And California's Next Immigration Issue is...

What with California's enormous and ever-growing immigrant population, California State Senator Gil Cedillo is proposing a bill that would create an Office of Immigrant Affairs. The concept behind this new Office is to create an organization that would consolidate and focus statewide efforts to help immigrants. It would be mostly responsible for facilitating educational opportunities (especially English teaching efforts) and the integration of immigrants into the United States, including helping them with citizenship applications.
The big problem, of course, is getting it passed. As an article in the Sacramento Bee discussed, although more than a quarter of California residents are foreign-born, and many more are the children of immigrants, the majority of voters are still elderly and Caucasian. Passage of this Bill would mean more state government expenditures; money that would go to the part of the population that is voting less, something that many voters (and many legislators) are hesitant to do. Also, as with all immigration issues in California, there are suspicions that an agency that is created to help immigrants will not care so much about making the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants.
Cedillo proposed a similar Bill last year but it was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Other states have created similar offices with varied result.