California State Sen. Holly J. Mitchell, 30th District, was named chair of the budget subcommittee on health and human services by Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin De Léon for the 2015-16 session.

Mitchell has gained important experience regarding the state’s social services programs following a three-year stint chairing the assembly’s health and human services budget subcommittee during a period of severe cuts compelled by the economic downturn, she said, and she is also regarded as a staunch advocate for the poor, especially children.

“The budget is California’s true value statement,” Mitchell said. “Public policy becomes real only when the state puts its money where its mouth is. Crunching numbers in search of help for families in need is my mission.”

First elected to the state’s legislature in 2010, Mitchell remains on the senate’s official leadership team as a re-appointed member of its directing body, the rules committee. She also joins the committees on health, insurance and labor, as well as the senate and assembly’s joint legislative budget committee.

Previously chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, Mitchell last year founded and chaired the senate’s select committee on women and inequality, which conducted several hearings that elicited recommendations for improving safety net services through budgetary policy.