SACRAMENTO—Assemblymember James C. Ramos today issued the following statement after Assembly passage of the state budget trailer bills:
This budget bill is the product of compromise and moves us forward on critical needs and priorities for the state such as accelerating the pace of building new homes and increasing affordability. As chair of the Assembly budget subcommittee dealing with public safety, I was proud that we were able to maintain $100 million for Victims of Crime Act funding and add $10 million in support for family justice centers statewide. We also included resources to prevent sexual abuse inside women’s prisons.
As the first and only California Native American elected to the legislature, I was pleased to see that the state continues to work toward creating a new chapter with the tribes residing here. Specifically, I want to highlight a few funding items in the overall budget:
- Military retirees’ pension state tax exemption: Gov. Gavin Newsom included a $20,000 exemption allowance on military retiree pensions. California is the only state that taxes all of the federal pension retired armed forces personnel receive. Ramos introduced AB 53 that codifies the exemption. He introduced similar measures in previous years.
- Foster Care: One-time funding of $31.5 million for 2025-26 for Foster Family Agencies (FFA) Bridge Funding. The funding, to be allocated over two years, is to stabilize 220 FFAs across the state to preserve placements for more than 7,400 foster youth in their care. FFAs face higher insurance costs of $36.1 million. Funding of $10.6 million would be used to increase the FFAs rate to support a cost of living adjustment until a new rate structure is implemented in 2027. Ramos stated, “Foster children are among the most vulnerable in our society, and too frequently live in precarious conditions. Stabilizing the assistance they receive is critical to not exacerbating their vulnerability.”
- Tribal Police: Budget includes $5 million as a one-time expenditure to establish a Tribal Police Pilot program Ramos introduced AB 31 to create the program under the Department of Justice. It would grant participating tribal law enforcement state peace officer status if they meet specified requirements. Ramos stated, “This is a critical piece in confronting the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis in California. Granting state peace officer status to tribal police would accelerate response time to crimes, reduce jurisdictional confusion among federal, state and local law enforcement and increase collaboration among those entities.”
- California Indian Nations College (CINC): Included in the budget agreement is one-time funding of $10 million to support ongoing academic and student services and operational needs. Between the Fall 2022 and Fall 2024 school years, the college’s enrollment almost doubled in size. Budget funding will allow the college to hire additional full-time faculty and staff, expand curriculum to allow students to transfer to four-year institutions and develop career and technical training programs.
- Native American monument in Capitol Park: Ongoing funding of $150,000. $200,000 for Department of General Services to maintain and provide upkeep of the Native American monument in Capitol Park, dedicated on November 7, 2023. The eight-foot-tall bronze statue depicts Miwok leader William J. Franklin, Sr. and represents not only those tribes on whose ancestral lands the State Capitol now sits, but also those California Native Americans who strived to preserve and pass on their language, culture and history.
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Assemblymember James C. Ramos proudly represents the 45th Assembly district that includes the Cities of Fontana, Highland, Mentone, Redlands, Rialto and San Bernardino. He is the first and only California Native American serving in the state’s legislature. Ramos chairs the Assembly Budget Subcommittee #6 on Public Safety.