Senate Floor

[Roll Call]

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

So let us pray today in the words of Maya Angelou. Father, mother, God, thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days. For then we have you to lean upon. Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days. For then we can share that which we have with those who have less. And thank you for your presence during the holy days. For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends.

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak. For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour out your love in waterfalls of tenderness. For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing. For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company. For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of your hope. Dear creator, you, the borderless sea of substance. We ask you to give to all the world that which we need most. Peace. Amen.

Members, please join me in the pledge of allegiance to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States of America and to the republic, for which advance under God, indivisible, with liberty.

Privileges of the floor. There are none. 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 are going to move on to motions, resolutions and notices. And if I could ask you to please stop your chatter on the floor. If you want to speak, please go to the back. It's really distracting up here.

Without objection, the Senate journals for February twelveth, 2024 through February 162024 will be approved as corrected by the minute Clerk. Members are going to move on to consideration of the daily file. First up is the governor's appointment. File item number three, Senator Grove.

Thank you, Madam President. Colleagues. File item number three is a confirmation of the following appointments. June, Kim Lopez, Kevin McGowan and Dr. Moto for the Seismic Safety Commission. Miguel Galarza, Amanda Gallaro, James Ruane for the contractor State License Board, and Saron Shapiro for the appointment to California Association Commission on Disability Access. They were approved by the Rules Committee on February 14 as a 50 vote. Respectfully ask for your aye vote. Please apologize if I mutilated anybody's name.

Is there any discussion or debate on this item? Any discussion or debate? Saying none, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Senator Grove moves the call. Moving on to file item number five. Senator Grove is ready.

Thank you again, Madam President. The confirmation for Ronald Fiore to the appointment of the State Athletic Commission. He's the founding partner of Guarantee Mortgage, the President of Fiori Company, and also leads the Fiori Family foundation, which promotes youth sports to underserved communities. He was approved by the Rules Committee on February 14. A unanimous vote. Respectfully asked for an aye vote.

Is there any discussion or debate? Any discussion or debate? Seeing none, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Senator Grove moves the call. Members, we're going to move on to unfinished business. We'll start with file item number seven. Senator Dodd, he has prepared. Please read.

Senate Bill 263 by Senator Dodd and act relating to insurance.

Senator Dodd, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Madam President and members, SB 263, pertaining to the sale of annuities, is back from the assembly. And I rise to request the senate concur the assembly amendments. The bill conforms the California law.

With the National Association of Insurance Commissioner's new model regulation, which protects consumers when purchasing an annuity product from an insurance agent. Assembly amendments ensure that the Department of Insurance maintains enforcement over annuity sales. It modifies training requirements and timing for producers.

It modifies producer disclosure obligations and clarifies provisions to ensure a producer serves the client's best interests at all times. There have been no votes on this bill in either house. Respectfully asks and requests that the Senate concur the Assembly amendments. Thank you.

So, any discussion or debate on this item? Any discussion or debate saying none, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Please call the absent Member first.

[Roll Call]

Senator Dodd moves the call. Members are going to move on to the senate. Third reading file item number 19. Senator Min. He is prepared. Please read.

Senate Resolution 61 by Senator Min. Relative to Japanese American concentration camps.

Thank you, Madam President and senators, on behalf of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, I'm honored to present SR 61 to recognize February 19, 2024 as Japanese American Day of Remembrance.

This day is observed on February 19 to signify the date that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed executive order 9066 in 1942 during the midst of World War II. Although Executive Order 1966 did not identify any specific groups.

It was created to forcibly remove individuals deemed as a national threat from the West Coast and was later used to force the internment of Japanese Americans.

This was obviously an overt act of racial discrimination and stereotyping following the attacks on Pearl harbor and led to the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans, the death of 1600 imprisoned individuals, and the loss of property, businesses, and livelihoods, including in my district in towns like Huntington Beach and Newport Beach and Laguna Beach.

Despite the internments of their families, thousands of Japanese American veterans served in the United States military during that conflict. And in 2010, many years later, President Obama recognized the service of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team with a congressional gold medal.

It's important for us to remember and reflect on the fact that a policy enacted by the Federal Government actively targeted people of color, people in the AAPI community, causing serious harm and generational trauma.

And we do need to remember this and sure that it never happens again at a time when Anti-Asian hate is unfortunately on the rise, at a time when we have a former President, one of the two major political candidates for President in 2024, openly talking about putting people into concentration camps. We must make sure that we are vigilant to ensure that this type of thing never happens again.

And if we go back in time to 1942, the sad thing is that so many public institutions, people that we would think of as honorable, supported this or looked the other way. The Supreme Court and the Korematsu decision approved the internment of Japanese people. Japanese Americans.

So many Californians looked the other way as Japanese people were displaced from their homes, lost their property, and forced into these camps. So it can happen here, it can happen again.

And I urge you all to vote for this and also to remain vigilant going forward. I hope everyone will honor those impacted by the incarceration of the Japanese Americans so many years ago by voting aye on SR 61.

Is there any discussion or debate on this item? Any discussion or debate? Senator Bradford?

Thank you, Madam President. I'm honored to stand here as Vice Chair of the Black Caucus in strong support of SR 61, recognizing February 19 as a day of remembrance for the incarceration and internment of US United States citizens because of their ancestry, of being Japanese.

On this day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed executive order 1966, which incarcerated over 120,000 Japanese Americans, mostly us citizens, for no other reason than their racial heritage. They were unjustly detained, placed in prison camps, and deprived of their freedom and livelihood.

They lost their homes, their jobs, their businesses, and their entire way of life. But many are unaware of Brownsville. Many people don't realize that many of the Japanese Americans who were displaced in downtown LA.

It was African Americans who came in to maintain not only their homes, their businesses, and much of what they cherished. When the residents of Little Tokyo were displaced, African Americans came in.

Many of them came from the south to work in the defense industry, but due to housing restrictions, there were very few places where they were allowed to live. Little Tokyo became a temporary home, and it became known by their new name as Brownsville.

Black owned businesses, churches, and families thrived in the area. But when the war ended and the Japanese Americans returned, the transition was back to Little Tokyo.

Those African Americans quickly turned over those homes, those businesses, back to the rightful owners and continued to work in conjunction to build that community. Many in the newly reestablished Japanese American businesses hired black workers.

Both groups saw the common ties of racial discrimination and resilience that bonded them together. Very little remains that would even tell you about this small chapter in Los Angeles or US history for the Japanese Americans who came back home.

It took 40 years for the Federal Government to formally apologize and pay reparations to those harmed or to those descendants that were displaced. It was a debt that was paid late, but paid nonetheless.

As California's to begin to consider reparations for another great harm, we can look at how the Federal Government has done as an example of how California can lead to nation in repairing the harms caused by slavery and racial discrimination in the state and in this country today, we focus on the enormous injustices inflicted on Japanese Americans.

As an individual who grew up in Gardena in a predominantly Japanese town, I grew up with many of those folks whose parents were interned as kids or as young adults, many who were part of no-nos, the ones who would not deny their heritage to Japan, and also many that fought in the 442, better known as Go For Broke.

So I have a close tie and a close affinity for this community. And I respectfully that we asked for aye vote on SR 61.

Senator Menjivar.

Thank you, Madam President and colleagues. I stand today as a member who represents an area that unfortunately played a part in our dark history.

In my district layed a Japanese internment camp called the Tuna County Detention Center that held the capacity of 300 men where Japanese Americans were detained from Southern California, put into this camp, and then after weeks or months, were then transferred to different camps from across and across the United States with blackout windows.

I recently learned about this unfortunate history that is part of the district that I represent and the work that we're doing to ensure that we provide reparations. We continue to acknowledge the negative part of our history, but never forget it without I ask for an aye vote for SR 61.

Senator Wahab.

Thank you. I rise today to also support SR 61 as a representative of the San Jose area as well as in the Bay Area. We often sometimes don't realize what an impact certain communities make in our entire district.

And San Jose has a Japan town that both the senator from San Jose also represents. We split it. It's one of three historical sites in California in particular.

And on this day in 1942, President Roosevelt signed executive order 9066 resulting in the removal of civilians from military zones in Washington, Oregon and California during World War II. And we often talk, know, not repeating history.

And yet we often see that we continue to repeat history as the senators before me have spoken about, when we talk about slavery, when we talk about what we have done with the Japanese community as well as what we are doing today.

And silencing voices that are in opposition to a policy or to an issue or represent a community that is misunderstood. We need to rise every single day, united and celebrate our diversity.

I respectfully ask for an aye, and I really do appreciate the senator for bringing SR 61 Japanese American Remembrance Day to the floor.

Senator Rubio.

Thank you, Madam President. Ladies and gentlemen of the senate, today I rise on behalf of the Latino Caucus, it is my honor to rise to support SR 61. The internment of more than 120,000 American Japanese is something that should not have happened, and it's one of the darkest moments in our nation's history.

This incarceration flew in the face of our nation's laws and morals and who we are as people. It cost many their homes, their neighbors, their families, their businesses, their careers.

Today I want to speak on behalf of a very, very close friend whose grandmother was born in captivity. Her grandmother never recovered. And she speaks of it as not just that moment in history, she speaks of it as generational trauma.

Not only her grandmother, her mother, down to the grandchildren are still dealing with that trauma that was horrific and never saw a resolution, and they continue to struggle with it.

And so today, on behalf of the Latino Caucus, I want to say that we stand in strong solidarity with the senator from Irvine in bringing this resolution forward. Members, today it is important that we remember what was done to our friends, our neighbors, in the name of safety and security, and we must never repeat that again.

Please join me in supporting this important resolution and remembering all those who suffered in the name of our nation's security. Thank you.

Senator Allen.

Members, I want to associate myself with all the comments made. I just wanted to take a moment to highlight the really extraordinary educational work in this space done by two very important sites here in California. One, the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles.

The other, the Manzanara National Historic Site in the Owens Valley. I've spent good chunk of time at both of those sites, and they really are excellent museums that tell the story of this grave injustice.

And they have some really top notch educators and docents and museum professionals who have helped to make not only that history come alive, but really force the visitor to grapple with the contemporary challenges and conundrum that are raised by this dark story about minority rights, about democracy, about protecting the vulnerable. So I commend those two sites to you.

If you haven't had the opportunity to visit the Japanese American National Museum and Manzanar National Historic Site, they really do an excellent job of interpreting and telling this difficult story.

Seeing no further discussion or debate. Senator Min, you may conclude.

I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Aye 39. No 0. The measure passes. Members, we're going to go back to the three items that were placed on call. We'll start with file item number three, which is the governor's appointments. Please call the absent members.

[Roll Call]

Aye 39. No 0. The appointments is confirmed. File item number five, again government's appointments. Please call the absent members.

[Roll Call]

Aye 39. No 0. The appointment is confirmed. Moving on to file item number seven, which is SB 263 by Senator Dodd. Please call the absent members.

[Roll Call]

Aye 37. No 0. The measure is adopted, or the amendments are concurred in. Members, we're going to return to motions and resolutions. These are the adjourn in memories. We'll start with Senator Ochoa Bogh.

Thank you, Madam President. Members, it is with great sadness that I rise to adjourn in memory of Amy Her, who passed away last November at the young age of 56 from a brain tumor. Born in Banning, Amy was a lifelong and passionate resident of the Inland Empire.

She graduated from Banning High School in 1985, sat on the school board from 2003 to 2011, and was an active member of the San Gorgonio Pass Historical Society, along with her mother.

In 2008, she founded the Boys and Girls Club of San Gorgonio Pass. In her leadership role as CEO, she used her boundless energy and creativity to serve the community and positively motivate the youth. Transformative, devoted, focused, and very loving.

These are some of the words used to describe Amy by those who knew her best. Her obituary says it perfectly. In a word, Amy was electric.

She had a zest for her life and community that cannot and will not be surpassed for years to come, if ever. She was a pillar of hope and life for everyone she crossed paths with. There is no amount of words to be said that could ever come close to encompassing the person she was.

Amy survived by her husband, Joe, and three kids, Ryan, Troy and Hannah, her mother, Kathleen Hobert, and her beloved dog, Brim. She was preceded in death by her father, Fremont Hobert.

I wish Amy's family and many friends peace and comfort during this time of deep sorrow. I would be honored if this body would adjourn in her memory. Thank you.

Please bring her name forward to the desk so that she may be appropriately memorialized. Senator Blakespear.

Thank you. I rise today to pay tribute to my friend and constituent Joanne Hubbard, a resident of Cardiff-by-the-Sea who passed away on December 18 at age 88.

In spirit, I imagine that Joanne saddled up and rode her beloved Tennessee Walker Trigger into the sunset to join her two beloved daughters, Jody and Susan, who were taken far too soon in life, and her late husband, Rick, sitting tall in the saddle. Her regal bearing and extension of her noble horse, Joanne created a striking presence.

She will forever be remembered for her love of horses and her advocacy for trails. Joanne learned to ride when she was eight years old among the apricot and walnut orchards that surrounded her rural San Fernando Valley home.

By the time of her passing, this little girl had grown up, owned 40 horses and preserved a legacy of open trails in Southern California. When suburban housing tracks began sprouting up and encroaching on trails, Joanne became an early and lifelong trail person.

She was an outspoken and passionate advocate for protecting trails that were being erased by development. Joanne researched property and easements.

She spoke to city councils and at county meetings, and she usually won her arguments for retaining and maintaining the horse's part for the horses trail for all to enjoy. She met her future husband, Rick, while playing volleyball on the beach at age 15.

By age 18, they were married and starting a family in Calabasas, a paradise for horse lovers, which Senator Stern, the senator from Los Angeles, knows very well. Her husband Rick, shared her avid interest in trails.

He was the founding President of the Santa Monica Mountains Trail Council in 1972, and for years they worked together to preserve historic trails and create others that now link local, state and federal parks that extend from Griffith park in Los Angeles to Point Magoo in Ventura County.

Thanks in great part to Joanne's efforts, residents enjoy miles of trails that crisscross the city for all to enjoy riding, cycling, hiking, running and just wandering. It was my honor to serve alongside her daughter Jodie, who was a cyclist and body surfer, and she championed the trail's plan when she served on the Encinitas City Council.

When Joanne moved to Encinitas, she joined the San Dieguito Riders and became a founding member of the Encinitas Trails Coalition, working with the city to develop the recreational Trails Master Plan.

Commemorative benches at Swami's honor Joanne and Jody with inscriptions that read, trails are for everyone and waves are for everyone. Soon a commemorative boulder along the Rancho Santa Fe trail in Olivenhain, a neighborhood of Encinitas.

A community of Encinitas, excuse me, will honor Joanne as well. It's not surprising that Joanne's daughter grew up to be a civic leader. Joanne was a champion for women's rights and was actively engaged in progressive politics. She inspired others with her energetic personality, her positive persistence, and her gift for persuasion.

Joanne never gave up. Even at age 88, Joanne was always ready to go. She continued to ride Trigger, her horse. She valued visits from her grandson Jack. She enjoyed outings with her ladies who lunch and attending plays at local theaters.

She even snuck in a theater trip to New York City just last year. Until the end, Joanne said yes to life. She will be lovingly remembered and sorely missed by all. Thank you.

Please bring her name forward to the desk so she may be appropriately memorialized as well. Senator Min.

Thank you, Madam President. Members, I rise to adjourn in memory of Dan Burke, a professor and former colleague of mine at UC Irvine School of Law. Dan was a giant in the field of law and technology, and he was a founding member of the UCI School of Law and the first chancellor's professor at the law school.

Professor Burke was instrumental in UCI Law's formation and unprecedented success, current UCI School of Law Dean Austin Parrish said of him, Dan was a brilliant and remarkable Professor.

Throughout his prominent career, he consistently ranked among the leading and pioneering intellectual property scholars in the American Legal Academy and was at the forefront around issues touching on law, technology, the Internet, and AI.

As a founding member of UC Irvine's School of Law faculty, he left his mark in many, many ways. He was known for his kindness and his mentorship, and he will be incredibly missed by his colleagues. His premature passing was a sad moment for our profession and our school.

Professor Burke received many honors, fellowships and awards throughout his career. He received two Fulbright scholarships, conducting groundbreaking research to study German and EU biotechnology patenting at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich.

Then later as a Fulbright cybersecurity scholar at the Oxford Internet Institute's digital ethics lab in the United Kingdom. In 2015, he was selected for a Leverhulme scholarship or visitor ship, to the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Younger professors have attested to his mentorship of them, his deep interest and passion and hard work in trying to advance their careers as well.

That same year, he won the IP Vanguard Award by the California State Bar Section on Intellectual Property. In 2019, he is a senior visiting scholar at the Weisenbaum Institute for the Network Society in Berlin.

But I think how Professor Burke will be remembered most is not for his significant accomplishments in his field, but rather for his dedication, hard work, and commitment as a friend, as a mentor, and as a teacher.

My wife actually has sat in the office next to him for 11 years at UCI law, and she personally attested to me just how many countless students he mentored over the years. He was a popular professor known for his dry wit, and he consistently received top reviews from students and countless numbers of professors.

He was a funny guy who often would tell people they were wrong, including me and probably my wife. And he was known to typically say, you're wrong, but in a very interesting way, which was one of his trademarks.

So I just want to close with the comments he made before his passing, and may we all live life like this, he said. I have no serious regrets. I've had a fantastic marriage for 36 years. My career has gone far better than anyone would have imagined.

I've had amazing opportunities and experiences I couldn't have foreseen. I've used up far more than my share of the planet's resources. I've engaged with amazing colleagues and collaborators.

It's all good. I ask the senate, join me today in offering our most sincere condolences to his wife, Laurie, his daughter, Rain, his family members, friends, colleagues, and students, and ask that we adjourn his memory. It's all good. Thank you.

Senator. Please bring his name forward to the desk so that he may be appropriately memorialized. If there is no other business. Senator Mcguire, the desk is clear.

Thank you so much, Madam President. Members, the next floor session is scheduled for Thursday, February 22, at 09:00 a.m. Enjoy the week.

The Senate will be in recess until 3:30, at which time the adjournment motion will be made. We will reconvene Thursday at 09:00 a.m.