Senate Floor

Secretary, please call the roll.

Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Archuleta, Ashby, Atkins, Becker, Blakespear, Bradford, Caballaro, Cortese, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Eggman, Glazer, Gonzalez, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Laird, Limon, McGuire, Menjivar, Min, Newman, Nguyen, Niello, Ochoa Bogh, Padilla, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Seyarto, Skinner, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Wiener, Wilk.

Requirements. Present with the Members and our guests beyond the rail. Please rise. We'll be led in prayer by our chaplain, Sister Michelle Gorman, after which, please remain standing. Will be led in the pledge by Senator Durazo.

Let us bring ourselves into God's presence. Gracious God, whom we often call Father. This weekend we pray in gratitude for our fathers, both living and deceased. We thank you for all those who have shown us a fatherly care. And in honor of them all, we say you are loving God.

You took the strength of a mountain, the majesty of a tree, the warmth of a summer sun, the calm of a quiet sea, the comforting arm of night, the power of the eagle's flight, the joy of a morning in spring, the faith of a mustard seed and the patience of eternity. You combined these qualities. And when there was nothing more to add, you knew your masterpiece was complete. And so you called it. Dad. Amen.

Colleagues, please join me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united States of America, for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberity and Justice for all.

Members, we're going to start with privileges of the floor. First, I'd like to recognize Senator Alvarado-Gil.

Thank you. Thank you. Colleagues, I'm here to welcome Members of the Leadership Calaveras program here in the gallery with us today. This is an amazing program held on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, not only in Calaveras, but we have it in counties throughout California. I myself have participated in leadership programs and I know that that's a great path to public service. So please give our guests a warm welcome.

To Privilege of the floor. I'd like to recognize Senator Wiener from the Majority leaders desk.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Colleagues, today we have the honor of welcoming a distinguished delegation from the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Northern California and the Japanese Business Association of Southern California. This delegation is comprised of 11 representatives from the two organizations, including Members of their government relations and business and commerce committees.

Lead in the group are Nobuyuki Baba, the General Manager of Mitsubishi Corporation, America's Silicon Valley Branch and who's the President of the JCCNC and Masahiko Yamamoto, the General manager of Mitsubishi Corporation, America's Los Angeles branch who's the President of the JBA. They're at the Capitol today in Association with their respective organization's annual visit to discuss issues of importance to the Japanese business community. Collectively, they represent 750 Member businesses.

They work to provide their Members with a better understanding of American cultural and business practices and to build bridges with local communities to improve the Japanese California business relationship. Japan and California have a long and deep history, long and deep economic ties, major trading partners, and of course, a very long standing relationship between this body and the government of Japan, including many cultural exchanges.

I was pleased, joined by the Senator from Orinda and the pro tem, to be able to speak and meet with this delegation yesterday and to talk about various issues around climate, clean energy, and innovation. Please join me in warmly welcoming these distinguished guests to the California State Senate.

We welcome all Senators who would like to take a photo with the delegation from the Governor. Will be deemed read, message from the Assembly will be deemed read, reports of Committee will be deemed read, and amendments adopted. Members motions, resolutions and notices. Do we have any motions, resolutions, or notices? Seeing none, we go to the considerations of the daily file. Second reading file.

Secretary, please read Senate Concurrent Resolution 59. Assembly Bill 354, 971, 1735, 709 with amendments 223, 933, 957, 288, 410, 1179, 542 with amendments 92nd Reading file will be deemed read.

Members, if I can have everyone's attention, please take your conversations off the floor. We're going to now turn to governor's appointments. First file Item 29. Senator Laird, he is ready. Please read. Sorry, Secretary Laird. Senator Laird, go ahead.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. File Item 29 is the confirmation of John Eisenhot for reappointment to the California Air Resources Board. He was first appointed in 2013, serves on the board as a representative of the agricultural industry. He is currently a field representative for Hilltop Ranch, Incorporated, where he previously served as manager of grower Relations from 1994 to 2018. He was approved by the Rules Committee on June 7. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Any discussion or debate. Seeing none, Secretary, please call the roll.

Allen, aye. Alvarado-Gil, aye. Archuleta, aye. Ashby, aye. Atkins, aye. Becker, aye. Blakespear, aye. Bradford, aye. Caballaro, aye. Cortese, aye. Dahle, No. Dodd, aye. Durazo, aye. Eggman, aye. Glazer, aye. Gonzalez, aye. Grove, aye. Hurtado, aye. Jones, No. Laird, aye. Limon, aye. McGuire, aye. Menjivar, aye. Min, aye. Newman, aye. Nguyen, No. Niello, No. Ochoa Bogh, No. Padilla, aye. Portantino, aye. Roth, aye. Rubio, aye. Seyarto, No. Skinner, aye. Smallwood-Cuevas, aye. Stern, aye. Umberg, aye. Wahab, aye. Wiener, aye. Wilk, aye.

Ayes are 34, the Nos are 6. The appointment is confirmed. Next, we turn to file Item 30. Senator Laird, go ahead.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. File Item 30 is a confirmation of Diane Tekborian for appointment to the California Air Resources Board. She is the co founder and a strategic advisor for the Environmental Health Coalition. Where she served as Executive Director from 1981 to 2022. She's been a Member of the Air Resources Board since 2016. She was approved by the Rules Committee on June 7. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Any dscussion or debate, see none. Secretary, please call the roll.

Allen, aye. Alvarado-Gil, aye. Archuleta, aye. Ashby, aye. Atkins, aye. Becker, aye. Blakespear, aye. Bradford, aye. Caballaro, aye. Cortese, aye. Dahle, No. Dodd, aye. Durazo, aye. Eggman, aye. Glazer, aye. Gonzalez, aye. Grove, no. Hurtado, aye. Jones, No. Laird, aye. Limon, aye. McGuire, aye. Menjivar, aye. Min, aye. Newman, aye. Nguyen, No. Niello, No. Ochoa Bogh, No. Padilla, aye. Portantino, aye. Roth, aye. Rubio, aye. Seyarto, No. Skinner, aye. Smallwood-Cuevas, aye. Stern, aye. Umberg, aye. Wahab, aye. Wiener, aye. Wilk, No.

Ayes are 32, the Nos are 8. That appointment is confirmed. File item 34. Senator Laird, you're recognized.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. File Item 34 is the confirmation of Caleb Duarte and Nicole Minor. For appointment to the California Arts Council. Mr. Duarte is an artist and a Professor of sculpture at Fresno City College. Ms. Minor is founder of the Minor Anderson Family Foundation. And an instructor at the College of San Mateo. Both of these appointments were approved by the Rules Committee on June 7. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Any discussion or debate. Secretary, please call the roll.

Allen, aye. Alvarado-Gil, aye. Archuleta, aye. Ashby, aye. Atkins, aye. Becker, aye. Blakespear, aye. Bradford, aye. Caballaro, aye. Cortese, aye. Dahle, No. Dodd, aye. Durazo, aye. Eggman, aye. Glazer, aye. Gonzalez, aye. Grove, No. Hurtado, aye. Jones, No. Laird, aye. Limon, aye. McGuire, aye. Menjivar, aye. Min, aye. Newman, aye. Nguyen, No. Niello, No. Ochoa Bogh, No. Padilla, aye. Portantino, aye. Roth, aye. Rubio, aye. Seyarto, No. Skinner, aye. Smallwood-Cuevas, aye. Stern, aye. Umberg, aye. Wahab, aye. Wiener, aye. Wilk, aye.

Ayes are 37, so ayes are 33, the no's are 7. Those appointments are confirmed. Members, please take your conversations off the floor. We are going to move on to the consent calendars. Would any Members like to remove any items from the consent calendars? I see none. Secretary, please read both consent calendars.

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 18. Assembly Bill 497, 1151, 1165, 1173, 759, 1753, 536, 1467. Assembly Concurrent Resolution 74, 77, 79.

Secretary, please call the roll and file item 78.

Allen, aye. Alvarado-Gil, aye. Archuleta, aye. Ashby, aye. Atkins, aye. Becker, aye. Blakespear, aye. Bradford, aye. Caballaro, aye. Cortese, aye. Dahle, aye. Dodd, aye. Durazo, aye. Eggman, aye. Glazer, aye. Gonzalez, aye. Grove, aye. Hurtado, aye. Jones, aye. Laird, aye. Limon. McGuire, aye. Menjivar, aye. Min, aye. Newman, aye. Nguyen, aye. Niello, aye. Ochoa Bogh, aye. Padilla, aye. Portantino, aye. Roth, aye. Rubio, aye. Seyarto, aye. Skinner, aye. Smallwood-Cuevas, aye. Stern, aye. Umberg, aye. Wahab. Wiener, aye. Wilk, aye.

Please call the absent Members.

Limon, Aye. Wahab, aye.

The vote is 40 to zero on file item 78. The vote is 40 to zero on the consent calendars. They are adopted Members. We're going to take a pause right now.

Alright, Members, if I could have everyone's attention. As you may know, we are waiting on the Assembly for the budget bills. We are going to move to adjourn in memories. It's already quite loud with the construction, so to respect your colleagues and those we are adjourning memory of, please keep your conversations low. Please stick around. Don't go anywhere, as we will be coming back after the adjournment memories for the budget discussion.

So hang around. Please, again, keep your conversations off the floor. And we're going to start with adjourn of memories. We'll start with Senator Allen. You have two adjournment memories.

Thank you, Mr. President. Members, I'd like to arise today to request that we adjourn in the memory of a giant of Los Angeles politics, Mayor Richard Riordan, who passed away this April at the age of 92. Mayor Riordan was a generous philanthropist, a lawyer, a successful businessman, an investor, of course, a mayor who left such a profound impact on the City of Los Angeles. He was born in Queens.

As the youngest of nine children, he had a love for big cities in his blood from the very beginning and is on his way from America's largest to second largest city. Young Richard stopped to play football at Santa Clara University, got a philosophy degree from Princeton, served as an army first lieutenant in the Korean War, ultimately got his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. Once he settled in Los Angeles, he began practicing law before discovering his knack for investing in venture capitalism.

He spent the next 30 years amassing a business fortune, engaging extensively in philanthropy. An LA Times article in 1988 described his instinct to give away money almost as if it burns in his hands. 1993, in the wake of the devastating events of 1992, Richard Riordan was elected mayor of Los Angeles, and soon into his mayoral term, his competence and energy and deep love for the city were on full display, following the Northridge earthquake.

He wielded all the power of his position to get aid and services to the Angelenos that needed it most. One of the many famous things coming out of the earthquake was this unique partnership that he formed with the private sector following the disaster, and it was responsible for repairing the Santa Monica Freeway, the 10, a hugely important economic artery for our city. 74 days ahead of schedule, which is an extraordinary feat for those of us who know a lot about public works.

Riordan was a real character. He would walk around his office in his socks. He often was known sometimes to even challenge City Hall visitors to chess matches. He took a $1 salary from the city during his service as Mary gracefully stepped back upon reaching the term limit that he fought to establish. Also had a deep passion for education, creating the Riordan foundation with the goal of increasing literacy among LA Youth.

At the end of his tenure, as Mary described his work to improve the quality of Los Angeles schools despite his lack of official authority over the system, as, quote, the thing I'm most proud of having done in my life. Riordan passed away surrounded by his loved ones. He survived by his wife, Elizabeth, three daughters, Mary, Kathleen, and Patricia, three grandchildren, Luca, Jessica, and Elizabeth, as well as his sister, Elizabeth. Devoted Catholic, and someone who really was very committed to service and helping the lives of others.

I had the opportunity to sit down with him several times over my life and very much appreciated our conversations. I ask that you join me today in recognizing the incredible life and legacy of service of Richard Riordan by adjourning the Senate in his memory.

Senator Durazo, you recognize as well on this item.

Thank you. I want to join with my colleague to just add on a few words to the many accolades that you gave. I had the privilege of working with the mayor on several projects in many ways and many levels. We worked together with other civic leaders on the development LA Live, which now today, is the most vibrant part of Los Angeles, downtown. During his Administration, he appointed me to a commission, the Rex and Parks Commission. So I worked closely with him on there.

And finally, I just want to say he was the owner of the very famous original pantry restaurant, which is also downtown. And I was president of the union that represented the employees in his restaurant. So we negotiated many a contract together. He always did it himself personally. He wouldn't give it off to anybody else. Little did I know that in the year 2000, he would lead a march alongside Cardinal Roger Mahony in support of the striking janitors.

So he had his values, he had his faith, and his belief in the basic dignity of work and a relationship with the cardinal that altogether led him to take a very strong position in that strike. So with that, I also urge us to adjourn in his memory.

Thank you both. Please bring his name up so we can properly memorialize. Senator Allen, you recognize.

He was an incredible character, too, and he will obviously be missed and perhaps represents a time of greater bipartisan civility in our country. All right, the next adjournment memory is a very special person. From the southern portion of my district, from the South Bay, Kevin Sousa, a beloved cornerstone of our Hermosa Beach community. He passed away at the end of May. He was a teacher, surfing coach, marriage and family therapist, a volunteer, and most famously, a musician.

Born in Connecticut as the oldest of three brothers, the South Bay became his home when he settled there. Following graduation from Villanova University, Kevin moved to the West coast to pursue a career in music. He served as a stage manager for the House of Blues and is touring guitar technician for the Eagles, and he just was filled with selfless community spirit.

I was there at a Memorial Day during Fiesta Hermosa when the news was announced of his passing, and you could just tell the impact that that news had on the community from so many different people after losing terrible battle with cancer. He'd given so much to so many aspects of civic and public life in the community, stepped in as a video production and theater arts teacher, as well as the surf team coach from Mira Costa High School.

And it was all about trying to connect others to the love and optimism that was his own driving force. He had all this extensive community work, but he also professionally was psychologist and psychotherapist. He had a degree in counseling psychology from Pacific Graduate Institute. He pursued a doctorate in in-depth psychotherapy therapy, which is focused specifically on the health of the unconscious mind and then, as I mentioned, became a licensed marriage and family therapist as well as a certified psychedelic assisted therapy provider at the Integrative Psychiatry Institute.

All in pursuit of being a more effective guide to those around him. In addition to his private psychotherapy practice that he ran from 2014 onwards, Kevin also served at the Clear Recovery Center in Redondo Beach, offering ocean therapy sessions and other forms of therapy to those with mental illness, including to many disadvantaged folks. And he continued pouring his time and his energy into community until his very final days. He was the Clinical Director of Miriam's House, which is a sober living transitional home for women and their children for the last 12 years of his life.

And right up to the end, he was serving there and also performing his music. He performed at the Beach Life Festival just days before his passing. 2002 Kevin had met his soon to be wife Patty at the wonderful Hermosa Beach Irish pub, Patrick Molloys. And so his incredible spirit, they went on to have a beautiful marriage together and his incredible spirit lives on in her, his wonderful wife, Patty, but also every member of the community whose lives that he touched.

So, Members, I ask that you adjourn in memory today commemorating a very, very special person for the South Bay of Los Angeles, a one in a kind life of Kevin Sousa. Thank you.

Thank you. Please bring his name up as well. Senators, we do have more adjourned memories. Just again, a reminder that we have an important budget vote this morning, so please stay in the Capitol until further notice. Thank you for your understanding, and I'd like to recognize Senator Gonzalez.

Thank you, Mr. President and Members. Today I rise to adjourn in the memory of the beloved former mayor and council member Christopher Chris Garcia from the City of Cudahy on May 17, 2023. Chris unfortunately passed away in his home at the age of 37 when Cudahy was in need of a leader and a voice for the community, he stepped up and was elected in 2013 and went on to serve as both deputy mayor and mayor.

He advocated for immigrant communities, many of which who live in Cudahy and declared Cudahy a sanctuary city in 2015. After a tumultuous time in Cudahy's history, Chris also based the task of winning back the trust and support of the city, so he was the face of change. Chris embodied the best the city had to offer. He was the son of Cudahy. He attended Teresa Hughes Elementary School and Ellen Ochoa Learning Center, as well as Bell High School.

He studied political science at UCLA and earned his master's in Business Administration at the American Jewish University. The overflowing of support and mourning from the city stand as a testament to his incredible work. It's clear that what he stood for and, of course, standing up for every single resident in the community who felt that they didn't have a voice at City Hall. He dedicated his life to public service.

His legacy will influence generations of Cudahy residents and Southeast Los Angeles residents. And I respectfully ask that we adjourn in his memory and offer our deepest condolences to his family.

Thank you. Please bring his name up to be properly memorialized. We recognize for your second adjournment memory.

Mr. President.

Senator Rubio on that item. Recognize Senator Rubio.

Thank you, Mr. President and Members of the Senate. I think all of us in Southern California have the privilege of knowing Chris Garcia, and it's really unfortunate. I wanted to add my voice to everything that the good Senator from Long Beach stated. He was someone that we all knew, very young, energetic, but very caring, and very dedicated to his community, City of Cudahy. And I just wanted to add my voice. How saddened we were to hear of the news of his passing.

I wanted to send condolences to his family, his community, and in our communities as a whole. We will miss him, and we want to just say that we want to thank him for all the years of service. And with that, I also ask to adjourn in his memory. Thank you.

Thank you. Senator Gonzalez, you recognize for your second adjournment memory.

Thank you, Mr. President and Members. Today I rise again to adjourn in the memory of Rick Cameron, Richard "Rick" Donald Cameron III, who is a leader and respected community person with the expertise in environmental planning at the Port of Long Beach. On May 8, 2023, Rick unfortunately passed away peacefully at his home in Manhattan Beach at the age of 51. He was the first person in his family to attend college and received his bachelor's degree at Cal Poly Pomona.

Rick began his lifelong career in environmental planning as an intern at the Port of Long Beach, where he went on to spend almost his entire career, mostly serving as the Deputy Executive Director of Planning and Development. During his 24 year tenure at the Port of Long Beach, Rick served in a variety of roles. Rick recently left the port to pursue independent consulting and was extremely optimistic about his new venture.

But his legacy will carry on in the port's achievements in delivering its lasting commitment to become the America's green port and also in the many port teammates and leaders whom he trained and mentored over his more than 24 years at the Port of Long Beach. He has survived by his children, Candace Brooke, Richard Tyler, and Tatum Page, as well as his partner, Meredith Martino. I respectfully ask that we adjourn in his memory and offer our deepest condolences to his family as well.

Please bring his name forward so he can be properly memorialized by the Senate. Senator Becker, you are recognized for your first adjourn.

Thank you. Colleagues, today I rise to join in memory of Ralph Wheeler of Palo Alto. We all have people in our lives who we get emails from on a regular basis announcing events in our area, and Ralph was that for me. I would always see a constant feat of events for Ralph, and he's going to be deeply missed. He graduated from the University of Denver with the dream of mathematics in 1956 and immediately pursued a career in space technology.

Had a career in Lockheed Martin designing capsules to return photos on film from space, and eventually went on to manage simulation groups for the lunar excursion modular simulators at the NASA manned spacecraft center in Houston. He married his beloved wife, Jackie Wheeler, in 1963 and became the proud father of Megan, Casey, and JT. In later years, he became active in local and national politics, advocating for progressive leaders and mentoring diverse candidates.

He also helped found the Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley. All told, he was a beloved Democratic activist and will be deeply missed. He survived by his wife, Jackie, two daughters, Megan and Casey, and a plethora of eight grandchildren. Please join me in adjourning in his memory.

Please bring his name forward so he may be properly memorialized by the Senate. You are recognized for your adjournment memory, Senator Becker.

Thank you again, colleagues. Please, thank you for giving me the honor of adjourning, doing a few of these adjourns. Now I'd like to adjourn a memory of John Violet of Belmont. He was a former Belmont treasurer, longtime public servant. He was known as a strong advocate and leader in the community, known for his integrity, high morals, decency, kindness, and joviality.

He's a board trustee for Belmont Redwood Shores School District on the Belmont Finance Commission, treasurer of the Friends of the Belmont Library. Born in Kansas City, raised in San Diego, John served six years in the US Army Reserve as a crew chief on Huey helicopters, and he loved airplanes, and many of his family members were pilots as well. He could always be counted on to support a good revenue measure and was instrumental in passing a half cent sales tax to provide funds for general city services in 2016.

His daughter noted, John lived his life to the fullest with no missed opportunities and never too busy to really listen to people. The world is a little less without him, but the legacy he leaves behind lives in us and the Belmont community. He was preceded in death by his son, John David, is survived by his wife of 53 years, Marie, daughter Jennifer, and three grandchildren. Please join me in journey in memory of John Violet.

Please bring his name forward so he may be properly memorialized by the State Senate. Senator Becker, you are recognized.

Well, thank you. I now have two longtime journalists in our areas, and we all know in our community we're very fueled by the local papers that make up our districts. And Jane Northrop was a distinguished Bay Area journalist and longtime reporter for the Pacifica Tribune. She died on the evening of June 3 at her home in Pacifica with her son Patrick by her side. She was 67 years old. She began work at the Tribune in 1995. Retired from the news organization in 2022.

But she was a very familiar face in Pacifica, attending events in person and then virtually throughout the pandemic. Hundreds of public meetings, countless community events, and reporting on them all. She knew more about Pacifica than I'll ever know. She was the consummate professional and often worked long into the night covering city meetings. This is from Clay Lambert, who's the publisher of our cosi news group. She said beyond that, she was a thoughtful coworker and great friend. We will all miss her terribly.

In November 2022, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Francisco Press Club, where she served as a member of the organization's board of directors. She received a standing ovation the night she stepped up to accept her award. The President of the San Francisco Press Club said, quote, as a board member, Jane impressed us all with being a relentless force of positive energy. No matter what she was facing, Jane was a light, a role model.

She was diagnosed several years ago with Huntington's disease, an inherited progressive condition that affects nerve cells in the brain. Still, in the years since she retired, she loved traveling to see friends in Los Angeles and East Coast, and in fact, in the course of her life, she was in Japan, England, Brazil. She was survived by her son Patrick of Pacifica, daughter Rebecca, who lives in Sacramento, and ex-husband Fred from Gilroy. Patrick Northrop said he would always remember her mother's curiosity around the world.

She was always reading the news, wanting to know what was going on. Thank you for adjourning in memory of Jane Northrop.

Please bring her name forward so it may be properly memorialized by the State Senate. Senator Becker.

Thank you. Last one I have is John Hart Clinton. He's a former publisher of the San Mateo Times, another one of these local papers that were the rock of our community, and his father in law, current San Carlos Mayor Adam Rack. In a world where local news has been corporatized and its very existence is based on its ability to draw profit, John Hart Clinton believed in the power of local coverage. He inherited the San Mateo Times from his father, J. Hart Clinton Sr.

And he spent years building a must read newspaper in San Mateo County. When he wasn't working on the paper, he spent time with those he loved the most, including his wife, Nina, three children, Allison, John, and Nicole, and numerous grandchildren. He was also very involved in local nonprofits like Caminar, the Peninsula Community Foundation, and the San Mateo County Historical Association.

His legacy and love lives on in his children and grandchildren, and the Peninsula is forever changed for his work. Please join me in adjournment memory of John Hart Clinton, Jr.

Please bring his name forward so they may be properly memorialized in the State Senate.

Members, I do have one more adjournment memory I'd like to do today. Thank you. This is honor of former Stanford Physics Chair, the Chair of the Department, Stanley Wojcicki. Stanley Wojcicki was a dedicated and influential physicist who passed away May 31 at the age of 86. Born in 1937 in Warsaw, Poland, Stan came to America at 13, fleeing the communist takeover of Poland. He studied undergraduate at Harvard, received his PhD in physics from UC Berkeley.

Afterwards, he worked with the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in 1974. He also held visiting positions at CERN in Geneva and College De France in Paris. An experimental particle physicist during the explosive phase of the field, Stan joined the Physics Department at Stanford in 1966 as an assistant professor, and after working a few years at CERN, he returned to Stanford as a full professor, serving as Department Chair from 1982 to 85.

He then returned to Berkeley to work on the superconducting supercollider. But when Congress canceled the progress in 1993, he devoted the rest of his scientific career to the study of neutrinos, proving that neutrinos have a finite, minuscule mass. Stanford Physics Department Chair a second time from 2004 to 2007. He was known for his kindness and wisdom. He met his wife Esther at UC Berkeley, and they married in 1961.

Had three daughters, Susan, Janet, and Anne. Stan loved being a father and coached their soccer teams and cheered them on at swim meets. He was very proud of his daughters and their chosen professions. Susan was CEO of YouTube, Janet a professor of pediatrics at UCF Medical School, and Anne is a founder and CEO of 23andMe. He was also proud of his wife Esther's media arts program that she founded at Palo Alto High School.

He leaves behind his wife, daughters, and 10 grandchildren. Please join me in adjourning in his memory as well. Thank you.

Quite a legacy. Please bring his name forward so he may be properly memorialized by the State Senate. Ochoa Bogh, moving back to Motions and Resolutions, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. I'd like to move file item 76 from the consent calendar to the inactive file, please.

Clerk will note.

Second item. I'd like to move file item 44 to the inactive file, please.

Clerk will note.

Thank you.

All right, Members, we are still waiting. As the Assembly engages in serious debate on the budget, we ask Members, we're going to take a break. We ask you not to leave the floor. Go to the break room, but do not leave the Capitol. As our chief clerk says, it's going to be a little bit.

Madam President, I am directed to inform your honorable body that the Assembly amended and on this day passed as amended Senate Bill 101 and respectfully request your honorable body to concur and set amendments. Sue Parker, Chief Clerk of the Assembly, above Bill order to unfinished business file.

Thank you. We will now move to the supplemental file unfinished business. File item 90. Senator Skinner, are you ready? She is. Secretary, please read.

Senate Bill 101. Senate Bill 101 by Senator Skinner inoculating to state budget to take effect immediately Budget Bill

Senator Skinner, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. President. Members, pleased to present SB 101. This is the Budget Act of 2023 and it represents the work of 102 subcommittees and full committee hearings of both the Senate and the Assembly, who vetted the governor's January proposal and then the May Revise, and this budget represents the product of the Senate and the Assembly's work. Total spending is $227 billion general fund.

It retains reserves of 37.2 billion total and those are the various reserves that we have, the Budget Stabilization Account, the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties, our Prop. 98 Public School System Stabilization Account, and our Safety Net Reserve. AB 101, as I mentioned, or SB 101. That's what's before us, builds upon the proposals by the Governor in both the January budget and the May Revise, but it is not yet a budget that reflects an agreement between the Governor, the Senate and the Assembly; that is still in progress. But I'm very confident that agreement will be very close to what we are adopting today.

What's important about what we are adopting today is this is a responsible budget that protects the progress that the Legislature and the Administration has made over recent years to expand economic opportunity for Californians to expand core programs in healthcare, housing, homeless services, response to our climate crisis. And it does this without any middle class tax increases and in fact, no tax increases other than our managed care tax, which is on specific health entities.

And it maintains the planned program increases that we adopted last year for our schools, for higher education, for social services, and for our health programs. And just a few highlights. The increase to our schools and community colleges is 2.1 billion over last year's spending. There is a 1 billion temporary increase for our childcare programs to give temporary rate increases and a family fee reform.

So we know that since the pandemic, our childcare providers have not come back to full operation as they were pre-pandemic, and that has hurt many families being able to return to work. So this investment in our childcare infrastructure is so important. And when I say infrastructure in this case, I mean the people, and the programs.

There's also, we restore the cuts to transit and provide 100% flexibility in our transit funding for capital or operations so that our municipal transit systems continue to provide the essential transportation that our many transit dependent Californians rely on, whether they are seniors, students, disabled, or those who do not have a car or who cannot afford a car. As I mentioned, it adopts the Managed Care Operations Tax, and it continues 1 billion in homeless housing and prevention for this next fiscal year so that our localities that have been running and expanding great programs can know that they have certainty beyond this budget year.

So, as I mentioned before, the Legislature and the Governor share very many common priorities, and I look forward to having agreement between the three branches soon that will be very reflective of our action today. And with that, I ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. Senator Niello, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. President. It will come as no surprise to this body that I have significant concerns about the process that we've been through in this budget. But to wrap that up to the conclusion of today, I would just point out that, as has been rightfully stated by my colleague from Berkeley, that there were lots of hearings, particularly all of the Subcommitee hearings, and we as Republicans were certainly part of that. I'll grant that.

But what used to happen 100 years ago when I was in the Assembly, was after those subcommitee meetings, we'd have a conference Committee, and the conference Committee would work out the differences between the Assembly Budget that resulted from those subcommitee meetings and the Senate proposals. And that conference Committee included Republicans and Democrats. And I sat on that with my good friend and colleague from Santa Cruz, way back when. But this time, what took place of the conference committee was a weekend process that involved only Democrats.

That was the equivalent of our conference committee. So I continue to have significant concerns about the inclusiveness of this process as well as the transparency, because these discussions over the weekend between Democratic legislative leaders were certainly not in public. Now, maybe that's not the only reason to oppose this budget. And I would state that in the past I have voted in favor of budgets that had provisions in them that I didn't like.

I had a colleague once say to me, if I don't agree with every line item in a budget, I can't vote for it. Well, that's silly. I have voted in favor of budgets where there were items in there that I disagreed with, but more that I did agree with. This budget has some items that I can agree with, but a lot of items that I can't agree with.

By the way, I want to go back to that conference committee meeting again because I think it's important to realize that in the example of that replaced conference Committee over the weekend, what was excluded weren't just Republicans, but 8 million citizens of California. We represent about 8 million people. That's the problem with the inclusiveness. But back to the budget as a whole, the most significant criticism of this budget that I have is that it's unsustainable.

Irrespective of agreeing or disagreeing with individual items, our revenue assumptions in this budget are underestimated. And that is documented by the opinion of our Legislative Analyst. Now you may disagree with the Legislative Analyst, but that office is often right, and I happen to agree with them. And what we have set ourselves up for is deficits continuing into several future years. We'll be back here a year from now struggling with the same issues we're struggling with now. So on that whole balance, if you will, I urge a no vote on this.

Senator Wiener.

Thank you, Mr. President. I rise in strong support of the budget, SB 101. And I really want to thank our leadership and the Budget Chair and the leadership of the Assembly, the Budget Chair and the Assembly for their hard work. This budget, it really supports so many California values during a very difficult budget year. It protects K through 12 public education. As our Budget Chairman just indicated ensuring strong access for working families to childcare.

It protects the safety net, or so much of the safety net for our most vulnerable residents. But I also want to just really thank our leadership and our budget leadership for focusing on avoiding collapse of our public transportation systems.

The budget that came to us from the administration did not address the transit operational fiscal cliff resulting from the pandemic that's going to take some time to dig out of, and also cut significant capital funds that would cause us to forfeit significant federal capital matching funds from the bipartisan infrastructure law.

This body and the Assembly agreed not to do that, to continue to invest in the future of transit and to take steps not to completely solve, but to have a meaningful and positive step towards solving the transit operations fiscal cliff so that our constituents can continue to get to work, to the doctor, to the supermarket, to school. And I'm very thankful and urgent an aye vote.

Senator Dahle.

Thank you, Mr. President, Members, I just want to first start by saying to the President who, presiding officer today, thank you for the hard work that we did in sub-two. And I want to also acknowledge my good friend, Senator from the North Coast, the work we did on CAL FIRE. We've been pushing for the last couple of years to fund the much needed firefighters that we need in California. And thank God for the rains.

I know that in some areas of the state we have a little too much water, but we'll take that. But these folks are on the front line every day defending our communities and we have--did you guys time that so that when the Republicans speak--they're on the front lines and they're the ones that are protecting our communities. And I am very grateful.

And that's one part of this budget that I would say that I wholeheartedly support the men and women who are taking care of our communities and we're funding that. So thank you for that. I also wanted to also recognize that the work we did in sub-two to fund the conservancies. I have the Sierra Nevada Conservancy in my district. I know the Senator from Santa Cruz who is working on sea level rise for The Coastal Conservancy.

We put money in there to deal with the issues that we see with climate change. So thank you for those. Those are the great parts of the budget. And I also want to just also acknowledge the education money that we put forth to take care of our higher ed and for our K-12. I appreciate that. But now I want to move on a little bit and talk a little bit about an area that is concerning to me.

And many of you know that I'm the third generation of Dahle's that have been in California. And I actually run a business. I do a payroll every two weeks. And we are losing businesses in California. You cannot have a state budget until you have a taxpayer first. Now, I know you all pay taxes. Every one of us pay taxes. But the majority of our tax base comes from employers and businesses that are here in California. And I want to just say that I want to recognize that I'm like a watchman on the wall.

I'm sounding the alarm that when we have no businesses left in California, your budgets are going to continue to be worse. And what have we seen in the last four years? Now, I know we had COVID, but we saw 352 companies move their headquarters out of California. Companies like Oracle, HP, big worldwide companies are leaving California.

And I recall a budget we had about eight years ago when I was in the Assembly and I brought up this same point, that if you don't have a tax paying base, you're going to lose companies, and the Assemblymember from the Bay Area, which was Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, came over after I gave my speech and said, they'll never leave. Well, that was eight years ago, folks. They're leaving. We're losing. And I just want to give you just some detail about San Francisco.

17 retailers since 2020: Nordstrom's, Whole Foods, Saks Fifth Avenue, Anthropologie, Office Depot, Gap, Marshalls, Westfield gave up control of Union Square. Why are they leaving? Because the policies that we pass out of this body are regulatory in nature - labor, transportation issues, housing - and then just on top of it, just the high cost of doing business in California. That is what is the problem with the Legislature and the budget. In the budget, set your priorities.

So I want to share with you one of the things I think we need to work on to keep some of those businesses in California. Unemployment benefits. We are going to borrow money from the $306 million we're going to borrow from the Unemployment Compensation Disability Fund. So we're borrowing money in this budget to pay the interest that we owe the Federal Government for the $17 billion that California businesses are going to have to pay for unemployment. Now I pay those taxes.

In 2008, we saw the same thing happen when we saw the housing market crash and we had the Great Recession of 2008. It took us 10 years as businesses to pay that off. That's a hit to California businesses. And I want to remind you that we had $30 billion in fraud. People in prison were getting checks from unemployment during COVID. Our businesses are suffering because of those type of policies. We need to take care of California businesses.

I'd like to move on to the $400 million that this budget allocates from prison closures to the general fund. So we are funding our general fund with money that normally goes into keeping criminals in prison. Now, I know that we have a policy, or the party in control has a policy of not wanting to put anybody in prison. And I think that there was some good moves for that. People who were selling marijuana 25 years ago shouldn't be in prison for that today.

But we have violent crime in California. Homicides have increased by 40%. Rapes have more than doubled. Aggravated assault up by 35%, largely due to Proposition 47 and 57. But, folks, crime is going up in California. That's why business are leaving. That's why people don't feel safe. So we're balancing the budgets on the backs of letting our communities not be safe. That's wrong. The number one thing that Californians are supposed to do in this Legislature is keep our citizens safe and they're not safe.

Now, I want to move on to healthcare. We have an MCO tax, which I know is not fully cooked, but that's going to be passed and there's going to be billions of dollars that 45% of that tax is going to go to health care and 55% of it's going to go to the general fund. So what message are we sending Californians? That we're going to balance this budget on the backs of healthcare when we see hospitals in our state shutting down.

The MCO tax money should go to healthcare, not to balancing the budget. Now, I asked my good friend from Stockton, who has been working on social services Prop 63 realignment issues, and I found out that possibly some of that MCO money that goes to general fund could fund programs that we are working on to get through this Senate Legislature. And I applaud that. I think that's what we should do.

We should use that MCO tax for healthcare, for things like eye visits and children to go to get their eyes done and get their teeth fixed. Now, my last section I want to talk about is where we're going with the climate change and what this Legislature is proposing between now and 2030. We have set some serious goals in how we're going to reduce our carbon footprint. Last year we took action to extend Diablo Canyon because we need electricity in California.

If we're going to electrify all transportation in California with electricity, we're going to need 25 gigawatts of power. Now, in our sub-two, we talked about wind energy and offshore wind energy. I just want to let you know that it's 2,000 wind turbines to get you to 25 gigawatts. That's what this Legislature is signaling in this budget, that we're going to move in that direction.

And at the same time, we're taking away one-time monies that we had last year to do projects like the Oroville Dam pump storage, which is 500 megawatts. 500 megawatts on land equates to 42 offshore wind turbines. This project's already been evaluated. It's ready to go, and we're taking money away from that. And we're focusing more on putting wind turbines in our ocean where we don't have the impacts to Native Americans, to fisheries and the environment.

And I think that's for the future of California is the wrong way to go. We can't even get a desalination plant permitted in California, and we're talking about putting 2,000 offshore wind turbines off our coast. Where's the environmentalist on that issue. We can't get sites reservoir. We can't get Orville Dam built which have been funded. And now the money's going away. So, members, we have to do something for business in California.

There's not one thing in this budget that's going to help a California business stay in California. More regulation, higher energy cost, higher taxes for their payroll. What's the incentive to stay in California? So as that watchman on the wall sounding the alarm to my constituents and people out in California, this is not sustainable. If we want to lead, let's lead and have some solutions. Real solutions would keep California businesses here. We need to increase the ability for them to write off for new equipment.

In California, you get $25,000 as a write off. When you buy a new piece of equipment to help promote jobs in California, the federal rate is a million. That's what's wrong with California. There's no incentive for a business to stay in California. And so I appreciate the parts of the budget where we're going to help secure California's safety with firefighters and the conservancies. But for the rest of the budget, I can't support it. For those reasons, I will not be supporting this Bill today, thank you.

Senator Seyarto.

Thank you, Mr. President and colleagues. Thank you for hearing me today. And unfortunately, I have to rise in opposition to this particular budget. I think all of my colleagues have done a great job of outlining some of the positive things, and I agree with those positive things. But some of the things that we are doing are actually hampering our efforts to achieve our longer term goals, including climate change goals, housing goals, homelessness goals, and public safety goals.

I don't want to repeat everything that my colleagues have already said, but I want to talk about our transportation just a little bit, because a lot of our transportation monies are being focused in areas and in transit. And that's great. But there's a problem with that when you're considering our housing issues, because the in-land areas are areas that are expected to grow and they're expected to be able to absorb a lot of housing, both multi-family and single-family housing.

And without the transportation infrastructure on the ground, which means roads and yes, freeways and those type of things, all we're going to do is slow that progress down. And when we slow that progress down, that means lots of traffic in the Inland Empire areas, which is what we have already. And when we have lots of traffic and it takes 2 hours instead of 30 minutes to get home, that's 2 hours of cars idling on the freeways.

And even if you have an electric vehicle, you still need roads to travel on. Many of the developed areas already, Orange County, Los Angeles County, San Francisco, and a lot of those areas already have their road infrastructure in, but a lot of our areas don't. And if we don't get it in, we're not going to be able to participate in achieving the goals that have been laid out for us in the next 20 years.

So that's something that I think we really need to pay attention to in this budget or future budgets or as we go along in our trailer bills is we have to have some significant infrastructure investment in areas that don't have the infrastructure but are expected to grow because we won't be able to do that. The other thing I wanted to talk about is the hospitals. Everybody I talk to, every hospital executive that I talk to, they're struggling, you guys.

The MCO tax needs to bolster what we're already spending on them, not replace some of what we're spending and then a little bit more on the top. If we do an MCO tax, that tax needs to go into the hospitals so they can absorb the amount of patients, especially Medi-Cal and Medicaid patients, that are going on to the roles. Otherwise that system is going to fail and nobody is going to have the medical care that they need.

And so that's something else that I would advise us to really look at hard is if we're doing an MCO tax, that MCO tax needs to go to the hospitals on top of whatever it is in our budget that we already spend to make those hospitals whole. I left out on the transportation issues. I understand the need to keep our transit agencies whole. However, it's not a jobs program. It's not just transportation for people who don't have it. They have to be successful.

That has to be successful. If we don't make that successful, they're not going to have that. If they don't have jobs, they don't need it. But the bottom line is there is something wrong with the transit agency. When those are put together, those are supposed to, they're supposed to pay for themselves with a little subsidy from the state. Right now it's a bunch of subsidy from the state because people have stopped riding it and there's a reason they stopped riding it.

I don't mind bolstering and keeping them alive if they recognize what the issues are that are keeping people from riding, that are keeping people that have a choice from reengaging in that ridership and that's the public safety part of it and that's the cleanliness part of it and that's the reliability part of it. If the transit agency said, here's our plan to address these three things and here's how much it's going to cost, I'm in there, but I haven't heard that. They have the flexibility, I saw that, and I like that there's flexibility in the funding we are providing.

But I don't know what that flexibility is going to go towards. If it's simply going to go towards trying to add to a system that's already broken, that nobody wants to ride because it's not safe and it's not clean and it's not reliable, then we're wasting our money. And that's money that could be spent building the roads that we need in the areas we haven't built roads yet.

So I fear for that system. The UI debt, when we borrow money from other accounts to pay for the interest on money that we borrowed, and stop paying the principal, in the real world that's called a precursor to bankruptcy, because that's not how you manage money. We have to make, and especially when this UI debt directly affects businesses that are already struggling, and when businesses struggle, they can't hire employees.

And when we can't hire employees, we have people that are unemployed and can't work and can't afford rent and can't afford a house. And if they can't do any of those things here, they're going to leave, just like my colleagues have said. So that's kind of like a canary in the coal mine when we're borrowing to pay interest on money we borrowed and we stop paying principal. That's a problem.

We went through a lot of committee hearings, and I have to give kudos to Chair Durazo on sub-five. We went through a lot of Bills. My colleague from the Bay Area has already know we were all there. We had hundreds of hours of hearings. There's a difference between being present and being heard. And that's kind of what we're talking about is we're there but we're not heard. We had 300 bills come out of sub-five. I had to vote no on 70 of them.

And you got to think that out of those 70 bills at least one of them might appeal. Might have the same reasoning to say, hey, you know what? That's probably not a good expenditure of money, but that's not how it works and that's what we're talking about. So, anyway, I am sitting in a room or standing in a room full of highly intelligent and thoughtful people. We know how to connect the dots.

And right now, a lot of these dots are not connecting to us being successful in our goals, and we need to recognize that. And this is the body that needs to fix it and pay attention to that and truly listen to some of the thoughts and ideas and needs from those other areas. Because even though we don't have the vote to control, we do represent a lot of people that are really, really frustrated out there. So with that, I am going to vote no. I know this will pass, and I congratulate you on that. But I sure wish we would have a process that would allow us to participate, so everybody in California can feel like their voices are being heard, thank you.

Senator Laird.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. I would like to start as the Chair of the Education Budget Subcommitee with just saying again clearly, what is in this budget for education. We are doing an 8.2% increase for K through 14 education. We have a 5% increase for CSU, a 5% increase for UC, where actually the January 10th budget wanted to cut back our investment in higher education housing, which both help struggling students that can't find housing, relieves pressure on the housing market and communities, surrounding communities, and provides jobs that is restored.

The full amount of the three and a half billion that was put in by the Legislature the last two years is there. And much has been said about business practices and what is good for business. One of the best things for business is investment, and our investment in education, which redounds to everybody. And business in California has moved California from being in the lower 10% per capita of spending on K through 12 education among the 50 states to the top third.

That is really a substantial difference, and that is investment. And this body, before I came back to it, invested in roads in a significant way that makes the difference for companies needing employees to commute and do different things. And there's been discussion about the MCO tax. Let's be clear. Let's actually introduce some facts into the discussion.

In the working proposal, $11.1 billion goes to raise Medi-Cal rates. 8 billion goes to make sure, in a $31 billion deficit, that program is not cut. And when this was first enacted under a Republican Governor, none of the money went to raise the rates. It went entirely to protect the program in the face of proposed reductions. And so this is the first time that it will actually go into the rates and be realized by providers, whether they're hospitals, or individual providers across the state.

And yes, in the final negotiations with the Governor, that could shift a little. But my view is the outline of the program will suffice, and that is very significant. And we need actually much more than we'll be able to do. But this will be the first time in a long time that we head in the right direction with our rates for Medi-Cal.

And when we look at the troubled hospitals in the state, the place that the significant trouble exists is where there's a mix of payees, where an overwhelming majority are public payees, Medi-Cal, Medicare, and the like. So if we are raising rates, we are helping those distressed hospitals. And so it is important to note that this is not likely going into the general fund to just go willy nilly. It's going to protect cuts against cuts in a $31 billion deficit.

And for the first time since it was enacted, raise the rates for Medicare. And on the issue of offshore wind and the majority leader and I have the two proposals, that is a substantial exponential provision of renewable electricity compared to anything else. And there's legislation to actually bring the stakeholders to the table and have those discussions. I know in the first weeks of a job I once had that the Senator from Bakersfield can detail clearly. I negotiated with tribes. I brought them to the table.

I moved them from opposition to support for marine protected areas. That is exactly what will happen with wind as the proposals become clear, as they go through an environmental review process. And when you just look at what we have to do, that is probably going to be the biggest source in a whole mix of things that will provide it. And that's why this budget provides some support to make sure that we bring that on as soon as we can.

So I really think that what we have here is we have a budget that invests, a budget that is balanced, a budget that even if we didn't negotiate with the Governor, if he signed, we would be proud of. And so I think it addresses all those issues. It is the product of 102 subcommitee hearings. I chaired a number of them, and we did incorporate broad views into the outcomes, and the outcomes that were negotiated reflect those directions of the subcommitee.

So there has been extensive process here, and I know I'm the one that stayed for every public comment at any of the 10 hearings, and we had hundreds of hundreds in addition, in person and over the teleconference system. So I believe this is the result of good process. It really invests in the future. And I request an aye vote.

Senator, Durazo.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to add a little bit on the issue of the transportation. Last year, we made it our priority in this body and with both houses, we made it a priority that we were going to push for far more money in transportation than had ever been spent. And with our leadership, and finally at the end with the Governor, we doubled, doubled the budget on transportation. That was a huge issue.

This year, of course, we heard, in our subcommitee, we heard testimony from transit agencies who said we're going to have to close down service, we're going to cut service, we're going to have to do all these terrible things because we don't have enough money. And it was a real struggle back and forth because we have both the needs that my colleague mentioned about the capital, the need to build out further, continue to build out.

Even in an area like Los Angeles, we have the population so big, we still have to continue to build out. And so that debate was had. We heard lots of testimony, and in the end, in this Bill, I think it's the perfect balance. That is we're going to commit, we're pushing to commit over $5 billion into transportation so that there will be no cuts.

In fact, we're adding to it and we're going to address the issues of operations so that there is 100% flexibility in those areas that need it and that won't prevent other areas from using it for capital. However, that need is on the local ground. That's where the decision will be made. I think it's a great solution. And we heard everyone who came to the Committee and presented their point of view. So with that, just as many, many other issues, I strongly support this Bill.

Thank you. I see no other discussion, debate. Senator Skinner, would you like to close?

Thank you so much. Appreciate the conversation by our colleagues. And I want to thank our colleague from Santa Cruz for giving that clear explanation on MCO and our education funding and also our colleague from Los Angeles around our efforts for the transit funding, which, as I mentioned, is really to ensure that the essential transportation that our transit operators provide for those Californians who are transit dependent, of which there are many.

So we are not just talking about people that have now no longer having to go to an office. We're talking about all the people that still have basically no other options but transit. And if that funding is not restored, that service cuts would be such that we basically abandon them. So it is a very important part of this budget, which I'm very proud.

And then finally, I want to mention that California, it's so common now when we turn on the TV news, to have every single news report open with a crime report, and then for us to, it's not even that it's so new. It's been a feature of TV news for forever. But it seems to be something that many people have latched onto and perpetuate a myth about this big crime increase that we have.

If you look at the data, whether you look at the PPIC reports, the LAO's reports, or any other number of reports, California's crime, in violent crime for sure, has not gone up significantly at all. There was a spike in 2021. It has not been reflected in 2022. And if we look at the last decade and their overall crime rates are down, and if we look at the period since 1990s, they are significantly down.

And so this is reflected in, we had, at the highest point in the middle of the, actually, we had a prison population of 175,000. Today, our prison population is in the 90,000s. Now, any of us who believe in responsible budgeting and who want to use the Californian's hard earned money that funds our general fund in a way that correctly allocates funding we would not ever justify paying for and maintaining 15,000 empty prison beds.

So I think the reference to looking at how we are redirecting some funding from our prison closures, the savings, and putting it in general fund that is responsible budgeting, and additionally, that funding that is now in general fund is the type of money that's enabling us, in a year like this, where we have a general fund shortfall, to be able to continue, for example, another year of our homeless, our HHAP funding, or to continue an investment in childcare.

So I think those are the kinds of things that we need to appreciate when we look at how this budget was constructed. And I could obviously talk in more detail, but I'll leave it. And I really appreciate all the great work that the subcommittees did and our staff. And with that, I ask for your aye vote.

Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call].

Ayes are 32, no's are eight. The measure passes. If there's no other business, Senator Atkins, the desk is clear.

Mr. President. Thanks so much. Let me wish all of the fathers here a Happy Father's Day. I hope you get a good weekend with family. And certainly for our own fathers. As Sister Michelle said, those with us and those who aren't; it's a great weekend to reflect on family. So with that, I wish you all a good weekend. And, Mr. President, we will be scheduled for the next floor session on Monday, June 19, 2023, at 02:00 p.m. Thank you.

Senate will be in recess until 3:30, at which time the adjournment motion will be made. We'll reconvene Monday, June 19, at 02:00 p.m.