Assembly Standing Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review

However, conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct at the hearing is prohibited. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. And again, before we get started, I want to introduce our new committee secretary, Hugo Chavez. Welcome to the team, and welcome to today's hearing. All right, with that, we do not have a quorum, but we'll go ahead and begin as a subcommitee. Senator Dodd, Good morning.

Yeah. Good morning, Madam Chair and members, staff. I'm presenting SB 387 regarding the Department of General Services' authority to lease state property for broadband access throughout the State of California. I really appreciate the hard work of the committee consultant who worked on this analysis. I'm happy to accept the committee amendments as described in the analysis on pages 5 and 6. As part of the 2021 22 state budget, the Legislature authorized a $6 billion investment to expand broadband to unserved and underserved communities in California.

Further, Governor Newsom's Executive Order N-73-20 from 2020 directs state agencies to take inventory of state property for possible deployment of broadband. DGS has the authority to manage all aspects of the real estate portfolio for numerous state agencies, but lacks it for others. This bill extends DGS authority to enter into leases for land controlled by the following state entities: the State Lands Commission, the State Coastal Conservancy, Caltrans, State Parks, Fish and Wildlife, as well as tax deeded land and land that has been distributed to the State by court decree in estates of deceased persons. Additionally, this bill authorizes DGS to enter into these leases at below fair market value when determined by DGS and the Department of Technology that doing so is critical for the specific project in question. With me today is Matt Bender, Deputy Director for Legislative Affairs for the Department of General Services. Thank you.

And Mr. Bender, before we begin, just for a moment, to establish a quorum. Secretary, please call the roll.

So, Petrie-Norris. Present. Dixon. Present. Bains. Davies. Here. Nguyen. Rodriguez. Wilson.

All right, wonderful. So we have a quorum.

Matt Bender, deputy director, Department of General Services. No official position, but happy to answer any questions.

All right, thank you. There are no primary witnesses here in opposition, so we'll go ahead and open it up for testimony in the room. Anyone in the room wishing to testify in support, please approach the microphone.

Good morning. Yolanda Benson on behalf of the US Telecom, The Broadband Association, in support of this bill. Thank you.

Good morning. Amanda Gualderama with CalBroadband, in support of this bill.

Anyone in the room wishing to testify in opposition to SB 387? Seeing none. We'll go ahead and open it up for questions or comments from the committee. All right, well, seeing none. Senator, I just want to say thank you for bringing this measure forward. Thank you for accepting the committee amendments. We all recognize that closing the digital divide is of paramount importance for the State of California. So also want to appreciate all the work that you have done on that important challenge.

I think that the committee amendments that have been proposed and accepted really strike the right balance of ensuring that we are implementing creative solutions to accomplish that goal, while also establishing appropriate guardrails to ensure that we are not administering an inappropriate gift of public funds. So with that, you may close.

Respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you all very much.

All right, thank you. And we have a motion by Assemblymember Davies. Seconded by Assemblymember Nguyen. Mr. Secretary, please call the roll.

The motion is do pass as amended and re-referr to the Committee on Appropriations. Petrie-Norris. Aye. Petrie-Norris, aye. Dixon. Aye. Dixon, aye. Bains. Davies. Davies, aye. Nguyen. Nguyen, aye. Rodriguez. Aye. Rodriguez, aye. Wilson.

All right. Five, zero. That bill is out. Thank you, Senator.

Thank you all very much.

All right. We can go ahead and dispense with the consent calendar. Mr. Secretary. We do need, thank you for that. We do need a motion on the consent calendar. Motion from Assemblymember Nnguyen. Second from Assemblymember Davies. Now, Mr. Secretary.

Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations with recommendations to the consent calendar. Petrie-Norris. Aye. Petrie-Norris, aye. Dixon. Aye. Dixon, aye. Bains. Davies. Davies, aye. Nguyen. Nguyen, aye. Rodriguez. Aye. Rodriguez, aye. Wilson.

All right. Five, zero for our consent calendar. And welcome, Senator Limon.

Thank you, Chair. And Members. Good to be here on the green carpet. SB 702 requires the office of the Governor to maintain on its website a list of all state boards and commissions, including the purpose, membership list and information on when they convene. This Bill also requires an annual report with aggregate demographic information of individuals appointed to the State's Board and commissions. The annual report will serve as a tool to identify gaps in representation, encourage outreach to communities, and address barriers to seeking an appointment.

California has an express commitment in statute to ensure state boards and commissions are diverse and reflective of the state. However, no formal mechanism exists to evaluate this for Gubernatorial boards and Commission appointees. Additionally, the report in SB 702 follows precedent and state law that requires a similar report of judicial appointments. The collection of Gubernatorial appointee demographic data is critical step to achieve and maintain gender, ethnic and geographic equity on boards and commissions. To testify in support of the Bill.

We have Carol Gonzalez, on behalf of our sponsors, Espanas, organized for political equality, hope and Michelle Turan Wolfork, with the California Commission on the Status of Women.

Move the Bill. Thank you. Thank you.

Hi. Good morning. Chair Petrie Norris. Committee Members. My name is Carol Gonzalez. I'm here on behalf of Espanas, organized for political equality. Hope is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to ensuring Latinas political and economic parity through leadership, advocacy and education to benefit all communities and status of women. Hope is grateful for the work of Senator Limon. SB 702 seeks to create transparency in the Gubernatorial appointments by requiring an annual report to be released sharing demographic data for all appointments made.

This report would include self reported demographic data including race, gender, ethnicity, disability status, sexual orientation, veteran status, party affiliation, and region. However, through the current appointment process, race and sexual orientation are not collected. As a proud queer Latina and proud to celebrate Pride Month this month, we'd like to ensure no exclusions are made through the process.

Hope believes that ensuring California's governance is generally representative of the rich diversity of the state is important to note that research shows that diversity in government leads to policies that better reflect the interests of those represented. With a population of over 40 million people, California is the most populous state in the United States with no race or ethnic group constitueting more than California's population.

According to Public Institute policy, of California, 39% of the state residents are Latino, 36 are white, 15% are Asian Pacific Islanders, 6% are African American, and fewer than 1% are Native American or Alaskan Natives, and 3% are multiracial or other. Regarding gender, California has more than 50% of women compared to men, and 5.3 are a little sorry. And 5.3 or a little over 2 million people in California are Members of the LGBT community.

However, for people of color in California, equity and representation is a long way off. Ultimately, if enacted, this data tool will highlight where disparities in representation exist and what communities and voices are missing from the table. For those reasons, we respectfully request an I vote for SB 702 today. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair and Members. My name is Michelle Taran Wolfwork, policy Director with the California Commission on the Status women and Girls. I'll keep my remarks short and just share that the Commission put together a statewide blueprint that really looked at how women went into the pandemic as you can imagine, we were not on equal footing. It took much longer to recover, and we continue to see a number of gaps where women need to be uplifted. Government transparency is a big part of that conversation.

We thank the Administration for the work that he's done on this and look forward to continued collaboration. Thank you to the author for bringing this forward.

Thank you. Thank you. And with that, we'll go ahead and open it up for testimony in the room. Anyone wishing to testify in support of SB 702? Good morning.

Valerie Rodriguez with the Campaign for College opportunity in Support.

Thank you. Is there anyone wishing to testify in opposition to SB 702 Seeing none. We'll open it up for questions or comments from the Committee. Vice Chair

Senator, just curious, you've tried to move this similar Bill in prior years. What is different? Just for my own edification.

Think that the desire is the same. We're not actually changing a whole lot. We've tried different versions of this, and we still feel it's really important to know who is on boards and commissions. So, like many things, it will probably come back again if we're not successful. But the point is really to ensure that our boards and commissions at the state level have a voice from all communities, and that includes geographic regions.

There was a report done by UCLA about a year ago that showed that the majority of appointees came from three counties in our state. And so for these reasons, I'll just keep going until one day I'm successful. Just the way it goes.

I admire your determination. Does the Governor give a reason? Is there a cost reason?

A cost reason was given last year and the year prior was that the state already collects some level of information.

Okay, thank you very much. Assembly Member Davies.

Senator, thank you so much for your tenacity in bringing this back. I believe three times a charm. And I'm really grateful for this, because, again, there's not a lot of transparency in regards to these appointed boards. And I think on behalf of everyone California, that we deserve to be able to see that and see how we're really represented. So thank you for that. I would be honored to be a co author on this as well. Let's get this through.

Yes, thank you. Thank you for that. Thank you.

Thank you. Assembly Member Bains, I want to commend.

You on this piece of super, super important. Specifically, I got my first start in this building as an appointed Commissioner under Governor Brown. And look where I'm sitting. That's the power of literally appointing people from rural areas that don't classically have appointees. They rise all the way up to the Legislature. So thank you. And please add me as a co author.

Thank you. I'm honored. Yeah.

Vice Chair. Dixon, If you could add my name, please. I'd be honored.

Thank you. This is an honor. Thank you.

Well, and I too, would like to thank you for bringing this measure forward. Would be delighted to be added as a co author. And I think that we know in so many things what gets counted gets done. And it's just critically important that we ensure that the makeup of our state boards and commissions reflect the richness and diversity of our great state. So thank you. And with that, would you like to close?

Thank you. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you. And we have a motion from Assemblymember Rodriguez. I think a second from Assembly Member Davies. Mr. Secretary, please call the roll.

Do pass and re refer to Committee on Appropriations. Petrie-Norris, aye. Dixon, aye. Baines, aye. Davies, aye. Nguyen, aye. Rodriguez, aye. Wilson.

All right, 60. That Bill is out. Thank you, Senator.

Thank you all.

And with that, we'll go ahead and open the roll to enable absent Members to add on to bills that were previously heard.

[Roll Call]

All right, that concludes the business of today's hearing. We'll just leave the roll open for a few more moments to enable other absent members to add on should they wish. And thank you, assemblymember. And I love that that was part of your story.

I'm sitting here because my first start was in the Commissioner for Governor Brown, and that was my first start to this building, especially from the Valley. We don't have very many at all. And whenever you do end up applying someone from the Valley, look what it does.

Are we all done?

Okay. And Mr. Secretary, we'll go ahead and open up the roll. Thank you.

[Roll Call]

And file item three, SB 702.

[Roll Call]

And that concludes today's hearing of the Assembly's Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review. We are adjourned.