State Budget Round-Up — Final State Budget Agreement And Assessment For Future Fiscal Years

2023 was a historic year for the California budget, as the budget faced a multi-billion dollar deficit after last year’s record surplus. Join us as we discuss how much of the budget was allocated to housing and homelessness priorities, what this means for this fiscal year, and what we can expect for future budget discussions. 

In this webinar we will discuss the statewide ramifications of the budget, how we expect the funding to impact Bay Area affordable housing efforts, and the homelessness priorities in the budget. We will follow the preliminary presentations and discussion with a Q&A session with the audience.

Graciela Castillo-Krings, Partner at Sacramento Advocates, Inc.

Graciela is a partner at Sacramento Advocates, Inc., with more than 15 years’ public service in California government, most recently as Deputy Legislative Affairs Secretary to Governor Jerry Brown.

During her time serving the Brown Administration, Graciela negotiated, directly briefed and advised the Governor on over 800 bills, and oversaw the regulatory implementation of legislation he chose to sign, including decriminalization of medicinal and adult-use cannabis, streamlining of forestry and landscape management practices to prevent future wildfires, and reforms catalyzing the development and construction of affordable and market-rate housing.

Graciela has an intimate knowledge of the complex, powerful, but often opaque state budgetary process, through years spent working directly with California’s Department of Finance to shepherd passage of policy and fiscal changes through subcommittees, conference committees, and the full legislature.

Graciela holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California, is a graduate of Hispanas Organized for Political Equality’s (HOPE) Leadership Institute and is fluent in Spanish.

Nicole Restmeyer, Assembly Housing Committee Consultant

Nicole Restmeyer is a staff consultant with the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development, where she handles a variety of issues ranging from landlord-tenant law to homelessness and mobilehome policy. Before joining the committee, Nicole served for a year as legislative director to State Senator Josh Becker, staffing housing, transportation, and budget issues for his office along with managing the overall legislative package. She also previously spent three years as a legislative aide to former Assemblymember (and former Housing Committee Chair) David Chiu. Nicole’s community engagement work includes having served as a founding board member, Operations Director, and Communications Director of the Capitol LGBTQ Association. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley. In her free time, you can find Nicole paddleboarding at one of Sacramento’s rivers, taking her dog to the local park, or trying new gluten-free recipes.

Abram Diaz, Policy Director at the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California

After joining NPH in 2021 as the Policy Director, Abram (he/him) leads our policy advocacy efforts to advance meaningful and equitable housing policy solutions for the Bay Area.

Prior to joining NPH, Abram worked in the California State Legislature for five years and championed bills on affordable housing production, homelessness prevention, tenant protections, gun violence, and economic development. As Legislative Director for Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, Abram coordinated the effort to secure $80 million in the state budget for legal aid to prevent evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Abram is currently on the Housing California Board representing NPH.

He holds a B.A. in Legal Studies from UC Santa Cruz and a MPA from the University of Southern California.