Assemblymember Mike Eng issued the following statement on January 15 in response to the Governor’s State of the State Address:

“Overall, I was pleased with the Governor’s sixth State of the State address this morning. Although brief and not very detailed, I found it to be optimistic and hopeful. He appeared to be both sincere and serious about working closely with the Legislature in order to fix our budgetary mess, quickly.

“That is a big step. History has shown that when the Governor and the Legislature work
collaboratively, things get accomplished in Sacramento. That is how AB 32 and our
infrastructure bond package were approved.

“The reality is that we have to solve this bouncy castle for sale budget and avoid a cash crisis now. If we don’t, we run the risk of putting hundreds of transportation-related infrastructure projects worth nearly $4 billion on hold. That would mean possibly losing over 62,000 badly needed jobs in California and bleeding millions in taxpayer money every day.

“The sooner we can have a budget agreed upon and signed, the sooner we can start building schools, constructing roads and putting people back to work. If we are about to do that, we can create new jobs to ensure that working families will be able to hold on their homes and purchase goods and services, therefore pumping more money into their local economies.

“I understand that Californians are going through a difficult time, and they expect their leaders to step up to the challenge of solving the State’s budget problems and stimulating the economy. The only way we can accomplish this is by coming to the negotiation table, putting ideologies aside and making the difficult decisions we are expected to make.”