Unprecedented in California history, Gov. Jerry Brown was sworn in into his fourth term this past Monday.

Gov. Jerry Brown was sworn-in for a fourth term on Monday by California Supreme Court Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye (right), and was joined by his wife, California First Lady Anne Gust Brown. (photo courtesy of the Governor’s Press Office)

Brown took the governorship during a financially unstable time in California’s history, as the nation was heading out of its recession with billions in debt, vowing to rid the state of accumulated deficits.

At his inauguration at the State Capitol, Brown highlighted a shrinking unemployment rate since the beginning of his last term in 2011, a decrease from 12.1 to 7.2 percent. Additionally, Brown focused on balancing the state’s budget, contrasting it with the $26 billion in debt at the start of his term.

California has seen an increased in 1.3 million jobs in the last four years, Brown said during his inauguration speech. He attributed much of his success to the Legislature for cutting spending, the economy and the people of California “for voting temporary taxes” and voting for Proposition 1 and 2 on water sustainability and more funding and regulation of the state’s Budget Stabilization Account.

“These are measures that nearly every Democrat and Republican voted to put on the ballot, and nearly 70 percent of voters ultimately approved. I’m proud to report, as a result, by the end of the year, we’ll be investing in long-overdue water projects and saving $2.8 billion in the state’s new protected Rainy Day Fund,” Brown said.

Brown first served in 1975 to 1983, serving two electoral terms back-to-back. Again in 2010, Brown won the seat for the governorship, defeating businesswoman Meg Whitman. In 2014, Brown defeated Republican Neel Kashkari by a substantial margin.

The son of the late former governor, Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, politics have run in his family.

“As I embark upon this unprecedented fourth term as governor, my thoughts turn to a time long ago when I first entered this chamber, Jan. 5, 1959, for my father’s inauguration,” Brown said.

Although it was fifty-six years ago many of those issues share similarities with today’s issues, Brown said.

“Discrimination; the quality of education and the challenge of recruiting and training teachers; the menace of air pollution, and its danger to our health; a realistic water program; economic development; consumer protection; and overcrowded prisons,” he said.

Beginning in early 2013, Brown added pressure to the federal government to end prison overcrowding in California by ceasing to send prisoners out of state into private prisons. In addition, Brown supported other reforms, such as Proposition 36 and 47, which reduced certain felonies into misdemeanors in the hopes of further reducing prison and jail overcrowding.

Toward the end of his inauguration speech, Brown announced three big goals for the state within the next 15 years: “an increase in electricity derived from renewable sources,” a reduction of petroleum usage in cars and trucks by 50 percent and doubling the efficiency of buildings to “make heating fuels cleaner.”

Construction to California’s bullet train began this week when Brown led the groundbreaking in downtown Fresno in what will be the future train station. The project is set to cost $68 billion, spanning from L.A. to San Francisco, and is expected to be complete by 2028.