106th Assembly

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) convened the 2011-2012 session of the California State Assembly on Monday, December 6th. California’s new Chief Justice, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, presided over the swearing-in of the 80 Assembly members elected in November, including 28 brand new members. It is the 106th time the Assembly has organized since 1849.

Afterwards, Das formally stated:

“I’m very excited to start to address some of the many issues of concern to the people of the 35th Assembly District and Central Coast region. I look forward to working with other representatives from the region to find the right solutions to the budget, which has an immediate shortfall of $6 billion, finding appropriate revenue sources to prevent further evisceration of vital public services; particularly public education.”

Das was interviewed briefly about the challenges facing the 106th Assembly and he replied:

http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Newsline/Audio/20101206SwearingInWilliams2.mp3 (48 seconds)

Later on in the opening session, Das introduced his first piece of legislation, Assembly Bill 34, which aims to continue the work he started as a member of the Santa Barbara City Council by encouraging composting as a way of decreasing the amount of organic materials sent to landfills. The bill also strives to increase green jobs in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and throughout the state.

At the opening session of the 2011-2012 California Legislature, Assembly Speaker Pérez laid out goals the Assembly will work towards to help Californians recover from the recession. “We know precisely what our goals must be: getting California back to work and putting California’s fiscal house in order,” Pérez said. “Each and every one of us knows that the economic pain wracking California will not subside until the 2.3 million Californians on the unemployment line find decent, quality jobs.”

Here’s more from Speaker Pérez in this Assembly Access video: