Assembly Standing Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review

Petrie. Norris.

Present.

Dixon.

Present.

Baines. Davies. Nguyen. Rodriguez. Wilson.

All right. And I see that we have. Senator Laird, go ahead, and the floor is yours.

Thank you very much. Madam Chair and Committee Members. I'm here to present Senate Bill 416, which codifies and expands Governor Brown's 2012 Executive Order, which requires new or majorly renovated state buildings to obtain lead silver certification or higher. This Bill goes one step further. It requires lead gold certification or higher on all new state buildings or major renovation projects. And it is to help make sure we reach our climate goals. The second largest source of GHG emissions in California is from buildings. So as well as the transportation sector, which is number one, we have to work to lower the emissions. The state already has 273 lead certified buildings, 32% are gold. This includes the swing space, which is lead platinum. And to presuppose a question I got in a Senate hearing, no, this will have nothing to do with the employee elevators in the swing space. And so by requiring this, this will hold the state to be accountable. To ensure that we're meeting our goals. Recent amendments provide clarity that the District agricultural associations or the county fairs are exempt from the requirements of the Bill. And the one concern that came up also in a Committee hearing was the measure of control. And it's really the state that decides how it wants to meet the standards and could decide which things are done. This does not mandate individual actions. This mandates the aggregate action. And so the state is in control about trying to figure out how it meets this. The Bill has bipartisan support. No registered oppositions, has had no votes thus far. And I respectfully ask for an aye vote. And Mike West is here with me from the state building and trades in case there are technical questions.

Yes. And, Mr. West, please join us.

And at the appropriate time, I respectfully request an aye vote.

All right. And now, Mr. West, did you want to provide comments in support, or you're just here to answer any questions?

I'm here to answer any technical questions.

Thank you. Thank you. So we'll go ahead and move to support in the room. Is there anyone wishing to testify in support? Seeing none. Anyone wishing to testify in opposition? No. All right, questions or comments from Committee Members? All right, so we have a motion from Assemblymember Wynn, second from Assemblymember Rodriguez. Senator, would you like to close?

I appreciate the robust debate. Yes, and I think this is a good Bill. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Well, thank you. The motion is do pass and re refer to the Committee on Appropriations Secretary, please call the roll.

Peter Norris?

Aye.

Petrie-Norris, aye. Dixon? Aye. Dixon? Aye. Baines Nguyen? No. Davies? Davies? aye. Nguyen. Nguyen, aye. Rodriguez? Rodriguez, aye. Wilson.

All right, 5-0 that bills out, but we'll leave the roll open for other Members to add on. Thank you, Senator.

Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

All right, and there is just one additional item that we are hearing today. So, Senator Glazer, if we can put in a call to Senator Glazer to please join us. But we will go ahead and dispense with the consent calendar. The following bills are on today's Committee consent calendar: SB 240 by Senator Ochoa Bogh, the motion is due pass, and re refer to Committee on Housing and Community Development, and item number three, SB 557 by Senator Limón.

The motion is due pass, and re refer to the Appropriations Committee. Do we have a motion and a second on the consent calendar? All right, motion by Assemblymember Davies and second from Assemblymember Nguyen. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll call]

All right, 5-0. And once again, we'll leave that open for absent Members to add on. Senator Glazer, good morning. Please join us. The floor is yours whenever you're ready.

Good morning. Good morning, everyone. First, let me start by thanking Chair Petrie Norris and the Committee Members for allowing me to present this resolution to you to give some long overdue recognition to our former Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird. This Concurrent Resolution recognizes Chief Justice Bird's important contribution to California by naming a portion of the Capitol's Rose Garden after her. The Peace Plaza within the state Capitol. World Peace Rose Garden would now be known as the Chief Justice. Rose Elizabeth Bird, justice for All Plaza. She accomplished many firsts for women in law over the course of her career. She was the first female law Clerk for the Nevada State Supreme Court. She was the first female deputy public defender in Santa Clara County. She was the first cabinet Member for a California Governor, the first cabinet Member for a California Governor, then Governor Jerry Brown. She was the first female chair of the Judicial Council, and, of course, the first female Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. Yet there is still no public recognition of her career long dedication to public service in our state's judicial system. And her impressive accomplishments in breaking the glass ceiling for women in law. SCR 47 would give quite a fitting recognition to her. People come from all over the world to learn about her service in California, and that would be a wonderful thing. With me today is Sylvia Villalobos, President and co creator of the International World Peace Rose Garden, to testify in support, and with that, at the appropriate time, respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Senator and Ms. Villalobos, please join us.

Good morning, everyone. As said, I was Sylvia Viallalobos, and I'm the co creator and President of International World Peace Rose Gardens. And we're the ones that created the state Capitol. World Peace Rose Garden. It's one of 10 of our world peace rose Gardens in the world. So we're here today to say that when we conceived to create a garden for peace at the state Capitol in the 90s, 1995, we very much walked around and saw that all the monuments were mostly to war and to men. And we said, you know, where's the monuments for women on the state Capitol grounds? So we wanted to create a monument to peace and love, and we wanted to acknowledge women in the garden. So when we were approached by Senator Glazer to acknowledge Chief Justice Rose Bird, we thought what a wonderful fit it is for our garden, because there we like to honor people who have women who have not been honored elsewhere. And as Senator Glazer said, we don't see her name anywhere. And so we believe that this is a good place, the Peace Plaza, where people come to get married, the children come to visit the garden. We have hundreds and hundreds every weekend that visit the garden, that it's a very fitting place to honor our first Chief Justice of California, Rose Bird.

Thank you. And is there anyone in the room wishing to testify in support? did you also want to provide comments, please?

Yes, I'll comment on that a little bit. The state Capitol, World Peace Rose Garden while back was voted number seven best garden in the United States of America. So they had 130 of the best public gardens all across America. All selected. The World Peace Rose Garden here came in number seven. And since that time, since it was established in 2003, it's won the hearts of so many people. On any given day, you can be in the garden on a Saturday and see limos pull up. One Saturday is in the garden and saw nine limos pull up, people jumping out of there with their wedding parties. The wedding photographer is trying to keep up with everyone jumping the garden. This is a pit stop for a photo shoot, and they do their deals and they're off again. Quinceaneras all kinds of things. It's a special place for photo shoots, Quinceaneras, visitations, all these things. And this garden really has all these amazing features. I don't know of any of, there's any in the garden on the state capital grounds anywhere in the world who has all the bells and whistles as this one. So consequently, and then, of course, on any given day, the latest thing I saw was 260,000 kids from schools. Part of being a kid in California is come to the state Capitol, get a little tour, and the buses pile up in front of the garden and unload the kids, and it's like an invasion into the garden. I mean, it's just see the kids running, screaming, looking, and they're reading the poems in the garden, all the various things. It's just a happening place. And all the walkways, all the various things, they kind of come to the center of the garden, which is where the fountain is, which is where the Peace Plaza area is in the garden. So that's where people get married. That's the number one spot in the Peace Pavilion is the other one, which is across the one that has a structure on it. So there's a lot of history in this garden, and it's used a whole lot. So I think it's very appropriate that we take a look at, when you look at Chief Justice Rose Bird and you look at her history and things like this, she came at a time when a lot of her policies and ideas weren't really all that well accepted, you know what I mean? Some ways she got kicked to the curb a little bit, pardon my expression. You know what I mean, and it's never too late, in my opinion, to get it right. So I think that honoring her in the Peace Plaza, to me, that's the only spot that's available to really honor someone like her in a significant way. So I support this and believe in it.

Thank you. Thank you. And thank you both for being here and for the work that you do right here in Sacramento and all around the world. Thanks so much. And with that, we'll go ahead and open it up for any additional testimony in support. Seeing none, is there anyone wishing to testify in opposition to SCR 47? Seeing none, open it up for questions or comments from Committee Members. Assembly Member Nguyen.

I just want to say thank you so much for sharing this and thank you, Senator, for bringing this. I think this is going to be my favorite thing that I do today because it's so fitting and it's so peaceful and it is beautiful and what a great, great designation, keeping her name alive and making sure that we all remember. And you're right, it's very well visited and used for many special occasion. And I think that this is just so fitting for everything that she's done, the location where we're at. So I'm more than happy to move this.

Thank you. And I, too, would like to say thank you for bringing this forward. As you said, Chief Justice Bird really was a trailblazer of first in so many ways. And I think that women like us stand on the shoulders of women like Chief Justice Bird. And it's long past time that we paid tribute to her. So thank you for bringing this forward. And with that, would you like to close?

Just to note that I'd like to thank the women lawyers of California who have been partners in this work. Also want to thank the Legislative Women's Caucus. Many of the leaders have joined in co authorship of the measure. And for those who don't know, I worked for Rose Chief Justice Bird. I was her spokesperson back in 1985 and 1986, got to know her and see her up close and have a lot of appreciation for her dedication under difficult times. Politics are part of our world, and this is not meant to be political. There are opinions about Governor and former President Ronald Reagan, who has a statue here in the Lower Britunda. A lot of people have opinions about lots of different political leaders over time, and this is really meant to go above that and acknowledge, as you said, chair the trailblazing work that she did. To be the first, it's very difficult. She did it with great integrity. And I thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, Senator. And we've got a motion from Assemblymember Nguyen. Did we have a second from Assemblymember Rodriguez? Secretary, if you could please call the role.

Petrie Norris, aye. Petrie Norris, aye. Dixon? No. Dixon? No. Baines Davies? No. Davies? No. Nguyen Wynn? Aye. Rodriguez? Rodriguez, aye. Wilson.

All right, so 3-2, and that bill's on call. We'll wait for absent Members. And thank you, Senator. All right, so that concludes our business. We're just going to hold the roll open for our absent Committee Members to join us and add on.

All right, we'll go ahead and call the roll for absent Members to add on. Secretary.

Consent calendar. Item one, SB 240, due pass and re-refer to the Committee on Housing and Community Development. Item number three, SB 557. Due pass and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. [Roll call]

Item two, SB 416, due pass and re-refer to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll call]

Item four, SCR 47, due pass and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. [Roll call]

All right, great. So then, consent calendar: 6-0, file item number two: 6-0, and file item number four: 4-2. So SCR 47 is also out, but we will leave the roll open for absent Members to add on. Thank you. That concludes today's business of the Assembly's Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review. We are adjourned.