Senate Floor

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

A quorum is present. Would the Members and our guests beyond the rail and in the gallery please rise? We'll be led in prayer this morning by our chaplain, Sister Michelle Gorman, after which please remain standing. We will be led in the pledge by Senator Bradford.

Let us remember we are in the presence of mystery today. We pray this E. Cummings poem in honor of world environment days. I thank you, God, for most this amazing day for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes. I, who have died am alive again today. And this is the sun's birthday.

This is the birthday of life and of love and wings and of the gay great happening illimitably earth. How should tasting, touching, hearing, seeing, breathing any human merely being, doubt, unimaginable you. Now the ears of my ears awake. And now the eyes of my eyes are opened. Amen.

Now put your right hand over your heart. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Thank you, Caroline, Senator Menjivar, for stepping in privileges of the floor. Senator Gonzalez, you have an introduction to make.

Yes, thank you. Madam President and Members. Today I would like to recognize the Secretary of State of European Affairs of Portugal, Tiago Antunes, and the Vice President of the Azores, Artur Lima. We are also joined by Diniz Borges, President of the California Portuguese American Coalition. We are also joined by a number of local elected officials who have Portuguese heritage. The Senate extends our warmest welcome and thank you for all of your service.

Thank you very much. And a warm Senate welcome to our brothers and sisters in Portugal. And I see one of my Council Members up there. We have pride and Portuguese Heritage Month. Council Member Dan Arriola thank you all for coming. Senator Ochoa Bogh is going to make all right. We're going to move right on. All right. Lot of chatter. Okay. Thank you all very much. 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. Members, motions, resolutions and notices. Senator Laird.

Thank you. Madam President, at the request of the author, please remove file item 53 ACR 17 from the consent calendar for purposes of amendments noted.

Senator Roth.

Thank you, Madam President. At the request of the author, please remove file item number 52, Assembly Bill 1731. For purposes of discussions with the Administration.

Desk will note. Senator Wahab

At the request of the author, please pull AB 458 from consent calendar.

Thank you. Desk note. Senator Limon.

Thank you. At the request of the authors, please remove the following from the consent AB 1125 and AB 4117

Desk will note. Senator Skinner.

Thank you. Members, I move the adoption of authors amendments for budget bills that cross the desk on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 9, 10th, and 11th, 2023. These amendments will be adopted, published, and the bills return to Committee.

Senator Niello, your mic is up. You are recognized, sir.

Thank you. Madam President, permission to ask a question?

Senator Skinner, will you take a question and this is on the motion, Senator Niello?

Yes. So I feel a little bit like Rip Van Winkle. I've been gone for 12 or 13 years, and I wake up to sort of a different world. Things are different now than they were 12 or 13 years ago. So perhaps you can help me to understand. We've had Subcommitee meetings in each house, and there are differences.

How in this process are we going to reconcile the differences between the two houses, which used to be done in a conference Committee, but clearly we're not having one of those today.

For Members who want to go through all of the different subcommittees, how they closed, and how the Assembly closed, you will find that there were few differences. Yes, there are some, but there were a few. And those have now been being discussed between the two houses, including the subchairs and the staff, and to come to at least a two-party agreement. And so the budget bills that cross the desk on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will reflect those agreements.

When you say two party, I think you mean two houses.

Yes. Which is two parties. Meaning when we think of the three party budget deal being the Governor's office, the Assembly and the Senate yeah.

The term party can have different meetings.

Yes.

I'll just leave it at that. As Ken houses. So I recognize the fact that we're up against a deadline and the 72-hour rule that requires this to be done over the weekend. And those discussions that you have mentioned have certainly not been in public. At least I haven't seen them. So I get back to my previous comments about my concern about transparency. But I get the deadline, the crunch that we're up against. I understand that, but we don't have to do it this way.

The Governor could introduce, recognizing the fact that we have the 72 hours rule, we have a condensed time between May 15 and June 15, plus the House of Origin deadline we could receive, the Governor's may revise two or three weeks earlier, allowing us time to actually have a Conference Committee. Or in the alternative, we could develop our own budget in response, using the Governor's January budget as a template that then would have to be adjusted as we get a better idea of revenues.

But it doesn't have to be this way just because we've always had these deadlines in the past, and I'm hoping in future times next year or after, we can perhaps discuss these other possibilities that would allow for full public transparency as to how the complete budget is developed and passed. Thank you. I urge, by the way, a no vote on this.

Just in closing, there will be the ability for all of us, the public and everyone else to see the bills when they are in print. There will be a Budget Committee where there will be public input. So while it is hard to amend them, unless those budget bills reflect an agreement between the Governor and the two houses, they will not necessarily be the final part of the process. So there still will be ability for shaping.

And if we go back into history, given that the time period you described is also a time period I was in the Legislature then we would often publish such bills maybe on the day of our voting versus the 72 hours. And with that, I ask for your aye vote.

Clerk will call the roll.

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

Please call the absent Members.

Allen. Aye. Alvarado-Gil aye. Ashby. Becker. Aye. Ochoa Bogh no. Stern.

30 to eight. The motion carries. All right, moving on to consideration of the daily file, second Reading file. Secretary, please read.

Senate resolution 34 with amendments Assembly Bill 245 with amendments Assembly Concurrent Resolution 18 Assembly Bill 275, 417, 497, 1151.

Second daily second reading file is adopted. Moving on to Senate third reading file, item 28. Senator Menjivar. Clerk will read.

Senate Resolution 36 by Senator Menjivar relative to Period Poverty Awareness Week.

Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, Members. They arise to present SR 36, just a couple. Well, a week and a half ago, during House of Origin, you heard me speak on SB 260 talking about the adding $20 to CalWORKS recipients for menstrual products. And I mentioned to you that it was during Period Poverty Week, which is May 22 to May 28th. SR 36 looks to recognize that I won't share too much because I said it about a week and a half ago.

But still, one in three low-income individuals are still struggling to purchase menstruating products. I want to thank those who volunteer banks, supply banks, those who donate like sisters on the streets, who are very engaged in the State of California in my district just this month collected 180,000 period products and distributed them to 40 schools organizations to help support the local, state and federal policies we've elevated to ensure we reduce period poverty. With that. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Seeing no other Senators wishing to be recognized, Clerk will call the roll.

Allen aye. Alvarado-Gil aye. Archuleta aye. Ashby aye. Atkins aye. Becker aye. Blakespear aye. Bradford aye. Caballero aye. Cortese aye. Dahle. Dodd aye. Durazo aye. Eggman aye. Glazer aye. Gonzalez aye. Grove. Skinner aye. Smallwood-Cuevas aye. Stern. Umberg aye. Wahab aye. Wiener aye. Wilk aye.

Please call the absent Members.

Dahle aye. Grove aye. Niello. Ochoa Bogh. Seyarto. Stern.

36 to zero. The motion carries. Moving on now to the consent calendar. Is there any Senators who'd like to remove anything from the consent calendar? Seeing none, Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 878, 1130, Assembly Concurrent Resolution 47, 56, 72, 75, 76.

Clerk will call the roll on the consent calendar.

Allen aye. Alvarado-Gil aye. Archuleta aye. Ashby aye. Atkins aye. Becker aye. Blakespear aye. Bradford aye. Caballero aye. Cortese aye. Dahle aye. Dodd aye. Durazo aye. Eggman aye. Glazer aye. Gonzalez aye. Grove aye. Hurtado. Rubio aye. Seyarto aye. Skinner aye. Smallwood-Cuevas aye. Stern. Umberg aye. Wahab aye. Wiener aye. Wilk aye. Please call the absent Members. Menjivar aye. Stern.

39 to zero. The consent calendar is adopted. Moving on now to the special consent calendar. Are there any Senators who wish to remove anything? zero, you better. Okay. All right. Both the consent calendar and the special consent calendar will be adopted. Moving back to privileges of the floor, Senator Ochoa Bogh for a special announcement introduction.

Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, Members. Please help can't speak. Sorry. Please help me give a warm welcome to my district staff up in the gallery to your right. They're joining us from SB 23. They've joined us to learn more about the history and function of the Upper House. And because I was elected in 2020, most of them had never been to the Capitol before. And I'm very proud to have these hardworking men and women represent me in the 23rd District.

Every day they attend attend sorry. Every day they attend events, respond to correspondence and graciously, help constituents solve problems. I couldn't do my job without them. And I just want to just personalize this message a bit. They're one of the kindest, most hardworking, self driven, brilliant people, and I appreciate their hearts that are filled with empathy and compassion for those they are serving and represent and helping me represent in the district. So I just want to give a heartfelt thank you to my district staff who's here with us today. Thank you.

We couldn't do our jobs without our great district staff. Welcome to The Capitol. And now I'd like under privileges of the floor, we now have a guest. I'd like to introduce Senator Ashby's daughter, Aliyah Trinity Ashby. Let's give her a warm Senate welcome. Okay. All right. Committee announcements. Are there any Committee announcements, Senator Min?

Senate of Natural Resources and Water will meet in room 1200 of the swing space 15 minutes after the adjournment of session to hear from the Administration and stakeholders about the Infrastructure Trailer Bill Package.

Thank you. Moving now to motions and resolutions. This is the time for adjournment in memory. Senator Niello, you are recognized for your adjourn.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise today in great personal sadness to adjourn in the memory of Stephen Andrew Miller, affectionately nicknamed Sparky. He was a longtime Citrus Heights City Council Member, which is when I got to know him. And he sadly passed away very shortly after being elected to the San Juan Unified School District Board. Steve was born in San Francisco and raised in the Bay Area. He spent a year at Chico State and decided after that year he'd rather become a taxpayer.

So he entered the workforce, met his wife and Annette. They moved to Sacramento, had two children and raised those kids in Citrus Heights. He worked in many jobs before becoming an inspector and later a manager with the County of Sacramento, ultimately becoming a business person himself. He inherited a trait for service with his mother, he stated, and he frequently volunteered around Citrus Heights as a Member of the Lions and Rotary Clubs and as Coach Sparky for the local Pony Baseball and Sunrise Softball leagues.

He served as a member of the law enforcement community, Advisory Committee, President of the Residents Empowerment Association, and helped facilitate the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event. Boy, those mice are getting awfully loud. Where am I now? In 2005, he was appointed to the Citrus Heights City Council.

He spent 17 plus years there and a few times serving as mayor and vice mayor and involved in many important projects to the community and was known for his advocacy of transportation issues in particular, and projects that benefit the youth in the area. Now he retired from the City Council to run for the San Juan school board. He wasn't termed out. He didn't lose an election. He just decided not to run for City Council because he wanted to serve on a school board that is unique.

And he was dedicated, truly dedicated to kids. So he leaves behind his wife of 39 years, Nanette, a son, Travis, his daughter Nicole, and nine grandkids, as well as a multitude of friends like me. Steve was a great guy. He will be missed by his family. He will be missed by a lot of friends in Citrus Heights and the Sacramento region.

Please bring his name forward so he can be properly memorialized by the Senate and we apologize to his family for any interruptions with that. I'm sure he was as tenacious as Senator Niello in powering. On, Senator Becker, you are recognized for your adjourn.

Thank you. Colleagues. Today I rise to adjourn in memory of Stephanie Grossman of Palo Alto. I lost a friend in the peninsula, lost a dedicated community activist, and a fighter for democracy. Stephanie, who passed away at the age of 90, spent her life fighting for equal rights for all people. She remained active in these efforts well into her 80s. And she was known for fighting for equality in the South Bay.

She was well known for hosting wonderful parties, for her art collection, and for opening her home to politicians from across the country. She owned a well respected court reporting business for many years and lived in Palo Alto for 50 years. She was preceded in death by her husband, Herbert, and survived by her family, including many loving grandchildren. And again, she was just one of these kind of people, just a fabric of democracy and a fabric of political involvement on the peninsula. And I will miss her. I know many will miss her. And please join me in adjourning the Senate in her memory. Thank you.

Please bring her name forward so she could be properly memorialized by the Senate. And our condolences to the family. And again, our apologies for the jackhammering that's occurring right now. Senator Ochoa Bogh. We're going to recognize you at the Majority Leader's desk, so you get away from the jackhammer. You are recognized.

Members, it is with great sadness that I rise to adjourn in memory of Brett Michael Harris, a 27-year-old sheriff's deputy who was a resident of Menifee in my district. On Saturday, May 13, Deputy Harris died from the catastrophic injuries he suffered the day before in an unduty traffic accident in San Jacinto. Loving, humble, dedicated, courageous, these were some of the words described used to describe Brett during his memorial service yesterday in Riverside.

In 2018, Deputy Harris earned a criminal justice degree from Cal State San Marcos. Sorry. And graduated from the Riverside County Sheriff's Academy in 2019. Deputy Harris was a correctional officer at the Ridge Detention Center before being assigned to the Hemet Sheriff's Station in January of 2022. He loved serving his community and was involved in programs like Big Brothers and Sisters, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and the Explorers program, which is geared towards kids who have an interest in law enforcement.

He also volunteered in his sister's second grade class. Deputy Harris is survived by his wife, Myreia Quinones, parents Dave and Lynn, his brother Dustin, and his twin sister, Brianna. Brett Harris was a young man who was taken from us in the prime of his life. He was a hero to many. He will be deeply missed in our community, and as an organ donor, he will live on in the people who received his gift of life.

His dedication to making Riverside County a safer place will not be forgotten. I wish Deputy Harris's family and the entire Riverside County Sheriff's Department peace and comfort during this time of deep sorrow. Thank you.

Bring his name forward so he can be properly memorialized by the Senate, a life gone much too soon. May his memory serve as a blessing. Senator Alvarado-Gil, you are recognized also from the majority leader's desk.

Thank you. Madam President. I rise today to adjourn in the memory of Modesto fire captain Douglas Alan McCullough. Captain McCullough was born in Castro Valley and moved to Modesto, located in Senate District Four in 1973. This is a district that I also share in conjunction with my colleague from Stockton. In his 34 years of fire service, he saved lives, homes, animals and entire communities. His goal in life was to make a difference, and he did that every single day.

He was a man who lived with integrity and bravery and had an incredible worth ethic and was loved by so many. His wife Krista, their two children, Bryan and Makenzie, and so many more loved ones, including the entire fighter fighter community of Stanislaus County, survives Captain McCullough. Joining us today in the gallery are some of his loved ones and those who he had mentored and grown in their own careers. Our community is privileged to have benefited from the impactful service of Captain McCullough. And I thank you for allowing me to honor this incredible public service hero in today's session. Thank you.

Please bring his name forward so he can be properly memorialized by the Senate. And our condolences go out to his family and his Department. We want to the California welcomes. I see Senator Romero there in the back. Can we give her a warm welcome back to former Senator Gloria Romero? And if there is no other business, Senator Atkins, the desk is clear.

Madam President. Thanks so much, colleagues. I hope you have a safe and wonderful weekend at home. Our next floor session will be Monday, June 12th, 2023 at 02:00 P.M. Thank you.

The Senate will be in recess until 03:30 P.M., at which time the adjournment motion will be made. We'll reconvene Monday, June 12, at 02:00 P.M.