SACRAMENTO — Los Angeles Democrat Karen Bass vowed urgent action to address California's budget crisis Tuesday when she was sworn in as Assembly speaker, the first African American woman to lead a legislative body in U.S. history.
Bass struck some of the few somber notes in a joyous celebration of the occasion, telling a chamber packed with well-wishers that "we have to respond to the current economic crisis the way we would a natural disaster."
"We have to toss aside the boxes we put ourselves in and the labels we place on others and come together to get the job done," Bass said.
Chosen by her peers in February to lead the Assembly and sworn in by predecessor Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles), Bass takes over at a critical time: Today Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is to release a plan to deal with a budget shortfall that he says could reach $20 billion. His negotiations with legislative leaders over a spending plan will now begin in earnest.
Bass has said she wants a "balanced" approach to the budget that will protect the state's most vulnerable citizens. She also said she is optimistic that the dire nature of the state's fiscal problems -- the controller has warned that California could run out of cash in August -- will force legislative leaders and the governor to reach resolution quickly. A new budget is supposed to be in place July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.
"We can't sit here and wait for the World Series," she said shortly after the swearing-in ceremony. "And I don't think we will."
Family, friends and fellow politicians from near and far packed the mint-green Assembly chamber. As Rep. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) reminded the crowd that Bass is the first African American woman to ascend so high in U.S. legislative politics, Bass, seated with elbows propped on a desk, momentarily shook her head against her clasped hands, as if in disbelief.
Schwarzenegger praised Bass as an "extraordinary person," and said she earned her post as one of the most powerful politicians in California "the old-fashioned way -- she worked."
He also touched upon the tragedy Bass endured two years ago, when her 23-year-old daughter and son-in-law were killed in a Los Angeles car crash. Bass had recently said that she would give up her political career to spend one more day with her daughter.
"That says everything about you," Schwarzenegger said.
