Senate Floor

Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll call].

Members, a quorum is present. Would the Members and our guests beyond the rail and in the gallery please rise? We will be led in prayer this afternoon by our chaplain, Sister Michelle Gorman, after which please remain standing. We will be led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag by Senator Rubio.

Today, Pastor Steve Garnes Holmes comments on the line in Matthew's gospel that says Jesus was transfigured before them. Sometimes someone changes and you get to see it. And sometimes you finally see what was always there. Maybe this is the real grace of transfiguration. Not that things change, but that our seeing changes. That we see with eyes of wonder. That we see divine presence in this world. That we see resurrection in every death. See the gleam that is each person, even the doomed.

That we see them beyond the limits of their flesh. See them in company with saints. See them divine, risen already from whatever deaths and disappointments they will endure. Still shining we see with ayes of mercy. Maybe the miracle is not in the light that enters our ayes but in the light that shines out from them. And so today we pray that by the grace of the God who shines, our ayes may be transfigured. Amen.

Members, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. [Pledge of Allegiance}.

Members we're going to move on to privileges of the floor. On behalf of Senator Umberg, it gives us great pleasure to welcome his granddaughter, Elliot Grace Burchette Umberg, who visits us from Alta Vista Middle School in San Francisco. Welcome. Very happy to have you here. Now I'd like to recognize Senator Rubio, who will be operating at the majority floor leader's desk.

Thank you. Madam President, ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, today I rise with great honor to welcome an extraordinary young man by the name of Brandon Tsay. Brandon is 26 years old. He is a son to Yvonne Wei Fong Ling and Tom Tsay, a brother to Brenda Tsay, an aspiring computer programmer, and as of January 21, a state and national hero as he saved many lives in our community. Brandon is an extraordinary young man.

He paused his academic pursuits of studying computer science at Pasadena Community College to be alongside his mother in Taiwan. She was diagnoesd with stage three lung cancer. When Brandon was a college freshman, he put his college pursuits aside to care for his mother. Brandon was known for putting his needs aside to help others. And it was no different when it came to his own mom. He so selflessly put his goals aside to make sure that she was taken care of, and that she became the focus.

Unfortunately, his mother passed away in December 2017. But I am sure that she's looking down on him with overwhelming pride and satisfaction. And what a great young man she raised. Today it's important to me that I talk about his upbringing and his struggles, because during difficult times, it can be tempting to give up. Brandon didn't give up. He spent countless hours volunteering with his grandparents at a dance studio that they founded. His determination is unwavering. Brandon always wanted to help his community.

Brandon always remembers spending many times not only with his people, his peers, but the older generation. And as we know, the dance room was for those of elderly age to go and gather and become community and have something to do after hours. He exemplifies resilience, compassion, strength, traits his family must be so proud of, traits that we should all aspire to have. Brandon kept going and again, always found opportunities to volunteer. He used to visit frequently his community with his mother.

So, as we know, his mother was always in the center of his life. His environment shaped the amazing human being he has become and this incredible young man is standing here with us today. I know many of us are surprised he launched at the perpetrator as instinctively as he did, as I know many of us may have not. But he knew one thing, and that was that there were still people in that dance ballroom, and he wanted to make sure that nothing happened to them.

So instead of running, he stayed behind to protect them. Once again, not a lot of people would have stayed. Brandon does not see himself as a hero. But not only is he California's hero, but the nation's hero. He is so deserving of this recognition, and we are so proud to have someone like Brandon, his caliber here in our state of California.

He's an individual who would put his pursuits aside to take care of others, and as we witnessed on the tape on that fateful night, an individual that wanted to protect his community. Thanks to Brandon, we will never know the extent, the full extent of the danger that killer posed. I truly believe had Brandon not stopped the killer, he would have continued on a rampage. As it was his second location he was at.

It was because of Brandon stopping him and taking the weapon away that made it easier for the police to locate the perpetrator. I do believe that we grew up thinking that heroes wear capes. In this case, Brandon doesn't wear a cape, but he is still our hero. Members, please help me in giving him a really warm welcome. Brandon Tsay. Members, at this time, we're going to pause for pictures. If you'd like to take a picture. Thank you.

Senators, we're going to return to session in about 30 seconds. Members, without objection, we will move to adjourn in memory for Senator Rubio at her desk. Senator Rubio.

Thank you, Madam President. Members of the Senate. Today I rise in great sadness to adjourn in the memory of eleven victims who tragically lost their lives in the Monterey Park shooting. That day in our community forever changed us. No one could have foreseen the magnitude of the tragedy and the impact it would have on the world. The world mourned with us from across the globe. Messages of condolences and support kept our community going. Everyone offered to help in one way or another.

And it was our humanity that helped bring us together. I want to take a moment and acknowledge the souls that left us on that tragic night. This incident also showed the resilience and the power of the people. They gathered and put their arms around us and grieved with us and grieved as a community. It was a light in the midst of that tragedy. Our condolences and prayers continue to go out to the victims'families who continue to mourn the loss and continue to need our support.

Please allow me to read their names. Leland Lee, Diana Mong Ling Tom, Valentino Marcos Alvaro, Ming Wei Ma, Mei Mei Nan, Chain Ling Yao, Yu Lun Kao, Wen Tao Yu, Mui Deng Ung, Sho Young Yu, Hong Ying Yi An, Members, in honor of their memory and the impact their joyful spirits will continue to have on us, I would like the senators to please take a moment with me. A moment of silence to honor their memories. Thank you, Members. We appreciate your time.

Please bring the names forward to the desk so that their memories may be appropriately memorialized by the State Senate. Members, we're going to move on on our agenda. Messages from the Governor will be deemed read. Messages from the Assembly will be deemed read. Reports of committee will be deemed read and amendments adopted. Motions, resolutions and notices. Without objection, the Senate journals for February 13, 2023 through February 17, 2023 will be approved as corrected by the Minute Clerk consideration of the daily file. Second reading file. Madam Secretary, please read.

Senate Bill 41.

Thank you very much. Returning to privileges of the floor, like to introduce, it's my pleasure to introduce in the gallery the young students of the Brotherhood Crusade, an impactful nonprofit organization from Los Angeles. They're visiting the Senate in the gallery today to learn about the legislative process. The Brotherhood Crusade is led by George Weaver and are brought here on behalf of the good Senator Bradford. Can we give them a warm Senate welcome?

Thank you so much for joining us here today and for your interest in learning how to be the voice and the advocate for South Los Angeles. Members, we're going to return to motions and resolutions. This is the time for the adjourn in memories. Senator Portantino.

Thank you. Madam President and Members, I rise sadly to ask the Senate to adjourn in memory of Nelson Rising. Mr. Rising, oversaw some of the biggest real estate projects in California history, and he ran Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley's political campaigns. He died at 81 years old, young on February 9, 2023.

Mr. Rising was born on August 27, 1941 in Queens, New York, the second of two children. A few years later, his family headed west to Glendale. Rising's father, Henry, worked as a chief engineer at the Statler Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, and his mother, Mary, was a seamstress. Rising attended UCLA on a football scholarship and went on to graduate from its law school in 1967. He found work at O'Melveny and Myers, where he was mentored by Warren Christopher.

Christopher was the high profile leader in the Democratic politics and served as Secretary of State under President Clinton. Rising led the development of such large-scale properties as the U.S. Bank Tower office skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles that was for many years the tallest building in the west. He also worked on the Playa Vista Project, a mixed use neighborhood created on land near Los Angeles coast that was home to Howard Hughes' aviation empire.

He was an Executive for commercial developer and landlord Maguire Thomas Partners in 1980s and oversaw some of the biggest projects, obviously including Playa Vista, the sprawling and controversial development that sprang out of Marina Del Rey and where the Spruce Goose had its home. In San Francisco, he oversaw one of the largest mixed use developments in the city's history.

With the revitalization of the Mission Bay, which at the time was an abandoned rail yard in Brownfield site near downtown, he shepherded into behind the scenes roles in the Democratic Party by Christopher and, as I said, served as Tom Bradley's campaign chair in each of his mayoral victories. He also ran Bradley's gubernatorial campaign. He worked for Bradley after successfully managing the upstart 1970 campaign of Senator John Tooney, a 36 year old lawyer who defeated an incumbent, Republican incumbent.

After the victory, the Times described Rising as an enthusiastic amateur who was pleasant but tough. The experience led Rising to become a producer on the movie Robert Redford's, the candidate recognized in his authority on corporate and public finance. He served on the board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, including three years as stint as its chairman. Other public service included three years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve during his college years.

He was recruited in 1994 to take over Catellus, which was a languishing real estate spinoff of the Southern Pacific Railroad that hoped to reinvent itself as a builder. Over the next eleven years, he supervised the growing company and its most ambitious projects, Mission Bay. Contellus, which also owned Union Station in Los Angeles, was sold in 2005, and Rising went on to start his own private firm.

His civic roles included Chairman of the Grand Avenue Committee, a real estate advisor and negotiator for the Joint Powers authority consisted of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Community Redevelopment, and the county. The joint powers oversaw the Grand Avenue project, which includes the Broad Museum, expansion of Grand Park, and the $1 billion Grand L.A. hotel, apartment and retail complex designed by Frank Geary.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Sharon, sons Christopher and Matthew, three grandchildren, a sister and his daughter Kareem, who unfortunately passed away in 2018. I had the pleasure of meeting him when I actually knocked on his door when I first campaigned for the City Council. He was a titan in Los Angeles politics and real estate and development, and we will surely miss him and wish his family well. So thank you.

Please bring his name to the desk so that he can be memorialized by the State Senate. Senator Portantino.

Thank you, Madam President. I also rise with sadness to adjourn in memory of Thomas Alton Parker, another UCLA alum who had the distinction of being one of Jackie Robinson's teammates. He was a devoted father and resident of La Canada, Flintridge for over 50 years. Passed away on January 15 at 100 years old. Until eight weeks ago, he was driving, taking a daily tour of the community, circling the Rose Bowl, and ate breakfast at McDonald's every single day. Yeah, McDonald's every single day. Lived to 100.

He was born in western Texas on May 15, 1922, to Jesse Alton Parker and Robert Baylor Hooks. They lived in a three room adobe house in El Paso, where his father Jesse worked as a pharmacist. They spent holidays and weekends at their family ranch in San Antonio, which is now listed on the historic registry. In 1931, after a flood melted their adobe house and flooded out the family, they packed up and moved to Los Angeles.

They first lived with family and then began their own life in East L.A. where Tom attended Robert Stutt lewis stevenson junior high and garfield high. He excelled at gymnastics and football. He was a Boy Scout and spent his weekends and summer hiking, camping in local mountains, and would later hitchhike across the west from Texas to Idaho to Washington with his teenage friends. In 1940, he started at UCLA and made the football team as a running back in the shadow of the great Jackie Robinson.

He always joked that Jackie was just a little faster than he was. Tom was also a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity, where he even gained more lifelong friends. In his sophomore year, Pearl Harbor changed everything. Tom was in the ROTC, so he stayed at UCLA for another two years in the program while working nights at Uniroyal Tire, making jeep and airplane tires for the war effort.

In 1944, he shipped off to Fort Benning, where he served as a lieutenant infantry army training officer and later was deployed in the Philippines in 1945 as a captain and served as base commander for ordinance services. By 1945, the war had ended and the new colonel came. And a new colonel came to run the base along with his wife and daughter. Captain Parker's spirited personality soon won the heart of the colonel's daughter, and that year, Tom and Mary Jean were married in the Philippines.

He went on to work for Procter and Gamble, traded commodities, and especially lumber. They had a daughter, Linda, in the Philippines in 1949 and then returned to Los Angeles to actually to Monterey Park, where their son Bill was born on Christmas day in 1952. Thereafter, he pursued a career both in Los Angeles and San Francisco. He had two more children born, and he became a master in the plywood business.

And he actually sold more plywood during the housing boom in California than any other plywood salesperson in the country basically. It was a wild business. He made trips to the far east and then semi-retired in 1980, became a cartoonist. He taught himself how to use a computer and architectural software and then became a building designer. So he went from salesperson, cartoonist, building designer, and loved in the foothills, living in the foothills, and was a wonderful presence.

He leaves four children behind Linda, Bill and his wife Toni, David and his wife Patty, and Robert and his wife Amy. He's got grandchildren Rel Tori and her husband Jeremiah, Paige Peyton and her husband Michael Grant and legacy, plus great grandchildren Malia, Jonah, and Jackson. In my other life, I was prone to going to McDonald's, too, and would frequent quarter pounders myself and always found him holding court in our local McDonald's.

He was a legendary presence, and I respectfully ask for the Senate to adjourn in his memory.

Please bring his name forward to the desk so that he may be appropriately memorialized. Members, directly after our session today, there will be a reception honoring Brian Tsay, Brian Tsay in room 115. Again, following our session, there will be a reception recognizing and honoring Brandon Tsay in room 115. All Members are welcome. If there is no other business, Senator Atkins, the desk is clear.

Madam President. Thank you so much. Our next floor session is scheduled for this Thursday, February 23, 2023, at 09:00 a.m..

The Senate will be in recess until 03:30 p.m., at which time the adjournment motion will be made. We will reconvene Thursday, February 23, at 09:00 a.m..