【UNE Interview】California Treasury Secretary Shiyun visits Southern Canada to introduce the state government loan exemption program
【News Express】 Liu Zhuo reported from Walnut City
On July 22, California Treasury Secretary Fiona Ma and his team visited the Nanjia community, interviewed by [News Express] and met with Walnut Mayor Wu Lilun and others to introduce some of the financial policies and welfare plans of preferential communities recently launched by the California government. In November 2018, Ma Shiyun was elected California Treasurer with the highest number of votes in history, becoming the first woman of color to win the position, and she won the primary election for re-election in June this year.
Ma Shiyun said that since she became finance minister, with her accounting expertise, she has devoted herself to California's financial management and planning, and it is very fortunate that California's fiscal surplus is currently in surplus and the economic development momentum is good. In response to the negative effects of the pandemic and Qualcomm expansion, the California government has also developed more policies and programs to benefit the people, hoping to help more taxpayers and vulnerable families, veterans and other groups.
She introduced a series of Forgivable Equity Builder Loan programs launched by the California Housing Finance Authority (CalHFA) in the hope that loan concession programs tailored to groups of different incomes can actually help people get through difficult times. The goal of the project is to make affordable housing accessible to all Californians and help diversify income brackets.
She said CalHAF's loan exemption includes many different programs. Among them, the ADU fund project has a total of $100 million in overall funds that can be applied, allowing people to add living units to their own housing for relatives and friends to live in or rent, and the government can provide $40,000 in construction costs. Others include: CALHFA VA's fixed-rate loan program for veterans; CAL PLUS With Zip fixed-rate loan program for first-time home buyers and disaster victims; MYHOME Assistance provides assistance to people who have an underpayment on their first-time home purchase; CalHFA USFA is a package of benefits for people living far from cities; The 203K FHA Loan and 203K option provide assistance to victims of major natural disasters in purchasing and renovating new homes.
Walnut Mayor Wu Lilun welcomed Ma Shiyun and his team to visit Walnut City, and introduced the municipal and financial situation of Walnut City. He pointed out that Walnut City has gathered new immigrants from Taiwan, Chinese mainland, the Philippines and other places, and the number of Asians has exceeded half. Cities pay more attention to financial management and municipal planning, especially in the areas of community safety and education that are generally of concern to Chinese.
He hopes that California's financial welfare program will benefit more families and groups in need, and at the same time, he is also very grateful to Secretary Ma for his tireless efforts to serve the community as a role model for new Chinese immigrants in the California Legislature and government, representing the voice of the community for many years, understanding the needs of voters, and serving the community. He wished Finance Minister Ma a successful re-election in November and continued to speak for a diverse community!
Ma Shiyun is the 34th chief financial officer of California and the first female Asian and Chinese financial secretary in California history. In 1995, Mr. Ma served as President Bill Clinton's representative to lead the White House Small Business Federation. In 2002, Ma was elected to the San Francisco City Council. He was elected to the California House of Representatives in 2006 and served as Executive Speaker pro Tempore of the California House of Representatives in 2010. She is also the first Ever Chinese woman in the California Legislature to hold the position. In 2015, Ma was elected commissioner of the California Revenue Department, followed by the election of California Treasurer in 2018.
On June 7, 2022, California held a primary election, and the current chief financial officer of California, Shiyun Ma, easily won the California primary with an absolute advantage of 61.1% of the vote, beating the main opponents Jack Guerrero (21.3% support) and Andrew Do (18.0% support). In the final election in November, she will face a republican, Jack Guerrero.
