Senate Standing Committee on Rules

Well, thank you so much and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We're going to gavel in in just a moment. Obviously want to take a moment. I think it's on all of our minds, LA County and all of our neighbors in Southern California, and wanted to start today with an acknowledgement that all of us are thinking about them.

We had session last week, Republicans and Democrats coming together and obviously our number one priority is to deliver for those neighbors who are in great need now in the months to come. I'd like to take a look at some housekeeping items here for the agenda today as well, and some acknowledgments.

Number one, I want to welcome our Majority leader, Lena Gonzalez to the Committee. Ms. Gonzalez will be on the Committee here for just a bit and we're excited to see Senator Reyes coming into the Committee permanently, but do appreciate Majority Leader Gonzalez who will be joining us in her stead in the next few weeks.

I also want to welcome Jocelyn immediately to my right. She's amazing and she is going to be the new Committee secretary. I think we need to give a round of applause and say welcome. My goodness. And this is the last thing she ever wanted is to be acknowledged like this. So she is now kicking underneath the table.

But I do want to say welcome. You are not new to the Committee and we are so excited to be working with you in this new role. Thank you so much. With that, we're now going to establish a quorum. Madam Secretary, can you please call the Members.

[Roll Call]

Thank you so much. Quorum has been established with the Senate Rules Committee. We're now going to be going to Governor's appointees not required to appear. Ladies and gentlemen, Committee, we're going to be taking three separate actions. Three separate actions on Governor appointees not required to appear. First and foremost. Foremost.

We are going to start with items 2e in F. Items 2e in F. Is there a motion? We have a motion by Senator Laird. Madam Secretary, can you please call the roll?

[Roll Call]

The motion passes on a 3-2 vote. Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen. Committee, we're now going to be going to our second motion associated with governor's appointees not required to appear. Is there a motion to approve Item 2 H. We have a motion by Madam Majority Leader. Madam Secretary, can you please call the roll?

[Roll Call]

That is a 3-0 vote. The motion passes. We're also going to ask the Senate sergeants if we can check in with Services to come check in on the microphones as well, if that works. It's Jocelyn's mic, if you don't mind. It's okay. It's all good. But if we can just have them come take a look.

Thank you so much. We're now going to be. We're now going to be. It's also mine. There we go. It's all good. We're going to keep going and then we'll switch it in just a second. Let's move to items 22 G, I and J. 2 G, I and J. Is there a motion to approve? So moved.

We have a motion by Madam Vice Chair. Madam Secretary, if you can please call the roll. Okay, There we go.

[Roll Call]

Motion passes 5-0. Motion passes 5-0. We now would like to be able to take up the session schedule. This is item three. Is there a motion to be able to adopt the 2025 session schedule? That is a motion by Madam Vice Chair. Madam Secretary, can you please call the roll?

[Roll Call]

5 to 0, 5-0 vote. Thank you so much. The motion passes. And to all the Governor appointees who are here today, we appreciate your patience. Thank you so much. And we are halfway through and are going to be getting to you in just a moment. We're going to be moving to items 4 and 5. Items 4 and 5.

And this is in regards to. To hiring a retired annuitant. It would approve Brenda Heiser, who is the former Director of Bill referrals, to return as retired annuitant to the Senate Rules Committee prior to the passage of 180 days from the date of retirement.

And we also would approve Jatin Shah, former Assembly fiscal officer, to serve as a retired annuitant of the Senate Rules Accounting Department prior to the passage of 180 days from the date of retirement. Do we have a motion to approve?

Hey, see, there we go. Hot dang. See? All right, so we currently have a motion by Madam Vice Chair. Madam Secretary, can you please call the roll?

[Roll Call]

5-0 vote That motion now has passed. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now moving on to floor. Acknowledgments. This is Senator Jones most exciting part of the agenda, am I right?

Yes, sir.

All right, so floor. Okay, there we go. We're now moving to floor. Acknowledgments, items 6 through 8. Is there a motion, please? We have a motion by Madam Vice Chair. Madam Secretary, can you please call the roll?

[Roll Call]

That is a 5-0 vote. That motion passes. Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen. Committee, we're now going to be moving on, going back now to our regular agenda and we do appreciate it. We're going to ask the two trustees to please step forward.

We're going to take a 30 second break and we can provide them with some water. And we welcome you to the Committee. Please come forward. First and foremost, we want to take a moment to the two trustees who are here today. Thank you.

I think I would be remiss if I did not say that this has been some of the more. Some of the most challenging times that we've seen within our CSU and our UC and community college system. Whether it's through the pandemic social movements that we've seen.

And we want to take a moment to say thank you for your focus and your steady hand, continuing to be able to lead the best post secondary system in all of the United States of America. And we're grateful for your service.

So what we'd like to be able to do is offer you an opportunity of to three minutes to provide an opening statement in that time, if you could please thank those who may be in attendance or also watching on TV. We're going to first start with Trustee Fong. Madam Trustee, it is so wonderful to see you. Thank you so much. The floor is yours. You have three minutes.

Thank you very much. Do I need. Okay. Well, thank you so much. Chair and Members of the Rules Committee, it is an honor to be before you. I am Wenda Fong and I am seeking my second appointment as a trustee for the California State University. I was first appointed by Governor Brown in March of 2018.

I am happy to say that I have some beloved family Members with me today. I am actually one of four siblings and I have my sister, Marilee Wong, and her son, Dr. Michael Wong. I also have my brother, Dr. Barry Fong, his wife Victoria, and their son, Ryan. He.

And most importantly to me is my wonderful husband, Daniel Federle, who is a veteran and has served for 24 years in the US Army Special Forces. My family and I are the proud offspring of four grandparents who came from China over 120 years ago.

And they came to this country so that their children and grandchildren would never have to lift anything heavier than a pencil, all because of the transformative power of higher education. So to serve on the Board of Trustees as, and also as the first Asian American Chair has been the greatest honor and privilege of my life. We are.

My family and I are the fulfillment of the American dream. I am celebrating 50 years in the entertainment industry. I'm a producer, Director, and creative Executive. I have worked on hundreds of shows, produced shows across the United States and all around the world.

And I have worked with some of the greatest, from Sinatra, Streisand, Elvis, to seven presidents, prime ministers, a pope, the Dalai Lama. I actually hold the dual distinction of being the first woman and first person of color to have ever produced the Emmy Awards. I worked for the Fox network for 13 years where I launched the Creative Diversity Department.

And then I was asked to be a creative Executive and was supervising thousands of hours of reality shows and specials, launching shows, for example, as American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef, the X Factor, and so many more beyond that. I've had the honor of serving on many boards.

I have co founded and chaired various organizations. But being, as I said before, a trustee and the immediate past chair and the first Asian American Chair of the Board of Trustees for the California State University has been the greatest honor and privilege of my life.

My hope is that I'll be able to continue that work in transforming the lives of our students, changing family trees like mine with the transformative power of higher education with the CSU. And I thank you so much for your consideration of my appointment.

Madam trustee. Thank you so much. We're grateful that your family is here. Daniel. Thank you so much for being here as well. And quite a few doctors. I love to hear that.

Actually, there are more.

oh, there we go. My goodness. I like it. Well, thank you so much, Madam Trustee. We're very grateful. Mr. Trustee, it's wonderful to see you. Thank you so much for taking time in your busy schedule and for your service to the students of California. You have two to three minutes to be able to present an opening statement.

We request that you please thank any individual or acknowledge any individual that may be in the room or watching on TV. The floor is yours, sir. And I'll give you a time limit of three minutes. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and Members of the Rule Committee. My name is Sam Nejabat. I'm born and raised San Diegan. Shout out to my parents watching back home right now and my best friend Ricardo, here in person.

My parents immigrated here in 1979 to California during the Iranian Revolution and escaped religious persecution to come here and look for opportunity. Both of them went to medical school here in California. And so education was their pathway to success.

I was fortunate enough to be born and raised here and take advantage of their success and opportunity to attend California schools, attending UC Berkeley for both undergraduate and law school, and starting a real estate company after that. Then I caught the public service bug after that and was fortunate enough to serve in the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development and then as recent as last year at the California Department of Justice.

I'm here to serve in my capacity and help California students to give them the opportunity that I had when I went to the great schools here. So I look forward to making any impact I can and look forward to helping our students in school across the state.

Thank you so much, Mr. Trustee. We're very grateful. I know I have a few questions, but I'm going to hold those. I'm going to have our Vice Chair, Madam Vice Chair, kick us off under questions and comments and then we'll look to the other Members of the Committee to be able to advance questions and comments. Madam Vice Chair, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Pro Tem. Sorry. Thank you very much for being here and taking on this opportunity to be able to have an input in the education of our higher education and making sure our students are prepared for the workforce and being productive Members of society. I have two questions.

Last month MSN had an article that came out that they're that companies are firing gen zers just about as fast as they hire them. They have lots of struggles adapting to the workplace. They get offended very easily. And this was not a right wing article. It was a MSNBC or MSN and article.

And so I guess my question is that you guys being on the advisory or being part of the advisory platform overseeing that, we need to make sure that people have soft skills as well as being highly educated to perform the jobs that they do. But soft skills, they need to show up to work on time.

They need to get along with others in the workplace. Just things that we do all the time. Right. We come here, you go to your job, you do your job, and you don't get offended if somebody's wearing a different shirt or whatever. But I've heard some really crazy things that came out of this article.

Again, that is not, you know, not leaned to the right. This article doesn't. So what's your thoughts about making sure that our students have soft skills and are available to go to work and participate and be actively productive in the workforce? Either one of you?

Madam Trustee.

I completely agree, Senator. And one thing that anecdotally that I have heard from industry leaders is that in particular, students from the California State University are work experience ready and they are wanted by industry because, frankly, our students do not feel that they are entitled.

But also with regard to soft skills, that is something that our campuses have, support services where those types of skills are built. Besides the academic support that, of course, our students need.

One thing that is now a focus for the board and for the Chancellor is that not only are we wanting to recruit students, enroll them, have them persist to graduation, but also to create a clear pathway to a career for our students. And much of that is the building of those soft skills.

Thank you, Mr. Nejabat.

Just to add to that, I think one thing that we can work on is paid internships for students while they're in school to get them acclimated to the workforce and prepared once they graduate and to take on those challenges that they.

Okay, thank you. And my last question I have is that, you know, constantly, we're in change. You buy an iPhone today, it's obsolete tomorrow. That's an exaggeration, but it's pretty close. The master plan for education on the higher education system was created 65 years ago. Is there any ideas about how we would, you know, better, adapt?

Sometimes it seems like the way the plan is created, it stifles students to be able to get through the process faster, to get gainfully employed out into the workforce. Are there any plans or have you thought about just revamping or updating the plan that was actually written before I was born?

Absolutely. And that is where the partnerships with our K-12 through our community colleges, our alumni, our community leaders, and our industry leaders are critical. I know that just with the campus visits that I've had and the conversations with presidents, I know that they and their teams are working within their communities to find out what is needed.

Our faculty, our staff, our chancellor's, office are all on top of that of what are the needs that are going to be demanded and that are we prepared for that?

Although I just joined the board recently, getting acclimated with the new initiatives we have and some of the different consultants we've hired to kind of come up to date with various different topics, we'll definitely improve our ability to update a lot of things.

Okay, thank you. And I do have one final question, and I'm sorry, I wasn't, I was just. It's not in my notes, but I did want to ask it. You know, every student deserves to be safe when they go on campus. And we all see the news with the protests where Jewish students don't feel safe going on the campus and their parents pay for their education or they pay for their education to be able to get the quality education that they've desired and chosen. What's your role?

I mean, what's your role and what's your plan to make sure that these students are safe? They're not denied access. And I don't mean denied access by you, but there's been plenty of news media that shows that these students are denied access. And how are you going to protect all students? But specifically, my question is Jewish students.

Absolutely. And it is a priority of the board. When I became chair two and a half years ago, frankly, Senator, it was probably the worst crisis that the CSU had faced. And Title 9 was the issue. And as a board, we immediately upon learning of these issues demanded that we have an assessment, a system wide assessment of Title 9 and 6 civil rights. That assessment took a year. It was so comprehensive.

In fact, the company in which we hired, Cozen O'Connor, a national organization, a national group, said that our assessment was the most comprehensive of any that they have seen in the nation. So it is a priority that all of our students are facing. Faculty, our staff feel safe, protected from harassment, discrimination. So that is extremely important to us.

What measures did you take? Well, this, your assessment was going on, well the middle of the protest. I mean, they were still being harassed and encampments. And again, that was going to be my last question, but I'm, I was surprised that you said it took a year and I, I appreciate that it was very inclusive and it was very intense. Intense.

But for one year, what happened to those students that were denied access to the education that they'd been paying for and the harassment that took place that we all watched on TV,

Nothing stopped. We continued with that. Our assessment had been done from 2022 to 2023. From that we received 150 recommendations, including those from the State Auditor of which we are implementing. We have set up a, an office of Civil Rights. We now have an Associate Vice Chancellor of that, including staff.

We have five system wide directors for civil rights as well as five civil rights attorneys. Each campus has enlarged their civil rights office, their Title IX offices. With regard though to the issues that we've had, our presidents, our Chancellor's office and our chancellor as well as the board, we're very concerned about those protests.

As they should be.

Yes, absolutely. For us, of course, free speech is a pinnacle for the United States.

But for calling for the genocide of Jews is, is not. It's. It's hate speech, ma'am.

Absolutely, absolutely. So we have policy that does protect free speech, but also protects our students, our faculty and staff of keeping them safe. Thank you.

And just if I may add, we've been on pace with the State Auditor's recommendations. I believe they made 12 and we've completed all 12 of them and are on pace to complete the rest. For the, the Title nine report.

Thank you, sir. Thank you for answering the questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you so much. Madam Vice Chair, please. Madam Majority Leader. And then we'll go to.

Thank you and thank you both trustees. My first time being on Rules Committee, so bear with me here. But I do thank you each for your. Your public service to this is incredible institution that we call our CSUs, having gone there myself.

So how will each of you prioritize as we're talking about student safety, supporting undocumented students, especially those. You know. We have dream centers across the CSUs. We want to ensure that we're bolstering immigration services, especially as we enter into this new year. So we'd like to pose that question to each of you and what you see moving forward.

Did you want to address that or would you like to?

As you as you may know, we have 8,000 undocumented immigrant students. So for me, I think it's of the utmost importance that we protect our students all across the state and we're going to do everything we can to support them and we're going to be following all the laws and do everything we can to support them.

And again, Senator, it is about protecting, supporting our students. On our campuses, we have affinity centers. We have dream centers that support our students. We have access given to students, faculty and staff for financial aid, but also legal services. So for the CSU, I believe that our campuses should be a haven for our students. And that. That is part of it, too.

I just want to say thank you both for that. I know you come from very diverse immigrant backgrounds yourself, so I really appreciate the thoughtful response. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Madam Majority Leader. We'll look to Leader Jones. Thank you so much, Leader Jones. We'll look to Senator Laird.

Thank you very much. And thank you both for meeting. And when I thought about it afterwards, I was sort of touched by Trustee Fong's links to Crockett. And the first two years of my life I lived there, so I might have overlapped with your grandparents. Although I was not as conversational as. As I've become.

Let me ask a couple of questions. And I should tease the pro tem who. Who opened the hearing by saying it was the finest higher education system in the world. He clearly only has CSUs in his district and no UCs. It does not have the luxury that some of the rest of us have. So I appreciate that. Yeah, he wants his office space. He knows what he's doing.

And I'm glad that in the opening statement your histories came out, because I was touched by that in our meeting, just by the fact that there's an incredible distance, diversity and experience that's actually in both cases, not far from immigrant status that really helps color your service and the fact that that turns out to be a major issue with a lot of the students.

So I really appreciate that. I would like to ask. One of the big issues has been funding for the CSU. And the governor's proposed a major cut.

And if you just in the budget that was just released and if you juxtapose it with your faculty agreements and inflation, it's not just a 7 or 8% cut, really gets to 12 or 13%, which is monumental, given what you have out there. How do you propose to both deal with this? With. Think about this. And I think I'll start with Trustee Fong and then.

Well, Senator Laird, I actually agree with Chair Mcguire that the CSU is the finest educational system. We certainly are the largest. And we are so impactful, particularly with our students, because we have 460,000 students. We graduate around 130,000 a year. Our living alumni are over 4.2 million.

So the impact that we have on this state, but yet alone the nation, is remarkable. What is keeping me up at night, Senator, is the proposed budget and the proposed 7.95% budget cut. That is $375 million for the upcoming year. On top of it, the 5% compact Fund being deferred it's, you know, $600 million.

But just taking that $375 million to put that into perspective for you to Understand, that's about 34,000 full time equivalent students that we would support and educate. And to put that into perspective, that is the combined student body for Bakersfield, Monterey Bay, Sonoma State and San Marcos.

You pretty much had to pick campuses from everybody on the Committee, right?

Just coincidentally. So it's going to be dire. It is dire. It's going to be devastating. But I come from Los Angeles and the fires that we are facing and how that's going to impact our state, I'm completely sympathetic, empathetic to the budget issues that you are facing as well.

But for the California State University, for many of our campuses, they were already facing budget cuts. Now every single one of our campuses, our successful campuses, are going to be making extremely tough decisions on what they're going to have to eliminate. And we've made tremendous advancements with our graduation numbers, with our Graduation 2025 initiative.

I worry that the progress that we have made, that we will fall back. I worry that the students that we serve, 25% of whom are first in their families to attend college, more than half of our students come from underrepresented communities. Those students need the support system that we offer. Advisement, financial aid.

Our financial aid officers have been remarkable in having our supporting our students and finding ways for them to persist. So it's those kinds of issues that I am very, very concerned about. It's going to be devastating for many of our campuses.

Thank you. Trustee Nejabat, do you have anything to add to that?

Yeah, for me personally, just visiting the campuses has been the best part. And when you visit these campuses and you speak with faculty and staff and students, funding is of that most importance. You look at the deferred maintenance on so many buildings and the funds are truly needed.

And San Diego State, for example, is planning on a $30 million cut and Fresno State is looking at a potential $20 million cut. So when you hear these numbers and visit the campuses and see the needs, it's truly a devastating potential situation for these schools. So we have to be, as trustees, zealous advocates to all governmental bodies to, to get the funding we can to give our students the education they deserve.

Thank you. I appreciate that from both on another subject, and I'll start with Trustee Fong because she's been there during some of this and that is there was. There was a program about the graduation initiative that was geared toward 2025 and I think it's been re upped.

And one, and I am channeling former Senator Glazer, who talked to me about this before any hearing we ever had in the universe about this topic. And I, I saw him yesterday and he said, bring it up.

And so the, the issue is, is I think when it started, it took a substantial number of students six years to get through. And if you got down to five or even four and a half, it actually creates opportunities for other students. And so I was going to ask what the progress is, what your goals are in relation to this.

Well, just in October, we had the Graduation Initiative 2025 symposium where we are reimagining what our next steps are for that we have, as I said, made tremendous progress, but it's not enough for us. We want 100% graduation for all of our students.

One thing that I just find so amazing, that in the State of California, that there are more than five and a half million people under the age of 65 who have had some college but did not complete.

So just thinking about the value of those people that we lost in terms of workforce, what we're doing is we actually have a year of engagement that we are in the process of including strategic enrollment and how we can increase our enrollment, but also how we can keep our students so that they can persist.

There are many programs that we have very successful programs, but we have incredible thought leaders across our campuses that are addressing this. And it's a priority for we trustees.

Thank you. Yeah, I mean, some of these programs that we're launching, one of them already at Sonoma State is auto admission from high school into college to. Yeah, very successful. And now we're doing the pilot program in Riverside to implement a similar thing. And then also, you know, some of these getting involved with students.

Early on, I visited SDSU and kind of speaking to the students about how engaged, I guess, faculty are with their first semester, because coming from law school, the first semester is always the toughest. Right. If, if you get through that, you're on par to get through. So it's very similar in undergraduate as well.

So getting involved if students are struggling with their grades early on and having that faculty and staff support system getting engaged early is going to be critical. But obviously we need funds for that. And so goes back to the budget and needing the right funds to get through support systems. Thank you.

And then on a last subject, and it was the reason that triggered the conversation about Crockett, there's a merger in process between Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and Cal Maritime at Vallejo. And I think it's been blessed in at least the first stage by the board. Speak to why you think that's a good idea or what the board direction is.

Well, the California Maritime Academy is critical to the safety of our nation. And it is the only maritime academy on the West Coast. And we serve other states besides California. Unfortunately, the enrollment for the Maritime Academy kept on dropping and the financial freedom sustainability of this campus was not positive.

And we had to figure out how we can maintain this campus and how it can thrive. And the assessment that we did on this and finding that the alignment of similarities of goals and of majors and programs with one of our most successful universities, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, it was the perfect merger of these two.

The students at Cal Maritime will benefit as being students from San Luis Obispo. The students at San Luis Obispo will now have opportunity for more majors, for exciting experience at the Cal Maritime. I hope you have the opportunity to visit it.

It is a remarkable campus that we have and we have many ships in which our students gain actual experience. The students that graduate from Cal Maritime, there are so many job offers that are open to them even before they graduate. So it was the perfect marriage of these two campuses.

Thank you. Anything you want to add?

Yeah. The synergies between the two schools and the national security implications to keep Cal Maritime made sense.

And I think I would add a few things. One is that I know the Federal Government funds the ship Golden Bear and that they're on. On the dotted line to do a new one.

Yes.

In the not too distant future, which will really support this. And one of the other issues that the Legislature has been very interested in is there were some allegations of sexual harassment and there is a lack of diversity.

And this merger changes the abilities for financial aid options and support in a way that it would support more diversity in the student body. And I think that's something that I came to part way in this understanding. And I think that's a very, very good thing. And so I am going. It is on Thursdays for me.

I can go to about half of California and be on the way home. So I will be going on the way home in two or three Thursdays and, and visiting it and looking forward to it. And I'm going to be monitoring the merger to make sure that it fits all these goals that have been set out.

And I appreciate just the involvement and the initiative that it took to save something that. That is very valuable. I could go on, but we will have a budget hearing on the CSUs and we will vet some of these other reviews issues.

And I just really appreciate both your willingness to serve because there's difficult times and as you stepped up during one of the most difficult times in the system, it's not like you're paid to do this. So I just want to thank you for your service and look forward to support.

Thank you so much. Senator Laird, any additional questions or comments? I just have a few. Any additional questions or comments from the Committee, please?

I just wanted to follow up on something that Senator Laird mentioned, because I agree with him on the. On the Maritime Academy. On a. On a prior appointment, we had this similar conversation.

And, you know, one of the things that I shared coming from San Diego, which is a big Navy town, you know, the only thing, I don't want to say the only thing, but the most common thing that the high school kids there learn about or know about going into maritime service is the Naval Academy. And not everybody who applies to the Naval Academy from California is going to get into the Naval Academy. And I know that they're not the same thing, but they're similar.

And my encouragement then was I don't think this would be very difficult is the CSU should come up with a promotional campaign for the Maritime Academy, use one of the marketing schools, which there's several good ones within the CSU system, and run a statewide campaign to build awareness around the Maritime Academy. I agree with you.

We do need to move in the direction of keeping it, and we are doing that. But I still haven't seen any effort to actually make it known that California has a Maritime Academy. So I would encourage you to pursue that as well. And I don't think it would take much effort to make high school students in California aware that we have a Maritime Academy that offers great programs and great engineering degrees and other degrees that lead to fantastic careers.

So thank you, Senator, May I respond.Thank you so much, Senator Jones. Me coming from the entertainment industry, you are speaking my language. And actually, it is a priority among priorities for the CSU with branding of the CSU in terms of letting people know about the California State University, of the jewels that we have among our universities. And of course, the California Maritime Academy is one. Absolutely.

In terms of promoting that University, that campus, but also the opportunities that are made available for those students, because it's not a Naval Academy. It is a maritime academy where there are all different types of majors. It is not something where it's military service. It is working in the maritime industry. So thank you so much for that.

Yeah. And it could be just as simple as, you know, San Diego State is one of the most impacted campuses in the country. Students that are applying for degrees or admittance to the other CSU campuses that aren't getting in just letters saying, hey, by the way, you didn't get into San Diego State, or whatever, but we do have Maritime Academy that would be happy to have you. So I think that would be even a simple first step.

And actually that was again, one of the benefits of the merger with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which is another campus much like yours, San Diego State of being impacted that taking some of those applicants and offering up the California Maritime academy. Yes, it's on the plan. Yes.

Thank you so much. Leader Jones, Trustees I want to do 30,000 foot and then I'd like to talk about Cal Poly Humboldt in particular. And it's something I also addressed with Chancellor Garcia, who I deeply appreciate and she's been incredibly responsive.

And Madam Trustee, I think what you had said is when we looked at the strife that we saw on our campuses here over the last couple years, it is among the most challenging in its history and the epicenter for at least the CSU system when it comes to some of the most significant damage was at Cal Poly Humble, where the Administration building and another was taken over $2 million in damage.

And you know, first and foremost, I think the safety is, as Madam Vice Chair said, the safety of Jewish students on both CSU and UC campuses is of utmost importance. But I also think that there needs to be a red line on what the system allows and we have to draw that red line sooner than what we've done in the past. My opinion, and I know that there's been a lot of work since the protests on campuses and occupying buildings.

And again, I will say Cal Poly Humboldt was most likely the most extreme case within the CSU system, but it shouldn't get to that. And so can you talk to us about what the board has been focused on ensuring that there is a red line. We're very clear with that and not waiting until civil unrest erupts. Calling in mutual aid, if you all can speak to that. Which trustee would like to be able to start?

Well, with our chancellor, we along with the chancellor's office, with our presidents and with colleagues, faculty, staff on our universities, have taken the previous statements of free speech, that type of thing, and we have created an interim time, place and manner policy.

I say that it is interim because for our represented employees, they still need to meet and confer to review our interim time, place and manner policy. But that policy does cover those types of issues. What happens in terms of what is allowed and what is not.

And Madam Trustee, Mr. Trustee, I think in my understanding, working with the Office of Emergency Services and other law enforcement, again, I am a free speech advocate. I don't think that's what we're talking about.

But when you do cross a line, you occupy, occupy public space, urinate, defecate in a public space and cause $2 million worth of damage. I think we crossed and my understanding and please push back on me is that there are plans in place. I hear about the policy, but lessons learned and the system will initiate assistance much sooner than what we had in the past. Is that fair? And I understand the policy, but I just want to drill down even more.

Getting up to speed recently. Joining I understand that every campus has an emergency operations center and if any incidents are occurring, the chancellor is in touch with every University President monitoring situations closely to prevent situations escalating like the ones you mentioned in Humboldt.

With the time place and the interim time place and manner policy. It lists how things are going to be handled. So if something happens, this is what will result if this happens. That type of thing.

Yeah. And I think the other piece is it also establishes a system wide policy. Right. And I think one of the challenges, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I think what ended up happening is that there were different responses from different campuses and messages out to the public, to students different. And I think trying to unify all campuses on how uniform policy rolls out. Would that be accurate?

Correct.

Okay, thank you. And it is something that I know many of us, regardless of party affiliation will be tracking as we move forward. And again I appreciate both US Trustees and Chancellor Garcia focusing in on that. I'd like to now drill down specifically into Cal Poly Humboldt. I'm a huge advocate for Cal Poly Humboldt.

I think it's the best thing that's happened to the north coast and the Cal Poly designation. Incredible. And it is a game changer for one of the most impoverished areas of the state. And so proud that Cal Poly Humboldt is there. And I would like to be able to talk a few items on that.

Three years into the nine year plan of the transition. Can you talk to us about how the board is engaged on the project? Housing like everywhere else is short. And can you talk to us about how the board is focused on meeting benchmarks? And obviously it's also we're in an interim President era as well as President Jackson is now retired. So if you can just go into that, please.

Several points in that I'm really happy to to say that we are on course with naming our next permanent President of Cal Poly Humboldt. And the board hopefully will be selecting and announcing at our next March board meeting the next permanent President of Humboldt Also with Humboldt, I'm happy to say that our enrollment is increasing slightly, but.

Yes, but it is a positive. Chair McGuire. The area in which Humboldt sits is one of the most beautiful areas in the state. And to have Cal Poly Humboldt there, particularly with the growth of STEM programs and the majors that are being presented there, is a game changer.

You talked about housing and I recall when President Jackson became the new President there, the difficulty that he had in finding housing, the housing shortage there is something that even the rest of California would be surprised at.

I'm really pleased to say that 964 new beds for students will be hopefully occupancy will be available this fall for those students. We are in the midst of construction. It is one of the many plans that we have for new buildings and to help Cal Poly at Humboldt grow.

Yeah, just to add to that, I think housing affordability across the state is the number one most important topic for working folks and for students. So the Lewis Road housing project that Trustee Fong mentioned is going to be huge, delivered this year. And then I guess on a statewide focus, we also announced 4,000 beds in San Diego State as well today.

I think it's something that is a great passion of ours. We, I won't speak for all up here, but I think that at least within our caucus and a majority leader, please correct me if I'm wrong. I think that we need to look at a significant investment in housing.

We'd love to be able to bring back $1 billion investment within the CSU and UC system.

That's something that was discussed in, in depth last year and that's an issue that we'd like to be able to advance again this year and would like to be able to follow up with the two of you and obviously the Chancellor on the benchmarks.

The last item I'll just say, and this is something I also address with the chance it all be 60 seconds or less. We've worked with the Cal Poly Humboldt Administration, the Previous Administration, President Jackson, on advancing a health care education hub that would be the largest health care job hub north of San Francisco.

30,000 square feet in an old warehouse. And if I could just be candid, and I was candid with the Chancellor, it has lost its direction and There is a $10 million direct investment from the state to be able to kick start this. They're now trying to figure out if it's going to continue to be in this 30,000 square foot warehouse. It's wildly over budget and it is an issue that needs to get resolved. And I've been very clear with the chancellor that we need to get that resolved this year.

And I just wanted to put it on the radar and it's something I'd like to be able to follow back up on. There is a Capitol. Humboldt is a beautiful. Excuse me, Humboldt County, Del Norte County, Trinity county, one of the most beautiful spots in the world.

And you take a look in rural California, we do not have the personnel to be able to staff hospitals, health centers, FQHCs. And we need to grow our own. And we are now delayed in the project. It is a partnership with the largest healthcare provider up there as well, and the College of the Redwoods.

And if we don't grow our own healthcare technicians, candidly, no one's going to move in to be able to take those jobs. So it is an item that I want to put on the radar and something I'd like to follow up with the two of you on.

Thank you for sharing that with us. And I know that will be something that the other trustees will also be very interested in. And it's an opportunity.

Oh, my gosh. It's a game changer again. This whole project is a game changer for one of the most economically challenged regions in the state. And so excited to see what the next 10 years will look like. The transformation it brought to Pomona, the transformation it brought to San Luis Obispo.

And I firmly believe what the transformation will look like on the North Coast. And we need to get it right, hit those benchmarks, keep within the budget and deliver on the promises that were made to the community. And that's something that we're very focused on. So, again, thank you so much to the two of you.

We are now like to be able to see. Last call for any questions or comments from the Committee at this time. Do not see any. We're going to now open up public comment. We're going to invite any individual who would like to be able to speak in support of the trustees.

If you could please step forward at this time. If you can list your first and last name. You have 30 seconds. First and last name to please advance to the podium. First last name organization that you're with in 30 seconds. We welcome you to Committee. Happy New Year and thank you all for being here today.

Hey, good afternoon, sir. Welcome.

No, you're good.

Sorry.

Good afternoon. Chair Mcguire and Members of the Senate Rules Committee. My name is Ed Perez. I'm a trustee with the Reclamation District 1000. It's a local flood board in Sacramento. And I'm also a Member of APAPA. It's a national organization that advocates for issues important to Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.

And I'm here today to urge you to support the confirmation of Trustee Fong for another term on the CSU board. All throughout her career, Trustee Fong has been a fierce advocate for fair representation for those that are traditionally unrepresented.

And given the dark clouds that we're seeing in the horizon, they're trying to sort of push back on our goal of expanding opportunities for all. I think it's imperative that we have somebody like Trustee Fong in a important position such as the CSU board to reaffirm our state's commitment to being diverse, equitable and inclusive. So with that, again, I urge your support for confirmation. Thank you.

Very grateful, sir. Thank you for being here. Good afternoon, ma'am.

Good afternoon. Khydeeja Alam with the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs. Delighted to stand here to support Trustee Fong's nomination. We thank her for her leadership to California and to our CSU system as a true API leader and in my personal capacity. Delighted to support Trustee Nejabat's nomination today here as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Means the world that you're here. Thank you so much. Good afternoon. Welcome. First and last name please.

Good afternoon. Members of Senate Committee and my name is Eva Robinson. I'm currently serving as a Commissioner for CSAC Strategic Commission as well as I'm a Commissioner from Sacramento County Women and Girls and I'm also representing APAPA today. I was a past President and advisory at APAPA and it's a honor to support our support.

Trustee Fong here and Trustee Fong have provided exceptional leadership and a dedicated advocate for higher education. A journey from her immigrant roots who dream to provide their children with access to higher education has shaped a true champion at CSU. Trustee Fong has shown an unwavering commitment to make education accessible, affordable and education for all students.

As a student aid Commissioner for focusing on promoting affordable post secondary education for all Californian, I deeply appreciate Trustee Fong's contribution to CSU. Trustee Fong is a role model and a trailblazer for many women in color and immigrant families including myself. She brings peoples together and focusing on the transformation power of education. I really support Trustee Fong to be to appoint reappoint to continue this role. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for your comments.

Good afternoon and welcome. Very Good Afternoon. Chair McGuire and the Members of the Senate. My name is YK Chalamcherla. YK like Y2 K if you can remember right, that's easy to remember. And I am also the Member and chapter leader for APAPA. APAPA is a proud supporter and endorser of Trustee Fong.

Because I'm also a school board trustee for Folsom Cordova recently got elected. I have 223 kids in my schools going through their schools. We need a creative trustee in our CSU system. She has done those roles as a creative Director. She thinks outside the box. As Senator Grove said, Iphone is going to be gone very soon.

Somebody has to see who can see the AI is coming and what it is going to bring. I'm a computer science engineer so I trust Trustee Fong. So please consider your fullest support and reappoint her Trustee Fong. We need her based on my research, for my school board elections. 7% of the high schoolers drifting towards homelessness. If we can take care of our kids now, from high schools to the colleges, we are going to pay bigger price. Thank you again.

Thank you Mr. Trustee. Very grateful that you're here. Good afternoon. Thank you for being here.

Good afternoon Chair and Members. My name is Isa Whalen and I'm the national program Director for APAPA here in support of CSU trustee Wenda Fong. Ms. Wenda Fong has not only worked to advance the educational equity for our students of color, but by also being the University's first Asian American woman to serve as chair of the CSU Board of Trustees.

She's been a pivotal role model not only for myself, but for our API youth to shatter that glass ceiling that's historically been imposed on many of our communities, our API communities in particular. And today I do want to note that over 70,000 students and families across the CSU campuses look up to Ms. Fong.

Her appointment to a second term would also mean the continuation and promotion of cultural understanding as policies are being developed for the CSU system. And since her appointment in 2018, her courage to advocate for and better understand our diverse and complex because we are not a monolith A and HBI communities.

While deeply committing to the University's mission of student success development within a multicultural society is why we APAPA respectfully asked for the Senate Rolls Committee to vote aye in support of Trustee Fong. Thank you.

Very grateful. Thank you so much. Thank you for your comments. I appreciate everyone being here today. We'd like to better see if there's anyone who would like to be able to speak in support. Last Call for those in support. If you could please step forward.

At this time, seeing no one rise, we're now going to go to those who may be in opposition. If you could be advanced. We're looking now for witnesses to speak in opposition. If you could please step forward.

At this time, seeing no one rise, we're going to bring it back to Committee to see if an individual would like to be able to advance a motion to take the nominees to the Floor for a full vote. We have a motion by Madam Vice Chair to take both trustees. Both trustees to the floor for a final floor vote. Thank you so much. Madam Vice Chair. Madam Secretary, can you please call the roll?

[Roll Call]

The motion passes. Trustees, congratulations. Next stop, Senate Floor for final confirmation. Thank you so much for being here today.

Thank you so much. Deeply honored.

Yeah, thank you for your commitment to the system, but in particular to the students of California. We are very grateful. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And it's wonderful that your family and friends are here today. Thank you. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your votes. It's wonderful to see you.

We're going to take a 60 second pause and we're going to invite, of course, representatives from the Delta Stewardship Council to be able to advance itself. We take a 60 second pause. Thank you so much.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to bring us back into Committee. Members, thank you so much for the discussion with the CSU trustees. We are going to welcome two appointees as Members of the Delta Stewardship Council. I know that Senator Laird has all of his Delta Tunnel comments and questions ready to go. Am I right? All of a sudden, Gayle Miller just is about to throw a pin at us. See, there we go. All right. Hey, see, there we go. There we go. And we're off to a great start. So good times. Keeping it awkward. All right, so why don't we keep moving?

We're going to welcome both of you to the Rules Committee today. For each of you, we're going to welcome a two to three minute opening statement. We're going to ask if you could please recognize any individuals who may be here, family or friends or watching on TV. And I'll give you time when we get to three minutes. I think the world of Gayle, and I'm going to turn it over to Madam Board Member, please. Madam Board Member, the floor is yours.

Thank you. Well, you know, I really do owe my whole career to the California State Senate. So the - the feeling is mutual and I'm incredibly grateful to be here with the Sergeants and Lisa Chin, who we're in a class together with. So this is really where I grew up and learned everything. So thank you to all of you. In the audience - and Senator, I do want to start with acknowledging the fires and that your leadership and the opportunity to really rebuild California and what's in front of us is incredible and scary, but I stand really willing to serve and help with that as well.

So grateful for the service that all of you are doing. In the audience is my amazing husband, Scott Governor, who is truly a partner in everything. My mother in law, Hetty Governor, who started as one of the first women to really be in this business as a professional woman, my dear friend, Myriam Bouaziz. My parents are watching online and I'll talk about them in a second. Sybil and Nathan Miller, and then my kids who aren't here. But I think all of you know that the reason we do all this work and see if we can make the world better really is for Jake and Isabella.

So just really briefly, I grew up in South Africa, and part of the reason I'm so grateful my parents are online is they sacrificed really everything to bring us here. One of the last things we experienced in South Africa in the mid-80s was a massive drought. Being in a police state. So we know a lot about what it is to be in a state where we didn't have freedoms. We had one bathtub a day and then we had to like spray the toilet because you could only flush the toilet once a day.

And then those rules were enforced with big fines and the police could actually enter your house at any time. So that and all the drastic measures during apartheid really brought our parents to America with, as my mom will say, like a desire to be free. So those sort of taught me two lessons. One was climate change - that didn't have a name then - already the lived effects of what happens when we don't pay attention are real. And I think we're seeing that today with the fires. We've seen it now really throughout history.

And two is what it means to commit to service and that the work really all of us take new here does matter. And for that, again, I couldn't be more grateful to the Senate for really teaching me that. I started as a Senate fellow, or excuse me, an Assembly fellow with many Senate fellow colleagues in 1997 for Tom Torlakson at the time. Tom took us through - Tom would not go on the 80. So we had to go home to Antioch through the Delta.

So my first understanding and honestly, I continue to have a lot to learn, but my first real introduction to the Delta was the drive. And Tom was a really good runner, not always a great driver. The drive from Sacramento all the way to Antioch around the Delta. So getting to see it and understand it in that way was really an honor. So really just really grateful to be here today along with so many of my colleagues who have, I've stood on their shoulders for really my whole career and just grateful for this opportunity to be before you and look forward to your questions. Thank you.

No, thank you so much, Board Member Miller. And truly the Senate is a stronger place because of you. So very grateful, as you know. Thank you. And it's wonderful to have friends, family who are here and anytime we get to see Myriam as well.

Yes, Indeed.

Thank you, Mr. Board Member, we welcome you. Thank you so much for taking the time again, two to three minutes. And would like you to please acknowledge any individuals watching or who are here today. And I'll give you a three minute heads up when we hit that. And we're so grateful you're here. Thank you for your service. Sir, the floor is yours.

Thank you. Senators. I'm genuinely honored to be in front of you here today, especially with all descending on you in this new year. Thank you for your time and attention to this work as well. I want to start by acknowledging my partner of 46 years this March, Chuck Supple, who's here in the audience. Chuck is a retired peace officer. He wants me to join him in complete retirement. So I'm very grateful that he doesn't have a vote on this Committee today, nor hopefully will he stand up at the end when you ask for opposition. And our adult son Link may or may not be watching at home.

It's hard to know if that's true, but we love him just the same. I came here four years ago before this Committee. In all candor, I had very little technical expertise in the issues that are particular to the Delta Stewardship Commission at that time. But the Governor and you all gave me a chance. I know more now than I did then, kind of by - in the way that you know more from being thrown in the deep end of the pool. I still don't know the acronyms.

And I still think that perhaps what I will bring best in a second term here, if you should go that way, is the open mindedness that I arrived with by necessity, just not having the expertise, some humility which I try to hold onto. And I gravitate toward the things I did have experience in when I was honored with this appointment, which are really in the area of public engagement. Expanding public engagement, especially to marginalized communities whose voices have not been heard and don't have the best lobbyists, sometimes even the resources to participate in the processes that we offer them.

And also accountability for listening to people and for responding to the needs of not just the stakeholders that are on everybody's list for this Commission, but for everybody in California who's affected. And often those marginalized communities are the most affected. So I'm proud of the work the staff has been doing at the Commission to better engage people going out more into the field to hold the hearings so that people don't have to always come to us.

They've been very creative online in reaching people that might not otherwise feel like it's accessible in this world of very technical issues that are always being told, are complicated. But I would like to see more and I will continue to push for more. And I'll continue to try to model in the public hearings that I'm someone who doesn't know all this stuff either. So I'll ask the question, the basic questions that I think others may be feeling as well. And finally, I want to say that it's really fun to be doing this with Gayle.

We've been colleagues in the past and you all seem familiar with her record of public service. But even in the short time she's been on the Commission, she's been a fresh voice of common sense and readiness to challenge the status quo and the things that we've been - just kind of the assumptions we've been operating on even since I've been there. So that's a real pleasure too. Thank you.

Thank you so much. We're very grateful, Mr. Board Member. 46 years is an amazing accomplishment. Congratulations. Goodness, that's huge. Thank you so much. We'd like to be able to open it up for any questions, comments from the Committee. Please. Madam Vice Chair. Floor is yours.

Thank you. Thank you for meeting with me yesterday. Daniel, you have a great personality. So I'm going to start with this question. Given the DSCSM on the CEG in the Delta.

You got me.

No, I know you have a great personality and it was a pleasure meeting with you. Gayle, I worked with you when you were in the Governor's office and you're just - you're just tremendous. Okay, so real question. Given the statutory mandate of the coequa goals of the Delta, how are you guys going to balance the needs right. With what you have in the Delta and the salinity issues that we face? Because salinity coming down to us as farmers, where we grow food is not helpful either.

But we also have communities that are disadvantaged communities that still do not have drinking water because there's not enough available water in the Central Valley. So how do you balance what you guys need up in the Delta with the people that I represent and have represented since 2010 that don't have drinking water in the State of California.

Thank you for bringing that issue up again, Senator. As you know, we have a fairly narrow and prescribed role in all of these things. But I think that doesn't mean every narrow decision that comes to us can't be informed by fundamentals like the fact that we have Californians who don't have water. So we have to hold that in our minds and hearts, whatever comes before us and look for opportunities even in our prescribed way, I think to make a difference. As you know, we hold two things at once in terms of the coequal goals.

One, I think is part and parcel of California's role globally and nationally in leading on environmental protection, and that is our protection - to better protect the ecosystem of the Delta. So that's obviously also has to be forefront on our minds and in our decisions. And the second is water supply. And they're equal. So I think we have license from the laws you've passed and the authorities you've given us to take the consideration of people not having water into every decision we make.

Thank you, Ms. Miller.

Thank you. I appreciate it. I actually think the best example of this is the story you told about the 80 year old farmer in your district that measures where the water is coming from, how often the reservoirs are full and what we, how we manage water supply in the state. I do think this piece of having the delta be the really the guardian of freshwater, keeping up with the levees, the salinity and making sure that that's a clear protection. So I answer in two ways. One, we because of our coequal goal around water supply.

I think what Daniel and I have spoken a lot about is looking at that through a statewide lens. So really understanding and informing all of our team about what it means to have that statewide responsibility is one, and then two, is this being a little bit of a source of truth in terms of the Independent Science Board and having all of this data that's kept.

Senator Laird had the California Water Atlas in his office that hasn't been published since the 70s. I think. Yes. Of course. He can cite chapter and verse too. But in all seriousness, really creating an online open portal where we can all agree on the facts surrounding not just the delta but water supply, where water supply is and isn't.

It's a service that we can continue to build and hold so that then the decisions that we make, which I really do understand are incredibly complicated, but at least they're informed by a basic set of information. It is a real problem and there's not an easy solution, especially to some of the places in California that still don't have clean drinking water. But at least if we agree on the basic set of facts, we can start to deliver more where the water needs to get.

Thank you. And I know Mr. Chair talks a lot about the great north coast, the great north coast, which I agree, I agree with that it is a great north coast. But I represent the Great Central Valley. I represent the Great Central Valley, right, where we produce the food that everybody in the Great north coast eats. So I guess my question, I guess. Awkward moment again.

So I guess, and a serious question is that, you know, the water supply on the, again, part of the state water resources, which is not where you guys are at, but we have the conveyance system that delivers water to Southern California for fires, for reservoir fill, again a separate agency, but also for agricultural production. Like farmers can't grow food without water.

So you mentioned yesterday because we do have a regulatory management agencies for every aspect. Right. Water is so intricately involved. And this agency has this legal team and this regulatory process, and you guys have your legal team and your regulatory process and God knows how many others are tied up in this process.

You know, the state water resources delivery plan, you know our canals and all those things that we use to move water from north to south. Some of that water comes from you, some comes from outflows on other places. But you mentioned something yesterday that really perked my ears because I am a business owner. And you have to build collaborations with your clients and your clients keep your employees safe. Your employees need to go to work and provide, you know, services. It's similar. I look at it from a business lens.

You mentioned something about maybe possibly discussing with other agencies, an MOU, because frankly, I don't think the State Water Resources Board has a clue of what you guys do. I don't think they understand that they can't wait eight months for a permit. A farmer can't when water's flowing out of an excess flow, and by the time they get the permit, the water's gone. I just think that if we could work together as a whole regarding the water infrastructure when it comes from you, when it's transported down south, it would be a much better place.

So when you brought that up. Again, like Daniel said, you think outside the box. You're, you know, everybody's excited that you're on the board. I am too. What's your thought processes and how would you even engage with those other agencies who hold just as much power and authority as you do? And they're all that and a bag of chips. Just ask them. How do you get them engaged in that so that we can have proper water delivery and proper water structure. And again, there's dams that release overflow, like we have overflow, and farmers will pump it and then pay a fine because they have to wait eight months to get a permit from the Water Board, which isn't in your purview, but you guys deliver that. I mean, some of that water comes from you and it just is not in good use.

Right. I think a couple things on this, and one, I do think we could use the Delta Plan Interagency Implementation Committee. I hope everyone's proud of me that I now know what that acronym stands for DPIIC. This is a combination of 10 state agencies, eight federal agencies. So we have the beginning of this really deep collaboration I think what we can do, and Senator Gonzalez was really helpful in this, is we - there is an MOU between the California PUC, the Independent System Operator, and the Energy Commission that really tightly shares information about how energy flows.

So it flows from the California Independent System Operator, the bulk energy, down to the retail where the PUC is figuring out rates. So if we could at least, and it really is an information sharing memorandum of understanding, they didn't change any of the authorities, but if we could deepen that piece of it, really, really understand not only the functionality, but the decision making when the decisions are happening. To your point, how do we.

How do we create more alacrity in that process? So you're not waiting eight months. But I do think, I don't think this is fast, but at least we could start that process of a more formal information sharing. And then, as Daniel said yesterday, the California Watermaster reports to both us and the - I may need an assist on this. Thank you, Senator. I may need help on that. But just the way that we create the reporting structure to share more accurate information more often I think is really important. So that's definitely a place we can start.

And then I just can't emphasize enough that what there hasn't been really since the 70s in California is that all data is collected in a single place, even on water supply. So I do think, not only because your farmer's been doing it for so long, but because having that type of historical information can inform what we do in the future. And then the third thing I'll say is just the awareness of the risk to fresh water.

And we did have a conversation with Senator Laird about this and salinity, the risk to fresh water with sea level rise is really, really significant. And so the need for coordination is even more important than it's ever been for that reason. So those are my kind of three ideas that would love to continue to partner with you on.

Is that something that you guys can do on your own with interaction agencies, or do we have to provide a mechanism for you to do it through the Legislature?

Memorandums of understanding, in my experience, can be done without legislative action, but is that something I can just verify and get back to you on? I - there's parts of water that I don't fully understand, so I'm not sure. Do you know Senator Laird? Don't ask him. Sorry. Have you considered a podcast? That'd be funny.

Thank you. No, and I am. Water is a very serious issue and we weren't trying to make light of it. But that's why I appreciate you being on the board. I really do. I think that you'll bring outside the box thinking and if we could just - and I think all of us in the state, regardless of party, will benefit from our water agencies having some type of work together for where water comes from. The delta, water comes from, you know, reservoirs that are overflowing and need excess release. Whether it's, I think we just all benefit and we don't waste water and so.

Because it's very precious. But thank you very much for that and I appreciate you. I really do appreciate the fact that you really do understand that we need water in the Central Valley and we definitely, it's been proven we need water in Southern California. And I hate that we have to go through what's going we're going through right now. But it is opening a lot of eyes about making sure that we make sure that water needs to go where it's needed from north state to south state. Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

We're not going to let him answer questions, are we Sir?

He's ready to go. Madam Vice Chair, thank you so much. We're going to turn over. Senator Laird.

Thank you very much. And actually she opened a lot of doors I want to continue to walk through. So I appreciate her questions and the subjects of them. And also it didn't even occur to me because I broke in my first two years of my work life was working for a Legislator from Antioch who is now, even though he was the author of the full time Legislature. And you know, Lanterman-Petris-Short, he's now known as John Waldy's father.

But we spent a lot of time driving to here through the delta in the same way. And it was even though I fished there a lot as a kid, it was a real education and the one I wanted to pick up on right away. I actually really appreciated Senator Grove's take on salinity because I honestly don't think that a small fish is the big issue. The big issue is having enough water to keep the salinity in the bay.

And there was a time in the drought of 2011-2015 when we were days from losing control of salinity in the delta, of not having enough water to keep it out in the bay or the estuary in a way that it didn't damage farms or water supply. And with sea level rise, one foot in sea level rise changes 100 year flood event in the delta to a 10 year event with salinity being the wedge. So how do you both look at this and how do you educate people?

Because I think, I think - I was going to say, Daniel - Board Member Zingale said that people think this is very complex, and yet it's a series of simple things that might weave into the complexity. And one of them is it's a simple thing that you need enough water flow to keep the salinity in the straits and in the bay. So how do you have that at the center of your deliberations? And how do you educate people on what is such a basic point?

Well, I'm going to answer your question by plagiarizing you, Senator, because I think I heard you say, and I think it's very simple and clear. Maybe the place to start the conversation is none of us want to drink salt water. None of us want to try to grow crops with salt water. None of us want to raise our livestock with salt water. None of that works. Not to mention that it destroys the ecosystem that all of us depend on for life itself in this state. So I think that's the place to start in terms of educating everyone about the conversation, because I know there's some misinformation out about that and different competing facts, but I think that's really bringing it down to basics.

Yeah. And I do think, I agree with you that because water is so essential for public safety, for health, for crops, the one thing we can all do is, I do think, kind of commit to this idea that it's not too complicated for all of us to understand. So maybe we start to simplify the way we talk about water politics and water wars. And so people are less afraid to really dig in and start to understand it. I would say one. Two is really using this mandate of a statewide coequal goals and go to other parts of the state to understand.

And then three, around this idea of fresh water. I do think we have examples from other parts of the country of what happens when fresh water is compromised. In this case, salinity is the biggest risk. If we use that as an area of agreement that we can all agree on. And then the second piece to this that I do think we all agree on is in times of drought because of the risk of salinity, that is not the time to kind of move water because of then it affects all the things we just talked about.

So if we take those sort of two principles, simplifying the way we talk about it, recognizing the need for fresh water to have a functioning state, and then from there we, we start to build kind of the building blocks to ensuring that we have the delivery of fresh water all over while protecting the Delta's place, while protecting the ecosystems. That's the way that, that we started. That I think is super important.

I worry that, that sometimes we've overcomplicated these issues rather than starting with the very most basic and really allowing us to build from, from there. And that might be because I am learning and there's a lot I don't understand, but I learn when things are explained simply and then we can keep growing and building from that perspective.

Thank you. I really appreciate that. And another issue is when you go to the coequal goals. And I had fun in our meeting today. And thank you for meeting. When I was testifying at a legislative hearing and I said everybody is firmly committed to one of the coequal goals. And there was this uproarious laughter behind me, and it was Phil Isenberg by himself, the Chair of their council, laughing. And the thing is, is we're all committed to water supply and that goal. But the other goal, when Europeans arrived in California, there were 500,000 acres of wetlands in the delta. There are roughly 30,000 now.

And it is really central to the health of the delta and the ability to export water as well as just the health of the economy and things in the delta. That's one of the goals you really have to work to implement. So how would you speak to either the progress or the issues that are in front of you with regard to that one of the two goals?

Thank you. So I would actually add a third goal which didn't make it into the act, but is delta's place. So this idea that the delta is a flourishing economic hub with real, real circumstances surrounding the delta and so acknowledging that, I think is one thing that we need to really continue to understand and with the ecosystems, the need to.

As you mentioned, a lot of the ecosystem from the beginning of California has now been so heavily engineered. There's a few pieces there. One is really this deep understanding of the levees and protecting the levees to make sure that the pieces that have now been engineered remain safe. And two is exploring ways to protect the ecosystem that maybe haven't been considered. I mentioned to you that the USGS is doing some small experiments with rice, for example. Whether or not that actually intrudes on the ecosystem or protects it from salinity, I think is one way.

And the third piece, and I think Daniel speaks to this better than anyone, especially on ecosystem protection, is all the work we've done on tribal and EJ protection. Because when we really value the land as oftentimes indigenous to our state and we value the people that are working there, that is perhaps the best way in addition to protecting the ecosystem, but the best way that we can protect the environment around the delta.

Yeah, I mean, I get excited when I see the progress on certain projects. It feels like we're kind of winning the battles, or this battle, the next battle. But I think when you take your question as a whole, we're losing the battle in terms of protecting the ecosystems of the state. And one conversation that has always struck with me was with the tribes when they came to one of our hearings and said, imagine if California were a body, a human body. The delta is where the vital organs are. They are. That is the vital organ.

So if that area is in trouble, that ecosystem is trouble, the whole state's in trouble. And so I find that very sobering. But I think, you know, for our part, we have to just keep doing our best to get the get successful projects, protect as much as we can and hold it at the same time we hold this priority around water supply, which is real and, you know, human beings and our food all depend on.

Thank you. Then you got right up to it in another question, the whole issue of science, I know that the science arm was in funding danger two or three years ago for the delta. And so when it's such a polarized issue, science is one of the things, things that can provide you a breakthrough in trying to link in some of the issues. So how do you prioritize that and how do you make sure the science is happening that you can benefit from as you try to see if the plan is consistent with everything.

That's been my biggest and best surprise, honestly of the Delta Stewardship Council is how well the science program operates in terms of peer reviewed articles bringing together the state and the federal agencies, bringing together researchers, people that have been in the delta at every hearing, someone that's been in the delta, like Daniel's grandparents, for over a century.

That ability to really use science can sincerely be game changing if we do two things. One, we create this open source portal so that anyone doing research anywhere in the delta can go in and just take all the data sources, not the conclusions, because we do want, because it's a very, very changing ecosystem which is part of the challenge of the restoration, so that they can go in and get all of the data and sometimes come to their own conclusions.

But it's those data points that are the most important and we're working towards that with our delta scientist who's equally committed to this process. So that's one, and then two is to continue to make sure that we are challenging ourselves when it comes to what types of science that we're looking into.

So the ability to collaborate and to consolidate all of the studies and reviews is one we can do. And that's just making sure it's all available. And then two is really challenging ourselves when it comes to, to what we publish. And then I would just say briefly as a third piece around science and I recognize this is a challenge, but is treating it as a source of truth. At least the inputs, again, I understand we can all use inputs to come up with different conclusions, but if just the inputs, the raw data itself is treated as accurate and factual, then at least we are all working from the same kind of base case assumptions. And I do think that's important.

That's great. I don't know if you have anything.

I'm just. Since you're. You're here to consider us as individuals for appointment. It's my favorite part of the meetings is the report from the scientists. Just because I'm a layperson, I don't know any of that stuff. And it's fascinating and they do - I agree with Gayle. They do a great job of depoliticizing it and just offering us information that I almost never know when I come into the meeting. I know when I leave. So.

Right. And then my last question it. And I'll ask Daniel, and that is four years ago when you were appearing in front of us. I asked you, this was designed to be a plan and mitigate against the project. And that was - or you know, see If any proposed project fit the plan. And that was the major reason that the Delta Stewardship Council was in existence. And my question was do you ever see an end to the Delta Stewardship Council? Do you see a time when it's met its goal, there's no reason for it to continue? And you've had four years since I had that question.

You know, I'm. I spent a long time, as you know, in state government and I am hesitant to endorse almost anything in perpetuity. I think it's a good idea to approach your mission more like how do we put ourselves out of business? Because if we could solve all of the above challenges, from conservation to recycling to storage to conveyance, maybe we don't need a Delta Stewardship Council. So for me it works to just keep an open mind on that question. Senator, we need one today. There's some important projects in the pipeline, particularly the coordinating role that Gayle talked about. There's a need for an air traffic controller in a lot of these conversations. And the fact that we chair a table that has the federal players and the state players together right now this year, I think could be really important to California.

Thank you. I really appreciate the thoughtful answers to all the questions and your willingness to serve in one of the thankless subject matters that exist in public policy in California.

You should know.

Thank you. And actually, if I could just to Daniel as well. I started in the Governor's office. Daniel, I don't know if you remember giving me this advice then in 2019, and then when I came to the council, which is, which is to sort of question the status quo. I don't think I would have felt as comfortable without that. So I do feel like this partnership is really significant in terms of exactly what you're saying, making sure that we are valuing the taxpayers and offering a service as we move forward.

Thank you so much, Mr. Senator. We're now going to go to the majority leader.

I think everything - we talked at length yesterday. I just want to comment how building off of Senator Laird, how very thoughtful each of you are. You say you're both learning, but I believe that you have the nuts and bolts of what it takes to continue serving on this as Board Members and loved what you said about the regional equity, of course, being from Southern California. And the needs right now, as Senator Grove mentioned, are dire.

But just the lessening the complexity of the issue and the matter and ensuring that every pocket of California, whether served or underserved, really has the ability to understand this in a way that is impactful. So I look forward to working with each of you and we'll continue learning together. So I appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you especially for the leadership you and your district are showing and giving people a safe refuge at this difficult time. I know that's a central role for you.

Thank you so much. To the two of you, thank you. Very grateful. And again, as I joked in the beginning and serious now on all issues, I think of the big issue of what a conveyance project would look like. I think that is going to be challenging on several fronts and especially for those who are in Northern California. And obviously this would also mean longer discussion in regards to what a potential budget allocation should or shouldn't be.

I know I have deep challenges on that, but that is for discussion on another day. Especially when it comes to any potential allocation. So again, greatly appreciate the two of you taking the time today. Very, very grateful and thank you for your commitment to this important council.

What we'd like to be able to do now is open up to see if anyone would like to be able to speak in support. In support of the Board Members. If you would like to do so., if you could please come forward to the podium. We respectfully request that you please provide your first and last name, your organization, and you have 30 seconds. Please come forward to the podium. Come on down. Happy New Year. Welcome. Welcome. It's nice to see you. How you doing?

Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Chelsea Haines. I'm the Regulatory Relations Director for the Association of California Agencies and just wanted to express our support for the reappointment of both.

Thank you so much, Ms. Haines. Very grateful that you're here. Let's do a last call for those who may be in support. Last call for those in support. If you could please step forward. Seeing no one rise, we are now going to look to those who may be in opposition. If you could please advance at this time. Looking for those who are in opposition. If you could state your first and last name along with your organization. You have 30 seconds. Seeing no one rise, we are going to bring it back to Committee to be able to see if there is a motion for approval. Looking for. We have a motion by Madam Majority Leader. Madam Majority Leader, you're making a motion for item C and D. Both Members of the Delta Stewardship Council. Thank you so much. Madam Majority Leader, Madam Secretary, if you can please call the roll.

[Roll Call].

That is a 5 to 0 vote. Congratulations. Thank you so much. We are grateful for your work. Next stop will be the Senate Floor. Thank you so much. It's good to see you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Senators.

Thank you. We're going to take a 60 second timeout. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we are grateful for all of the testimony here today. This concludes our public portion of the agenda. We're going to take a few minutes. We're going to respectfully request folks clear the room as we'll be entering our Executive session. Again, thank you all for joining us today for Senate Rules. We're going to be entering our Executive session now.