Sacramento, Calif.- Today, California State Senator Lena A. Gonzalez (D- Long Beach), Chair of the Senate Special Committee on Pandemic Emergency Response commented on the release of Governor Newsom’s May Revise budget proposal:

“Given the magnitude of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had in dramatically decreasing California’s projected revenues, coupled with the significant increased costs of responding to the pandemic, we have difficult decisions ahead of us as we work to craft and pass a balanced budget. I agree with the Governor’s focus on protecting public education, public health, public safety and those most impacted by COVID-19”, said Senator Gonzalez.

I want to thank the Governor for his continued leadership and I am particularly pleased to see $1.8 billion in the Governor’s budget proposal for the state’s direct emergency response efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including funds for PPE, hospital surge capacity and supporting California’s most vulnerable populations.  At the hearing I chaired last week, we heard insights from experts about the importance of continuing to increase access to COVID-19 testing and expanding the contact tracing operation that the state is coordinating to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and this budget includes additional funding for these programs,” explained Senator Lena Gonzalez, Chair of the California State Senate’s new Special Committee on Pandemic Emergency Response.

“I also appreciate seeing that the May Revision initially proposes to allocate a portion of the state's $9.5 billion CARES Act funding to local governments to further support their COVID-19 efforts—$450 million to cities for homelessness and public safety and $1.3 billion to counties for public health, behavioral health, and other health and human services. However, we need to continue our work and I look forward to continuing the budget conversations with my Senate and Assembly colleagues to advocate for more resources and appropriate funding for our cities, counties and the people of California,” continued Senator Gonzalez.

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