Legislative Wrap-Up: Skinner Named Budget Chair, Miller Criticizes Education Bill

Here's some of what East Bay elected representatives in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento were doing this past week.

Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) was named as chair of the Assembly Budget Committee.

Among other duties, Skinner will now oversee the annual budget process that determines state government expenditures for the upcoming fiscal year.

In a press release, Skinner said: "I look forward to taking on this new and challenging role. Filling the shoes of Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield, whose leadership and vision has helped California pass a balanced on-time budget for a third year in a row, is an honor. As budget chair, I look forward to putting education first, delivering essential services and strengthening California’s economic prosperity.”

Skinner will give up her chair of the Assembly Rules Committee. She'll continue to serve on the other committees she now sits on.

In Washington, D.C., Rep. George Miller (D-Concord) criticized a Republican-sponsored bill that was approved by the House Education and the Workforce Committee.

Miller, who represents most of western Contra Costa County, said the bill further cuts education programs and undermines progress made in education for poor and minority children.

“The Republican bill places politics before students,” said Miller, the senior Democrat on the committee. “The country needs a rewrite of No Child Left Behind. But Republicans have passed an extreme bill that will never be signed by the president, ensuring that this broken law will remain in place.”