Senate Floor

Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll call]

A quorum is present. Would the Members and the guests beyond the rail please rise for the pledge of prayer, after which, please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance. Sister.

So we gather in God's presence. God of all creation, at the beginning of this new week. Fill us with wonder and gratitude for the abundance of your blessings. Teach us to Delight in the anticipation of this day's surprises. We lift our voices to praise you for the beauty of the earth, for the harvests of field and orchard.

Give us hearts that long to share with those who suffer from want and hopelessness. Bring the healing light of your presence into the struggles of our lives, so that by our efforts for the common good, our world will draw closer to healing, peace and justice. Amen.

Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance.

Of which.

Colleagues. We're going to be jumping into privileges of the floor, where we will be recognizing seven of our outgoing colleagues. For each Member we will be recognizing, we will have two speakers. Each speaker will speak for two minutes, each speaker will speak for two minutes. And then the Member will speak for three minutes.

The outgoing Member will speak for three minutes, respectfully asking that we stay within that time frame as close as possible. Senator Dali is going to lead us in staying close to that timeframe. First, we're going to be honoring Senator Eggman. And before we do that, we actually have.

I want to recognize a special guest we have on the floor. Senator Glazer has brought his daughter Alex today. Alex, welcome. Okay, moving back to our recognitions. Like I mentioned, we're kicking off with recognizing Senator Eggman. Our first speaker is going to be Senator Atkins, to kick us off.

Senator Atkins, when you're ready, please proceed with your remarks.

Thank you. Madam President, permission to hold a small Prop without objection. Well, thank you. I need to hold this Eggman for State Senate stress egg, because it's important that I get this right. And I've had this for a while. Colleagues. I had to make some countless decisions as pro tem. Many were hard and some were easy.

One of the easiest was naming Senator Susan Telemontas Egmont to chair the Senate Health Committee from her days as a medic in the US army to her work as a mental health provider and medical social worker, I knew she had the experience and the empathy to shape the healthcare decisions that we make as a Legislature.

I knew she had fierce dedication to expanding the vision and magnifying our emphasis on mental health, a badly needed and long overdue part of the healthcare equation. I also knew she had the gumption to get the job done.

You don't come out of nowhere as a lesbian, a Latina win a seat on the Stockton City Council your first time out. Susan Telemontas Eggman did. She showed she has the spark of the special from day one, and I am also incredibly lucky to have served with her in both the Assembly and the Senate.

In the Assembly, her leadership brought about landmark changes to how we aid those nearing the end of their lives in California landmark. She's been a champion for diversion when it makes more sense than detention, and I truly believe her leadership is one of the reasons we now have care courts.

And in this last year, we saw her once again shouldering another tough burden by taking on the difficult issues relating to conservatorship. Now, my memory is a little fuzzy, but I remember the speech. I think we were in the Assembly.

I think it was a press conference in room 317 on the LGBTQ caucus, addressing some of the latest attacks on our community's rights.

At that press conference, when Susan came up to the podium, she emotionally shared the story of how the decision had just been made that she and Renee would have to take on the responsibility of raising a relative's child as their own. In that moment, Susan Tellamontez Eggman was the living, breathing embodiment of family values.

Family values in action. I was so proud of her then, and I'm proud of her now. Watching Emmy grow into the young woman she is today, I think of there's so many times that we have heard on this floor, Senator Egmond get up with no prepared remarks to make her comments about something incredibly important.

And never have I ever heard a better floor speech than in those moments. I said it before. A PhD, a social worker, a teacher, small farmer, Rural Ag country that she comes from. A Lesbian, a woman, a Latina. The lived experience that you bring to this body, the professional skills, has made you invaluable to the Legislature.

40 years ago this month, a young woman in New York City was getting ready to make her first movie. Her name was Madonna, and the movie was desperately seeking Susan. Senator, you and I, all of us, have come a long way since the 1980s.

As I stand before you today, to say desperately missing Susan is going to be one of the main drawbacks to our not sharing. Serving and sharing together in the California State Senate. And all of you will be desperately missing Susan. Thank you, Madam President.

Senators, there's going to be a lot of applauses. It's welcomed. Let's hold our final applause to after the Member is done speaking. Our next speaker for Senator Eggman is going to be Senator Dahle.

Thank you, Madam President. And Members, I am honored to be able to share 12 years of my life and our life in the Legislature. I want to just start out. I went back and looked through all the text messages that we've sent back and forth, had some tears some times that were tough.

But I want to just share. Who is Susan Tolamontez Eggman? Who is she? Well, I'll tell you who she is. She's a veteran who came to Bieber, to the Big Valley High school and spoke at the Assembly as a veteran for the Veterans day get together all the way to Bieber.

She was the first Member when we were in the Assembly that came to my home and stayed with me and got to know a little bit about my district. What does she do? She loves to bake. She makes the best jalapeno bread in town, I will tell you that. And what else does she do?

She checks on you all throughout the year. How are you doing? If you're sick, if you're missing, she's the first one to text you and say, are you okay? What's going on? Through Covid, constantly texting me, through the medical issues with my family, constantly texting me, and then as a mother.

So we are both raising teenage daughters, and so we have the opportunity to talk about the challenges, the great things that happen as raising children together.

But I want to say that, you know, in life, you're lucky if you get five people that you can really count on, that, you know, that if something's really bad happening or you need somebody to talk to, you can pick up the phone and talk to.

Susan Eggman is one of the five on my hand that I know I can talk to anytime about anything, no matter what's happening. Over the last 12 years, she's championed veterans issues. She has championed LGBTQ issues. She stood up for the family farm. Thank you.

By the way, as a family farmer, she's also persuaded Members of our side of the aisle, mainly me, a lot, I think. But we were in the Assembly, she said to me, hey, where are your caucus? Where are you at on this Bill? And she would say, you know, we'd have a pose or whatever it was.

And several times, she'd say, listen to my speech. Because I'm really. She would say to me, listen to my speech. And so, in the Assembly, I voted for two of her bills.

And I think it was something crazy, like, you know, give somebody with maternity leave without pay a few extra days, something that a normal employer probably should do anyway. Anyway, I voted for the bills, and then I got the scorecard at the end of the year, and I got scored down from the Cal Chamber.

I got an 80% because I voted for two bills, both Eggman bills. And it was. So I sent a text to her. I said, hey, my score went down. And she said, they're righteous bills. But on the other side of that, there was times when I had bills that knocked her scorecard down.

Sierra Club, environmental groups, and she knew the issues, and she voted for those bills because it was the right thing to do. That's who Susan Higgins is. Just a couple more seconds, Members. Last year, I think, was a defining moment to really understand how she works across the aisle and how she.

Her respect for her was when she had SB 326 last year, and we had an oppose on it. And it was a unanimous vote out of here, with many Members standing up and saying, we trust the author of that Bill. That's why we're going to support that Bill. We come from different sides of the aisle.

But I think what I've learned from Susan, mainly, is that it's what this place needs more of. People can disagree and still work together. So, for the last 12 years, my friend, I've watched you write your story as a veteran, a mother, a Legislator, and much, much more.

I just want to be there in the future to watch you write the rest of your story for us to all watch. I want to hold you up when you're winning, and I want to come alongside you when you're struggling.

Thank you for being such a wonderful, awesome friend, and, I think, a real role model to what this place needs more of. Thank you, Susan. I love you.

Well, thank you all. Thank you both very much. I appreciate it. You never think about making this end speech, and it comes faster than you think. First of all, it seems so far away now, all of a sudden, it's here. And so then I was wondering when.

I thought I had to say some things, like, who is my audience? Because that's always important when we speak, when we give voice to what is in us, like who. What am I trying to move? Who am I trying to move? What am I trying to achieve with these words? And then I just kind of reflected.

That's hopefully how I've tried to serve here, is really trying to find something that brings us together, something that can touch every one of us and remind us all of our shared humanity.

When I never intended to run for politics, when I was on the Stockton City Council for two terms, and when I came to the Legislature, I was on the council of a city that was going into bankruptcy, where we had unsustainable structures in our contracts, we were cutting police and closing libraries.

In the year that we were breaking the record with 70 violent murders from guns, you could feel it palpable on the streets, the distrust and just the misery that we all felt at that time. And Stockton was voted the most miserable city United States.

So when I came here, it was with a real mission, like, how do I make my constituents feel seen? How do I make them know they're being represented, that somebody is speaking for them, that somebody sees them and is going to try to make things better in all kinds of different ways for them.

And my way of being able to do that is inviting you along on my journey with me and entering into relationship with me. So then, hopefully, the things that I try to advance, you can see them in your constituents and in your lives that we try together collectively to make people better.

We are so privileged to work in a place like this where we actually have the means to help people, to change things, to move a position forward. And don't pigeonhole yourself. Never pigeonhole yourself. I came in as a, you know, as an educator, as a social worker. I have chaired the agriculture Committee twice.

I have chaired local government. I have chaired oversight and accountability. I have chaired the caucus. I have been the chair of the LGBTQ caucus, the women's caucus in 2018. That was no fun. That was no fun. And all of that. Hopefully, you bring yourself to it. That. How do we all get. How do we.

How do we do our best in every kind of place? How do we be the utility player that California needs us to be? As folks know, people mentioned when I came in, I was. Renee and I had been together for decades and had no intention of having children.

In June, her sister contacted us and said, I think I'm dying. And we said, you're not. And she did within two months. And so in August of my first term, 2013, I became a parent of an almost five year old. And the following month, my dad died of a massive stroke.

So as we sit in these places, we are living every day and how we bring ourselves to that occasion, and how do we bring our whole selves to that occasion. So again, we're not just working about passing a Bill. I'm very proud of the legislation I passed, end of Life option Act, right to repair.

We got the safe injection site to the Governor Brown's desk, and he vetoed it. The conservatorship stuff. I've done all the work that I've done with you, and I'm grateful for the support and trust that you've all placed in me.

And I want to say a huge shout out to my staff, my Chief of Staff, David Stammer, John, who's been with me since the beginning. I've had a consistent district staff my entire time here.

The young people we've been able to pull up and mentor and really hopefully teach people what public service is about, what public policy is about.

And may all of us always hold on to that so we can continue to instill in our constituency constituents that in California, your government sees you and feels you and does everything it can to make your life better without harsh words, with finding ways to reach across and not divide. We are always stronger together.

And I thank you for your friendship.

Thank you, Senator Edmond, for your 12 years. The next Member we will be recognizing is a Senator from District 25, Senator Portantino. Our first speaker is Senator Umberg.

Well, thank you, Madam President and colleagues. I rise to honor my landlord and condomate. So Senator happens to be a state Senator also. One of the first things that comes to mind when I think back over the years is, Anthony, you're only half the man you used to be.

So if you understand that, you understand, and you've known Anthony for several years, this guy is a bicycling maniac. He rides 234 hours every day. Now, when he first started a few years ago, he told me he hadn't ridden 30 miles in 30 years. And then he started riding 506070 miles a day.

A physical transformation that was exemplified by his dedication and his perseverance, which he also brings to our body. I learned a number of things about Senator Portantino. One is how proud he is of his family, of Ellen, of Sophia and Bella, even his cat or a grand cat. But he just revels in their love and their successes.

Anthony had me watch a esports NCAA final because his daughter, you may not know this, is an esports varsity athlete. University of California at the Redlands. He's done a number of things here that we all can be proud of, that have brought a great deal of benefit to California.

But there are three areas where I think he is best well known, at least where I think of him. First, his children. Whether it's the late start Bill to make sure that children get adequate sleep so that they can perform. He tried that Bill three times.

Right now, he can tell you every single human who voted for and did not vote for those bills. But he was a success because of his dedication, his perseverance. Whether it's guns. Making sure that you have to be 21 to buy a firearm. Making sure that you can't bring a firearm to school.

Making sure that you know how to use a firearm if you own a firearm, whether it's mental health, a personal issue for Senator Portantino, or whether it's. Or whether it's housing. All those things. All those things. He's benefited so, so, so many Californians. Armenia. This guy is Mister Armenia.

Ask him any question about Armenia current status or history, and he knows. Now there's another thing among others that he's famous for, and that's his meatloaf. And I think you're all going to be beneficiaries soon of Senator Portentino's meatloaf. I've got something to say, though. Anthony. I've lived with Anthony now for six years and seen his meatloaf.

I actually don't like meatloaf. Just to let you know, so you could give my meatloaf to someone else. I didn't want to offend you here early on. I didn't want you to adjust my rent based on issues such as that. So Anthony is departing, but not for long. Not for long.

Because of his passion for children, because of his passion for mental health, because of all those areas in which he's made improvements in California. I know you'll be back here in state governance, so thank you.

Our next speaker is going to be Senator Wilk. They're trying to follow instructions.

Senator Wilk, I know. Well, you know me. Hello, Madam President. Members, today I, too, rise to recognize our colleague and friend, Senator Anthony Portantino. When I think of Anthony, I think of courage. Collaboration and kindness and courage. Every time Anthony walks on the Senate Floor, he shows courage because most men are afraid of color.

Anthony is not afraid of color. And whatever he wears, he's always rocking with a pair of sketchers, which shows real courage, because that's in violation of the House rules. And I don't know how the. He's not. I'm afraid of the chief Clerk. He obviously is not afraid of the chief Clerk. So good for him.

And then, you know, political courage as well. You know, he's willing to stand up to the status quo to help others. And as Senator Umberg, you know, said, when I think of him, I do. I do think of children. The late school start time, everybody didn't want it. Even I didn't want it in the beginning.

But the fact of the matter is, if you look at the data, we have saved lives because we ended up ultimately supporting the Bill. Now, the first time it came up, I voted no. And one of his speakers was a Professor from Stanford.

And the reason I know he was a Professor from Stanford because he, like, told us eight times, he's from Stanford. He's not from Harvard. He's from Stanford. He shouldn't have done that anyway. And that's the only time I've ever. Well, I've gotten frustrated at the dice but never mad. And I got mad.

And he basically called me stupid. And I said, I threw my business card at him and said, hey, you know, you got a problem, you come and run against me. And then I went later that day to apologize to Anthony. And Anthony took my side. He said, no, he was rude.

You had every right to do that, which I so appreciated. And then the next day, I got an apology email from this Professor who specializes in sleep and said the reason why he conducted himself so poorly is he did not have enough sleep the night before. You cannot make these things up. I am writing a book.

I will give you all a complimentary copy when I am done. And then obviously, dyslexia screening for k two. We all know that if you are not literate by the third grade, that is one of the data points that demographers use to project future prison populations. 38 states have been screening. We haven't been screening.

And so that comes in the line, I believe, next year. And that's going to make a big difference to so many people and so many families. And again, I can't think of anybody during my time here who's done more for education than Anthony Porntino.

And then we have physical courage, as you know, because he'll tell you, he represents more Armenians than anybody outside of Armenia. And he has been a phenomenal advocate for them. And he's taken so many trips to Armenia and to the Republic of Artsakh. He's been on the front lines down in Artsakh where you can easily get.

You can get killed at any point. And he's been there advocating. And I know I was there a few years ago, and I wanted to go to the front lines. No one else in my delegation wanted to go and didn't go. And then collaboration.

I think everybody knows my wife's Armenian, and I like to say I'm ABC Armenian by choice. But as Armenian as I am known, as more Armenian than Anthony. We've worked together on the board of the Armenian Legislative Caucus foundation, where we've raised money to make the next generation aware of genocide and the perils of that.

As well as giving out scholarships, he created and then chairs the Select Committee on California, Armenia and Arts arc mutual trade, art and culture, where we promote trade and cultural exchanges with Armenia and California.

And then he secured $1.8 million in funding for the Armenian museum in Glendale, which I haven't visited yet, but we need to do and then go to Rafi's. And so I don't know of any other Legislator who's done more for the Armenians, California Armenians, than you, Anthony. And I really appreciate that, as does my family.

And then kindness. He's so kind. Just today, he gives me a piece of meatloaf, meatloaf sandwich. And you're thinking, well, I got one, too. So what? But then I hadn't had breakfast, so I ate it. And I ran into him later, and he's like, have you had. I go, I did have it.

He goes, did you have it hot? He said, no, I had it cold, and it was excellent. He goes, well, you gotta have one hot here. So I got two. So I got one sitting in my refrigerator. So if you want to share that later, you can. But just a sample of being kind. I had a constituent.

He was 20 years old when I met him. Him and his dad came to visit me when he was 18 and a half. He got t boned by a drunk driver and he suffered brain injury. Most states, you can get government services up to the age of 22. In California, it's only 18.

I tried for four years to get that and couldn't get really very far with it. And he came to me, knowing how important this issue is, said, I'm going to take it on. He got it through the Legislature, although he didn't get the governor's signature on it. But I really appreciate that it gave hope to this family.

And I'm hoping at some point somebody takes that baton up and finishes it. And then he's just been very, very kind to my family. We were at a. I don't know if I can interpret for this, but I was at a sEIU box at Santa Anita racetrack Anthony was there.

I was there with my wife and with my mother in law, who at that time, I think was 93. And we're having a great time. And then Anthony excuses himself.

Leaves and then he comes. I don't even know what they're called. A trumpeter, the guy that blows the horn. So he brings up a trumpeter, and I don't know how he knew this, but the trumpeter knows how to play the Armenian national anthem.

So he's in our box playing the Armenian national anthem to my, to my mother in law, who loved it, who we get the Armenian newspaper. So she follows Anthony all the time in the, in the Armenian newspapers.

And he, we kiddingly say, I hope you're not serious, that you're her favorite Senator, but you're definitely her second favorite Senator. With that, I gotta have immense amount of respect for you. You have not shared what you're doing next. Looking forward to that.

I know every person I know that lives in your district actually knows you because I don't think there's anybody who works their district harder than you. And I love your heart, I love your perseverance, and I really wish you the best moving forward.

And with that, you could all stand and give a nice Senate congratulatory clap for Senator Portantino.

Well, it's going to break my heart to raise Umberg's rent next year after his kind words. As I said during our dinner, I love what we get to do. We get to help people. But I hate the pomp and circumstance of this lifestyle. And so this is difficult for me, believe it or not, to talk.

I do want to give a big shout out to my staff, who's here. Thank you. Let's give our staffs, all of our staffs, a big round of applause, because we could not do this job without them. Both in the district and here have the best district and the best staff.

And so thank you for your dedication to our district. And as it's been said, I love my family. I have two fantastic daughters, a decade apart. And you do this because you care about the next generation, right? Isn't that why we do this?

And I have to give a big shout out to my wonderful spouse, Ellen, who puts up with me. You all get me here, she gets me at home, and she doesn't have to put up with me.

I don't have a vote at home, and so she has to put up with me even though I don't have a vote. And so I could not function without the great support that I have at home. Mister Wilk, you are a good friend, and later I'll be speaking about you.

But I just want to say thank you for your kind words and introducing me to your family and sharing a love of Armenia and Mister Umberg, it has been a pleasure living with you for the last six years. We sit there and we just.

I used to say, eat meatloaf, but now I found out you don't like my meatloaf. So I saved two slices in the fridge so you'd have one. So now I have an extra slice of meatloaf. I'll have to give it to the pro tem emeritus who loves my meatloaf.

But, you know, we can't get anything through the system without, you know, in this house, 21 votes and 41 votes in the other house. By nature, we have to work with each other, we have to support each other, we have to work collaboratively. And it's been an honor of a lifetime to serve in this chamber.

And I remember my first visit to the Capitol when I was a fledgling City Council Member in 2024 years ago, just being blown away by the majesty of this place, by the import of what we get to do affecting people's lives in how they conduct themselves and what they conduct themselves and what they learn and how much they get to sleep, and we get to talk about values and legislate and just be a positive influence on people.

And one of the mottos that I've always tried to be is be an optimist. And I always say, if you don't believe tomorrow is going to be better than today, you don't get out of bed. And so we have to believe that tomorrow is going to be better than today. And we get to work on that.

That's the job we get to do, is we get to make tomorrow better than today. And we do that many times across the aisle.

And I'm glad Senator Dali and Senator Wilk talked about the importance of Inter Party collaboration, because it makes us better when we have that conversation, when we come together and we do the right thing for the residents of California.

So thank you for letting to my constituents and the folks who sent me here a deep appreciation for this honor of a lifetime to serve in the Legislature and in particular to serve in this house with, you know, for Senator Atkins and I came in together and we've known each other probably for 40 years, and it's just been an honor to have served with you and to serve in this body.

And I appreciate this opportunity to address you and just be part of this wonderful world. So, thank you.

Next up, we're going to be recognizing the Senator representing Dickens District 35, Senator Bradford. Senator Atkins is going to kick us off with the first remarks.

Well, thank you so much, Madam President. So let me just start with a really personal thing and say, Senator, it has been wonderful to serve these last 14 years with you. You got here a little bit before, maybe six months before in a special.

But I was happy to get here and have you as one of the folks to help me get acclimated.

It's an honor, colleagues, to rise in support and honor someone who's dedicated his career to serving the people of his community for more than two decades, first as a Gardena City Council Member, then as a state Assembly Member, and now as a Member of our body here in the Senate.

Senator Bradford has always been sparked by the desire to fight for those who are too often ignored or discounted. That might seem like a familiar theme to many of us, but that's a reflection of the diversity of this body that now exists in California. In the Legislature, Senator Bradford has promoted equitable opportunities and increased inclusion.

His illustrious service includes chairing the California Legislative Black Caucus, the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications, the Senate Committee on Public Safety, and chairing the Assembly Select Committee on the status of Boys and Men of color. Groundbreaking police reform. Police decertification. Protecting the historic community of Allensworth. Returning Bruce's beach.

Part of the reparations that we talk about now. No matter how hard the work or late the hour, as we will see again at the end of this session, he has always looked quite dapper doing it. To this day. We're all trying to figure out, how many pairs of wonderful shoes does he actually own?

Fun aside, a couple of years ago, I had the responsibility of appointing Members to the task force to study and develop reparations proposals for African Americans. Senator Bradford, with his lived experience and his career spent in public service, was the perfect choice to do this important work.

It is historic, and many will look at this work and use it as an example. As we move forward. We are making history. Thank you, Senator. He's never one to shy away from tough issues. When he attaches his name to something, you pretty much are assured that he'll get it done.

I named one or two things, but let me also talk about name and likeness. NCAA sports with a Senator from Berkeley. Again, I'm going to repeat, because it bears repeating, Bruce's beach, the Ebony Alert. So many, so many things. As a Sacramento observer once wrote, there is just no quit.

To him, many of our most disadvantaged communities say, thank you, Senator, for your dedication and the fact that you don't quit. You won't give up until you get it done. Another, more fun fact as a former nightclub producer, he went on to make sure that the annual jazz fest in Gardena is a hit.

And if you've ever been there and had the opportunity to experience it, named wonderful artist, you should take advantage of that. It is coming up, by the way, at the end of August, a friend to everyone, Republican, Democrat alike.

I will never forget when he asked me as pro tem to invite the good Senator from series to the pro tem cup. And I thought, how am I going to explain to this Senator that this is a democratic fundraiser? But, yes, we should probably consider that. And I left it at that.

But he thought it was a great idea. And maybe if we would do those things together more often, you know, it would be a good thing. But I just looked. He, you know, when he is a friend, he is a friend loyal to the end, to the person that he calls a friend.

And again, Democrat or Republican, some of my fondest memories are going to be of shared times, particularly as I came in, as I said earlier to the Assembly and had you to look to. I will, and have forgiven you for telling me that your favorite lesbian was the woman from Stockton. I'm right here, Senator. I'm right here.

I'm right here, Senator. I'm right here. See, I just got you in trouble. But again, the fondest memories of. The fondest memories of fun times, of serious times, but of service.

Of service to the people in your community and the people in California and the special role that you play and that we have been able to play to people across this country as we tackle historic, internalized racism and try to make a difference in this culture.

That is what I will remember most about the work that you have done. Colleagues, please join me in acknowledging Senator Bradford.

I have to be the bad one up here. Colleagues, if we can hold our applauses until the Member is done speaking. And if we could kindly keep to the two minute remarks. Pretty please. Our next speaker is Senator Dahle.

Thank you, Madam President. Members. Gosh, I've been waiting for this. So first, I want to just say that I did the same thing. I went back through my text messages, and I will just say that Senator Bradford has never missed a father's day or my birthday. Always texting me.

But the crazy thing is, he has a BlackBerry, so he doesn't always commute okay when I'm sending him texts. Or maybe he just doesn't want it to work. But I want to go back to the Assembly. And I think it was really awesome that Senator Atkins brought up Steve in his shoes. So I came to the Assembly.

Steve's the most best dressed Legislator there is, and he really does have a lot of shoes. And so, you know, I'm a farmer, and I struggle in this area. But I introduced, my daughter was here. She was four or five.

And I introduced my daughter to Steve, and she's looking at him, and he's got these really awesome shoes on, and she's kind of looking him up and down, and he says, what? Ain't you never seen a black man before? And I was like, zero, my gosh. Right? So. And she's like, I really like your shoes.

And she said, they're really nice white shoes. And he says, those aren't white. Those are bone. And so it started off their relationship. So I want to speak about that for just a minute before I get into the seriousness of it. So Roslyn and Steve go back and forth all the time.

And so fast forward a few years, I was running for the Senate. We had a watch party here in town. It was a special, so nobody was here, but Steve was around. And so we invited him to come to the watch party.

So we were at this place, and Rosalind and Steve are going back and forth, and she's doing cartwheels, and she's like, hey, Steve, can you do a cartwheel? And Steve's. Of course I can. So Steve did a cartwheel, and unfortunately, he landed on his toe.

And I'm not sure if it was broken or not, but he said it wasn't. But he limped around for literally two weeks. And he said to me, Brian, he says, every time I step, I see that little round face of Roslyn saying, Steve, can you do a cartwheel?

So, Steve, you've been part of our lives, and my family's. I appreciate that. And when I did get her a bicycle, I was very sure to let her know the laws that you passed, because I believe that you have been ran over on a bicycle, like, three times. Twice. Okay, twice.

And I'm glad you passed those laws to keep my daughter safe. With that being said, I was his seatmate in the Assembly, and I. Scott, welcome to the. To the odd couple. I served in the Assembly. Got the odd couple there, and I got Steve.

I really enjoyed our time as seatmates together, but I want to now talk about what I really think Steve has added to, at least for me, being your Vice Chair of energy. Steve, I can't tell you your knowledge, your history of what happened.

We went through bankruptcies, wildfire, power outages, and your leadership in that space is sorely going to be. It's going to be missed. There's no way people have the depth of knowledge that you have in that space. And I want to say, as your Vice Chair, I'm really appreciated working alongside you. Now.

I want to talk about the other things I think is the most important as a Republican that Steve has really brought forth.

I think, and Senator Atkins touched on it and his ability to be able to teach what has not been taught in the black culture and what their achievements are, that isn't not, has not been taught in our schools. And Steve has been a champion in that area.

You know, I thought back about the movie that it was out. It's the movie about the hidden figures, and that was basically where IBM was taking over the jobs for the space exploration, and it was black people that really were doing the work and they couldn't. And it's a great movie.

But basically, Steve, you've brought so many of those other issues where we haven't been educated, and I think that you've done such a service for California and especially, I think, for folks like me who didn't get that culture, know it. So I want to say thank you.

And I think California is a better place because we understand, you know, the advances that the black community didn't get credit for that really has changed California and America. So I want to say that you, you know, I've had a lot of legislators to my district.

The black caucus came to Tahoe with me, and Steve has never been to my district. Out of all the legislators, Steve has never been to my district. You've been to Tahoe, but not with me. So I just want to say you've been a great friend. You have bridged the gap between Republicans, Democrats. You always come out.

And I really enjoyed our time. Every night, Steve and I hung out of around this town, getting to know each other. You've been a champion. You've been somebody who's shown that work across the aisle and hard work really makes a difference. And so I want to let you know you're invited to the ranch. I'll take you fishing.

I'll keep you safe. You're available up there. I love you, man. You've been awesome and a great friend. And thank you for your service to the State of California.

Senator Bradford.

Well, I'm really at a loss for words, but just want to say thank you to each and every one of you who I have had the honor to serve with over the last eight years. This has been a tremendous opportunity and I'm glad I'm not crying like I did 10 years ago.

For those of you who were in the Assembly on our last day and they had the Members tribute, I was literally crying like a baby. I mean, tears were just running down my face, so much so that a lobbyist that was sitting up in the balcony text and said damn, Gardena.

Because I was just, that's how he referred to me. Gardenia says, damn Gardena, you crying like a baby. I says, well, but this place has a really special place in my heart. I've had many jobs, many different careers, but this is truly the best career and job I've ever had.

I've had an opportunity to work with probably over 200 individuals from all across the State of California who I've learned so much from, especially, like I say, my friends from the farming community.

When I came from an urban area believing that I knew about the forest and all those things that I had been taught as an urban person, not until I took a trip up there that I learned firsthand that what we were being told is not necessarily the truth and seeing it firsthand, being able to experience that.

So I want to thank those who have shared their district with me and know I have yet to go to Beaver, but I promise I will get there at some point and make sure I see firsthand what you do and what you continue to do because you're a passionate, you believe in what you do.

And I thank you, Brian Daly, and your family for your friendship over the last 12 years. To pro tem emeritus Atkins. We have served both in the Assembly and the Senate together and you have truly been a tremendous friend but an amazing leader.

So I thank you for your support in believing in me and employing me to the reparations task force. It gave me an opportunity to learn more about myself and my culture. I learned so much on that reparations task force of things that you would have thought I would have known, but I didn't.

And I appreciate the opportunity to work on that legislation and so much more that has impacted Californians in the nation. And again, I'm going to miss this place, but I'm not going to forget to any of you because you all have touched me in a very special way.

And I just want to say thank you for being my friend, being my colleague, and we not always agree on things, but having an opportunity to have a conversation, having dialogue, being adults in the room, and that's what I really appreciate.

And I could have a story about each and every one of you because we've bonded in some special way during the eight years or the 14 years that I've been in the Legislature with pretty much each and every one of you.

And again, it's been an honor to serve, and I just look forward to the future, and I hope our friendships will last beyond my time in the State Senate. So thank you very much for this opportunity.

Thank you, Senator Bradford, for your dedication to California. We are now going to be recognizing the Senator from District 37, Senator Minh. Senator Umberg will. Senator Umberg will begin with his remarks.

Thank you, Mister President and colleagues. I'm proud to have the distinct honor to recognize and honor the service of our colleague from Orange County. I first meth Senator Minh in 2018. He probably doesn't remember. At the Orange County Registrar's office, we were both basically filing our papers to run for office.

Senator Minh then was a Professor at UCI, and the voters in that election, much like several of my elections, thought he should continue his service as a Professor at UCI, at least for a little while. But we had lunch shortly after that election.

I recognized his determination, his passion, his intellect, his dedication to public service, and said, you know, you ought to think about coming to the Legislature. You ought to come up here and make policy with us, because I think you'd be a very valuable asset, and indeed, of course, you have been.

And it was a two for one deal, because along with Dave, we got Jane. Jane is a tenured Professor at UCI, and I think, responsible for at least assisting with eight pieces of legislation, and she's been a valuable asset as well. Now, I know Dave, his service is going to continue.

He's going to have a little longer commute, I think, next year than this year, but I'm confident that his service to all Californians, especially to those of us in Orange County, are going to continue. Dave, I've had a chance to meet, interact with his wonderful family and kids, Teddy, Emmy, and Paxton. They are.

That's a trite phrase, but they are really the apple of his eye. He and Jane do such a wonderful job as parents and balancing so many different things at the same time. Davis serves as the Vice Chair of the AAPI Legislative caucus. He's played a major role in securing passage of the AAPI equity budget and 2021.

This is a monumental investment that benefited not just the AAPI community, but all of us in California. Dave never lost sight of where he came from.

He's the son of immigrant parents, and he's the only Korean American here in the Legislature, and he never lost sight of the fact that he has a duty and responsibility to Orange County, bringing $80 million in direct funding for a number of projects all around Orange County, in particular to improve public safety in Irvine, Tustin, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, and directing funding to the Orange County Fire Authority and Wildfire Prevention program.

He's been a fierce advocate for gun safety. Those at the Orange County.

We'll attest to that, Senator Min. That he's been a fierce advocate for public safety, including banning gun shows at the Orange County fairgrounds. Dave is a product of public education, has been dedicated and devoted to public education.

During his time here, he served as chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water and took a number of courageous steps to protect our environment.

Importantly, I had firsthand, I sort of a front row seat to watch him during the oil spill in Huntington Beach, which occurred a few years ago, where Dave was on site immediately. And then he introduced legislation to assist and ban offshore oil drilling, which impacted our wildlife, our sea life, our coastline in Orange County.

We wish Dave the best of luck in his future endeavors. I have great, great confidence that we're going to see Dave for many, many, many years. And so thank you, Dave, for your service here. We appreciate it.

Thank you. Senator Becker, you're up.

Well, thank you. I'm excited to do my roast, I mean, tribute of Senator Min, who has served the people of California with great distinction. And now we all know Dave is the brilliant law Professor termed policymaker man who can quote mortgage policy like many of us can recite the pledge of allegiance.

What you may not know is that he's an Eagle Scout, a dedicated crossword Aficionado, and as we all found out last week, a proud cat dad as well. If you need help with wordle, he's your guy. And let's not forget his impressive television resume as well.

He's regularly been on CNBC, where he talks so eloquently about the economy that even the hosts sometimes forget that they're supposed to ask questions. Of course, his journey to public service was anything but conventional. He's the only Senator I know who took an improv class before he ran for office. And in hindsight, that was pure genius.

On a fun note, some of you know, I sometimes play music and I'll ask people for a song. And I asked Dave just when we first meth, and he picked an obscure band that I just happened to be into at that moment, and we've been bonded ever since.

Of course, Dave's story is one of deep roots and very proud heritage. He's related to none other than Queen Min, the last queen of Korea. And I'm sure she'd be incredibly proud of how far her descendant has come.

Dave has fought tirelessly to make the American dream accessible to all, talking and really drawing inspiration from the story of his parents, who came to this country with little more than hope. And I don't think you ever thought that you would reach this day? And they ever thought that their job would reach this day?

And for Dave, it's all about service. He's been a tireless advocate for economic fairness, environmental protection, public safety. As our colleague from Orange County just mentioned, groundbreaking legislation to protect our coastlines from offshore drilling so that future generations can benefit from the beauty of our beaches without the threat of environmental disaster.

And that's one thing I want to say, Dave. He never shies away from a fight. Never shies away from a fight. He's championing increased transparency in our state's housing market, making it easier for families to achieve the dream of home ownership. He worked to strengthen California's gun safety laws. The face of the pandemic.

He was instrumental in securing vital resources for small businesses in Orange County and across the state. His efforts to address climate change are a testament to his belief that we responsibility to leave the world a better place for our children and grandchildren.

And again, I want to say, even though he's had a lot going on, he knows every Bill much more detail than I do. I'm always amazed. He's in. Every Bill comes up, he's thinking about it, he's working on it, he has an opinion on it.

And I have no doubt that he will continue to champion these issues with the same passion, intelligence, humor that he's brought to the State Senate. Dave, you've been an incredible colleague, a friend, a valued Member of this chamber. We thank you for your service, dedication, and friendship.

And we know that we'll continue your philosophy that you shared with us in your next chapter, which is a plant trees whose shade will benefit generations to come. Thank you for your service to our body and being our colleague. Thank you.

Thank you, everyone. I really hate goodbyes. I'll just say four years. I'm ending four years here. And as they say, the days are long and the years are short. I didn't like this place very much, so I decided to leave after one term. Just kidding.

So Josh Becker, myself, Dave Cortese, Rosalisi Ochoa, Bogue, and then Susan Eggman as well, came in during a very unique and historic time. We were the COVID class, and for all of us except Senator Eggman, we were first time legislators. First time in this body.

We came in, we campaigned after the primary during a period of COVID we were sworn in during COVID we were under heavy COVID protocols, and we all remember the masking, the social distancing.

And I want to thank Erica and the staff here for all of their incredible work taking care of us during that period safely and effectively, where we were able to get our work done, whether it was through Zoom meetings, through social distancing here on the floor.

And I will just recall that my first week in the Senate actually came down with COVID and Erica sent me a very nice care package. And I'm still actually not done with all the chicken noodle soup from that care package still at my house. You're welcome to have it back, Erica.

And so after that first two years when we kind of were resuming, I made the decision. It was a hard one to jump into a different campaign for a different type of seat, meaning that I knew at that point in time, my time in the Senate would be coming to a close at the end of this year.

And so I really didn't have a normal Senate experience. We've had the construction going on the last two years, and so everyone always tells me what it used to be like, what it will be like in the future. But I didn't get to have that experience.

But I'll just say, even with the experience I've had, it is very clear to me what a special place we get to work in the unique culture and history and really just nature, personality of this body. And I really want to thank pro tem emeritus Tony Atkins. Pro tem Mike Mcguire. Former pro Tem Scott Wilkin.

I'm sorry for former minority leader Scott Wilk. I just gave you an accidental promotion there. Current minority Leader Brian Jones. For all you've done to promote this culture of collegiality and empathy that this institution really represents. This body is unique. We've all talked about it, but looking around, I can say honestly, we disagree at times.

But I like you all. I've enjoyed working with you, and I respect you. I'm so grateful that I get to spend my days with you, and that is definitely not going to be true if I'm successful in my next endeavor and get to go to Washington every week.

The collegiality, kindness, thoughtful engagement, and decency that this body, to me represents are rare and important values in today's politics at a time when, really, politics is lacking these fundamental values. And I also want to particularly thank my colleagues from Orange County.

Tom Umberg, Josh Newman from Fullerton, Catherine Blakespear representing Encinitas, Janet Nguyen from Garden Grove, Santa Ana. It's really been such a pleasure working with you and trying to advance the unique values and concerns of Orange County, which have not always been well represented.

Now, look, we live at a time when many of the core values that I care about, diversity, inclusion, fairness, basic economic opportunity, are seemingly at risk in this country. And so it's been so heartening for me to watch all of you work to defend and strengthen those values over the past few years.

And I really am honored to call you colleagues. Now, as I think Senator Portantino mentioned before, we can't do any of this without our staff.

I just want to thank my staff, whether it's our capital staff up here, natural resources and water Committee staff, district staff for all of their incredible work, as well as the supporters who have supported my bills throughout the last few years and getting them passed.

We know it takes a village to get any legislation across the finish line. Thankful to all the folks that helped me get my bills done.

Now, I'll just remind you all that I have another eight years potentially to serve, so I may decide to run again at some point and come back so we could have Minsanity two, the sequel.

But I do hope that we'll continue our friendship, stay in touch, and that we'll look forward to continuing following your careers, because I'm so excited about what California is doing, so excited to see what you all will continue to do after those of us who are leaving are gone. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator Min. We are now going to recognize the Senator representing district seven, that is Senator Glazer. Senator Allen will begin with the remarks.

Well, thank you, Madam President. It's an honor to rise today to thank our good colleague and friend from Orinda, Senator Steve Glazer, for his exemplary service to this body. We all know that he came up through politics serving for a long list of really esteemed politicians working for Gray Davis.

And that's where he met his wonderful wife, Melba. They were both working for Gray. David Roberti, Kathleen Brown, Mike Wu, and then, of course, Governor Brown. He worked on Governor Brown's campaign in 2010.

He was actually honored by the National Political Association as strategist of the year and then ended up serving with Governor Brown as a senior political advisor and was eventually elected to join our body through a special election in 2015.

Now, you know, so much of oftentimes we bring our own personal experiences to the bills that we bring forward. They're inspired by, or at least informed by our personal experiences. And there's so many examples of those with Senator Glazer. I just want to highlight a few some of you may know.

And he's actually spoken about on the floor. He went through a very traumatic experience, having been shot, not too far from his home. And that experience informed much of his work, a lot of the empathy that he brought to his work, but including some important leadership work in the area of gun control.

He also was a proud graduate of the Cal State University system, ended up making his way all the way to the top to serve on the board of trustees. He loves that institution, loves the students in that institution, was devoted to that institution, but was more devoted to the students than to the institution.

And I think that that was something that shown through his work both on the education Committee, but specifically through his leadership on student success, taking on this Senate Select Committee on student success, and then holding, hearing after hearing about a very serious issue within the Cal State system, which was that so many of the students were going there and not graduating on time, spending years and years, in some cases languishing, spending a lot of money and a lot of time in the system without success.

And he was dogged about this issue, holding the Administration accountable, holding, hearing after hearing, and eventually creating a system that's now researching and tracking the progress of students through, from k through 12, through college as they enter the workforce, and really has done some important work in ensuring on time graduation.

And if you think of what that really means for a young person and their ability to start on their career and start their lives after school with less debt, it's a good example of a very serious contribution that he made.

And it's also a good example of Steve's continual focus on trying to focus on policy rather than the politics. This wasn't something that was a sexy issue that had a lot of special interest groups involved and lobbyists.

But he recognized that this was a problem that was impacting young people in our state that really needed some attention and time. And he dug in and spent time on it.

And it was reflective of who he is and some of those governing principles, of course, that he has on this wonderful baseball card that my son just told me this week and that I need to get for myself. That's all about trying to put policy over politics.

Another example of this is his devotion to journalism, his recognition of the importance of journalism to the health and strength of American democracy, the fact that our newspaper industry has been hemorrhaging and suffering. And he understands what an enormous impact that has and that can have on the strength and health of our democracy.

And he's focused like a laser on that issue as well. We all know, of course, the work he's doing right now, rather radical, groundbreaking work on trying to help rethinking financing of the journalism industry and newspapers. But one little example to tell you all about.

While we were asked to do district asks for our budgets, he decided to put his district dollars, direct his district dollars to create a statewide journalism fellowship program to bolster democracy in the media, where they're funding young people out of a center in Berkeley that are going all throughout the state, working for ethnic media, for local press, for larger newspapers, doing the hard work of investigative journalism in town after town, in city halls, halls of Administration in the counties, these chambers here in the Legislature, ensuring that the public can have a light shown on the important work of government.

And it's another example of him latching onto a problem, trying to do something about it, and putting those problem solver skills that marked his entire career to address a real public policy challenge here in our state.

Now, of course, Senator Glazer is someone who, unlike many of us, seems to care, I think, more about his votes than the bills that he runs. In fact, he's famously said a few times that love comes and goes, but your vote is forever. And I think that's reflective of who he is.

He wants to make sure that we are all doing our important work, oversight not only of the Administration, but of each other, and that sometimes we can be a little bit too much of a Bill factory.

And a lot of his focus has been on trying to ensure that he feels comfortable with the policies that he's looking to either support or oppose.

And he spends time digging into research and the facts, considering unintended consequences, fiscal impacts and all of those sorts of issues that may maybe a part of a Bill that don't end up getting discussed very much. And I think it speaks to those governing principles that we've discussed.

I just found out yesterday that I was going to do this speech, so I woke up a couple times over the middle of the night to write down some words that describe Steve Glazer. I had this little list that I just sat by my bed and I recopied them here.

So I want to just go over a couple of them because I think they, they reflect who he is. An occasional iconoclast, thoughtful, principled. I want to say that he has a soft touch.

He's someone very strong feelings and opinions sometimes, but he's really motivated by learning what drives you and why and what the reasons are behind something. He's not the kind of Member that gets in your face and is trying to force an outcome upon you. So he's got a soft touch. He's very kind.

One thing I heard last week at his farewell party, when many of his staff came and spoke about his kindness. There was a professionalism and a demanding Boss in many respects. He expects a certain high level of performance from his team, but there's a consistency there and a consistent kindness that always shone through. He's actually surprisingly funny.

I've gotten to see that in a couple occasions. Of course, he's an enophile. His love and knowledge of wine matches and perhaps even surpasses that of the great king of Napa, Senator Bill Dodd. And we've all, of course, been beneficiaries of that love and knowledge of wine. He's very respectful. He's respectful of everybody mattered, their politics.

And that's something that he chose consistently. He's sharp, he's generous, he's independent. And the final thing I wrote down was his devotion to family, his love for family. I think it's reflected by the presence of his daughter here today. Represents her sister as well, of course, his wonderful wife, Melba. We've had the opportunity to travel with him.

I see. Senator Razzo. We traveled together not too long ago. I know how devoted they are. His family is to him, and just as much as he is to them, of course. I see what a great dad he is now.

I also got a little window in what a great dad he must have been when his kids were little, because he's had the chance to hang out with my little son and to see Steve light up and play with little Ezra. They play Spider man together. He does magic tricks. He tells goofy jokes.

I've just gotten a chance to see a totally different side of Senator Glazier that's really fun and silly, but so good hearted and filled with kindness and joy. And so I just want to thank you, Steve, for being a great friend. And I want to thank you for your service to this state and to this institution.

You have really uplifted strong values here. You've. You've devoted yourself with great integrity here, and we're going to miss you a lot. I know that Melba is going to like having you home more, and I know you guys are going to go on to do some great things in your next chapter.

But you've done so much for this state. You've done a great work for this institution. And I just want to appreciate and thank you for your friendship and service.

Senator Wilk is next.

Madam President, I yield the floor to Senator Allen.

He did take 10 minutes, so that works.

Thank you, Madam President. I stand in front of you today surprised and bewildered because Steve Glazer is one of my political heroes and I'm always praising him and he doesn't take it very well, so I just don't. And you're already read.

So I don't know if it's because he's that humble, which he shouldn't be humble because he can back up anything he says or he doesn't believe me. So I'm hoping that he's humble. And because I go rogue sometimes. Not Senator Allen Rogue, but I go rogue.

I had to send my script to him to sign off, but I've added a few things because I had to go rogue.

So before I even met Steve, I was already impressed with him because I had seen his little baseball playing card and, you know, you can do this job and not do anything and no one at home's gonna know. And he was willing to make himself accountable by laying out his 10 governing principles.

And principle number three is pursue bipartisan decisions. There are always better and longer lasting results. So I'm gonna hold it to that. How about that? So he's always been willing to work across the aisle, and he's always provided friendship and loyalty to all those that have worked with him because he wants to cross that partisan divide.

And to me, he's always kept his word. And I think you probably have shared the same experience. Now, four years ago, he was chair of the business and professions Committee and we had a very controversial Bill from Assembly Member Wood, you may remember, the nurse practitioner Bill. And as you know, scope of practice.

I see a couple former BNP chairs. As you know, scope of practice, bills are quite intense, very contentious. And this one particularly so, it had failed in the past, cleared the Assembly back into the Senate. And Senator Glazer at the time was chair. And he did something really unusual that most people don't do, particularly chairs.

He brought together two Republicans and two Democrats from the Committee that had not made a decision to discuss the Bill and seek a compromise. That's good public policy. Now, I'm thinking about, based upon the Committee, it should have only been one Republican, not two. So you're very gracious.

And so we worked through that for a number of weeks. We finally came up with a Bill that we thought could pass and was good public policy, and we passed it out of the Committee. Now, for me, that was particularly challenging because it was an election year and I was up for reelection.

And of course, one of the opponents to the Bill, very powerful special interests up here in Sacramento. And Glazer knew that if I was going to go up on the Bill, that it would create some political jeopardy for me.

But at the end of the day, we came together in what we thought was a reasonable Bill and I was one of the key votes to pass it out of the Committee. And of course, it went on to pass the Senate back to the Assembly and the Governor signed it.

Fast forward a few months later during my reelection. And Senator Glazer, prior to the fall, had committed. He said, you're a great Senator. I'm not going to get involved in your race. And to his credit, he did not. I had other people say that, by the way, but he stuck to his word and he kept it.

And that final weekend, he called me to see how I was doing because it was a tough race and he wished me well. And I really appreciated that call. And there's consequences when you take decisions up here.

And we came back after the election and he lost his chairmanship as chair of business and professions, and he knew he was going to pay that price if he did what he did. But it's about doing the right thing. It's about honesty and integrity and friendship.

And I really have always, always, really valued his leadership in that respect. I think all of us could draw from Steve's example up here. He's gonna be sorely missed and he's always focused on, you know, constructive solutions.

Like, like Senator Allen said, he does have strong opinions, but he has such a soft touch and I think he's gonna be greatly missed. And for me, if you look at his card with principle number 10, is conduct myself always with honesty and integrity.

And I can say that in your entire time up here, you've conducted yourself with honesty and integrity, and you remain one of my political heroes and really appreciate our friendship. And you won't share with me what you're doing next, but I hope it's something in the public policy realm because you're an important voice for our state.

And with that, thank you so much for your service.

The Member still need to speak.

As a presiding officer. I know that was in violation and my apologies, Madam President. Well, those are gracious words. Senator Allen, Senator Wilk, thank you for your kindnesses. Bipartisanship has been a part of my service up here.

And focus on policy has been, you know, people I think have been somewhat surprised by me because I was such a political animal before I got elected. But I'll tell you, and I tell my staff, don't talk to me about politics. I'm done with that. It's all about policy.

So that's what I wanted to focus on, and I appreciate the recognition of that, as other Senators have done from the start. Nothing that I could have done or accomplished in my time would have happened without the strength and hard work of my staff. And I know that they are here or listening.

And that's not just my Capitol staff, but my district staff and my Committee staff. I have been a challenging Senator to. My apologies to our leadership, because I'm not always the easiest one. It means I've had a lot of chairmanships and a lot of different Committee staff.

So I think half the building Committee staff here have been with me at some point or another, and I so appreciate them. You can't again speak on this floor without expressing your appreciation for Katrina and the sergeant staff that we have. Thank you all.

You can't be on this floor and not express appreciation to Bernie and the death staff. So incredible. You can't be on this floor, certainly at this moment in time, and not express deep appreciation for Erica and the Rules Committee staff.

HR and us have not always been exactly together, but it's an extraordinary team that you have built to make us all safe and to do our best work. And we. And I am so very, very grateful to that. Of course, I'm joined by my daughter, Alex.

We can't do our work without our family being supportive of what we do. My wife, Melba, and my other daughter, Ariel. I sometimes think that the best part about this job is I'm not outvoted all the time like I am at home. So sometimes going to work can be a positive.

But I have been blessed by great leadership of the House here in the Senate. Senator Atkins, thank you for all your support and help during the years. Senator Mcguire, likewise. Senator De Leon was my early years here as well. And I know I'm not the easiest Member to. To work with. You know, I vote 95. Every.

Every year after session, I ask my staff, how do I. How did I do? And one of the gauges is to go and take the votes of the leader and compare my votes in that regard. And I. This is my 10th year, and it's been 95%.

And that, in some ways, for people out on the outside, might say, wow, that's really good. But I also know it means that there's a few votes that I. I didn't always go along with, and that's. That can be somewhat challenging. You know, I first arrived here in the state capitol in 1970. 91979.

I know I look pretty young, but I've had a great opportunity to observe and be in and around this building. I worked for the pro tem for a little over six years. My office was right off the floor there and got a firsthand look at how the Senate operated in the 1980s and the early 1990s.

And I learned a lot. And there's been a lot of changes, some good, some bad, some different. I have to say that the last few years, I think that the culture of this place, of the Senate has really elevated, in my opinion, it's elevated in how we get along.

And I know that comes from the great leadership of our, of our team here in the Senate to help foster that. We can have differences, but we can get along. You know, when I first ran for this office, I didn't run on a single issue.

I didn't say I'm going to be the education Senator or your transportation Senator or whatever the subject matter was. I said that I would come up here if I was elected and support a culture of problem solving, problem solving over partisanship.

And maybe that's why in my election, I actually got, well, I got votes from both sides of the aisle, I think, which is why I ended up being here. I want to share as I finish my favorite quote from Jerry Brown, Governor Brown. He said this on occasion.

He said, I know more than most, but only half of what I need to know. And it was a great, it was a great mentorship for people like me. I know that I've had the opportunity to work with all of you wonderful colleagues on bills and the issues of the day.

And I know I ask a lot of questions, and I know sometimes that can be a little bothersome, but it really comes from that mark that Jerry Brown made on me, which is that don't think that you know everything. You just, you simply do nothing. And you got to have an open mind.

Now, sometimes, certainly as it relates to Administration, you can get into a paralysis space, but we got to vote. There's no putting something off on this floor. And there's occasions where you can lay off, but you're expected to make a decision.

But it means, for me, at least, it means I've never tried to rush to a decision, and it means that I've engaged with you, hopefully constructively and honestly about questions to help me get to a place of, and I always think trying to get to a place of yes.

And finally, let me just say that the foundation of our work here is trust, trust of the people that we represent. And I always thought that the best explanation from a Member on any issue was this is how I think my district feels about that matter. And that's a great touchstone for our work, how your district feels.

But fundamentally, it's about trust that the people have in the work that we do and trust in government. And as Senator Allen mentioned earlier about democracy, it's something that I never thought would be as fragile as I feel about it today. I don't know if you feel the same way, but I certainly do.

And it's been driving a lot of how I hope to. I've conducted myself and a lot of how I hope we will understand that that big concept of democracy is not something out there.

It's something that's in our hands here that we can control and that we can influence, and it's fragile, and we can't take it for granted. I've been blessed to be able to do this work in my 10th year now.

I thank you all for all the kindnesses that you've extended to me in our work together, this important work of democracy. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator Gazer. We have two more Members we will be recognizing. Senator Skinner, who represents district nine. Senator Rohab will begin her remarks.

So, colleagues, I rise to recognize my seatmate, district neighbor and friend, Senator Nancy Skinner. I think that many of us who have served with Senator Skinner easily know that she's one of the most well read individuals on any subject matter.

And I also want to highlight the fact that, you know, I always joke with Senator Skinner, and I literally just call her Skinner, that the fact that she was chair of public safety for the amount of years that she was, it's a hard job, and I think people don't really understand that.

And, you know, I'll go through a little bit about what she has worked on. And the one thing that I do want to say about Senator Skinner is the fact that she has genuinely championed a lot of issues that we all think are important.

And in a way that's very thoughtful and very considerate of all sides of an argument. And she often has a very honest outlook on what's exactly happening and what needs to happen. You know, it's not just about status quo and holding firm to those values, but it's also saying, okay, where do we need to go?

And whether or not this particular issue is moving us forward.

And on issues like public safety, an institution and industry, a situation that largely is not touched by many elected officials because it's a scary thing to touch, whether we're talking about it on a local level or even a statewide level, Senator Skinner has pushed the issues that matter to people forward.

And the one constant that we can all agree upon is that change is constant. And so nothing can just stay the same. And Senator Skinner knows that better than anybody.

And one of the things that I do want to highlight is that Senator Skinner, she is from Berkeley, and she was the first student that went to UC Berkeley that got elected to City Council. Okay? So imagine this many years ago, and Senator Skinner knows what it's like to be the new kid on the block.

And she's always remembered that. Making sure that as she promotes more women being in leadership, as she promotes more women being recognized. In fact, she never votes on any type of situation where they name a bridge, a street, a freeway that's named after a man, she says it's been done before. Okay?

So she focuses on the issues that she cares about. And as the chair of the women's caucus, she prioritized women winning. And more than that, she prioritized progressive women winning. And, in fact, she has led the women's caucus to be equitable, to be thoughtful, to be more cohesive.

And the reality is that when I won my seat and I was running the entire time, Senator Skinner would call to check in. Hey, have you done this? All you need to do is this. You need to talk to this. And when I finally won, she had a conversation. I won't forget it.

And she told me, okay, so here's the lowdown on the Senate. This is what you're going to have to do. This is the structure. Think of this person as the city manager, this person as the city Clerk, this person as that, just to let me know how this institution operates.

And she told me, you could piss off anybody you want if you care about the issue. But there's roughly three people you don't piss off. And I said, okay, let me write down their names. And she said, you don't piss off Kimberly Rodriguez. Okay? And you don't piss off Bernie, and you don't piss off secretary Contras.

And I was like, okay, why? And she goes, I'll tell you later, but right now, I just want to make sure that when you come in, you don't piss off these people. But everybody else is free game, okay? And I said, okay, great. And clearly last year upset a couple people, I think.

But I didn't upset the people that she mentioned. I was very cognizant of that. Right? Because I'm trying to follow Senator Skinner's advice, and anytime you had a tough day, she would. Her pep talk is like, yeah, 100%, you are upsetting the right people. You're doing exactly what you need to do. You keep moving forward.

And I was always happy to hear from her that she agreed on a lot of the things that I wanted to do or I thought was right. And oftentimes, you guys all know, I can't sit still.

But when I would sit in my chair, Senator Skinner, who, my entire time with her here, she wore a mask, and I'm a little hard of hearing.

And I'd make her repeat the same thing, like, five times until she lifted her mask and said, I said this, and we would debate about, why'd you vote this way, why'd you vote that way? And it was always a good, robust discussion, always filled with jokes and, you know, just honest humanity.

And she would know that sometimes when you would do something that was tough, that it's also hard, right. That sometimes it leads you to being upset. Sometimes you have things going on in your personal life. Sometimes you have things going on that you know you're having a bad day. And I think Senator Skinner knows that.

And she brings an honest ear, supportive word, and a lot of just encouragement and I want to say that Senator Skinner is a brilliant, tough, and thoughtful Legislator. If there was a just or righteous cause that needed a legislative solution, you know, she was one of the first people that would lead the change in California.

College athletes have the right to earn money from their name, image, and likeness. Because of her, she opened up police misconduct records for the first time in 40 years. During her tenure, she overhauled California's unjust felony murder rule, and she established the first in the nation gun violence restraining order, otherwise known as red flag laws.

And she ensured that college students, k through 12 students, had access to food, the most basic things. And anyone involved in the East Bay knows Senator Skinner. They know she's a principled leader who's always thinking about those who do not have a seat at the table. Her career as an elected official spans 40 years so far.

Berkeley City Council, East Bay Regional Park Board, Assembly, and Senate. And when she wasn't an elected official, she was championing climate policy across the nation. Again, I said, she's from Berkeley, and she was the ultimate tree hugger.

In the gallery now are a number of Senator Skinner's former staff who just clearly shows the fact that they're trying to honor her and because she has served with them and they respect the work that she's doing. After 40 years of this work, she has also earned a break.

And even though I've been pushing her to run for something else, I think her legacy is going to be her pushing more women to run and get elected across this state. In fact, we're on the brink of parity and representation of men and women in the Senate.

And Senator Skinner had a huge hand in that through her leadership as chair of the Legislative Women's Caucus, as well as her roles encouraging women to run for higher office. And I want to highlight the fact that she was one of the people that supported Congresswoman Barbara Lee to run for office.

And the mere fact that she continues to do that and continues to, you know, encourage other women to run clearly shows what she values most, and that is representation.

She represents her district wholeheartedly and authentically, and she has continued to hold the door open for everyone else to follow and making space for many of us to be the woman to help others. So thank you for your service.

Senator Bradford, you may begin.

Thank you, Madam President. Briefly, before I start recognizing Skinner. Skinner, I just want to apologize for not recognizing my staff and my remarks. I wouldn't be here without my tremendous staff, both current and past. So thank you for all that you've done.

Now it's truly an honor to recognize an amazing colleague, an individual who I consider a friend, someone who I consider a ride or die Member of the Senate. And that's none other than Nancy Skinner. I've served longer with Nancy than any Member on this floor.

We started in the Assembly together, but I got there nine months after in a special election, and I didn't know up from down. And it was individuals like Nancy Skinner that quickly reached out to me, embraced me, gave me the lay of the land, and we spent many hours out on the portico just sharing stories.

We have a similar background starting and local elected as local elected officials, she and the Berkeley City Council, me and Gardena. And we just had honest conversations because that's who Nancy scanner is. She's a straight talker. It's no, you know, she cuts straight to the chase.

What she says, you can go to the bank, and when you talk about a ride or die, you don't have to look over your shoulder to see if Nancy's there, because more than likely she's in front of you doing the blocking and tackling.

She's out there advocating for the things that need to be done the most, whether it's yours, your Bill, or someone, anyone else's Bill, it's not just hers. And I've been honored to co author 15 bills with Nancy during our time in both the Assembly and in the Senate.

And she has co authored over a dozen of mine as well. And we talked about nil. It was Nancy who came to me and said, Bradford, let's do this together. She could have easily done this Bill by herself, but she valued and understood the importance of collaboration and working together and the importance of diversity.

And she shared that spotlight with me and said, let's do this together. Because she, again, understood the value of diversity in moving this issue forward. She understood that the majority of these athletes who were not being compensated, didn't look like her. They were African American men.

And so I thank her for her trusting in me to join her at the hip on what was a very challenging piece of legislation, a piece of legislation that we got out of this house without a single no vote.

But when we went on summer recess, it was people who were blowing both our phones up, trying to get us to hold the Bill and not move it further, because it was tremendous pressure from the NC two a to drop the Bill.

And Nancy and I huddled up and she laughed and says, no, we're going to keep moving forward. And that's what we did. And so I thank you again for that. And when I think about Nancy, I think of a Jedi warrior, a warrior for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, whether it's women's rights, minority rights, LGBTQ, the homeless.

She is a champion for all of them. I've been honored to serve with her since our time in the Senate on public safety. She was our chair, and after leaving the chair of public safety, she became the budget chair.

At one of the most difficult times, people say, when you're in a deficit, but sometimes the most difficult time when you have a lot of cash and being able to disperse it in a fair and equitable way. Nancy was a great steward of those funds.

But again, when you talk about public safety and all that we have done in the State of California is because of her courageous leadership. And again, she's not afraid to tackle the issues that mean the most to all Californians, whether it's housing, improving our education system, and criminal justice, as they stated, even the environment.

And I just have trusted Nancy so much because, again, she's a straight shooter. But we really bonded over shoes. And I call her fancy Nancy, but she might not remember.

We were on a sifi trip my first year in the Senate, I mean, in Assembly, and we were in Spain, and we were at this exclusive shoe shop, and it was our last day to be in this town.

And I saw a pair of shoes from my mother, but unfortunately, I had not converted my us money over to the currency there. And I had left my credit card in my room, and the shoe shop was closing that evening. Nancy quickly pulled out her credit cardinal and bought the shoes for my mother. And I appreciate that.

And if there's one individual on this floor that has more shoes than me, is none other than fancy Nancy. She rocks them like nobody else, whether it's pearls, studs, rhinestone. She has all the shoes for all occasions. She's, again, a fashion icon, you know, in her own style. She's unapologetic for what she.

Who she is and what she does. But what I also love about Nancy is she's a loving mother, a wife, and a doting grandmother now. And as you saw and heard with her tremendous tribute to her late brother, it tells you what kind of person she has. She has a heart of gold.

She cares about people more than she cares about herself. She has been a tremendous colleague to each and every one of us here. I have no doubt that she will continue to do amazing things because she leads with her heart. She's never one to put her finger in the wind and see which way it's blowing.

Because her nerf star leads to justice at all times. She's. Again, she ignores the headlines. And she, as Senator Wahab said, she's an excellent listener. But she, again, tells the truth. You know, she's gonna tell it like it is. No. Straight up, no chaser. She's gonna tell you, hey, this makes sense, or it doesn't make sense.

And I just want to thank you for your friendship, not only to me, but every Member in this Senate, regardless of what party you're part of, where you come from. Nancy cares about the State of California. Nancy cares about the people of California, I mean, the United States.

And she has been a tremendous leader because she leads with her heart. She's a true public servant. And thank you, Nancy, for your tremendous service to the State of California in this nation.

Senator Skinner?

Yes, I still do wear my mask. I'm one of those people who has a susceptibility and some issues around that, but appreciate your indulging me for it. Thank you. My colleagues who spoke for me, I really. And I love you all there. I love you. Go make me cry. I've loved serving in the Senate and the Assembly.

It's given me the opportunity to work on all the issues I care most passionately about, coming from that heart. Income inequality. Removing barriers for women so we can achieve economic and political equity, which we deserve. Restoring fairness to our criminal justice system, reforming our criminal sentences so they're proportionate to the crime that was committed.

Advancing California's leadership on clean energy and the climate crisis. And, of course, housing, housing, housing. And from the time I was in the Berkeley council, I tried to use the position that the voters gave me to accomplish policy that could make tangible improvements in people's lives and be a model and a catalyst, both nationally and globally.

Always thought about that. I'm very proud that today, people who didn't commit murder in California do not have to serve lifetime sentences for felony murder. They don't. And access to police misconduct records is going to hopefully get us to the place where our communities and our police force, they trust each other. We need that.

Without that, we won't have public safety. Our lights stayed on during this heat waves because back in 2010, when I was in the Assembly, my colleagues took the leap of faith when there was no utility grade in battery storage and passed AB 20514. And now California is the world's leader in battery storage.

SB 330, the Housing Crisis act. It enacted the very simple idea that housing applications that play by the rules should not face new obstacles or have to get delayed. So those changes and the many changes all of us made to the AdU laws, that's been the game changer in housing.

We're actually building more units like the one in my backyard. And if you've heard me talk about the student athlete Bill, you know that I was inspired by Kareem Abdul Jabbar, who I followed since she was Lu Al Sindor playing on UCLA.

And he talked about the incredible sums of money that colleges made off the backs of student athletes, primarily, as my colleague from Gardena pointed out, black student athletes, a message that was reinforced to me then when I was at Cal by Doctor Harry Edwards.

But I really couldn't imagine that I'd be able to or we'd be able to do anything about that. Yet look what we did. Universal school meals. We did that through the budget. Momnibus showing, making changes, acknowledging the fact that our black women and their babies suffer much higher mortality rates. We did that in the budget.

Also getting Internet retailers to collect sales tax. Imagine what kind of revenue shortfalls we'd have if we didn't have that. The gun violence, restraining order, a whole lot more. I could go on or on my big top 10 list. But we'll let that go for now.

I was especially proud to be part of a very coordinated efforts that my, many of my women colleagues here and who served with me in the past to increase the number of women in the Legislature. And as has been mentioned, we did it. We did it.

We started out with only about 20 or so when we got elected, many of us, and now we're at 50. Next year we'll be 58 pretty soon. We don't want just parody. Sorry, apologies. But, you know, it's like women.

Thank you. Yeah.

Anyway, I have to thank my incredible staff. And when I say staff, I'm talking all my district staff, my Capitol staff, my Committee staff, both in the Senate and the Assembly. So many of them are here today. Again, I love you all. Thank you for trusting me, for being part of team Skinner, for making me look good.

These accomplishments took all of us. All of us. And we were aided by the very best district in the state. Sorry, expert and active constituents who brought us remarkable policy ideas and always had our backs. Always.

And I want to thank the Senate staff in all levels, leadership staff, desk staff, the secretary staff, our sergeants, all of you, for the support you've provided us. It's how we get what we do done. And as I've said many times, being in the Legislature is a team sport.

Thank you colleagues, for being such good sports, for playing this game fairly and putting your trust in me when I threw you a fastball. Our constituents want us to be leaders. They want us to be courageous. They want us to be bold.

Not just following, not just looking at what's popular, but being bold and taking the long view. So please do that. I'm counting on you. And thank you. I love you all.

Thank you so much, Senator Skinner. We love you, too. The last Member we will be recognizing today.

The last Member we will be recognizing today is the Senate, who represents District 21, Senator Wilk. Senator Portantino will be the first speaker.

Thank you, Madam President. It is indeed an honor to speak about my friend, Senator Wilk. You know, when I was in the state Assembly one time, we got treated to a series of poll results about what Californians wanted. It was during the budget crisis.

And lo and behold, 85% of Californians wanted the Legislature to set aside its differences and work collaboratively to get things done. Then they showed us another poll that was, 87% of Californians wanted us to be productive and work together to accomplish a solution to the budget crisis.

So, after receiving this dynamic poll results about the nature of the public, we got our talking points. And our talking points were the exact opposite of what the poll results were. Our talking points were how bad the other side was and how obstruction they were and how they prevented us from solving the problem. Enter Scott Wilk.

He's someone who focuses on solving problems. He's somebody that takes to heart what 85% of Californians want, which is collaboration, which is getting things done, which is putting principle ahead of politics. And he was able to lead with that value set.

And so when I say to all of us, when we think about when we sit in our chairs, how often does one of our colleagues come to us and ask us for help? Well, Scott's probably the person who gets the most visits from other Members asking for help. And that's because he's willing to help.

He's willing to stretch. It's because his basic philosophy is to put the best interests of the state ahead of partisan politics. And if we think about the dynamic in our country, how rare is that? How rare is that?

How rare was it to have somebody who not just got elected, but ascended to a leadership position with the perspective of putting principle ahead of politics. And so, for me, this is an easy person to talk about. He's a friend. He's a colleague.

We're true on difference in sides of the political spectrum, but we've been able to work together because of his leadership. Now, we talked a little bit about Armenia. Here's a man who embraced the Armenian culture not just from a political perspective, but from a family perspective, and he loves that country.

And I believe you've had both of your children baptized in Armenia. And I will submit that your mother in law likes you better than she likes me. I will submit that for the record. But I think I'm number two as far as her favorite Senator goes. But we've shared a good camaraderie over that.

This is a man who deeply cares about animals. Now, in your bio, it lists your love of your dogs ahead of your spoiling your grandchildren. So I don't know if that's the right order or not, but you need to update that because he is also a devout grandpa to his two great grandchildren as well.

And he does spoil the dogs. And his legislative record shows not just supporting animals, but animal shelters, foster youth education, transparency, making this place a better place to function again, those are an extension of his values and his leadership.

He's a devout man, something that, you know when you talk to him, but he doesn't espouse it in a way where he's trying to convince other people he's reflecting his own devout values. That's rare. And that's why he is who he is.

So for me to have the opportunity to share our love of Armenia, our love of family, our emphasis on policy, it's been a rare privilege to serve with somebody across the aisle who is so special in doing that. And then finally, we talked a little bit about his role in the education Committee.

And one year opposing a Bill, the next year supporting a Bill. Again, that's a testament to him as a leader where he's willing to look at the data and the facts and the history of what makes students perform better to where he says, you know what? Maybe I didn't get it right last year.

Now I've had a better chance to look how many of us admit to changing our vote based on those reasons of doing more research? And how many of us stick to our guns and say, well, I vote. I want to be consistent.

This is a man who is willing to undo something that he did the year before because it's the right thing to do.

And so it's an honor to stand here to thank you for your friendship, to commend you for your leadership, and to just say to everyone, there is a way in this business to be successful, to be principled, to be valued by leading and standing by your convictions.

And that is what Scott Wilk has done his entire time in office. And so thank you for being you. Thank you for being my friend, and thank you for being a fine Senator in this August body.

Senator Glazer, you're the next speaker.

Thank you, Madam President. And it's a pleasure to be here testify to the great spirits and accomplishments of Senator Scott Wilk.

He spoke earlier today, this afternoon about his work on the business and professions Committee, which I had a firsthand look at a lot of times people come up here to the Legislature with a lot of rhetoric swirling in their heads, and it really isn't really grounded to them or us, and it really just is hollow rhetoric about working together in bipartisanship.

But I have had that same front row seat, as Senator Portantino has indicated, of a very pragmatic politician, but he didn't come up here to be an activist. And again, easy to say, but then you have to look at the work. And as Senator Atkins has said quite often, you know, you got to do the work.

And when I think about Senator Wilk's service here in the Senate, I have a firsthand view of him doing the work, focused on problem solving, focusing on policy, focusing on the work above partisanship.

And that was the example he spoke to earlier today about the nurse practitioner Bill, something that was a very difficult Bill to go up on, yet he knew the pragmatic side of it.

And if we could talk to him and listen to him and compromise with him, you could always count on Senator Wilk to be true to that loyalty and that consultation and that communication. And I hear that a lot from others on the other side of the aisle, that if you involve us, we can be pragmatic problem solvers.

And Senator Wilk, we have seen that from you so many times. Senator Portantino talked about your service on the education Committee, which we have served together on for many years. And there was, as we like to say, in our districts, it's not a Republican or democratic pothole.

And in the education space, it's not a Democrat or Republican child. It's trying to do what's necessary. And we know both in that arena and in so many others, there's interest politics swirling around. There's power politics swirling around, but it was never something that motivated you in looking at a problem and looking at an issue.

And I so respected that. And, of course, that's probably why you were such a good fit for the problem Solvers caucus. You served as Vice Chair. Did you ever get a chance to be chair or. No, that's all they would give you. zero, I see. Co chair.

But one of the things that when you want to look at service here in the Legislature and say, where is the courage? A lot of times the courage is in standing up to interest groups.

But another time, when you courage, it's when you stand up for people that don't have a voice, the powerless, they have no lobby, they don't have any clout. You're doing it for the right reasons.

And when I look at your resume and see the work that you've done in regard to animals, there's not a big, powerful constituency for animals. When I see the work that you have done for foster youth, there's no powerful constituency fighting for foster youth up here.

The disabled community, again, all these places that we all know as legislators where we. It's very easy to identify the powerful, and it's not so difficult to identify the power lists.

But on your resume, time after time, I've seen where you have stood and where your vote has been cast and when your leadership has been advanced and it's been in those places of the folks that don't have a voice. And it's something to recognize and to appreciate.

I've seen the same thing for you in regard to the arts, something that you know and Senator Allen speaks to quite often about how valuable that is to a civilized world, the arts that many people misunderstand and don't know and what it does for learning, what it does for mental health, what it does for building community and good culture.

And you have been a leader in that space that we appreciate. And, you know, I looked at some of the accolades you've gotten over the years, and I must say a few of the groups kind of surprised me. I mean, the Easter seals, okay, I get that. The California Arts Council. I kind of get that. Social compassion.

Okay. Important. The Clean Money Campaign. Here's where you and I have found a lot of alliances in terms of transparency and honesty and campaigns and tracking money.

And certainly another accolade that people surprise people is the acknowledgement of your leadership from common cause, another place where people would not naturally think about Senator Scott Wilk, but an integrity in government. Integrity in government. And I've seen that firsthand in partnerships that we have had on bills in that space.

And I thank you for that because I know it took leadership and courage to join me in some of those efforts because everybody else doesn't like that stuff in the political world. But you and I have both been aligned in that space, and I appreciate it. I've noted that.

And many of my colleagues here have the same quality. So it's not just exclusive to Senator Wilk, but incredible fighters for your district and incredible leaders in acknowledging success and accomplishment in your district.

And I've seen that in your work on small business folks in your area, nonprofits in your area, that all those do gooders that fill the gaps, another place of quiet voices and your ability to see that in your district and raise them up and praise them is something that I know many of my colleagues try to do, and you have done it in numerous ways.

Now, I want to just speak to a fight that you had. It's noteworthy on a variety of levels, but you fight with La County a little bit, don't you? Just a little bit. And you're a fighter for your district.

And I know you had a Bill a while ago to create a new water agency in Santa Clarita Valley, including a ratepayer advocate, first of its kind of a water agency. And I know that was a great fight. But your fight with La County was involving the homeless and trauma centers, right? Yeah.

They weren't giving you the funding in your neck of the woods, and you got a state audit done to see what the facts are, not just one Legislator's point of view.

And through a legislative proposal in public pressure, La County relented and increased the trauma center funding to Antelope Valley Hospital, which, for people don't know, has the fifth busiest emergency room in the country. And fighting for your district and succeeding. And it's to your credit, to your great leadership.

Look, as I sum up, let me just say I was thinking about going rogue. Well, because he says that all the time, and it's like, can we just do that back? Can we throw that back at him? But I guess it speaks to your humor. It's a dry wit, I'll admit.

But your insight, your energy, your experience, your heart, all these things will be missed by all of us. The gift caucus is losing its best source of meme content. They seem to like a lot of your gestures and chaos that you bring at times.

But look, it has been a true honor and pleasure for all of us to work with you. Senator Wilk, we're going to miss you very much. You've been an important part of the success of this institution over the years, bipartisan success for the people of California. And we thank you for your service. Senator Wilk. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President. Thank you. So I did not want to do this. In fact, I had no intention of doing this. And then we had our outgoing Senator briefing. All those are departing.

And we had three speakers who were former Senators come and speak, and one was Anthony Cannella, who said, I always thought that was a silly exercise I didn't want to do. And then I did it, and he was like. And so Anthony talked me into it.

I'm so glad, and I respect both of you so much, and I really, really appreciate those comments. I said I wasn't going to cry. Now I think I am. That's bad. Anyway, my story starts on a family vacation in Sacramento, in the State of Jefferson with my family.

And in Sacramento, you know, we did Sutter sport and all that. We did a tour of the capitol. I was sitting up there, 13 years old, saying, that's what I want to do. Moses got to the promised land quicker than I got to the State Senate. He did it in 40 years. Took me 44.

But you know what? I really stand here, really with a heart of gratitude. Think about it. So I still have the old district. And the migration of people out of California doesn't come from districts like mine. It comes from districts like yours. So I actually represent a million, 60,000 people.

So we, all of us represent more than 12 different United States Senators. Just think how awesome that is. It's really an honor to be here and in my district. I was born and raised in that district. And so, like, when I started running for the Senate, I was like, running into people I went to kindergarten with.

It was hilarious. And I walk in here every day still in awe. And I understand that the history of it. So Brad Pomeranz, he doesn't have a show anymore, but I was going on a show one day and I don't even remember what the topic was going to be.

But Alex Vassar had just come out with his new book, and it turns out I'm the 500th person in California history to have served in both the Senate and the Assembly. So I like to start crying on TV. And then I was so excited, I called my wife. I go, hey, I'm the 500 person.

I want a jersey. It says Mister 500. Yeah, you know my wife. Yeah, that's not going to happen. And it still hasn't happened. But I just, I want to thank everybody that makes, makes us look good and makes our job so easy. So I want to thank Bernie and her staff, who just do a phenomenal job.

So professional. Sometimes I try to mess you guys up and you guys don't miss a beat. Rules Committee Erica, she's like, God, nothing happens in this building that Erica doesn't know about. And I don't know how you keep all those balls up in the air, but, you know, great job, sergeants.

I love all the sergeants, but I have to call out a couple by name just because. So Carlos Jimenez, his you're in trouble now. His pulled pork is awesome. And so the last couple years, as you know, my wife's been back east and not here.

And so he always does pulled pork for 4 July so it's one of the few things I get to look forward to. And then sid Newman, my sister, and her family came from Knoxville, Tennessee, our first swearing in.

And they were down at that reception down in the Rotunda, and they were completely lost and didn't know what to do. And she just asked Sid. My sister didn't even know who Sid was, but asked, and he got them up here, and they bonded on the way up.

So his daughter, as you know, is a very prominent softball player. So is my niece. So my niece at that time was in junior high today, she. First day of college today. That's how quickly time goes. And just quick shout out to the Senator from Canoga Park. Your father was so awesome with them.

I mean, they were sharing dialogue together on home alone and did photos, and she had to do a report, and so there was photos of them together, and she was, like, a superstar back home. So thank your father for that. And then these special services guys, do they not realize that they could write a book?

That would be a pretty interesting book, and they don't. They are so circumspect, and I really, really appreciate that. And then I just want to staff. I mean, we can't do it without staff.

So I want to mention some of the people from my Assembly staff, my longtime Chief of Staff, Curtis Rolanditis, who now, as you know, is in the third house, and he did a good job trying to rein me in. And then my scheduler, who's now gone, Lisa Johnson, turns out she was the best scheduler I ever had.

I knew she was good. I had no idea how good she was. But now I've had, like, nine schedules. And when she left, both Vanessa and I started crying. She's like a daughter to us in that.

And then Danielle Parsons worked with me in the Assembly and now works for the leader here, and she needs to be a Chief of Staff. She is a phenomenal person. And then I have. My Senate staff actually came, so I have Nick. And I'm doing this because these people need jobs, potentially need jobs.

Nick Verveka, I stole him from the john and Ken show. Great on social media. So if you see my social media and you like it, it's not me, it's him. So does a great job. Matt Gallagher, he's hiding behind that. He survived four years with the Greek Senator from Stanislaus county as Legislative Director.

So if you can do that, you can do anything. And he's done a great job for me. New kid on the block, Gavin Bleibla. I don't know if he's any good or not because he just got here, but he's got great hair. He's got great hair.

And then we already met Connor Sloan, my fellow this year, who reminds me so much of me. It's kind of scary. And then my Chief of Staff, Eileen Ricker. Here's the thing that upsets me about Eileen Rickard. No one mentored me when I came over into the Assembly.

I had no idea we got budget augmentations because I'd interviewed her, but she was already working in the Senate. I probably could have afforded her, but I didn't know. So I got her many years later. It would have been a much smoother ride if I'd had Eileen the whole time.

But really, hopefully, we stay in touch because you're just. You're really awesome. And then I'm happy to see my friend came. My friend came all the way from America to be with us. Former Assemblyman Dante Acosta, who replaced me in the Assembly. He happens to be in town today. So appreciate that.

Also want to appreciate just how we. How we can. How we conduct ourselves. And I think a big part of that was.

Was under the leadership of Senator Atkins and now Mcguire, in terms of sense of fairness and fair play and, you know, knowing we're not always going to get along, but still trying to seek those solutions and always had trust in her. And then, obviously, I would not be here without my wife, Vanessa, who is awesome.

And, I mean, she believed in me in times when I didn't believe in myself, and I would not be here without her. Just flat out. And then my kids. There's no photos of my kids in my office. It's all my dogs or my wife. But I do love my kids. I really do.

They're just not as cute as my dogs. And Senator porn Chino mentioned two grandkids. I got number three on the way, and it's our first granddaughter, and that's in November. So very excited about that. So I'm honestly looking forward to going home.

I'm fortunate that I actually love my wife, and I love my mother in law, who lives with us, who turns 98 next week. Yeah, Billy. I love her, and she's unbelievable. The only thing she has wrong with her is she has hard of hearing and she watches too much fox News, which just drives me crazy.

But anyway, with that, happy to go home. And I would say, you know, I leave here with a full heart. Now, the things I wanted to accomplish here never happened. I mean, our policy direction. I just have a different I just have a different vision for our state, but that's okay.

But, you know, when I'm home, you know, you guys are famous in your district. Some of you are infamous in mine. And somebody. And I'm not naming names, but, you know, and people, like, bring up, you know, and, like, I will defend you because I. Because I know you. And we may have different, different disagreements.

Yeah, you were looking at the right place, Senator Blakespear, but. And then they're incredulous that, you know, I would defend that person, but, you know, they view us as two dimensional, and we're all three dimensional. And I really appreciate each and every one of you. It's been an honor to serve with you.

I'm pretty sure what I'm going to be doing next. It'll be back home, but I will be up probably here a few times a year. I'm hoping that we continue to stay connected. And so I'll leave you with the quote. So the second most famous person from my high school, at least that's my opinion, is Frank Zappa.

And he once said, it's better to have something to remember than anything to regret. So that kind of sums up my legislative experience, but I would not trade it for anything in the world. And again, thank you all for your service to this state. And I wish you all well going forward.

And I just wish this all, including the state, success. So thank you.

Thank you, Senator Wilkin, thank you to everyone who put so much effort and time into the remarks, so much effort and time that every single one of you violated the time restriction. But I learned so much, and we all learned so much from each and every Member that is leaving our State Senate.

For now, we're going to take a break for every Member that we recognize. If you could please come up to the bar. Every Member that was recognized today, please come on up for a group photo. Senator Dahle, Senator mine, Senator Portantino.

Thank you.

The Senate will convene in 60 seconds.

The Senate is back and ready to go. Members, if we could take our conversations off the floor, we will be getting into a file of 29 bills that we'll be taking up today. These are support, support bills. These are support support bills. We're looking to end session at 06:00 p.m.

so please ensure you are on the floor for the vote so we can get through our work here. 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. We are now under motions, resolutions and notices without objection.

The Senate journals for August 122024 through August 152025 will be approved as corrected by the minute Clerk under a floor amendment motion. There are four amendments at the desk. They will be deemed adopted. Pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10, the following bills are referred to the Committee on Rules.

File item 361, SB 347, and file item 371, SB 1440, without objection. Pursuant to joint rule 33.1, joint rule 61 and 62 will be suspended to allow the governmental organization Committee to meet Thursday, August 222024 to hear the tribal compacts after the deadline and without four days notice in the daily file.

This request has been approved by the Rules Committee. Members, now is the time if to. Senator Cortese, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. Colleagues, there is a resolution at the desk requesting permission to suspend joint rule 62 A for the purpose of allowing Senate Transportation Committee to hear AB 1038 in Committee without four days notice in the daily file. These requests have been approved by the Rules Committee.

Thank you, Senator. Senator Seyarto, you're recognized on this item.

Yeah. We oppose and request a roll call.

Senator Cortes?

No vote.

Asking for an aye vote. Senator, search is asking for a no vote. Secretary, please read.

Resolve that joint rule 62 AB suspended with respect to AB 1038.

Secretary, please call the row.

[Roll call]

[Roll call]

No eyes. 31 knows nine. The motion carries. Any other Member? Senator Ciarto.

Thank you. Madam President, I'd like to remove AB 718 from the inactive file.

The Des is noted.

Senator Ochado, under motions and resolutions I write, I request anonymous consent to withdraw Senate Bill 1155, engrossing and enrolling and return the measure to the Assembly for further action.

The Des notice.

Senator Newman.

Thank you, Madam President. I request unanimous consent to return SB 552 to the Assembly for further action.

The desk has noted. Moving on to consideration of the daily file. We have items one through 340 under second reading file.

Secretary, please read Senate concurrent Resolution 13169. Assembly Bill 892. Assembly concurrent Resolution 203215.

Assembly Bill 544805 under unfinished business, these are the items that I mentioned, the 29 bills. We're going to start off with the first three file item 352, file item 353 and 357. Senator Becker starting us off. He is prepared.

Secretary, please read Senate Bill 382 by Senator Becker and acclaim to real property.

Senator Becker.

Thank you, Madam President. 382 is back in currents to make sure prospective homebuyers are aware of any potential costly electricity systems upgrades at the time of sale. The Assembly amendments exempt homes sold within three years of construction from the bill's requirements. I respectfully asked for.

I vote see no mics up. Secretary, please call the roll.

Allen? Aye. Alvarado, Gill. Aye Archuleta. Aye Ashby.

I Atkins, I Becker I Blakespear, I Bradford, I Caballero I Cortezy, I Dahle, I Dodd, I Durazo, I Eggman, I Glazer, I Gonzalez, I Grove I Hurtado I Jones, I Laird, I Limon I Mcguire I manjibar I Min I Newman, I when I Niello I Ochoa Bogh I Padilla, I Portantino, I Roth I Rubio I sierto, I Skinner, I small workuebas I Stern, I Umberg I Wahab I Wiener I Wilk I ayes 40 no, zero.

Assembly amendments are concurred in. Senator Ashby is ready for firearm 353.

Secretary, please read.

Senate Bill 739 by Senator Ashby an act relating to public contracts and declaring the urgency thereof to take effect immediately.

Senator Ashby.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise to present SB 739, which allows the City of Elk Grove to utilize construction manager at risk contracts for the Sacramento region zoo to move to its new, larger home in Elk Grove Grove. This model allows the city to streamline the construction process and therefore better control costs.

This Bill has received unanimous bipartisan support and is critical for the advancement of the project it seeks to support. I ask for an aye vote.

Colleagues. This Bill requires 27 votes. Any discussion? I see none. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Please call the absent members.

[Absent Roll Call]

Ayes 40, no zero on the urgencies, on the urgency ayes 40, no zero. File item 357. Senator Wahab is prepared.

Secretary, please read.

Senate Bill 981 by Senator Wahab an act relating to social media platforms.

Senator Wahab.

Thank you. I rise to present SB 981, digital identity theft, which is back for concurrence. This Bill requires social media platforms to provide Californians with a reporting mechanism for digital identity theft and ensures that reported content is temporarily blocked until the determination has been made by the platform.

Amendments in the Assembly simply narrow the scope of the Bill and adjust the timeline for compliance. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Senator. No discussion. Colleagues, this item is eligible for unanimous consent. Any objection? Ayes 40 no, zero. Assembly amendments are concurred in. Now moving on to Assembly third reading. The first three up are going to be file item 384, 387 and 388. Senator Portantino has the first one. He is prepared.

Secretary, please read.

Assembly Bill 438 by Assembly Member Blanca Rubio, an act relating to pupils with exceptional needs.

Senator Portantino.

Thank you, Madam Pro Tem and Senators, for allowing me to present AB 438 relating to individualized education programs on behalf of Assembly Member Rubio. This bill changes the beginning of postsecondary transition planning for students with exceptional needs from age 16 to when the student enters high school, and no later than age 16.

The bill has received no opposition, has taken amendments in collaboration with the governor's administration to align with federal law. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Senator. Seeing no mics up, this item is also eligible for unanimous roll call. Any objection? Ayes 40. No zero. Measure passes. Senator Laird is prepared for file item 387.

Secretary, please read.

Assembly Bill 1797 by Assemblymember Wood. An act relating to state government.

Senator Laird.

Thank you very much, Madam President. AB 1797 proposes designating the Dungeness crab as California's official state crustacean, highlighting its economic significance in promoting public awareness. It's key to our economy, with 57 million in landings last year and up to 90 in others, there's support on both sides. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Senator Laird. Any objection? Any discussion? I'm seeing none. This item is also eligible for unanimous roll call. Is there any objection? Aye is 40. No, zero. And the measure passes. This is the Senator Laird show. He has three Bills. Senator Laird is prepared for file item 388. Secretary, please read.

Thank you very much, Madam President.

Secretary.

Oops.

Has to read first.

Okay.

Assembly Bill 1850 by Assembly Member Pellerin, an act relating to state government.

Senator Laird.

Given the topic, I was very eager to present this bill. This bill would designate the genus Areoli Max as the California State slug. For those of us that are graduates of the University of California, Santa Cruz, it is our mascot. It is the banana slug.

And for those of you that do not know, the banana slug plays a vital role in decomposing organic matter and consuming harmful plants such as poison oak and death angel mushrooms. There's support on both sides. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Any discussion on the slug? Seeing none. This item is also eligible for unanimous roll call. Any objection? Ayes 40. Noes zero. The measure passes. Senator Laird is prepared for file item 399.

Secretary, please read.

Assembly Bill 2302 by Assembly Member Addis, an act relating to local government.

Senator Laird.

Thank you very much. This bill would clarify the number of meetings that members of a local legislative body can participate in via teleconference each year based on how many times the local body meets. It also defines the term meeting to mean any number of meetings of a legislative body that begin on the same calendar day.

The bill has had no opposition, there's support on both sides. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

I see no mics up. This item is once again eligible for unanimous roll call. I see no objection. Ayes 40. Noes zero. The measure passes. The next three up are items 401, 402 and 407. Senator Durazo is prepared.

Secretary, please read.

Assembly Bill 2378 by Assemblymember Calderon, an act relating to alcoholic beverages.

Senator Durazo. Thank you, Madam President. I present Assembly Bill 2378 on behalf of Assemblymember Lisa Calderon. This Bill would exempt approved bartending or mixology apprenticeship programs from needing an ABC license to serve alcoholic beverages as part of its curriculum. Legal uncertainty has prevented bartending apprenticeship programs from operating, despite being approved by the state.

Without an ABC license or exemption, apprenticeship programs cannot utilize alcoholic beverages in their trainings. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

This item is also eligible for unanimous roll call. Any objection? Ayes 40, no zero. Measure passes. File item 402 is by Senator Skinner. She is prepared.

Secretary, please read.

Assembly Bill 2904 by Assembly Member Quirk-Silva, an act relating to land use.

Senator Skinner.

Thank you, Madam President. Members, AB 2904 extends the timeframe that cities must inform homeowners and property owners prior to implementing zoning code updates, and it changes that timeline from 10 days to 20 days. Provides homeowners the time to grasp how zoning changes may affect them and enhances transparency in that process. There's been bipartisan support. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Senator. I'm seeing no mic. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll call]

Please call the absent members.

[Roll call]

Ayes 39. Noes zero. The measure passes. Senator Rubio is prepared for file item 407.

Secretary, please read.

Assembly Bill 1880 by Assemblymember Alanis an act relating to minors.

Senator Rubio. Thank you. Madam President, I rise today as a proud co author of AB 1880 by Assemblymember Alanis. This important Bill will protect child performers from being financially exploited and abused. It will ensure that their earnings are protected.

Too many stories are out there of young performers who earn millions during their time but find themselves penniless as adults because no one looked out for them, including some parents. This Bill only ensures that they're taken care of. I respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you.

Seeing no discussion on this item, it is eligible for unanimous roll call. Any objection? Ayes 40. No. Zero. Measure passes. Next three up are file item 415, 425 and 427. Senator Ochoa Bogh for file item 415 is ready.

Secretary, please read.

Assembly Bill 2590 by Assembly Member Reyes, an act relating to transportation.