Senate Floor

Mr. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Members, a quorum is present with the Members and our guests beyond the rail and in the gallery. Please rise. We will be led in prayer this morning by our chaplain, Sister Michelle Gorman, after which, please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag.

We pray on this special day devoted to love, God of affection, devotion and tenderness, we thank you for the myriad ways that we have been touched by your love. Love that draws us to friendship and fidelity. Love that leads us to kindness and compassion. Love that lures us to the sacred and serene.

Love that calls us to new vision and. And evolution. Love that sees the value of each human being, source of all love. We thank you for abiding in our hearts you, the one great heart of our universe, holding us all in the mystery of your presence. Amen.

Please join me as we pledge allegiance to the flag. I pledge allegiance. Members, we're going to move on to privileges of the floor. Senator Cortese at the majority leader's desk.

Well, thank you, Madam President. Good morning, colleagues. Today I would like to present a resolution for Mr. Jim Spering.

Excuse me, Senator, could we get some order on the floor? I know you are all anxious to listen to this, and if you've got a conversation you just can't avoid, if you could take it up in the back, please. Senator Cortese, the floor is yours.

Thank you. Again, Madam President, again. Today I'd like to present a resolution for Jim Spering. Some people have called him Mr. Transportation. He's been known as mayor, county supervisor, Commissioner, and under a number. A number of other titles that are representative of his public service over the years.

This is a great moment for me, and I know that we'll have a colleague or two speak after me at some point here. But just a point of personal privilege. When I ended my term on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in the Bay Area to come here to serve in the State Senate, Mr. Spering presented me with resolution.

The beautiful thing about it was he fabricated it himself. He literally built the resolution himself, using elements that you would find in the Bay Area, in his own district in Solano. It's hanging in my office. And I get to look at it every day, so I get to sort of reciprocate.

If you will, turn the tables and recognize him at this point for, for a career that has gone on for 38 years in public service in the Bay Area. He started his career as mayor of Suisun City for 20 years from 1986 to 2006.

He went on to become a member of the Solano County Board of Supervisors and the representative of that county on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. As I indicated, he served on the Commission overall going back to 1987 and is clearly its longest serving member in its history.

While at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Jim served on and shared countless committees, as you might imagine, including most recently the High Stakes Transportation Revenue Measures Select Committee in 2024 and the Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force from 2020 to 2021.

As you'll recall, right in the middle of shelter in place trying to figure out how to keep transportation going in the San Francisco Bay Area in the nine county region. He also steered Metropolitan Transportation Commission's Planning Committee for decades.

He served on other boards and commissions, and in some of those places I served right alongside of him, including the Association of Bay Area Governments, the COG in the Bay Area, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the California Council of Governments, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority, and many, many more. Jim was a peacemaker.

Some might call him a deal maker because he was in the middle of things, bringing about compromise, which of course is the art of politics. He was a person who tackled transportation and housing issues in the Bay Area and Solano.

He has claimed to be an ordinary guy surrounded by extraordinary people, but the reality is his impact on transportation and the access he has given to those in the Bay Area and beyond will continue to be felt during his departure from mtc.

While at mtc, Jim spearheaded the creation of something called the Transportation for Livable Communities, or TLC program, which is really a legacy program leveraging transportation funding to encourage pedestrian and transit friendly development.

His leadership was also instrumental to MTC's transit oriented development Policy, the formation of the Solano Transportation Authority, and the formation of the Amtrak Capitol Corridor, which of course serves us right here in Sacramento. Jim championed the all in one Regional transit fare payment card, now known as Clipper, which helps has become ubiquitous, fortunately in the Bay Area.

He also established the Bay Bridge Design Task Force in the Engineering and Design Advisory Panel. So when you see that logo on the Golden State warriors uniforms, Jim was right in the middle of designing that and everything else that went into that bridge Modernization. He guided the design selection process for replacing that entire east span.

He also helped develop the expenditure plans for Regional Measure 2 and Regional Measure 3, which were critical infrastructure packages in helping all nine counties in the Bay Area, and, of course, to some degree, helping his own county. Just another kind of personal reflection.

Briefly, the thing about Jim Sparing, which caused me to gravitate to him right away in a regional context was he was a regionalist, and he always put that first.

And when you're coming from a big county like Santa Clara County, and the guy from Solano is saying, let's make sure that your constituents are being taken care of in Alameda's in San Francisco's and Marin's in Napa. And then when all that's done, we'll take a look at my county and take care of that.

He was always that way, always that way, putting the region first. I don't know what exactly motivated him, you know, from a place of personal dedication and commitment and compassion to be that way, but that's who he is. That's who he is.

In his time working for Solano in the Bay Area, Jim was clearly a man of skills at problem solving, an honest broker, a public servant who believes in the greater good. He understands that relationships are what build trust and community. And his word is his bond. I'll say that again. His word is his bond.

He just retired from elected life in 2024. His dedication to our region, the Bay Area, leaves a legacy worthy of recognition and admiration. We all deeply appreciate his work to make transportation more accessible, as well as the space he has made for community voices in the region.

Jim, it's been our honor to serve with you, moreover, to be friends with you. I hope you enjoy your retirement every minute of the day. You certainly have earned it. Thank you, Mr. Transportation, for your dedication and service.

Senator Cortese, we have some other Members that would like to speak, so we'll start with Senator Cabaldon.

Madam President. Thank you. When I first was elected to the City Council, I was assigned to this new thing called the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority. I didn't know what that was. It had something to do with the trains, which don't stop in. In my city.

But I came to the downtown Sacramento train station, got on the train one early morning and rode it to a place I had never heard of, Suisun City, California, and Solano County. Got off the train for the board meeting and walked to the city hall where the board meeting was being held.

And I had come to learn that Suisun City was just like mine. We were the other side of the tracks, the poorest city in our counties, in our regions. And I was blown away at the waterfront, at the City Hall. It was the most beautiful place I had seen. That was just like mine.

And so I went in the board meeting and met the mayor of Suisun City, who was the Chair of this August body trying to create a train system. But alongside the household names that I had heard of from the Bay Area, there were. There was this gentleman at the center putting this all together.

I went home from that meeting with a different sense of what it could be to be a mayor of a small city. Not some big metropolis like Pico Rivera or Encinitas or LA or San Francisco, but instead a city that had no place we were to be seen and not heard and preferably not seen either.

That was the joint powers authority that was trying to just get one more train or two to go from San Francisco and the Bay Area up to Sacramento into the foothills, and by one more train or two, like doubling the trains from one or two trains.

It was an audacious project that the state and the region had put together. And today it's one of the busiest rail corridors in America. And it is the. It is the lifeblood, the most important rail transit service serving much of my district, but also Sacramento and San Francisco.

And so I just want to say, on behalf of the people of Solano County, Jim is a constituent of mine and a friend as well. Thank you for what you have done for our county and for the region and for the state, but also for showing that innovation, that audaciousness can come from anywhere in California and that our skill, sometimes in the smallest of places, the poorest of places, to see beyond the big, the big politics and to just get it done is possible anywhere. Thank you and congratulations on your retirement, Jim.

Senator Wiener.

Thank you very much, Madam President. I also just want to express my gratitude to Jim Spering for his incredible work. I had the honor of serving with Jim on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for six years, not 38, but I was there for six of his 38 years.

And when I went on to the MTC as a new Commissioner, I was a brand New County supervisor. And it was in 2011, and I went there and I sort of decided I'm not going to be like that guy from San Francisco where it's like all about San Francisco.

And I wanted to really establish relationships with other commissioners from around the region. And so I quickly established a friendship with Jim.

I didn't know at the time that Jim, because he's so quiet and understated, like the incredible role that he has played for decades within the mtc, whether or not he was chair of the Commission at the time. You know, Jim was such a key decision maker.

And what I saw quickly from Jim, in addition to just his passion for the MTC and for the Bay Area, is that a Senator, as the Senator from San Jose said, he is a true regionalist. And I'll say that again, a true regionalist.

And we are in a period of time in the Bay Area where we do not have enough true regionalists who understand that we are not just county by county where we can gaze at our navals within the counties, that the Bay Area is deeply interconnected, our transit systems are interconnected, our roads are interconnected, our economies, our housing situation, it's all deeply interconnected.

And we need strong regional thinking. And Jim Sparing absolutely demonstrates that. And Jim, I also just want to thank you. For the last few years, we've been working hand in glove to try to move forward, authorizing legislation for the Bay Area to go to the ballot so that our major transit systems don't collapse, which they will do if we don't do anything.

And Jim, I'm so grateful that you get it, that, that you worked with us, that you've worked so incredibly hard. And I know you're not going anywhere. We're going to keep putting you to work to make sure that we can get these systems in shape. So thank you so much.

Senator Arreguin.

Thank you, Madam President. I also rise to honor former MTC Commissioner Jim Spering. And I thank my colleague from San Jose for organizing this recognition. Jim is a very modest, humble person, but he is a giant in the Bay Area.

So many of the Bay Area's policies and transportation projects and initiatives were due to his vision and his leadership. The center from San Jose touched on many of these. The creation of the Clipper Card, the new span of the Bay Bridge, which was not an easy project to complete.

Creating the Transit Oriented Communities policy to make sure that we are spending our transportation dollars to, to invest in and support smart Transit Oriented Development and making sure that we're providing the transportation infrastructure to connect people to homes.

And the work that he did during the pandemic to help stabilize our transit agencies, to make sure that they can continue operating. And the continued work he's doing to make sure that we can address the impending fiscal cliff facing BART and many other transit agencies in the Bay Area.

I'm honored to have worked with Jim, to consider him a friend, but also a mentor, serving with him in regional government. And for decades he's really been at the forefront of bringing cities in the Bay Area together to advance regional needs.

From his time as mayor of Suisun City to his work on the Solano County Board of Supervisors and then ultimately on MTC and many other regional bodies. And as the Senator from San Jose said, no city is a bubble. They all make up components of a larger region whose actions ripple across surrounding areas.

And no one is more acutely aware of that than Mr. Sparing, who has successfully and expertly navigated complex regional issues, supporting cities of all sizes to make positive change.

And he has been a real true regionalist, not only just delivering needed funding for projects in his county, in Solano County, but helping advocate for all Counties in the 9 County San Francisco Bay Area.

And he is also the man that we went to to solve complex problems, whether it's getting that Bay Bridge project done or how are we going to actually help stabilize these transit agencies, or how we're going to get some complex policy passed. He was a true collaborator, dealmaker, leader.

And the impact that he has had, not just mentoring countless people, but the impact that he's had to advance these transformative projects has, has made the Bay Area better. And we know that the Bay Area is home to a sophisticated transit network.

And there was a time not too long ago where all these agencies had different payment systems making Trans Routine systems complicated for commuters. And it was Mr. Spering who led the effort to seamlessly connect all these different transit agencies together, leading to the creation of the Clipper card. And just provide a statistic, if I may.

Just last month, 1.2 million clipper cards were used on Bay Area transit. And while that's slightly below pre pandemic levels, it's still impressive for a region of 8 million people. Just showing how vital Mr. Sparing's work has been to connecting the Bay Area.

So thank you, Mr. Spering, for your many decades of service the Bay Area making not just the Bay Area, but the State of California better. And thank you to the center from San Jose for doing this recognition today. Thank you.

Congratulations to Mr. Spering. One more. Oh, yes, Senator, you may proceed.

Thank you, Madam President. I do want to recognize my colleague from San Francisco described Mr. Spering as quiet, and may I say quiet like a library. Because behind that quiet demeanor is a vast amount of knowledge beyond measurement. And we've heard the agencies, we've heard the boards that he has served on the many accomplishments that he has been able to bring to us.

But in all of that greatness, he is able to find the time to spend with people, something that he believes is the greatest investment because he found time to come and spend a little bit of time with a newly elected Assembly Member, to mentor, to answer questions, to show how things work, a little bit here and there.

And I just think you are very much worthy and deserving of the recognition you're receiving. And best wishes to you on your retirement.

Senator Cortese, congratulations to Mr. Spring on his retirement. Thank you for those great comments. We're still under privileges of the floor, so we're going to move on to Senator Allen at the majority leader's desk.

Well, thank you, Madam President, and happy Valentine's Day, everyone. We've gone from celebrating someone who is at the end of an incredibly illustrious career to celebrating some young people at the very start.

It's my honor to introduce a group of exceptional high school students who are here in our Capitol for this wonderful weekend that we all know when our capital is taken over by the talent and the youth and the enthusiasm and the energy of the youth in Government program. These young people are from our Palos Verdes delegation.

They're one of over 60 delegations from all over the state that's here this weekend, bringing together over 1800 passionate young people from across California to form the 77th Model Legislature and court.

Each of them are going to spend the weekend here at the state Capitol drafting legislation, constitutional amendments, debating constitutionality in the state budget, and running for statewide office as well. They've already used their civic knowledge, engagement, leadership to benefit our community.

I know for our Palos Verdes delegation, there's been volunteer efforts to support wildfire relief in Los Angeles, beach cleanups, sporting events for kids with disabilities that they've helped out with.

I want to just point out a few of them that are here who have championed some of their own policies already that they will be bringing to the floor of the Senate later on this weekend. David Cohn, Hannah Schneider, Luke Spohr, Megan White, Sasha Schier and Stanley Jen.

And I look forward to seeing them in our seats not only this weekend, but in a few years. And with that, I would love to introduce one of our colleagues who was in their shoes not that long ago or perhaps a little while ago. John Laird, former former Youth in Government Senator.

Senator Laird, shy and retiring Senator Laird, thank you.

And I thank my colleague for saying that wasn't very long ago. And yes, I sat on this floor in high school as a Senator with Youth in Government. And I recall what it was like to walk in here and be so excited and to have a sense of how laws were made.

At the time, every 'why' was allowed a Bill. You could introduce a Bill and then you learned how to follow it all all the way through. And at the time, the Governor, then, who I will not name but later went on to be President, had a position that we should not have income tax withholding in California, that taxes should hurt. There was no withholding on paychecks for state taxes at the time.

So naturally my why rose to the challenge and did a Bill to require that there be income tax withholding for the State of California, which of which note was taken inside another part of this capital. And yet it was exciting. It was forcing an issue of the time. It was learning how things worked.

It was actually having to know your colleagues and get along with them and depend on them. And I recall different people saying, I'm coming back here. And there have been a few that have. I remember I served with Assemblymember Dario Frommer, who was a Youth in Government member.

So I wish you well and I'm really glad under term limits, none of you will be old enough to run against me in time. But I hope this is a learning process. It's a start of an illustrious career. So welcome to the Capitol for this weekend.

So Members, it turns out another one of our colleagues, Senator Wiener, was also a Youth in Government Senator and unfortunately got his big Bill on First Amendment rights vetoed by the Governor. But he's always swinging for the fences. We want these young people to keep swinging for the fences legislatively and their budding careers. And we just want to give them a very, very warm State Senate welcome.

We're going to take a picture if you want to get close to Senator Allen, we'll.

Great introduction. Members, we're going to move on to our business. Messages from the Governor will be deemed read. Messages from the Assembly will be deemed read. Reports of Committee will be deemed read. Motions, resolutions and notices seeing none, we'll move on to introduction and first reading of bills which will be deemed read.

Members, we're going to move on to consideration of the daily file. We're going to start with a special consent item number three. There are three items. Please read.

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 11, 14, 18.

Members I neglected to ask if anybody wanted an item pulled saying none. We're going to call the roll on the first item and apply it to all the rest. Please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Please call the absent Members.

[Roll Call]

Ayes 34, no zero. File item number 13 is adopted and ayes 34 and no zero for the consent special consent calendar. Remember, we're going to be returning to motions and resolutions and this is the time for the adjourned memory.

So I want to ask you, out of respect to please take your seat and we'll start with the first adjourned in memory, Senator Blakespear.

Thank you, President and colleagues. I rise today to adjourn in memory of Mike Hynson. Mike Hynson, the blonde bronzed costar of the ultimate surf film, the Endless Summer, will live on forever as the iconic young surfer in search of the perfect wave.

The surf world lost a legend when Hynson passed away at the age of 82 on January 10th in my hometown of Encinitas, within blocks of the world-class waves that draw surfers from around the globe, Hynson left a legacy as an iconic surfer, Revolutionary Board shaper and larger than life character.

Hinson was born in California's northernmost coastal town, Crescent City, in 1942. Never far from the Pacific Ocean. He grew up in a Navy family that moved frequently between Hawaii and San Diego. As a teenager in San Diego, he earned a reputation as one of the region's hot dog surfers during the sport's infancy in the 1950s and 60s.

In 1961, on his first trip to Hawaii, Hinson was among the first surfers to ride the challenging pipeline on Oahu's North Shore. After high school, Hinson was facing the possibility of either being drafted to fight in Vietnam or touring the world in search of the perfect wave. What do you think he chose?

At the age of 19, he managed to embark on an adventure that changed his life. Movie producer Brown signed Hinson and Seal beach surfer Robert August to be featured in a surfing Safari film that would take them to beaches in Australia, Tahiti, Ghana and other remote venues.

A photo of the Three surfers standing on the beach with their boards was stylized into the classic poster that to this day embodies the dreams of every surfer. The highlight of the film was Hinson's discovery of the perfect wave at Cape St Francis, a small village in South Africa.

Though he never benefited financially from the film, Hinson built a life around the surfing industry and culture. Surfers emulated the combed back style of his thick white blond hair and his casual beach style of clothing.

He was a talented surfboard shaper who revolutionized surfing with his red fin longboard design with down rails that hugged the face of waves. Many of the most famous surfers in the world went on to conquer more and more daring feats on giant waves and shoot ever faster through pipelines on Hinson's boards.

Hinson was a huge presence throughout the world of surfing. He competed in the first ever professional surf contest in 1965. He encouraged Tom Morey to develop his concept of the boogie board, a thick foam board that transformed wave riding by eliminating the requirement that you have to stand up on the board.

Hinson supercharged a surf demo into Rainbow Bridge, a cult film shot in Maui for which he recruited Jimi Hendrix to write the score and perform on stage at the base of Haleakala two short months before his death. And he was always a popular celebrity at surf events who autographed memorabilia and took photos with his fans.

When Hynson met his life partner, Carol Hannigan, he was emerging from some rocky times in his life. Carol recalls meeting Mike when he asked if she could mend some clothes for him after learning that she was a seamstress.

Years later, she realized that she still had that poster with the three silhouetted surfers against bold pink and orange emblazoned with a bright yellow sun that she treasured as a teenager. The two made a life together. For 24 years.

Hynson's larger-than-life Persona settled into a homebody who treasured family and kept everyone laughing with his boyish humor. Carroll likes to say that Mike was 80 going on 8. Stepson Toby summed it up. He was a rebel, a troublemaker, but at the end of the day, he was a good-hearted guy.

He was the guy that everybody wanted to be. Today, Mike Hinson's legacy lives on in every man, woman and child who experiences the exhilaration of catching a wave, dreams of traveling the world in search of that perfect wave, and feels the peace and the power of being at one with the ocean.

We all paddle out in spirit to pay tribute to Mike Hinson for his contributions to the lore of surfing that has become synonymous with our great State of California. Thank you.

Please bring his name forward so he may be appropriately memorialized by the Senate. Senator Wiener.

Thank you very much. Madam President. Colleagues, it's with great, great sadness that I rise to ask that the Senate adjourn in memory of FX Crowley, a great labor leader and San Francisco Civil Service Commissioner who passed on February 11th. And I'll be honest with you, this one is very personal. I've knew FX for a very long time.

It's just a tremendous, tremendous human being and a huge loss to San Francisco. FX was born and raised in San Francisco. He attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory SI before earning a degree in radio and television from CSU Long beach in 1982.

He spent 30 years with the International alliance of Theatrical Stage employees, Yahtzee Local 16 in San Francisco. He began as a stagehand with the San Francisco Opera, was elected IHC Local 16 President in 1994, and rose to become Business Manager in 1997. Representing 1500 Members.

He negotiated hundreds of contracts for Local 16 totaling over $50 million in annual wages. In 2013, FX created the FX Crowley Company, where he consulted with labor, business and nonprofit organizations. FX was a deeply dedicated public servant in all respects.

He served on various San Francisco commissions over the years, including on the Port Commission, the Public Utilities Commission, where he served as President, and as I mentioned before, since 2016, he served on the Civil Service Commission. His tireless work to improve San Francisco was invaluable. He was a founding Member of Friends of San Francisco Film Commission.

He served on the Board of Directors of San Francisco Travel, and he was a Member of the San Francisco Cork, Ireland Sister City Committee. FX will be missed by so many who considered him a friend, a colleague and a mentor.

Remembering his tireless advocacy on behalf of workers and his impacts on his children's schools, the Catholic community and San Francisco writ large. He was also someone who, even as he was getting pretty sick, he would periodically just call me and just say, hey, you're doing a great job.

He's always focused on other people and the community at large, even if he was going through very difficult times. And so many people benefited from his just love and his support. FX is survived by his loving wife, Nancy, a great community leader in her own right, and his children, Gillian, Bobby Curry, and Margaret.

Colleagues, please join me in adjourning the Senate in the memory of FX Crowley. May his memory be a blessing.

Please send Senate condolences to the family and to. To you as well, and bring his name forward to the desk so he may be appropriately memorialized. Senator Hurtado.

Thank you, Madam President. Members, I rise today to adjourn in. The memory of firefighter Mark Eads, a. Captain for Keith for Kings County Fire. Captain Eads tragically passed away in the. Line of duty on February 1, 2025. He dedicated more than 20 years of. His life to serving and protecting the people of Kings.

Captain Eads began his service with Kings county in 2003 as a fire apparatus engineer. Though he Briefly left in 2004, his dedication to the fire service brought him. Back in 2005, and he continued to serve with distinction for two decades.

In 2021, he was promoted to fire captain, a role in which he exemplified leadership and mentorship to to those around him. His passing is a profound loss, and we honor his legacy of bravery, selflessness, and service. Captain Eads impact will be felt for. Years to come, and his dedication will never be forgotten. May his memory be a blessing and a service and inspiration to us all. Please join me in a journey in memory of Captain Mark Eads.

Please send condolences to the family and friends and bring his name forward to the desk so he may be appropriately memorialized. Members are going to move back to privileges of the floor. Senator Jones.

Thank you, Madam President, for your patience. and members on the floor, I. I want to share some exciting but also sad news this morning. One of our favorite floor personalities here on the Senate Floor and one of my top employees, and I even, like, don't want to say employee partner in helping us do our jobs here on the Senate Floor. This is her last day today.

Danielle Parsons, my alleged Director and Capitol Director, who has been a faithful servant of the Senate for six years with me and then in the Assembly as well, is moving on to what she thinks is greater and greener pastures. I tried to talk her out of it.

A couple of the Members here on the floor tried to talk her out of it. We really like to keep her here, but she's done such a great job. I don't want the day to go without her being recognized. Danielle Parsons, her last day on the floor with us today. If we could all just give. Give her a round of applause for her hard work here in the Senate.

Well, Danielle will certainly be missed. I am confident it's greener pastures, so good luck to you. If there is no other business. Senator McGuire, the desk is clear.

Thank you so much, Madam President. Just to echo what Leader Jones had just said, Ms. Parsons has been an incredible partner in working through some sticky, challenging situations and working hand in hand with Leader Jones.

We are so grateful for your service and work on behalf of the people of California and you really are going to be missed and love working with you. Danielle thank you. I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful Valentine's weekend. When you get home today, hug your family.

We hope you have a wonderful three days. I know that everyone's going to be busy in their district. The next floor session is scheduled for Tuesday, February 18th at 2:00pm Enjoy the weekend. Thank you, Madam President.

The Senate will be in recess until 3:30pm at which time the adjournment motion will be made. We will reconvene Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at 2:00pm Happy Valentine's Day, everybody.