I (Assemblywoman Young Kim) went to Sacramento with one goal in mind: to fight for legislation that benefits not only my district, but all Californians. I introduced policies that would create more jobs, keep our communities safe, and provide a better education for our children.
This legislative session was full of many accomplishments and milestones, and much work remains next year.
I (Assemblywoman Young Kim) went to Sacramento with one goal in mind: to fight for legislation that benefits not only my district, but all Californians. I introduced policies that would create more jobs, keep our communities safe, and provide a better education for our children.
This legislative session was full of many accomplishments and milestones, and much work remains next year.
Passing legislation that creates jobs and helps small businesses grow and expand is one of my most important priorities. This year, I was proud to introduce Assembly Bill 419, which requires the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to post the state rulemaking process on its website, making it easier for small businesses to comply with the state’s complex regulations.
After my bill unanimously passed the Assembly, I met with GO-Biz and they launched a new website focused on small businesses. Having valuable information in one place will help our small business owners stay in compliance and focus on what they do best: growing their businesses and providing jobs to the community.
I also promised to protect our community from higher taxes. It was no surprise this year that many tax hikeswereproposed by the majority party. Recently, the state benefited from a record revenue surplus and the Legislature passed a $115 billion budget – the largest budget in California history.
Despite this record spending,tax-and-spend politicians in Sacramento swiftly proposed more than $30 billion in new taxes. These tax hikes included raising the gas tax by 12 cents, extending the state sales tax to services, and adding a five-cent tax to cocktails. California doesn’t need any more taxes; we are already one of the highest taxed states in the country.
Since we successfully broke the two-thirds supermajority, my colleagues and I stood our ground and were able to protect taxpayers’ wallets from these unreasonableand unnecessarytax increases.
Unfortunately, Sacramento missed the mark on improving the lives of its citizens. There were a number of commonsense reforms that werekilled in this legislative session – victims of politics as usual.
As many know, school districts have not been able to budget responsibly for their students’ needsdue to a controversial bill that was hastily pushed through the budget process last year, allowing school districts to keep just two to three percent of their budget in reserves. This year, I co-authored AB 1048, which would have repealed this cap on the amount of money that school districts are allowed to save in their annual budgets.
Unfortunately this bill was defeated. In the upcoming legislative session, I will make this bill a top priority of mine, so schools can budget responsibly to best meet their students’ needs.
I’m proud of what my colleagues and I accomplished this year, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I will continue to advocate for small businesses, and most importantly, advocate for our children’s education. As always, it is an honor to represent the 65th District and I look forward to this upcoming year.
Assemblywoman Young Kim represents the 65th Assembly district and serves as vice chair on the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy.
