Assembly Standing Committee on Appropriations

This hearing room is open for attendance. All are encouraged to watch the hearing from its stream on the Assembly website at Assembly. CA gov today's events. We encourage the public to monitor the Committee's website for updates. We will accept public comment on any Bill placed on the suspense filed by the Committee today and for which the author waived presentation before the close of the regular ordered hearing.

Testimony in any such Bill would be limited to a statement of name, organization, if any, and position on the Bill. The Committee will allow no more than 40 minutes of testimony in total. As you came into the hearing room today, the Sergeants directed your attention to the rules for public attendance and participation which were posted outside the door. I encourage Members of the public who are in attendance to be aware of and observe those rules.

Please be aware that violations of these rules or other violations of General courtesy or decorum may subject you to removal or other enforcement process. With that, I'd like to establish a quorum which I do not believe we have at this particular time. So we will move us a Subcommittee to then take up item ACR 86. Kalra. Joys of due pass.

Morning, Mr. Chair and Members. ACR 86 would encourage state, local and nonprofit and private partners to work together to implement solutions that address the state's animal shelter overpopulation problem. California's animal shelters are overcrowded and overwhelmed. Fortunately, spay and neuter surgeries are an effective means of limiting the unchecked pet population. However, unsubsidized spay and neuter surgeries are expensive, costing hundreds of dollars per animal. Likewise, the supply of low and no cost services cannot meet demand, leading to months long waitlists for many procedures.

ACR 86 recommends a variety of collaborative solutions that will expand spay and neuter services and staffing. As noted in the Committee's analysis, ACR 86 has no cost, serving primarily as a mechanism to encourage the serious consideration of meaningful solutions. With me to provide brief, supporting testimony is Nick Sackett, Director of Legislative Affairs for Social Compassion and Legislation.

Thank you, Nick Sackett. Social Compassion.

Madam Clerk, call the roll. Holden. Here. Dolly. Here. Brian Calderon. Wendy Carrio. Dixon Fong. Hart. Lowenthal. Mathis. Pappin. Pellerin. Robert Reevis. Sanchez. Weber. Wilson.

We just haven't established it yet. If you don't mind, we'll pause and we'll establish a quorum and then the motion will be in order.

We have a quorum. A motion is in order. The vice chair. Dolly has made the motion. Is there a second? 2nd by Mr. Hart? We'll hear the witness.

Great. Thank you. Nicholas Sackett. Social compassion in legislation. Proud Sponsor I'm reading the statement of Ken Altine, who is the CEO of the Sacramento SPCA, the largest provider of low cost veterinary care in Northern California. More than three quarters of inner city residents have pets in their homes that have never seen a veterinarian. But this is not just an urban problem.

In 2021, national survey shows that 14 California counties ranked in the bottom 25% on the Veterinary Care Accessibility Score, which means there is limited or extremely limited or no ability to see a veterinarian. The overall score for California was 47 out of 100, with the Central Valley and North State faring the worst. By comparison, Nebraska has a score of 71. And even if they can find a vet in their neighborhood, county or region, many Californians cannot afford the cost of the treatment.

The results are predictable and heartbreaking. Our state's euthanasia rate is climbing after years in decline, public facilities are forced to euthanize animals in order to make space for more. Cats and dogs with treatable medical conditions end up at the front of the line. Because public shelters cannot attract or keep veterinarians in a tight labor market, it will take all of us animal welfare groups, community partners, foster families and elected officials to recover the momentum California had just a few years ago. And it will take money.

We can spend that money on expanding facilities and hiring more people to deal with the growing shelter population and euthanasia. Or we can invest in solutions, building and staffing regional spay and neuter centers, providing incentives for California vet school graduates to stay here, and attracting vets from other states, especially those trained in high quality, high volume spay neuter surgeries. Raising awareness is the first step, but we need to quickly follow words with actions. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll turn to the public for comment in favor or opposed to the ACR 86. Seeing no one, we'll bring it back to the committee. We have the motion that's before us. It's a due pass. The Bill is out on an A roll call. Thank you. Thank you. I will now move to the consent calendar and we'll dispose with the dissent calendar. Madam Secretary. It's been moved by Vice Chair. Vice Chair? And then seconded by Dr. Weber. Please read the consent calendar.

SB 86, Seyarto SB 259, Seyarto SB 280. Laird. SB 341. Becker SB 392. Bradford SP 412 Archuleta. SB 512. Laird, SB 678. Umberg, SB 762. Becker, SB 787. Dolly. SB 788. Ashby SB. 887 Committee on Governmental Organization. SB 885. Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement.

Thank you. Madam Secretary, we'll now call the role on the consent calendar.

Holden aye Dahle Brian Calderon Wendy Carrillo Dixon Fong. Hart Lowenthal Mathis Papan Pellerin Robert Reevis Sanchez Weber Wilson Fong.

Okay, the consent calendar is adopted. We'll now take up the Suspense file. Madam Secretary. Read the suspense file.

SB 75, Roth. SB 551 Portantino. SB 633, Gonzalez. SB 661, Bradford. SB 711, Cabiaro.

Thank you. The suspense file is deemed approved. We'll now take up SB 297. Senator Allen, joys of due pass.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Members. This Bill updates the process for withdrawing initiatives from the ballot and improves the ability of initiative proponents in the Legislature to actually collaborate on a legislative solution. Right now, in order for proponents of a ballot initiative to remove their proposed measure from the ballot, all of the proponents have to agree to do so. These are the folks who sign the ballot, proponent who sign the initiative, not all the Members of the public.

There's usually one or two, occasionally a few more who are the signatories. So the problem right now is that you can have a situation where if you have a whole bunch of different proponents who sign the measure, it's possible for a majority to agree to remove the measure from the ballot as a result of a negotiated deal with the Legislature. But a single holdout can disagree and force the measure into a statewide election.

So this is going to allow a majority of the official proponents to agree to withdraw an initiative, to allow for greater opportunity for stakeholder engagement and policy deliberation and let us set of alternatives. One of the things that the people keep asking us to do is limit the number of measures that go to the ballot if we can come up with a solution.

And the reason why we passed Senator Steinberg a few years back did that measure that allowed us to now kick negotiations to the Legislature when a measure is qualifying for the ballot. And it's actually resulted in a lot of legislative solutions that are much more flexible and have worked much better than having the language of a ballot measure go to the ballot with no flexibility and much harder to change in the future. So that's what we're trying to address here.

And with that, I respectfully ask for an aye vote. Thank you. Happy to answer questions.

Thank you.

I know you do things differently in appropriation motion.

It's been seconded. We'll turn to the public. Is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on the Bill in favor or opposed? Seeing? None. We'll bring it back to the committee. There being no comments from the committee, would you like to close, Senator?

Yeah. I mean, the Secretary of State's estimates minor cost to implement and update information material, but actually they show potential for significant savings in printing voter information guides if fewer measures appear on the ballot. Because we've been able to resolve the issues. This really does kind of fulfill the spirit of SP 1253 that I mentioned earlier, and I ask for your support.

It's out on a broll call. Congratulations.

Thanks very much. Thank you.

We go back to the consent calendar for just a moment. We have SB 510. Okay. It was read out as 512. It needs to be recognized as SB 510, not SB 512. And then SB 884 was read out as SB 884. And it should have been SB 887. Okay. So it was read out as SB 887. And it should have been read out as SB 884. Okay. So that's to clarify that, do you need a motion?

So there's been a motion by Mr. Hart, seconded by the vice chair, and then it is corrected on unanimous consent. Senator Rubio.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning. Let me know if we're ready for good morning, everyone. Thank you for just allowing me to present my SB 545, which is a Save Children Act. And this is a very simple Bill, but incredibly important to so many of our children, and most importantly for this committee. According to the analysis, the bill's cost and its dates are unknown, but unlikely to be significant. The Safe Child Act will stop child sex crime victims from being tried as adults in court when they fight back against their abusers.

The Safe Children Act recognizes these children are survivors, and they're already traumatized by the experience. And so we want them to have an opportunity at life, and so it does provide for counseling and other services that will help them heal from their trauma. And so with that, I respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you.

Papan moved and heart seconded. Thank you. And no witnesses. Any Members of the public who would like to speak in opposition of support? Thank you. Okay. Thank you. And this enjoys a due pass with Republicans not voting. Thank you. I'd like to open up the hearing to comments by Members of the public on bills not presented in committee today.

Good morning. Erica Hoffman on behalf of the California School Boards Association, the Santa Clara County Office of Education, and the California Teachers Association, all as sponsors in support of SB 551 by Senator Portentino. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning. Brian Ricks with the Los Angeles Unified School District. Also in support of SB 551 by Senator Portantino and SB. 633 by Senator Gonzalez.

Thank you. We're going to keep the roll open for another five minutes for absent Members to come. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to open up the roll for add ons for Members for the consent calendar. Please call the role.

Brian aye Calderon Pellerin Robert Reevis.

Thank you. We're going to keep the roll open for just a few more minutes. Thank you.

I just wanted to stay and hang out. How's life? How you been? That's good. Hire Ed. I'm 16.

This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.