On Thursday, January 8th, Governor Newsom appeared before a joint session of the State Senate and Assembly for the first time since 2020 to deliver his final State of the State address before his time in office concludes next year.
The Governor spoke for a little over an hour and made the case that California is on the right track in economic growth, per pupil spending, and the uninsured rate, as well as housing and homelessness. As a part of his remarks, he specifically mentioned new jobs created on the North Coast, Central San Joaquin Valley, and Central Coast. The Sites Reservoir project in Colusa County was one of the few infrastructure projects mentioned by name.
The Governor also said that his administration has “fundamentally changed” the state’s responsibility in fixing homelessness and ensuring availability of behavioral health services, and had moved away from a model by which responsibility fell completely on cities and counties. He emphasized his belief that an additional $1 billion annually to cities and counties for housing and homelessness provided by the Behavioral Health Services Act meant that there would be “no more excuses”.
The Governor concluded by honoring the late North State Congressman Doug LaMalfa, and imploring President Trump to approve disaster relief funds for California.
Full Coverage of the Governor’s Address from the San Francisco Chronicle is available HERE. Read the text of the Governor’s remarks HERE.