LATEST NEWS

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Four months ago, Gov. Jerry Brown took back $1 million in funding promised to the Pasadena Playhouse as part of a budget-balancing move, sending the theater company scrambling for loans to pay for ongoing renovations to the 93-year-old building.

On Thursday, Brown restored the funding into his $124 billion general fund budget after local Democrats in the Assembly and Senate convinced the governor and the state Department of Finance that the take-away amounted to a broken promise.

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Thursday, May 18, 2017

In a May 11 letter to Duarte City Councilman John Fasana, chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board of directors, Assemblyman Chris Holden asked the group to remove plans for a 6.3-mile tunnel connecting the Long Beach (710) Freeway in Alhambra to the Foothill (210) Freeway in Pasadena from a list of traffic improvements for the region.

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Thursday, May 18, 2017

An ad hoc committee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors on Wednesday voted to recommend the Metro fund an alternative to the 710 Freeway Tunnel when the full Board meets next week.

Metro Board of Directors Ad-Hoc Congestion, Highway and Roads Committee, chaired by Metro Board Chairman John Fasana and composed of five members, voted Wednesday, 3-2, to recommend the TSM/TDM alternative that’s designed to upgrade existing local street systems instead of recommending to proceed with the Tunnel concept.

Reacting, Assemblymember Chris Holden told Pasadena Now he is encouraged by Chairman Fasana’s Motion.

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Thursday, May 11, 2017

Sacramento, CA – Today, Governor Jerry Brown announced his proposed May Revision Fiscal Year 2017-18 Budget.  Revenues in Brown’s May Revision are up $2.5 billion dollars while the Rainy Day Fund grows to $8.5 billion. Assemblymember Chris Holden (AD – 41), California Legislative Black Caucus Chair, released the following statement:

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Sacramento, CA – Today, Governor Jerry Brown announced his proposed May Revision Fiscal Year 2017-18 Budget.  Revenues in Brown’s May Revision are up $2.5 billion dollars while the Rainy Day Fund grows to $8.5 billion. Assemblymember Chris Holden released the following statement:

 

“I applaud Governor Brown for restoring the one million in funds for the Pasadena Playhouse renovation projects that were cut in January’s budget proposal. Since that time, I worked directly with the Pasadena Playhouse and the Governor’s office to secure the original funding amount. Thankfully our work led to the Playhouse receiving $413,000 earlier this month to pay off the money already spent. I’m proud to support the Playhouse, the official State Theater of California, as it celebrates its 100th Anniversary.

 

The Governor’s May revision is the next building block in finalizing the budget process. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the legislature and the governor to reach an agreement that is not only once again responsible, balanced, and on-time, but also a budget that protects California’s progressive gains and persists in meeting the challenges we face.”

 

Monday, September 12, 2016

State Assemblyman Chris Holden’s bill 1696, which cleared the Senate Appropriation Committee last month, will make it easier for California’s low income residents to quit smoking.

The bill requires tobacco cessation medications, counseling, and assessments to be covered for Medi-Cal patients.  Besides the detrimental health effects, smoking takes an $18.1 billion toll on California annually, according to a University of California, San Francisco study.

“Smoking continues to be the leading preventable cause of the death in the United States” said Holden. “We have an opportunity to save lives and money with this bill.”

As excerpted from Los Angeles Sentinel

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Friday, March 24, 2017

Pasadena-area State Assemblyman Chris Holden joined other state, labor and community leaders Wednesday in a press conference by the California Legislative Black Caucus to support a resolution against President Donald Trump’s federal budget proposals.

Resolution HR 28, authored by Assemblyman Mike Gipson, takes aim at Trump’s budget proposals related to healthcare, immigration, worker protection and their disproportionate impact on the African American community.

“For generations, federal policies like the Civil Rights Act, Educational Opportunity Grant, and most recently the Affordable Care Act, have lifted millions of black families out of poverty and provided an expansion of resources and gave them the chance to live the American Dream to the fullest,” Gipson said. “Now, all of this progress is under attack.”

Supporting the resolution, Holden called Trump’s budget proposals a “hard power” approach.

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Thursday, February 9, 2017

SOUTH PASADENA >> Assemblyman Chris Holden introduced legislation that would prohibit building a tunnel to close the 6.2-mile gap of the 710 Freeway between the 10 and 210 freeways, the assemblyman announced Thursday.

This is the first time a piece of legislation would aim to kill the controversial project proposed by Caltrans. The freeway tunnel project would run through El Sereno, South Pasadena and Pasadena and has divided communities in the San Gabriel Valley.

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Thursday, April 20, 2017

Today’s Pasadena is difficult to imagine without thinking about science, making it a natural setting for a satellite event to the national March for Science in Washington, DC, and the local one in downtown Los Angeles. Spearheaded by Caltech postdocs, the Pasadena event will be family-friendly fun on Earth Day, Saturday, April 22.

The Caltech Postdoc Association plans a rally, march and outreach day in order to celebrate science, advocate for transparency and the support of science, as well as celebrate ties between scientists and the community of Pasadena. The march begins at Caltech’s Beckman Lawn at 8 a.m. where, after opening remarks, participants will head toward Memorial Park (approximately1.6 miles). After closing comments marchers can visit science booths for information and participation.

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Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) has been trying to get a bill creating a transit pass program through the legislature for a couple of years. Last year, his A.B. 2222 died in the Assembly when no source of funding was found for it. The recent passage of the transportation funding bill changes that calculation, though, making it more likely that funding could be found. A.B. 17, the current incarnation of the idea, would create a program under which a transit agency could apply for state funding to create a low- or no-cost transit pass for low-income youth between 13 and 17.

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