Assembly Floor

The Assembly is now in session. Assembly Member Petrie Norris notices the absence of a quorum. That sergeant's arm will prepare the chamber and bring in the absent Members. The Clerk will call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Members, a quorum is present. We ask our guests and our visitors in the gallery in the rear of the chamber to please stand for the prayer and the pledge. Today's prayer will be offered by Assemblywoman Davies. Assembly Member Davies thank you.

Good morning. Please bow your head. Dear lord, please grant us the humility to learn from others and the wisdom to honor all whom we encounter. We thank you for another day to work for all and with our fellow men and women. It is human nature to only want to listen to those with whom we agree and to only give honor to those with likeminded ideals. But when we open ourselves up to the hearing of the wisdom that others hold, we become enriched.

And when we treat others with the honor that we desire, we become elevated by our actions. We pray that you may be with us today to defend us within us, that you may sustain us before us, that you may lead us behind us, that you may protect us above us, that you may bless us in everything that we do. In your name we pray. Amen.

We ask our guests and visitors to remain standing and join us in the flag salute. Please join us in Mathis with his children at his desk as he leads us in the nation's pledge.

Say ready salute. Ready salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag, the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with justice for all.

Thank you. You may be seated. Reading of the previous day's journal.

Assembly Chamber Sacramento Thursday, February 22023 the Assembly met at 09:00 a.m. The Honorable Stephanie Quinn, Assistant Speaker Protempori.

The Assembly Mr. Gallagher seconds that the reading of the previous day's journal be dispensed with. Presentations and petitions there are none. Introductions and references of bills will be deferred. Reports of committees will be deemed read and amendments deemed adopted. Messages from the Governor, there are none. Messages from the Senate? There are none. Moving to motions and resolutions, the absences for the day will be deemed read and printed in the journal. And Majority Leader Reyes, you are recognized for your procedural motions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request unanimous consent to suspend Assembly Rule 45.5 to allow Assembly Members Burr, Aguiar Curry, Reyes, Sanchez, and Essayli to speak on an adjournment in memory today.

Without objection. Such shall be the order.

I request unanimous consent to suspend Assembly Rule 118 A to allow Assemblymember Mathis to have guests seated at his desk and to allow Assemblymember Muratsuchi to have guests and photographers on the floor today.

Without objection. Such shall be the order.

And I request unanimous consent to order SCR 1 Atkins to the third reading file.

Without objection, such shall be the order. And Members, as a reminder, today is the last day to introduce your bills. We are moving to business on the daily file, and we will pass and retain on file items 1 and 2, and we will take up file item three. This is HR 12.

House Resolution 12 by Assembly Member Muratsuchi relative to Japanese American Concentration Camps, and Assembly Member Muratsuchi.

You are recognized for your open.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Members, this Sunday, February 19, Japanese Americans throughout the state and across the country will mark the day as a day of remembrance 81 years ago. On February 19 of 1942, after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive order 966, which led to the mass incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans living mostly in California, solely because of their race, without any due process of law, and without any evidence of treason or military necessity.

Mr. Speaker, I request permission to use an exhibit without objection. This is a copy of a public notice of the exclusion order dated May 23 of 1942, posted in Japanese American neighborhoods throughout the state, places like San Francisco, Oakland, Fresno, Los Angeles, under the heading instructions to all persons of Japanese ancestry. The notice states, pursuant to this exclusion order, all persons of Japanese ancestry, both alien and nonalian, will be evacuated by 12:00 noon exactly one week after the date of this notice.

The notice gave one week for Japanese Americans living on the West Coast to pack only what they can carry, to be removed and incarcerated in desolate camps surrounded by barbed wire and watchtowers. With armed soldiers. They lost their homes and personal possessions. They lost their farms. They lost their jobs and businesses, and most importantly, they lost their freedom.

I bring this resolution forward, as I have in past years, to remember one of the most egregious examples of Antiasian hate in American history, especially in these times when we are once again seeing a dramatic rise in anti Asian hate, as more and more Americans now focus on another Asian nation, China, as a national security threat. We saw during the pandemic how anti Asian verbal and physical assaults increased dramatically when President Trump and other Americans blamed China and the Chinese for the global pandemic.

And now, as both Democrats and Republicans are increasingly targeting China as our biggest threat to our national security, incidents of hate against all Asian Americans continue to rise, because in the eyes of the haters, we all look the same. History provides many examples of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders being attacked as scapegoats, especially during times of international conflict. And that is why it is so important to know our history. This is not about being woke.

This is about learning the lessons of history so that we can all strive to be better Americans. Members, I present this resolution to declare February 19, 2023 as a day of remembrance.

Thank you, Mr. Muratsuchi. Seeing no other Members wishing to discuss this resolution, Mr. Muratsuchi, would you like the first roll to be open for co authors?

Yes, please.

We shall do that. The Clerk will open the roll. Members, for co authors on HR 12. All those wishing to be a co author, please signify by casting your vote. The Clerk will close the roll. There are 69 co authors. Without objection. We'll take a voice vote on the resolution. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed say nay. The ayes have it. The resolution is adopted. And Senator Muratsuchi, you are recognized for your guest introductions.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Members, as thank you very much for your bipartisan, strong bipartisan support for this resolution. As we recognize a day of remembrance, it is my honor to welcome to the floor and in the gallery Members of the local Japanese American community. Here on the floor, we are especially grateful to recognize eight survivors of the Japanese American concentration camps. I'd like to announce their names and which camp they were incarcerated in. First, Judy Fukuman. Tule Lake, California. Retired Judge Charles Kobayashi.

Tule Lake, California. Kg Takagi. Tule Lake, California. Esther Hokama. Tuli Lake, California. Lester Uchida. Jerome, Arkansas and Gila River, Arizona. Mariel Tsukamoto. Jerome, Arkansas. Hachi Yasimura. Jerome, Arkansas. And rower, Arkansas. And last but not least, Sam Shimada, Amachi, Colorado I'd also like to welcome everyone in the gallery, many Members of the Sacramento Japanese American Citizens League. Welcome, everyone. Let's please give a round of applause. Thank you. I'd like to also invite you. We're going to have a small reception afterwards after session in room 125. Please join myself and all of our guests at this reception. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Muratsuchi. Members, we have another guest introduction. Some Member Mathis, you are recognized at your desk.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, colleagues, these are my twins. Some of you may remember my first day swearing in over eight years ago was when they were born. They join me today as second graders. We've got Jefferson Locke Mathis, aka the rooster. And we have Margaret Marie Mathis over here hiding, aka Maggie Magpie, the giggle box. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mathis. Welcome back to the Assembly. And Members, we are back on file. This will be file item four, AB 269. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 269 by Assembly Member Berman in accolading the public health and declaring the urgency thereof to take effect immediately.

And Assembly Member Berman, you are recognized for your open.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and colleagues. AB 269 is an urgency measure that will preserve two waivers that are set to expire at the end of this month. First, the Bill will allow the Department of Public Health's test to treat program to continue for an additional year. Second, the Bill will allow laboratories to maintain the workforce they've used since the start of the pandemic to analyze Covid-19 tests. I respectfully ask for your aye vote on this urgent legislation.

Thank you, Mr. Berman. And seeing no Members wishing to debate or discuss this item, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. This requires 54 Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes ayes 65 no zero on the urgency ayes 65 no zero on the Bill the measure passes. Members will be moving now to the second day consent calendar.

Before we vote, we will first take up resolutions on the consent calendar for the purpose of adding co authors. The Clerk will read the resolutions on the consent calendar.

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 10 by Assembly Member Weber and others relative to Children's Dental Health Month Assembly Concurrent Resolution 11 by Assembly Member Wicks relative to National Caregivers Day and Senate Concurrent Resolution 14 by Senator Dodd relative to Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

The Clerk will open the roll to allow any Members to add on as a co author to the resolutions. Members, this vote is for co authors. All those who wish to be a co author, please signify by casting, your voter will close the roll. There are 66 co authors. Members will move into a vote on the consent calendars. Does any Member wish to remove an item from the consent calendar? Seeing and hearing none. The Clerk will read the second day consent calendar.

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 10 by Assembly Member Weber and others relative to Children's Dental Health Month.

Clerk will open the roll on the consent calendar. All those vote who desire to vote. This is for the consent calendar Members. All those vote who desire to vote, Clerk will close the roll. Tally the votes. Ayes 69 no zero. The consent calendar is adopted. Clerk will read the remaining items on the consent calendar.

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 11 aye 69, no zero and Senate Concurrent Resolution 14 aye 69, no zero

Members, that concludes today's business on the daily file. We will now move in a moment to adjournments in memory. Members, we ask that you give respectful attention to those granted prior permission on their adjournments in memory and to please take your conversations off the floor. Thank you, Members. We'll now recognize the summer Member Zbur at your desk for your adjournment in memory.

Colleagues, I rise today to adjourn today's session in memory of my sister, Jacqueline Marie Zbur. Two days before what would have been her 60th birthday. She passed away over two years ago at the age of 57 after an almost three year battle with ALS, sometimes referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, a devastating neurological condition.

My sister was one of the bright lights in our world, warm, caring, energetic and fun loving, beautiful, with a zest for life and a thirst for experiencing the wonders of our world and life that drew everyone to her. She was born in Ridgecrest, California, while my dad was working at his first job at the China Lake Air Force base before my family moved back to New Mexico. In school, Jackie was popular, had many friends.

She was on the dance teams in both junior high and high school and later attended the University of New Mexico. When Jackie was in first grade, her best friend, Patricia Otero, was killed in a car accident, an event that deeply shaped my sister's life and character. I remember how hard that was for my little sister, but I also saw how it made her appreciate the people that she loved in a way that was unique for a young girl.

Jackie was always checking in with her friends and family, remembering birthdays and anniversaries, following up on conversations she had and doting on her nieces and nephew, whom she adored after she passed away. And we got to see all of her emails and many boxes of letters and cards that she had saved her entire life. I was truly astonished at her ability to keep so many friendships alive in intimate and authentic ways.

When she moved to Long beach to be closer to me, all of my friends became her friends. And I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that many of them felt closer to her than to me because she nurtured those friendships so closely. She was my very best friend and the person that I first came out to as a gay man almost a year before I came out to anyone else, because she was the person I trusted most and felt safe with.

And while all my siblings are especially close, and I love my brother John and my sister Joanne more than I can say, we all realized after her passing that each of us considered her to be our very best friend. She was that special. When Jackie entered midlife, she got serious about her career and had a series of jobs in the telecom industry.

Then she moved to Long Beach to become a realtor, a job that she loved and thrived in because people could see that she cared more about helping them make good choices than she did about earning commissions. She had started to save for her retirement and managed to scrape together enough to buy a small townhome in Long Beach. And then she became ill. First a surgery for scoliosis, which took her 18 months to recover from. And then the initial symptoms of ALS presented.

For those of you who are not familiar with ALS, it is one of the very cruelest conditions there is. It's a disease that literally results in a gradual shutdown of one's body over two years. She lost her ability to move her legs, then lost her strength in her arms, ultimately lost her ability to swallow, necessitating a feeding tube and even communicate because her speech was so slurred. That period of her life literally haunts me as I watched her struggle with so much bravery and incredible dignity.

Even when she knew her time was short, Jackie was thinking about others. In fact, Jackie is the main reason I serve in this body today. Nine months before she passed, as she was reviewing her life and whether she had done enough to pursue her dreams, she made me promise that I would seek public office in some capacity because she believed that that was what I was destined to do. She loved her three kitties, Jet, Sammy, and Jackson.

And she made sure my sister Joanne would adopt them after she passed. She loved her sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews, and her best friend, Sherry, who did so much to care for her. In her final year, she was a vegetarian most of her adult life, not for health reasons, but because she could not bear taking the life of an animal when we have other alternatives to nurture ourselves.

Before she passed, she became active educating people about ALS and raising money for more research and care, and became one of the top fundraisers for ALS charities during her final months, even though she knew that that would not really help her herself.

Before she passed, she made me promise her that I would do everything I could to fix the deeply flawed medical system that treated her as a fatality when she was alive and denied coverage for the emerging treatments that her doctors prescribed because they were off label.

The social safety net she experienced provided no in home care when she could no longer walk or get to her wheelchair or to her bed or her bathroom, even after she had spent every penny of her savings on her care and living expenses. There was no help for Jackie because her $2,100 per month in Social Security disability, which was her only income, made her ineligible for any benefits under IHSS or any state or federal program.

Luckily, my sister Joanne and I were able to help Jackie stay in her home and get the care she needed during her last two years of her life. But Jackie often wondered how many other people and elders who need care survived if they didn't have families to care for them. This Saturday would have been Jackie's birthday.

And I know that she's looking down on us, on all of us, hoping that we are inspired to fix our broken social safety net and pay home caregivers what they deserve. I believe that she is hoping that we will work to help people like who are ill and living with disabilities and people who are aging, all of whom deserve to be able to age and live in their homes with dignity and respect. I know she's up there watching all of us with a hopeful and loving heart. Thank you for joining me and adjourning in her memory today.

Thank you. Mr. Zbur and Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry, you're recognized for your adjournment in memory.

It is with great sadness that I rise to adjourn in the memory of Robert William Bob Platner, a loved and respected Member of this capital community. Bob died peacefully in his sleep in his home in Davis on February 2. Many of you know Bob as an advocate over 25 years of California public schools, including numerous school districts and associations, he is well known for his preeminent expert on California school finance.

One of only a handful of people who fully understood our complex school finance system and funding formulas. He not only knew them inside and out, but could also explain them in the terms the rest of us could understand. And no matter how he stood on an issue, you could always rely on Bob to give you the straight scoop. If you knew Bob, you knew he was not only brilliant, but always full of joy and exuberance and fun to be around.

He was a giant of a man with a giant heart, a great storyteller with encyclopedia, knowledge of world history, fine foods, arts and culture, a gifted musician and man of couture, a true Renaissance man.

A graduate of Yale University, where he captained the swim team and later UC Berkeley's School of Journalism, Bob embarked on a career as a reporter, working for several newspapers, including the Sacramento Union and the Sacramento Bee. Then after writing about education politics for several years, he shifted to education advocacy, always with the focus on what he believed was best for our schoolchildren. He is survived by his lovely wife Anne and their two boys, Jack and Rob, who were the focus of his energy, love and attention.

He leaves a gaping hole of sorrow for his family and community in Davis, as well as our capital community. We will miss but remember his booming voice, charismatic laughter and smile. He was just one of a kind, a kind, though I wish we had more of in this world. And his family is here to join us today for our adjournment in memory.

Thank you Members. Thank you. Ms. Aguiar-Curry. Members, without objection, the quorum call is now lifted.

We do have a few remaining adjournments in memory today and Majority Leader Reyes, you're recognized at your desk for your adjournment in memory.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Members, arise for adjournment in the memory of Miguel Cervantes, a devoted husband, father, son and brother, Miguel was an active Member of the 50th district serving the City of Ranchi Cucamonga Fire District for over 17 years. He started his service in the firefighting as a volunteer firefighter with the Riverside County Fire Department. In the year 2000. He was hired by the Norco Fire Department where he was an apprentice firefighter. He was later promoted to firefighter and then fire engineer.

Later he joined the ranch Cook among a fire district in 2006 where he started out as a firefighter again and was promoted to fire engineer five years later. During his time with the Rancho Cucamonga Fire Department, he was an active Member of the honor guard, technical rescue team, fire academy instructor, regional FEMA Urban Search and Rescue team, peer support Member, paramedic and Executive Board Secretary of the Rancho Cucamonga Firefighters Association.

He is remembered for his acts of service and his gift of making those around him feel comforted, understood and valued. Miguel treated every call to rescue as if it were a call to save one of his loved ones. He passed away on Wednesday, February 8, 2023 at the age of 45 and is survived by his wife Selena of 17 years and their three children. Members, I ask that we adjourn in the memory of Miguel Cervantes.

Thank you. Ms. Reyes and Assemblywoman Sanchez, you're recognized at your desk for your adjournment in memory.

Colleagues, I rise today to adjourn in memory of Miguel Cervantes. Miguel was a Rancho Cucamonga fire engineer who unfortunately lost his battle with non Hodgkin's lymphoma on Saturday, February 11. Last summer, Miguel began his courageous battle against this cancer, and since his diagnosis and during his treatment, Miguel continued to display optimism, gratitude and strength. His firefighter family stated that Miguel was a beacon of light who he leaves behind a lasting legacy with his contagious smile and passion for his work.

Miguel's firefighting career spanned almost two decades and his expertise, background and knowledge made him an exceptional firefighter. He was a loving and devoted husband to his wife, Selena, of 17 years and his three children who reside in the City of Marietta. The Rancho Cucamonga Fire District is committed to honoring Miguel's legacy by serving the community and continuing their unwavering support for the Cervantes family. Today, I respectfully ask this body to honor Miguel Cervantes and his family by adjourning in his memory. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Sanchez and Assembly Member Essayli, you're recognized at your desk for your adjournment in memory.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sadly, today I rise to adjourn the State Assembly in the memory of Orange County Deputy Sheriff Brian Haney, who died in a tragic traffic collision in the City of Lake Elsinor the morning of February 9. Deputy Haney was a Member of the Air Force Reserve as a senior airman and earned his bachelor's degree in criminal justice. He was hired by the Orange County Sheriff's Department on August 19, 2016 serving honorably for six years.

Deputy Haney was a Member of the Critical Incident Response team and was dedicated. Described by his brothers and sisters in uniform as a quick learner, hard worker, and team player. He was respected by his colleagues and loved by his wife, Leslie and their one month old son Cole. This is a heartbreaking loss for his family and the OC sheriff's Department. We have lost far too many Members of our law enforcement community lately.

I ask that we take an extra moment to give thanks and appreciation to our law enforcement officers and all they do to keep us safe as we adjourn the State Assembly in memory of Deputy Sheriff Brian Haney. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Essayli. Members, please bring the names to the desk to be printed in the journal. All requests to adjourn in the memory will be deemed read and printed in the journal. Moving to some final announcements, Members, once again, today is the last day to introduce the Bill. The desks will be held open until 05:00 p.m. Or upon receipt of the last Bill from legislative council. The session schedule is as follows. Monday, February 20, is President's Day, and Tuesday, February 21, is session.

Seeing and hearing no further business, I am ready to entertain a motion to adjourn. Ms. Reyes moves and Ms. Dixon seconds that this house stand adjourned until Tuesday, February 21 at 01:00 p.m. We are adjourned.