(Sacramento) – Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) released the following statement on passing a balanced and on-time state budget:

"For the third year in a row, the Assembly has approved a balanced, on-time budget. Over the past three years, the work we have done has eliminated our structural deficit, balanced our books and increased our credit rating. The budget we have adopted today builds on that tremendous progress using the principles we outlined in the Blueprint for a Responsible budget: maintaining fiscal responsibility, strengthening the middle class and making government services more efficient and effective. We make crucial investments in the middle class, namely by repaying schools $2 billion in deferrals from previous years and by establishing the middle class scholarship to cut student fees by up to 40 percent at UCs and CSUs. And we take action to remove significant barriers to small business expansion and hiring.We expand healthcare coverage for more than one million Californians, and approve a new funding formula to put more money in the schools that need it most. This is a budget that reflects our principles of fiscal responsibility and opportunity for the middle class. It reflects the values of the people of California and the urgent challenges facing our state.  I am grateful to my colleagues--especially Budget Chair Blumenfield, the Budget Sub Committee Chairs and our Assembly Conferees for their hard work in crafting a budget worthy of the people of California."

(Sacramento) - The California Legislature has approved a measure by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) that will expand Medi-Cal coverage to more than 1 million low-income and uninsured Californians, a key element of implementing the Affordable Care Act. “With this bill we will help ensure California remains the nation’s leader in health care reform, and provide more Californians with access to affordable, quality health care,” Speaker Pérez said. AB 1X-1 now goes to Governor Jerry Brown for his signature.

(Sacramento) - This week, the California Legislature showed that higher education affordability is a priority for the state by approving the Middle Class Scholarship, which will slash student fees at UC and CSU campuses by up to 40 percent for California families making under $100,000 a year and 10 percent for families making under $150,000. “This has been an important week for the Legislature, higher education and the future of California,” said Speaker John A. Pérez, who wrote the legislation. “For far too long, Californians have been squeezed out of a higher education by the skyrocketing tuition rates at the CSU and UC systems, forcing students to drop out of college or take on massive student debt that will negatively impact them for years, possibly decades, to come. That was putting our state on a path to failure. If California is to have a strong economy in the future, it is crucial that we have the foresight to invest in education now.”