatment-mandated felony program established by Proposition 36 (2024), which nearly 70 percent of voters approved in November. The Governor failed to include any meaningful funding to implement the ballot measure in his proposed budget, despite voters’ overwhelming approval. After conspiring unsuccessfully with legislative Democrats to undermine Proposition 36 before the election in November, the Governor is now displaying his disdain for the will of the voters by not funding its implementation – a fact that Senator Kelly Seyarto (R-Murrieta) began to point out before the Chair shut down discussion.