As we approach the next Legislative Session of the Assembly, California is facing a number of challenges. Clearly, the state budget deficit will be one of the most immediate of those challenges, and we have already begun working with Governor-Elect Jerry Brown to close the deficit responsibly and humanely. We must also continue to make every effort to address California's job situation. Our unemployment rate has been above 12 percent for more than a year, and 2.3 million Californians remain unemployed.
Until the job market recovers, and the unemployment rate falls, our state will continue to struggle with chronic budget deficits. We have reached a point where all three problems - the current deficit, the long-term structural deficit and the unemployment rate - are so intertwined they must be solved together.
This year, however, our approach to solving the deficit will be fundamentally different. In their wisdom, the voters have approved Proposition 25, which lowers the requirement to approve a budget from a two-thirds majority to a simple majority. This change brings California budget policy in line with 46 other states, as well as the federal government.
I believe the voters approved of this change for two reasons: to decrease the gridlock and increase accountability. For years, California voters have been frustrated by their government's tardiness in putting together a budget. Those frustrations were only compounded by the fact that there were no clear lines of accountability inherent in a two-thirds system.
In effect, the voters have decided that the majority party in the Legislature must be given adequate tools to govern. I believe this is a major step forward for California, as it allows us to take a longer view of the budget crisis and find real solutions to our problems. But it also means that we have a clear responsibility to get it right.
Last year, after the longest budget process in California history, we produced a document that while not perfect - and in the era of the Great Recession, a perfect budget is an illusory concept - it was nonetheless a budget that clearly reflected California's values and priorities.
Namely, it was a budget that protected the jobs of 400,000 teachers, cops, firefighters, healthcare workers, childcare providers and small business owners. It maintained education funding and rejected massive cuts to education. It was a document informed by more than 100 public hearings at the Capitol, as well as seven regional forums throughout the state that gave everyday Californians the opportunity to look us in the eye and tell us what their priorities are.
They wanted us to protect jobs, and to maintain investments in the institutions, like our higher education systems, that California values. As we move forward on closing the coming year's deficit, we must continue to find creative solutions that protect our values and close the deficit.
I am looking forward to working with Governor-Elect Brown and my colleagues in the Legislature to find those solutions. We recognize that it will not be easy. In fact, we are likely faced with another year of difficult and painful decisions.
I firmly believe that no matter how difficult or painful a particular vote might be, it doesn't compare to the pain Californians are suffering on a daily basis due to the jobs crisis. We have the responsibility and the tools to lead, so now we must govern.
We must be focused on job creation and ending the budget deficit. Those are the two most urgent priorities facing California. It's vital that every Californian be a part of this process because quite frankly, we got into this situation as a state, and we need to work our way out of it as a state.
That means the Legislature needs to be more open and transparent in our deliberations. Over the past year, I've taken a number of steps to increase transparency and accountability in the process. More transparency in our deliberations is a good thing in and of itself, but it also has the effect of engaging more Californians in the process.
Given the enormity of the challenges we face, this is a critical component to finding genuine solutions that will close our deficit and put Californians back to work.
Despite the challenges facing our state, this can be a very productive year for California. We have been reeling from the Great Recession for two years now. This must be the year where we stop reeling and start healing our state. In doing so, we can close the chronic deficits and put Californians back to work. That is our most urgent priority, and I am very much looking forward to getting to work with a new Legislature and the new governor.
John A. Perez is the state's first openly gay speaker of the Assembly and represents the 46th Assembly District in Los Angeles.