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Calif. Assemblymember Perez sworn in, breaks barrier
Becomes first gay lawmaker to lead either house of the California Legislature
Published Thursday, 04-Mar-2010 in issue 1158
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – The first openly gay lawmaker to lead either house of the California Legislature was sworn in Monday as speaker of the state Assembly, taking over at a time of fiscal turmoil and partisan divisions.
Democrat John Perez of Los Angeles said creating jobs as the state struggles with an unemployment rate above 12 percent will be his legislative priority.
He also wants to start healing rifts between Democrats and Republicans that have made it difficult for either house to pass meaningful legislation in recent years.
Perez announced during his acceptance speech that he will appoint two Republicans to serve as chairs of Assembly committees. While Republicans are the minority in the Assembly and Senate, he said their ideas deserve to be considered.
Getting both sides to work together, he said, will be key to solving the state’s ongoing fiscal crisis.
California faces a budget deficit of about $20 billion through June 2011. Democrats have argued against deep spending cuts, while Republicans oppose tax increases.
“We don’t have sufficient resources to meet all our needs, but that cannot be an excuse to turn on each other,” Perez told his colleagues in a packed Assembly chamber.
Not all of Perez’s ideas were designed for reaching across the aisle. Perez said he wants to eliminate the requirement that the state budget must be passed by a two-thirds majority of the Legislature, favoring instead a simple majority vote. The move would reduce Republicans’ influence.
“We’re the only state in the country that requires a super-majority,” Perez told reporters. “It obviously delays the decision making.”
Republican Minority Leader Martin Garrick said in a statement there was “absolutely no support” from Republicans for eliminating the two-thirds rule.
Perez plans to make the budget process more accessible to Californians by holding budget hearings in other parts of the state and limiting closed-door meetings.
He also announced a plan to ban text messages from lobbyists to lawmakers during floor sessions and committee hearings.
The speaker position is being vacated by Assemblywoman Karen Bass, another Los Angeles Democrat, who is running for Congress and will be termed out at the end of the year.
Perez, who becomes the 68th Assembly speaker, can serve four more years in the Assembly. He is the cousin of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
The atmosphere in the chamber during Perez’s swearing-in ceremony resembled a pep rally, complete with cheers, standing ovations and the Gay Men’s Choir of Los Angeles singing, “Can you feel a brand new day?”
“He is someone that sends a signal to the nation that being gay is no longer a barrier to greatness,” said San Francisco Assemblywoman Fiona Ma. “And that in California, we believe in equal rights.”
The California Democratic Party was following the nomination with an evening fundraiser at The Citizen Hotel in Sacramento. Tickets to the “Post Swearing-In Celebration” were selling for $2,000 to $50,000.
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