Assembly Floor

The Assembly is now in session. Assembly Member Wallis notices the absence of a quorum. Sergeant at Arms will prepare the chamber and bring in the absent Members. Clerk will call the roll.

[Roll Call] Mr. Speaker.

Members, the quorum is present. We ask our guests and visitors in the rear of the chamber and in the gallery to please stand for the prayer. Assembly Member Calderon will offer today's prayer. Assembly Member Calderon.

Members, please join me in prayer. Dear Lord, we come to you this day asking again for guidance and help. Give us the wisdom and courage to do those things that need to be done. Make us mindful of our dependence on you and grateful for your watchful care. Amen.

We ask our guests and visitors to remain standing and join us in the flag salute. Assembly Member Krell will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please join me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

You may be seated. To our guests and visitors today, state law prohibits persons in the gallery from interfering with legislative proceedings or disrupting the orderly conduct of official business. Persons disrupting legislative proceedings are subject to removal, arrest, or other appropriate legal remedies. Reading of the previous day's journal.

Assembly Chamber Sacramento, Friday, May 23, 2025. The Assembly met at 9am. The Honorable Josh Lowenthal, Speaker Pro Tempore of the Assembly, presiding.

Assistant Majority Leader Garcia moves and Mr. Flora seconds that the reading of the previous day's journal be dispensed with. Presentations and petitions, there are none. Introduction and reference of bills will be deferred. Reports of committees will be deemed read and amendments deemed adopted. Messages from the Governor, there are none. Messages from the Senate, there are none. Moving on to motions and resolutions. The absences of the day, there are none. Mr. Assistant Majority Leader, you are recognized for your procedural motions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend Assembly Rule 69D, the one day wait for the author, to take up and file item 85, AB 353, Boerner.

Without objection, such shall be the order. Mr. DeMaio, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and withdraw AB 1219, a bill to cut taxes on middle class families, from the Committee on Revenue and Taxes.

Mr. DeMaio, you don't need to explain the bill, as we discussed before session today. Make the motion itself and that is all.

And take the bill up immediately without reference to file.

Thank you, Mr. DeMaio. It has... Assembly Member DeMaio has made this motion. Seconded by Ms. Castillo. Members, the motion before us is to suspend the rules, bypass the Committee process that we have in place. Members, can I have your attention please?

Motion before us is to suspend the rules to bypass Committee process we have in place and to order a bill onto the floor. This requires 40 votes. It is not debatable. Clerk will open the roll. Majority Leader is asking for a no vote. Mr. DeMaio is asking for an aye vote. All Members vote who desire to vote.

All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll. Tally the votes. Ayes 16, noes 39. Motion to suspend the constitution fails. Suspend the rules fails. Okay, we're going to be moving on to business on the daily file. Second reading, file Items 1 through 3. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bills 247, 745, and Assembly Bill 825.

All bills will be deemed read. All amendments will be deemed adopted. We have one item on reconsideration, file item 4, AB 435. We're going to pass temporarily on that. It's going to get us to Assembly third reading, file items 5 through 87. Okay, we're going to pass temporarily on file item number five.

Okay, we are going to take up file item number five. That is AB 878 by Assemblymember Kalra. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 878 by Assemblymember Kalra, an act relating to tenancies.

Assemblymember Kalra, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. AB 878 will allow survivors of violence and abuse to ask for reasonable safety accommodations from their landlords. Domestic violence, of course, is a highly disruptive force, touching and upending the lives of millions of Californians.

Unfortunately, this kind of violence is intrinsically linked with housing insecurity, creating a vicious cycle that traps victims in patterns of instability and harm. For example, 57% of unhoused women pointed toward domestic violence as an immediate cause of their homelessness. While shelter services can provide temporary housing to survivors, the need for those services far exceeds the supply.

AB 878 will help survivors remain safely in their homes by allowing them to request reasonable safety accommodations from their landlords like unit transfers, parking changes, additional time to move, additional time to pay rent, and permission to install doorbell cameras at their own expense.

Recent amendments make various clarifications to the accommodation request process, including specifying the kinds of accommodations landlords will not be expected to provide if doing so would constitute an undue hardship. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you Assemblymember Kalra. All debate having ceased, the Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 44, nos three. The measure passes. Pass and retain on file item 6 through 10.

That's going to get us to File Item Number 11, AB 948, by Assemblymember Flora. The Clerk will read.

Assembly 948 by Assemblymember Flora, an act relating to public contracts.

Assemblymember Flora, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, I present AB 940. Give school districts the flexibility and efficient option to complete facility maintenance and repairs using a pre-bid pricing.

Respectfully ask your "Aye" vote and to the opposition that's out there, I look forward to continue working with you in the Senate and we'll take care of your concerns when it gets to the Senate. Thank you.

Thank you, Assembly Member Flora. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. "Ayes," 57. "No," 0. The measure passes. Pass and retain on File Items 12 and 13.

Pass temporarily on File Item 14. Pass and retain on File Items 15 and 16. That brings us to File Item 17, AB 735, Assemblymember Carrillo.

Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 735 by Assembly Member Carrillo and others, an act relating to land use.

Assembly Member Carrillo, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members. I am here to present AB 735, which is a fulfilling our promise to work on follow up legislation from AB 98 last year. This bill clarifies provisions around the following, affordable housing, compliance timelines, and ensures local governments who are working in good faith are not punished.

Members, my staff, and I have been in consistent dialogue with stakeholders since last fall, and I remain committed to further refining AB 98. Remaining items include but are limited to ensuring AB 98 does not apply retroactively to projects previously under development, working towards clarity around door dock orientation, and clarifying the process for modernizing outdated facilities.

I would like to thank a long list of stakeholders who have engaged with us on this very complicated and challenging issue. I would also like to thank and send our best wishes to Senator Eloise Gómez Reyes, who has an identical bill moving parallel through in the Senate. Members, this is a cleanup effort that is providing clarity to a very complicated issue. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Carrillo. All debate having ceased, the Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll. Tally the votes. Ayes 43, noes 2. The measure passes.

Okay, we are going to pass and retain file item numbers 18 and 19. Pass temporarily file item 20. Pass temporarily file item 21. Pass and retain file items 22, 23. Brings us to file item number 24, AB 81 by Assembly Member Ta. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 81 by Assembly Member Ta and others, an act relating to veterans.

Assembly Member Ta, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members. I rise today to present AB 81, which direct the California Department of Veterans Affair to conduct a study on mental health among women veterans. Our state women veterans have unique struggle compared to their male counterpart. They are significantly more likely to suffer military sexual trauma, PTSD, and depression than male veterans.

Tragically, women veterans also experience higher rate of suicide. Additionally, women veterans utilize veterans benefit at a lower rate than men, do not receive the mental health care they need. Women veterans as one of the fastest growing demographics in the state, we have an obligation to understand their challenge and identify any potential barrier they face. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Ta. Assembly Member Jeff Gonzalez, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the author of this bill. As a Marine who lost 10 of his Marines to suicide in a matter of three years, as someone who struggles with post traumatic stress, and I say that openly and on this, and probably the whole world is hearing this right, so that we can remove the stigma of mental health, number one. Number two, we as leaders need to be vocal about our own stuff that's going on so that we remove these barriers. As someone who almost took his life because of PTSD, I say this and I'll probably get hit about this, but I don't care.

I would rather get hit about it than lose another Marine or service member to suicide. So we need to rise up, we need to stand up and be open about our own mental health struggles so that others can see that it's okay. It's okay to not be okay. More importantly, it's okay to ask for help. And I'm thankful that I had a group of people, a village around me that was able to stand with me. But I thank the author and I thank this village as we support the author on this and I rise in support.

I will take this moment to thank you for your courage and valor on the battlefield and your courage and valor today presenting, Mr. Gonzalez. Mr. Tangipa, you are recognized.

Thank you. And I too rise in support of this measure. Veterans mental health is something that's extremely important, near and dear to me. Some of you may be familiar with my story, but my father was in the navy. And obviously a lot of you have met my mother. She's an island girl.

But we've all heard those jokes about the Navy guy who finds an island girl and they have a secret family. Well, I'm the punchline to that joke. And this mental health awareness is something that's really important and affects a lot of the dependent families. My father had issues. He had a lot of issues.

And it really plays downstream. But we have to let our veterans know that the work and the service that they've dedicated to this country is so vital and important because it affects a lot of the families as well that are byproducts of some of these issues.

So I just wanted to make sure that I was thanking the author, making sure that we recognize our veterans, making sure that we're saying thank you. And I respectfully ask for your aye vote for a lot of the dependent families. And really this matters for a lot. Later today, my younger brother, my youngest brother actually graduates from high school. And when my father passed away a year ago, his one thing that he said is that, dang, I wish he would have just made it to the graduation.

I could tell my younger brother today that we're proud of him for making it all the way through. I know with a lot of the faults that our father had, he's proud of him and I'm excited to join him for graduation later today and damn proud of him as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Assembly Member Tangipa. Seeing and hearing no further debate. Assembly Member Ta, do you wish to close?

Yeah. I really appreciate the comment from Member Inyo and Member of Clovis. And I really want to thank again all the services and the sacrifice from our Member from Inyo. That's amazing that we have our veterans on the floor. And I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Ta. All debate having ceased, the Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll. Tally the votes. Ayes 61, noes zero. The measure passes. On behalf of the Legislature, we stand in awe and in gratitude of the brave men and women in uniform. We're going to pass and retain on file item 25. Brings us to file item 26, AB 88, also by Assembly Member Ta.

The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 88 by Assembly Member Ta and others, an act relating to student financial aid.

Assemblymember Ta, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members. I rise today to present AB 88, a bill that would ensure dependence of service members stationed outside California but maintain California residency, are eligible for Cal Grant and the Middle Class Scholarship program. When members of our military are stationed outside our state, their family often accompany them.

They can maintain a California residency, pay California tax and have their dependents qualify for in-state tuition. However, their dependent do not currently qualify for Cal Grant or the Middle Class Scholarship program. This bill will fix this by making them qualify for this program. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Ta. All debate having ceased, the Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 58, nos zero. The measure passes. We're going to pass and retain on file item 27.

That brings us to file item 28. We will pass temporarily on file item 28. Members, we need you on the floor. If there are Members listening to this, we need you on the floor. Please present your bills. We're going to pass and retain on file item 29. Pass and retain on file item 30.

Pass and retain on file item 31, 32, 33. Brings us to file item 34, AB 605 by Assemblymember Muratsuchi.

The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 605 by Assemblymember Muratsuchi, an act relating to air pollution.

Assemblymember Muratsuchi, you are recognized.

Thank you very much. I rise to present AB 605, which is a bill to keep our California ports competitive by allowing for hydrogen transitional cargo handling equipment. This bill is supported by both the shipping management companies as well as the ILWU, our longshore workers, because we need to keep California's ports competitive. Respectfully ask for aye vote.

Thank you Assemblymember Muratsuchi. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 16, nos zero. The measure passes. Pass and retain on file item 35.

Brings us to file item 36 also by Assemblymember Muratsuchi, AB 640.

The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 640 by Assemblymember Muratsuchi and others, and accolades of local educational agencies.

Assemblymember Muratsuchi, you are recognized.

Thank you very much. Members, I ask for your support for AB 640, a Bill, a common sense Bill that would require school board members to go through at least one training on the basics of school fiscal management. I speak as a former school board Member.

I know a good number of you are former school board members, but many of us, you know, are elected to. They were elected to school boards. Excuse me. Thank you.

Forgive me. Microphone was on.

Many school board members are elected to, to oversee millions of dollars in taxpayer dollars without any training on how to, to manage the fiscal budgets, the collective bargaining issues.

This Bill will ensure that there's a baseline of knowledge and training for all school board members to promote fiscal responsibility. I respectfully ask for aye vote.

Thank you Assemblymember Muratsuchi. All debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll. Tally the votes. Ayes 56, noes 0. The measure passes.

Just a minute, folks.

File item 37, AB 660 by Assemblymember Wilson. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 660 by Assemblymember Wilson and others, and act relating to planning and zoning.

Assemblymember Wilson, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Good afternoon, Members. Not afternoon, it is still morning. Good morning, Members. I'm pleased to present AB 660, a post-entitlement streamlining bill which strengthens existing law by setting clear timelines for local agencies to process post entitlement permits and service applications.

It ensures housing projects aren't delayed by giving applicants a way to move forward when local agencies don't follow the rules. AB 660 streamlines the permitting process by prohibiting local agency inspectors from requiring field changes that deviate from previously approved plans.

It also limits how many times agencies can require applicants to revise and resubmit their plans, and restricts the use of outside reviewers to avoid unnecessary delays.

Additionally, if a local agency fails to act within the required time frame on a complete and compliant application, the bill allows applicants to petition the court for a writ of mandate compelling permit approval. Targeting inefficiencies in the housing approval process is a crucial step in addressing California's housing crisis.

AB 660 ensures that housing project applicants are not bogged down by cumbersome permit approval processes. And with that, I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Seeing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes 57, nos zero. The measure passes. We'll pass and retain on file item 38.

File item 39, AB 704 by Assemblymember Lowenthal, the Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 704 by Assemblymember Lowenthal. An act related to criminal records.

Assemblymember Lowenthal, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, I'm very pleased to present AB 704. This bill allows individuals who have convicted- been convicted of low level and misdemeanor crimes before the age of 26 to be eligible to have their records sealed, destroyed. Right now, convictions, except for vacated convictions, they cannot be sealed. They can only be expunged.

And in California before the digital age, an expungement in practice was as good as sealing, with guilty pleas being withdrawn, cases being dismissed.

However, now criminal history providers are able to access expunged records and make them easily available for the public to see, creating this dilemma where even though the individual has been forgiven by our judicial system, they've not been forgiven by society as a whole.

An important note is that this bill does not automatically trigger any petition or record sealing and destruction. Rather, it only allows the individual the opportunity to petition the courts for the records to be sealed and destroyed.

A court that receives such requests is vested with the authority to grant this relief if and only if they find the request to be in the interest of justice. It is the petitioner who has the burden of proof in showing that this relief should be granted.

Criminal conviction carries with it a loss of civil rights, public benefits, employment opportunities, housing eligibility, and the freedom to live and work without restriction. These sanctions and disqualifications cause long lasting effects, not just to the individual, but to the entire community.

Because when people are disenfranchised from work, from school, from family life, from civic participation, the overall health of the community declines. The only way to truly protect against this disenfranchisement is to seal and destroy the records. Thank you and I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Seeing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes, 41. Noes, 14. The measure passes.

We'll pass and retain on file item 40 through 45, item 461048 by Assemblymember Chen.

The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1048 by Assembly Member Chen, an act relating to workers compensation.

Assembly Member Chen, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to present AB 1048. This bill addresses a key issue in the workers compensation system, unauthorized payment reductions to medical providers. These reductions often happen through third party networks without the provider's consent and fall below the official fee schedule. Currently, providers cannot dispute these reductions through the independent bill review process.

AB 1048 simply clarifies that you can. The bill does not override contracts or arbitration agreements. It just ensures providers have access to an existing fair process when no agreement is in place. AB 1048 is a smart, targeted fix that protects both providers and injured workers. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Seeing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes 56, noes 0. The measure passes. Moving forward temporarily to item number 75, AB 812 by Assembly Member Lowenthal. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 812 by Assemblymember Lowenthal and others, an act relating to criminal procedure.

Assemblymember Lowenthal, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Members, I am pleased to present AB 812. It instructs CDCR to establish regulations around recommending incarcerated fire crew members for resentencing.

This year, while the LA fires raged on with winds reaching 100 mph and no air support available, these incarcerated volunteers were on the front lines showing tremendous bravery as they relentlessly fought to protect the people and the property of California.

While their efforts on the ground is exemplary in its own, their work and focus on rehabilitation is seen long before they are sent to battle fires.

In order to even be considered for these programs, individuals must have minimum custody status or the lowest security classification based on their sustained good behavior in prison, ability to follow rules, and participation in rehabilitative programming. These individuals make up less than 2.2% of the incarcerated population. This bill does not guarantee any resentencing.

Rather it just simply allows for resentencing recommendations to be submitted to the courts who then have the discretion as to whether or not to grant this relief.

As many on this floor have these individuals to thank for quite literally saving their communities, let's give them the opportunity to make their case for why resentencing is in the interest in justice. Respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Seeing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes 42, nos four. The measure passes.

Returning to file order, we will pass and retain on file item 47. Item 48, AB 1119 by Assemblymember Patel. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1119 by Assemblymember Patel, an act related to teacher credentialing.

Assemblymember Patel, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Speaker and Members. I rise today to present AB 119, which convenes a work group to expedite K-12 dual credentialing pathways for educators. California has seen a 15.5% drop in dual credential issuances, in just one year, while the numbers of students with disabilities continue to grow to now 13.7% of all students.

We are placing increasing responsibilities on our teachers and causing burnout, all while limiting the flexibility for teachers who want to help their students.

By investing in ways to promote dual credentialing preparation programs, AB 119 aims to significantly expand California's pool of teachers who can meet both general and special education needs. In doing so, it addresses the pressing teacher shortage, supports high quality inclusive education, and ensures that students with disabilities have greater access to fully prepared teachers.

I respectfully ask for your "Aye" vote.

Seeing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. "Aye," 60. "No," 0. The measure passes. Will pass and retain on File Item 49. Item 50, AB 1172, by Assemblymember Nguyen. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1172 by Assemblymember Nguyen and others, an act relating to health and care facilities.

Assemblymember Nguyen, you are recognized.

Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise to present AB 1172. This Bill has bipartisan support and no opposition and it improves the access to inhalable anti-seizure medication for individuals within the adult residential facilities and community care license day program. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Seeing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes 58, noes 0. The measure passes.

We will pass and retain on file item 51. Item 52, AB 1227 by Assemblymember Ellis. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1227 by Assemblymember Ellis and others, an act relating to wildfire safety.

Assemblymember Ellis, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. AB 1227 helps remove barriers to critical wildfire prevention projects in California. It will save local and state agencies valuable time and resources and protect our most vulnerable communities from future destructive wildfires. The bill received bipartisan support and has no opposition. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Assemblymember Bryan, you're recognized.

Colleagues, I rise in support of AB 1227. Our colleague from Kern's County's first bill. Thank you for bringing it through the Natural Resource Committee. And I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Assemblymember Demaio, you're recognized.

Piling on Mr.- My- My colleague from Southern California. I just want to make sure it is your first bill. You can answer that very complicated question in your- in your close.

Seeing and hearing no further debate. Assemblymember Ellis, would you like to close?

No, thank you. I respect your aye vote.

All debate having ceased, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes, 65. Noes, zero. The measure passes.

We will next move forward to file item 82, AB 1234 by Assemblymember Ortega. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1234 by Assemblymember Ortega and others, an act relating to employment.

Assemblymember Ortega, you are recognized.

Thank you Majority Leader and Members, uh ,Speaker. I am pleased to present AB 1234 which will encourage employers to participate in the state's wage claim process. Wage theft is a significant problem in California. Workers lose an average of $2 billion annually. But our wage claim process is broken.

And while the laws require that claims be resolved with within 135 days, the reality is that it's actually taking over two years if workers are lucky to recover the wages that have been stolen. This cannot continue. We need a system that gets the money back in workers pockets quickly and efficiently. AB 1234 does exactly that.

In response to concerns, I will commit to amend the administrative fee provision further to do two things. Put a 10-year time frame on past wage claim judgments that would preclude an employer from getting the fee waiver. And 2, make it mandatory for the Labor Commissioner to apply the waiver if the defendants meet the necessary criteria.

AB 1234 is a common sense reform that will help the Labor Commissioner reduce the backlog and help workers get their stolen wages back in their pockets. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Seeing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote it. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes 44, noes 12. The measure passes.

Item... Returning to file order. Item 53, AB 1249 by Assembly Member Wilson. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1249 by Assembly Member Wilson, an act relating to elections.

Assembly Member Wilson, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Good morning, Members. I'm pleased to present AB 1249, a bill that reflects our continued commitment to strengthening democracy and expanding voting access for all Californians. Today, 29 only 29 of our 58 counties provide early voting through the Voters Choice Acts, while the remaining 29 do not, two of which are in my district.

For many working families, caregivers, and voters with transportation challenges, voting on election day can be incredibly challenging. Sponsored by the Secretary of State, AB 1249 bridges this gap by requiring all non-VCA counties to offer at least one early voting location on the Saturday before a statewide election. By expanding early voting opportunities, we're helping ensure that every eligible voter can participate fully in our democratic process. Thank you, and I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Assembly Member DeMaio, you're recognized.

Thank you. I rise in opposition to AB 1249, not necessarily because I oppose the voting centers. I think, again, as part of a comprehensive election integrity reform package, I think that we could very well support voting centers. Do an election month, make it as convenient as possible. But we need the comprehensive election integrity reform package to be worked on in a bipartisan manner.

This bill seems to weaken some of the verification of identity that currently the mail in ballots have because people can now return a mail in ballot without the outside envelope, without the verification of the signature, which is is of concern if you're not voting in your home precinct where you are registered to vote.

That may, again, undermine public trust and confidence in the process. I just want to indicate to my colleagues on the other side there are a lot of 70% issues on election reform that we all should be working on, and election centers could very well be a bipartisan issue. I personally prefer voting on election day.

I like the idea of a single day, getting the results at the end of the day like most third world countries can achieve. But we also understand that many of our constituents, they like mail in ballots. They like the convenience of a mail in ballot, and I can certainly support the concept of that, provided that we have other reforms like voter ID and strong verification requirements for both registering for citizenship verification as well as identity verification on the return of a ballot.

So unfortunately, while there are some elements that are good in this bill and the voting centers can be convenient, I cannot support this bill because it seems as though the other side refuses to hear what constituents are asking for in terms of citizenship verification as well as identity verification.

Assembly Member Tangipa, you're recognized.

Yes, thank you. And I too rise in opposition for some other reasons. So I went and we spoke about this bill in the Elections, and I went to go speak to some of my smaller counties. I have seven counties and I represent some of the smallest areas in the State of California, Inyo County. And the clerk there that I got to speak to just two weeks ago stated they just don't have the personnel to meet these requirements. There are only three that work in these office that handle a county a lot larger than majority of the cities here.

There are a lot of other counties as well that have opted out of these reasons because there's no funding in place for them to meet these requirements without overworking a lot of the individuals that are in this department. But I also got to speak to our local county clerk as well and your home county clerk, and I asked them about this process on, well, what would it do if we eliminate the signature verification on that?

And he stated to me that if you show up and you remove that ballot, you do have to sign that you are this person, but on that one they do not have signature verification. They do not look to verify. You are simply just stating, and it is illegal for him to ask on that ID portion.

So it does fundamentally change by removing the ballot on that one too. So outside of the reasons of my smaller counties, they want to be able to do this, but if the state isn't backfilling the funding to make sure that they can hire the individuals in place, this actually hurts and puts a state mandate on them.

And two, it fundamentally changes the signature verification. They do not currently have in place the verification that they are saying that they are that person without the safeguards in place. They don't check that. They've all stated to me that they don't check that. It simply is just a paper on there. And for those reasons, I ask for your no vote on this.

Assembly Member Pellerin, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As someone who's conducted elections for almost three decades, I can tell you this is a very simple bill that is focused on voter service. It basically takes what the elections department is doing on a Friday and moving it to a Saturday. I've been doing weekend voting hours forever. And it is simple, it is efficient, it is secure, it is transparent, it is accessible, and I strongly support this measure.

Assembly Member Berman, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I want to thank my colleague for bringing up this very good bill, which I wholeheartedly support. And my colleague from San Diego referenced election integrity and concerns that he believes folks have around election integrity. And I think it's important for all of us to be reminded that President Donald Trump, a lot of other elected officials have been consistently lying about the integrity of our elections. And in fact, President Trump created a White House commission...

If you could hold on one moment. Assembly Member Tangipa, your point?

I ask that my colleague speak to the merits of this bill.

I appreciate that. I'm speaking to the issues raised by my colleague from San Diego during his presentation of this bill.

Assembly Member Berman, please stick to the merits of the discussion.

Absolutely. I think this is a great bill that will increase voters' integrity in our election system. It's a shame that folks have been trying to erode voters integrity or the confidence that voters have in our election system by lying about our elections and by lying about the existence of voter fraud. And that has created some confusion amongst voters around exactly how strong our election system is. This is a fantastic bill that will strengthen voters' confidence in the integrity of our elections and our security, which we all know from the data, the quantifiable data is remarkably secure.

Notwithstanding the lies that President Trump and others have said around stolen elections that have created a lot of confusion amongst voters. And when the President created a commission to look into voter fraud that was chaired by the Vice President, Vice President Pence. Back then, Pence and Trump got along. They don't so much anymore. That commission was disbanded with no...

Assembly Member Macedo, your point of order?

We're speaking about state elections, not federal. I ask that the speaker stays to the merits of the bill.

State elections and federal elections happen at the same time, but duly noted.

Please continue.

Respectfully ask for your aye vote on AB 1249.

Assembly Member Schultz, you're recognized.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I just wanted to rise and thank the author for bringing forward what I think was very well described by our colleague from Santa Cruz as a very simple, straightforward bill. And I would simply close with saying that, to my colleague from San Diego, if every one of us, and I believe we are, if we're all sincere and genuine about ensuring that the voice of the voters are heard in this chamber, there's no reason not to support this bill. And I'll be voting aye. Thank you.

Assembly Member Jeff Gonzalez, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would ask the author. I think we're right there. We're almost there. And I get it. There's distractions in this conversation, but what I would ask the author to consider is, since we're really close to that point, maybe pull back a little bit so we can get a little bit more consensus.

I get it. There's one side, there's another side. But I think we're like right there. And I appreciate the author's thoughtful consideration in this, and I agree with the way you presented this, and I'd love to be a part of supporting the author in this so that we can find a consensus. So that's my point.

Assembly Member Bryan, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam Speaker and colleagues. I rise as the former Chair of the Elections Committee joining the former Chair of the Elections Committee from Menlo Park and the current Chair of the Elections Committee from Santa Cruz and our Secretary of State, all in support of this bill. You are more likely to get hit by lightning twice than to find voter fraud in California. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Seeing and hearing no further debate. Assembly Member Wilson, would you like to close?

I would. First let me thank, and I had to look my little cheat sheet. But first let me thank my colleagues from Santa Cruz, Menlo Park, Burbank, and Los Angeles for their support. And let me address the concerns that were brought up from my colleagues from San Diego as well as Clovis and including Indio.

And from Indio, I know you mentioned laying off. I didn't hear a real question in there, so happy to talk with you later to find out what your exact concerns are. But just to address the first comment of weakening the bill or weakening our current election integrity process, we are doing no such thing.

We are simply adding a day. They reference reference a signature on an envelope. Currently, today, when you go to vote in the State of California, no matter which county you are in, you can take your vote by mail ballot without the envelope and take it to your place of record and sign on the sheet and follow the normal current process and then turn that ballot in without an envelope.

All my bill does that is, like I said, I shouldn't even say my bill because it is a co-sponsor. It is sponsored by our Secretary of State. Says that you can also do that same thing at alternate voting locations that have been approved and notified.

And so it doesn't weaken, it just gives more access opportunity under the same current law that currently exists today. There's also this idea of this need for alternative locations. Like why the need for alternative location? My colleague noted he likes to vote in person. I will tell you I love to vote in person.

I am usually the first person to vote in my county each and every time. I like to be the person that inspects the place where you put your ballot to ensure that it is still blank and have pictures of doing such. But I tell you one time I was really thankful for vote by mail and it was when the first and the only time I got Covid the day before the election. I was very happy that I could immediately vote by mail and not miss out on voting in person and endangering someone else's life.

My colleague from Clovis mentioned this need from small counties. This is a, this bill addresses the need for small counties to be able to offer early voting. Our original Early Voting Act said that you had to, if you were going to participate, you had to have 10 days of early voting. 10 whole days.

Many counties, including two in my district, said that's too much for us. So our bill originally said you had to have three voting locations on one Saturday before. Because of the concerns that we heard in Elections Committee, we reduced that to one location. So we hope to address the smaller county issue and made amendments as such.

He also noted that Fresno, which is an early voting county by the way, which does early voting more than the 10 days that is allowed under Early Voting Act, was concerned about weakening the laws. Like I mentioned from the concerns that were brought up from my colleague from the City of San Diego, that there are no weakenings.

And so if that particular clerk of my hometown has a current issue, he doesn't have an issue with my bill because my bill wouldn't apply to them because they're already doing the the Early Voting Act. But if he has an issue with my bill, it is really because he has an issue overall.

And I would say that in that, colleagues, speaking from my colleague from Menlo Park, but in those counties where there's concerns around that, it's really related to misinformation, intentional lying around the Voting Act. And because of that, I respectfully ask for a strong, strong, from my Democratic colleagues if no one else, aye vote.

Seeing and hearing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes 52, noes 16. The measure passes. We'll pass and retain on file item 54. Item 55, AB 1280 by Assembly Member Garcia. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1280 by Assembly Member Garcia and others, an act relating to energy.

Assembly Member Garcia, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Members, I rise today present AB 1280, incentivizing thermal energy in California's industries, a Bill with bipartisan support.

AB 1280 offers an incentive to industries by expanding the CEC's Indigo Long Duration Energy Storage and IBank's Climate Catalyst programs to allow zero emission projects using thermal energy storage and industrial heat pump storage eligible for public funding. Thank you. And I respectfully asked for an aye vote.

Assemblymember DeMaio, you're recognized.

Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to AB 1280 not because I don't support some of the environmental and energy goals that the author is trying to present in support of his Bill, but because, and this may not be your intention, but it's in your Bill.

This Bill seems to be nothing more than a giveaway to organized labor by the requirement that's included that in order to qualify for consideration into this Bill, projects have to have what we call a project labor agreement, which is fancy terminology that bureaucrats have come up with to basically say we're not going to have fair and open competition, that it's got to be a rigged union-only agreement.

Project labor agreements raise the cost of projects by anywhere between 30 and 50 percent on construction costs.

Worse, the proponents of project labor agreements claim that they will allow for local hires. But PLAs actually do quite the opposite where many localities do not have workers in the immediate area and they have to basically bring in workers from outside of the community to do the jobs. Jobs that are paid for with local tax dollars.

These predatory and costly project labor agreements are fundamentally unfair. We should not be putting our thumb on the scale of any project by requiring that in order to qualify for flexibility or funding or consideration that we rig a bidding process in favor of a very powerful political interest group, the organized labor community.

I urge a no vote on this Bill and perhaps the Bill can come back at a, in a form that does not have the PLA in it that would perhaps benefit energy and environmental goals.

All debate, oh, seeing no further debate, Assemblymember Garcia, would you like to close?

Thank you. I respectfully asked for an aye vote.

All debate having ceased, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes 56, noes 1. The measure passes.

Item 56, AB 1285 by the Committee on Emergency Management.

The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1285 by the Committee on Emergency Management. An act related to public safety.

Assemblymember Ransom, you are recognized.

Thank you. Madam Speaker, I rise today to present Assembly Bill 1285, a bill requiring the state fire marshal to develop fire prevention, response and recovery measures for lithium ion battery storage facilities. As we lean more towards electric batteries in our state, it's important that we are prepared for any situation regarding them.

I want to thank my colleagues on the Emergency Management Committee for supporting this bill. And I also want to commit with working with other Members from San Diego as well as a Member from Palmdale who also have bills regarding lithium ion battery fires. We want to ensure that we have a comprehensive package as this bill moves forward.

This bill has no opposition and has received no no votes and enjoys support- full support and the recommendation. I respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you.

Assemblymember Demaio you're recognized.

Thank you. I- I rise in strong support of Assembly Bill 1285 and I want to commend the- the author of the bill not only for this bill, but several others that you've been working on. I'm not opposed to battery sites. They certainly can be helpful, particularly as we move to renewable energy.

But these sites have had a very bad safety record, and I don't believe that the technologies are- are properly managed to reduce risk, at this point. We need help with these battery sites. Many of these sites are being put into our communities. It has overridden local control.

Local boards hear from concerned constituents and they have no authority under state law because of, I think, flawed legislation that this body has pushed forward on no local control, no local discretion to require safety measures.

This is unfair and God forbid something, you know, truly terrible happen and that it be traced back to the fact that this body removed local control from the review of those projects. So the extent to which we can take what is a bipartisan concern and a bipartisan commitment and expedite some of these bills.

It's so important because I know that the author had several other ideas that were much more aggressive. I think we need to go more aggressive on these issues.

And at least for my part, I think many of my Republican colleagues, we are eager to work on a bipartisan issue, the improving of safety standards on these battery storage sites. Thank you.

Seeing and hearing no further debate. Assemblymember Ransom, would you like to close?

Yes. I'd like to thank our colleague from San Diego for the strong support and the vote of confidence regarding this bill. The Committee on Assembly Emergency Management. We seek to be proactive and responsive and effective regarding these issues. We know this is- that this is an issue that we definitely need to get ahead of.

We appreciate the bipartisan support and again we ask for your aye vote. Thank you.

Seeing and hearing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes, 65. Noes, 0. The measure passes. We will pass and retain on file item 57.

Item 58, AB 1417 by Assemblymember Stefani. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1417 by Assemblymember Stefani. An act relating to offshore wind energy development and making an appropriation therefore.

Assemblymember Stefani, you are recognized.

Thank you. Madam Speaker. Today I rise to present AB 1417, which ensures that as California leads the nation in offshore wind, we also lead in transparency and equity. First, I bant to thank the industry for the ongoing dialogue. We have amended the bill in the last two policy committees which resolve their concerns and remove their opposition.

The bill requires offshore wind developers to report to the California Energy Commission any funding they provide directly to local and tribal communities, specifically for the purposes of capacity building.

In addition, AB1417 expands the scope of the existing voluntary offshore wind and coastal resources protection Program, allowing capacity building activities and grants in local and tribal communities to be eligible uses of any voluntary donations to that program. This bill now enjoys bipartisan support and I respectfully ask for an Aye vote.

Seeing and hearing no further debate. The Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes, 62. Noes, 0. The measure passes. File item 59, AB 1441 by Assemblymember Soria.

The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1441 by Assembly Member Soria an act relating to elections.

Assemblymember Soria, you're recognized.

Thank you Madam Speaker. Members, AB 1441 is a district Bill. It establishes an independent Citizens Redistricting Commission in the County of Merced to improve participation and transparency in the redistricting process.

We all know that since the establishment of California Statewide Citizens Redistricting Commission in 2008 by Prop 11, California has taken numerous steps to put the responsibility for drawing California's electoral districts in the hands of its citizens at every level of government.

What has been previously a closed door process in many parts of the state has been opened up to interested citizens who want to see the unique composition of their communities reflected in their districts.

Past legislation has brought the benefits of citizens redistricting commissions to counties like Los Angeles, San Diego, San Luis Obispo and Fresno. The people of Merced have asked for the opportunity to participate in the transparent process where they are at the table. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Seeing and hearing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes 45, noes 15. The measure passes.

We will pass and retain. We will take up item 60, AB 1448 by Assemblymember Hart.

The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1448 by Assemblymember Hart, an act related to coastal resources.

Assemblymember Hart, you are recognized.

Thank you Madam Speaker. California is no stranger to devastating oil spills. In fact, the 1969 spill off the coast of Santa Barbara where 4.2 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the ocean nearby shores, was the catalyst for the modern environmental movement.

In more recent memory, the 2015 Refufio oil spill stands as one of California's most significant coastal environmental disasters. A corroded pipeline failed and ruptured near Refufio State Beach, releasing over 100,000 gallons of crude oil. The spill contaminated and destroyed a nine mile stretch of the Gaviota coast, an area world renowned for its rich marine biodiversity.

The spill harmed marine protected areas and devastated the coastal community with cleanup costs and litigation reaching to $300 million. Despite the hard learned lessons, threats to our coast continue.

As one of his first acts in office this year, President Trump issued an executive order encouraging expanded energy exploration and production within the Outer Continental Shelf.

In Santa Barbara County, a Texas-based company is blatantly violating the law and ignoring cease and desist orders to restart the pipeline for offshore oil drilling. The very pipeline that read to the Refufio oil spill.

Assembly Bill 1448 will protect our precious coast by strengthening environmental protections, public oversight, and safety requirements for offshore oil drilling. The Bill will prohibit the State Lands Commission from signing new leases that would expand oil and gas related infrastructure.

It places stricter conditions on lease renewals, extensions, amendments, assignments and modifications. The Bill also requires all pipelines transporting offshore oil to be certified by the Office of the State Fire Marshal to minimize the risk of future spills.

AB 1448 ensures that our marine resources and and coastal communities are protected against efforts to restart outdated and unsafe pipelines. We must do everything we can to protect our coast.

Assemblymember Ellis, you are recognized.

Thank you very much Madam. And I respectfully rise in opposition of 1448. We have a cost of living crisis in this state and a lot of it's driven by our reformulated fuels and the high price of environmental regulations, which actually are pretty darn good. We put out the cleanest oil and gas in the world.

Just so you know, there's about 6,000 products that are derivatives of oil and gas. Glycol in your toothpaste, makeup, tires on your car, plastics in your electric vehicle. Be aware that from my position, part of this body has been claiming that oil is dirty. But how did we get here?

We're importing a million barrels a day from overseas, from countries that have no environmental standards whatsoever. They're coming into this country on ships that are burning number six fuel oil with no emission standards on their engines and putting products, putting contaminants such as phenanthrene, cyclobenzene, all of these nasty pollutants that are considered hazardous by our own EPA.

So we need to get our own oil and gas production up to speed, otherwise the cost of living is going to go through the roof. So we have to stimulate and enhance all of the production and all of the refining in this state. And this is our opportunity. We have to support oil and gas production.

We have to support. Now, if you want to talk about fusion and hydrogen and electric and clean energy, that's awesome. But we've got to get there. But we have to have sustainability before we get there. So let's encourage the oil and gas sector. Oh, and by the way, fusion.

Did you know that the idea behind fusion is that when you blow open up using a laser that is, by the way, electrically driven from natural gas, that when you blow open a boron molecule that it makes more energy than you put in?

We are so close to getting fusion and hydrogen and clean energy, but we're not quite there yet. So we have to rely on oil and gas. Let's don't inhibit that industry. I thank you for what you're trying to do here, but it's too premature. We need, we need, we need oil and gas.

We need to keep the price of cost, the cost of living down. And I am strong opposition to 1448. Thank you for your time.

All debate having ceased. Assemblymember Hart, would you like to close?

Yeah, I'd just like to close by putting this issue into context. The California's marine economy contributes close to $70 billion to the state's Gross Domestic Product, employing more than half a million people. In comparison, offshore oil and gas resources make only 4% of that $70 billion, while tourism and recreation account for 44% of the total marine economy.

Protecting our marine economy will far produce more in return than opening up our precious coastal resources for oil and gas production. I respectfully urge an aye vote.

All debate having ceased, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote.

Members, please return to the floor.

The Clerk will close the roll. Ayes, 42. Noes, 21. The measure pass. We'll pass the retain on file item 61. Next item is 62. AB 380 by Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez.

Assembly Bill 380 by Assembly Member Mark Gonzalez and others in act relating to price gouging.

The Clerk will read.

Assembly Member Mark Gonzalez, you're recognized.

Thank you. Madam Speaker. I'm proud to present AB 380, a bill born out of the devastation of the LA wildfires which destroyed 10,000 structures, including homes, businesses, schools and places of worship. As communities work to rebuild, we must protect them from exploitation and price gouging during that vulnerable time.

While existing law provides some protections, confusion remains among renters, consumers and businesses. AB 380 strengthens and clarifies these protections, ensuring stability, safeguarding and guarding against opportunistic price hikes that threaten recovery and threaten displacement. Critically- Critically, I've been working closely with the opposition, including the California Apartment Association, which have agreed to reduce the duration of protections as follows.

Goods and services will decrease from 180 days to 90 days. Reconstructive services will decrease from 365 days to 180 days. Hotels and motels will decrease from 180 days to 90 days. Commercial real properties will decrease from 180 to 90 days. Rental housing will decrease from 180 to 90 days.

We will also be amending back in the ability to increase rent for the purpose of maintenance and repairs on rental housing and commercial real properties. I remain committed as of all the conversations I've had with many of you on the floor about this hot topic on ongoing collaboration with stakeholders as we move forward on this bill.

Thank you and I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Seeing and hearing no further debate. The Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes 41, noes 8. The measure passes. Vote, pass and retain on item 63.

Item 64, AB 402 by Assemblymember Patel.

Assembly Bill 402 by Assemblymember Patel, an act related to student financial aid.

The Clerk will read.

Assemblymember Patel, you are recognized.

Thank you Madam Speaker and Members, I rise today to present AB 402 which would increase the CalGrants for private nonprofit colleges to facilitate student agency and more opportunities for upward mobility.

This Bill will return the grant size for CalGrant A and B to its 2001 amount and include private nonprofits and CalGrants transfer entitlement for those transferring from community colleges. It receives bipartisan support in Committee and has no stakeholder opposition. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Seeing and hearing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. All those vote who desire to vote. The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes 61, noes 0. The measure passes.

File item 65, AB 441 by Assemblymember Hadwick.

The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 441 by Assembly Member Hadwick and accolade of wildfire prevention.

Assemblymember Hadwick, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. California is experiencing more frequent and destructive wildfires than ever before. To combat these growing threats, the state must continue investing in wildfire response and community resilience.

The Office of Wildfire Technology Research and Development serves as California's central organizing hub for identifying emergency wildfire technologies, helping first responders and communities stay ahead of evolving fire threats. However, it is set to expire in 2029. Assembly Bill 441 extends this sunset date of the office two additional years, ensuring ongoing advancements in fire prevention and response.

This Bill also permanently extends the California Wildfire Mitigation Program, which helps Californians access home hardening materials and mitigation tools. Extending both of these programs guarantees fire threatened communities have access to essential fire mitigation and firefighting resources. This bill has received unanimous support and has no opposition. I respectfully ask for your Aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Hadwick. All debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote that desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll tally. The votes ayes. 61, no 0. The measure passes. Going to pass and retain on file.

Item 66 brings us to file item 67. AB 542 by Assemblymember Rodriguez will read.

Assembly Bill 542 by Assembly Member Celeste Rodriguez and accolade in school attendance.

Madam Assistant speaker pro tem, you are recognized.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Members, with AB 42 we can support students with paths to success right after graduation. This is support-support. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you Assemblymember Rodriguez. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 60, noes 0. The measure passes.

Pass and retain on file...

...item 68. Brings us to file item 69, AB 642 by Assemblymember Muratsuchi. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 642 by Assemblymember Muratsuchi, an act related to emergencies and declaring the urgency thereof to take effect immediately.

Assemblymember Muratsuchi, you are recognized.

Thank you Members. I am here to present AB642, which is a common sense support support measure to allow school employees in a State of emergency to transfer catastrophic leave to each other to support each other. This is coming at the request of our teachers in Los Angeles following the Los Angeles wildfires. Respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you Assemblymember Muratsuchi. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 62, noes 0 on the urgency. Ayes 62, noes 0 on the measure. The measure passes.

We will pass and retain on file item 70, 71, 72. Brings us to file item 73, AB 696 by Assemblymember Ransom.

The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 696 by Assembly Member Ransom. And accolade to lithium ion batteries.

Assemblymember Ransom, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise as chair of Emergency Management Committee, and I would like to present Assembly Bill 696. This bill creates the Lithium Ion Car Battery Advisory Group. As electric vehicles become increasingly common on our roads powered by lithium ion batteries, it is our duty to.

To ensure that our first responders have the guidance they need to safely respond to large battery fires. These batteries bring their own unique emergencies, and our first responders deserve the tools, training and guidance to contain these fires swiftly and safely. This bill has received unanimous bipartisan support, and I respectfully ask for your Aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Assemblymember Ransom. I'll debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. Excuse me. I did not see you through. Mr. Bowman. Mr. Lackey, you are recognizing. I could not see the microphone. You are recognized, sir.

Okay. Hopefully, yeah. Just real quickly, because I know we all want lunch. I want you to know that this is a very powerful need that the state has seen a couple very, very critical incidents. Everybody, this is a very serious problem, and I'm telling you that we're unprepared for it.

And so we better take very, very proactive measures to address this in a very meaningful way, or we're going to have some real, real, real tragedies. It will be a circumstance that they'll wonder why we didn't as a Legislature take an action when we've had incidents already. We've had several very, very loud yellow flags.

So congratulations for bringing attention to this. I've been attempting to do this for some time and I'm glad that at least you're having the success you deserve. Thank you.

Thank you. Summary Member Lackey, Member Tangipa, you are recognized.

Thank you. And I too rise in support of this. I just want to thank the author for bringing this to our attention. There's a lot again in the mountain communities that don't have the infrastructure in place for some of these electrical fires. They don't have the emergency management response.

And there's also a big investigation that we've been working on for a while that actually looks at some of the issues that LA County went through on their wildfire response.

Some of their emergency management vehicles which are part of their electric fleet were left dead and the power was already shut off because they lost power and they could not charge the vehicles and that they actually reached out to other municipalities asking for help because they didn't have the electrical response in this.

I really hope that this study leads us towards, if we have our goals in place, that we make sure that we have the emergency management in place as well. And I really do thank the author for looking and prioritizing the safety of Californians. Thank you.

Thank you. Assemblymember Tangipa and hearing no further debate. Assemblymember Ransom, do you wish to close?

Thank you again, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank my colleagues for rising in support of this bill in this state. We want to be leaders, we want to be proactive, we want to be responsive and we know that this is a very dangerous and unique situation that we need to be able to respond to.

We know that we cannot put out these fires with water. We know that there is a safety risk for those who've been exposed to batteries that have been damaged.

And so we want to make sure that we are ahead of the game and giving our first responders and our community the tools that they need to respond safely and appropriately. I thank you all for your leadership and your support. And with that I I ask for your Aye vote thank you.

Thank you Assembly Member Ransom I'll debate having cease Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to Burke will close the roll.

...tally the votes. Ayes 67, noes 0. The measure passes.

We are now going to go backwards to our lone item of reconsideration. That is file item number 4.

Okay. On reconsideration, file item number 4, AB 435 by Assemblymember Wilson. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 435 by Assemblymember Wilson, an act relating to vehicles.

Is there any objection to granting reconsideration on AB 435? Hearing none, reconsideration is granted. We'll now take up the Bill in Chief. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 435 by Assemblymember Wilson, an act relating to vehicles.

Assembymember Wilson, you may open.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Members, I'm pleased to present AB435 a Bill that will implement the five-step standard to our child passenger safety laws, otherwise known as CPS laws, here in California. Now I have talked to you a lot, a lot of you already.

I have presented on this Bill just noting that the five-step test simply makes clarifying changes to our safety belt fit definition that CHP, CDPH, and safety seat educators already utilize. Many were confused about what the five-step test was, so let me be clear about what it is.

First, is the child sitting all the way back against the auto seat? Number two, the knees of the child bend over the edge of the seat. Can they do that? That is a test. The shoulder belt, number three, the shoulder belt snugly across the center of the child's chest and shoulder, not the child's neck.

Number four, the lap belt is as low as possible and is touching the child thighs. Number five, the child can stay seated like this for the entire trip. This Bill mirrors policies that have been successfully passed in Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Washington to date.

It is also noting that there are also practical exemptions in our Bill for situations such as vehicle with no rear seat if all passenger seats are filled, and for those who may have outgrown the size maximums of a child safety seat.

Lastly, in my conversations with many of you over the last few days, we've talked about potential amendments to take in the Senate. I appreciate your willingness to allow the legislative process to continue and I commit to fully to addressing those concerns. And with that I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you Assemblymember Wilson. Seeing and hearing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. That Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 41, noes 13. The measure passes.

Going back to where we left off in file order, we're going to pass and retain on file item 74. We have already dispensed with file item 75. Brings us file item 76, AB 830 by Assemblymember Rogers. Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 830 by Assemblymember Rogers, an act relating to streets and Highways.

Assemblymember Rogers, you are recognized.

Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. This Bill is a support-support for a district Bill, AB 830, but I did really want to highlight an issue. Given the budget constraints this year we made this Bill limited to Mendocino County.

But this is an issue across the state where in statute, Caltrans has the authority to do public works projects, but does not have the statutory authority to be able to do the utilities associated with them, the crosswalks in particular.

So as communities like mine do ADA improvements, they have a larger chunk of money that falls on small community service districts that quite frankly can't shoulder the loads of millions of dollars for the ADA improvements and for the utility work without the coordination with Caltrans.

So like I said, AB 830 this year is limited specifically to Mendocino County to try to address that issue in the community of Hopland. But don't be surprised if you hear about this issue from other communities that struggle as well with a small user base and in small community service districts. With that, I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Rogers. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll. Tally the votes. Ayes 63, noes 0. The measure passes.

Brings us to file item 77, AB 993 by Assemblymember Hadwick.

Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 993 by Assemblymember Hadwick and applied in the hazardous.

Materials family Member Hadwick, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Rural local agencies that protect public and first responders from accidental releases of spells of hazardous materials and waste are under resourced. This is a threat to public safety and is a disservice to our first responders who need resources to do their jobs. The Rural Certified Unified Program Agency reimbursement program. Thank you.

The Rural Certified Unified Program Agency reimbursement program accomplishes this by funding hazardous materials and waste management in under resourced communities. 13 counties are covered under this program, but due to a technical definition, Alpine, Amador, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Mono, Napa, Nevada, San Benito, Siskiyou and Tuolumne counties are not.

Assembly Bill 993 expands program eligibility to these counties, increases local capacity to respond to wildfires and other hazardous material emergencies, and ensures first responders have the tools they need to protect our communities. This bill has received unanimous support and has no opposition. I respectfully ask for an Aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Hadwick. All debate having ceased, the Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll. Tally the votes. Ayes, 64. Noes, 0. The measure passes.

Brings us to file item 78, also by Assemblymember Hadwick. AB 998. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 998 by Assemblymember Hadwick, an act related to hazardous waste.

Assemblymember Hadwick, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members, California is facing a vaping epidemic. It's plaguing our children's schools and environment. Every year, millions of vapes are improperly disposed of, harming our environment. In our schools, vape pens are being confiscated at an alarming rate. Teachers themselves have large quantities of confiscated vapes with no clear pathway for disposal.

As a former educator and TUPI Director, I had a filing cabinet full of confiscated vapes from schools. AB 998 allows schools to manage confiscated vapes as household hazardous waste and allows hazardous waste facilities to accept these vapes.

This Bill opens a new disposal pathway and ensures hazardous chemicals do not find their way in our environment. AB 998 will improve safety in our schools and responsibly manage the vape waste stream in California. This Bill has received unanimous support and has no opposition. And I respectfully asked for your aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Hadwick. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll. Tally the vote. Ayes 60, noes 0. The measure passes.

Pass and retain on file item number 79. That brings us to file item 80, AB 1074 by Assemblymember Patel. Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1074 by Assemblymember Patel, an act related to CalWORKs.

Assembly Member Patel, you are recognized.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker and Members, I rise today to present AB 1074, a critical step towards strengthening California's commitment to keeping families together. This Bill updates the CalWORKS reunification program to remove barriers from prior legislation that unintentionally prevented parents from receiving the aid they needed to reunify with their child.

Keeping a child with their family is not only a moral goal, but it is a fiscally responsible one as the state spends three times more money placing a child in foster care than it would by providing stable CalWORKS aid.

Additionally, I have worked with stakeholders and Appropriations Committee to ensure that certain provisions are will only take effect if they are cost neutral or will result in savings to the state altogether. This bill will help reunite, reunify families and help save the state money. It has no stakeholder opposition and I respectfully ask for your aye vote thank.

You thank you Assembly Member Patel. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll. Tally the votes. Ayes, 45. Noes, 10. The measure passes. Okay, we are on to file.

Item Number 81 AB 1084 by Assembly Member Zbur. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1084 by Assembly Members Zbur and others an act relating to vital records and declaring the urgency thereof to take effect immediately.

Assembly Member Zbur, you are recognized.

Thank you Mr. Chair, colleagues. AB 1084 is a bill that was brought to me by over 200 parents of transgender children and is a priority bill for Equality California and the LGBTQ Caucus. Transgender and non binary people are facing an unprecedented wave of attacks across the country and also here in California.

In 2024 alone, at least 576 anti LGBTQ bills were introduced nationwide, many specifically targeting transgender individuals by restricting their access to health care, public facilities, accurate IDs and more.

These attacks are part of a coordinated effort to make it harder for transgender people to live safely and openly as their authentic selves and erase transgender people from public life entirely.

AB 1084 will streamline and expedite the process for transgender and non binary individuals to receive a court order recognizing their gender change and changing their legal name by shortening the court processing time for uncontested petitions from a minimum of six weeks to a maximum of six weeks.

Despite recent legislation supporting transgender and non binary individuals right to obtain accurate identification documents, family law experts and community Members have reported significant wait times as well as other barriers that prevent a timely updating of key identification documents.

Having accurate identification documents such as driver's licenses, birth certificates is vital, absolutely vital for health and well being of transgender and non binary individuals. This is especially important for minors as children generally need a birth certificate for various legal, educational and personal reasons.

This includes enrolling in school, receiving medical care and accessing social safety net programs they cannot afford. Time delays receiving Valuable Identification Documents 1084 will improve the ability of transgender and non binary Californians to obtain accurate identification documents and protect themselves from growing threats to their safety and well being. I respectfully ask for a Nye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Spohr. Seeing and hearing no further debate, the Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Members, this bill has urgency. It requires 54 votes.

Clerk will close the roll. Tally the votes. Ayes 55, noes 10. The measure passes. On the urgency, excuse me. Ayes 55, noes 10 on the urgency. Ayes 55, noes 10 on the measure. The measure passes.

We've already dispensed with file item 82. We pass and retain on file item 83. That gets us to file item 84. Ms. Ransom.

AB 1530 from the Committee on Emergency Management presented by Assemblymember Ransom. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1530 by the Committee on Emergency Management, an act relating to emergency services.

Assemblymember Ransom, you are recognized.

Begin. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present AB 1530, a Bill requiring California Office of Emergency Services to establish a model process to assist communities in the recovery of a disaster.

The process for communities will include measures to encourage the participation of nonprofit organizations and also give details on how they may be eligible to receive statewide assistance under the California Disaster Assistance Act.

This Bill will also provide greater flexibility to CalOES by allowing them to implement their existing state private, nonprofit organization assistance programs through guidelines as opposed to bureaucratic regulations. I'd like to thank my colleagues on the Emergency Management Committee for supporting this common sense measure and I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you Assemblymember Ransom. All debate having ceased, the Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll. Tally votes. Ayes 67, noes 0. The measure passes.

We are now on to file item 85, that's AB 353 by Assemblymember Boerner.

Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 353 by Assembly Member Boerner and accolade to communications.

Assemblymember Boerner, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members. Today I'm presenting AB353, the Affordable Home Internet Act of 2025. This bill would ensure that low income families have access to basic service that most of us take for granted. The Internet.

Specifically, this bill would require Internet service providers in California to provide affordable home Internet service to qualified low income households participating in public assistance programs. All of us in these chambers and those watching at home probably rarely think about their broadband access unless it goes out.

However, if you are one of the 3 million households that took advantage of the federal Affordable Connectivity Program, you are acutely aware of how you are shut out of society, the economy, telehealth and education. I believe all families in the state deserve access to a reliable and affordable home. Internet connection. Kids need Internet to do their homework.

Parents need Internet to apply for jobs or work remotely. And families need Internet for telehealth, especially living far away. Those living far away from medical centers. We cannot be sending our kids back to Taco Bell to do their homework because their families cannot afford broadband at home.

While competition is driving down prices, naturally, the lowest cost plans are still out of reach for many Californians without government intervention. The lowest income. The lowest income is the population I'm trying to reach because they have no other option. To be clear, this is not a rural versus urban A nor Cal versus SoCal Republican versus Democrat issue.

This problem affects the families in each and every one of our districts. Unfortunately, without federal action or funding to reinstate the acp, which is not on the horizon, we Californians need to act today to move this bill to to include California families in the fourth largest economy of the world.

I was able to have constructive conversations with the opposition and this Bill today includes amendments that address some of their concerns. We have also agreed to take additional amendments that will be taken in the Senate. Yes, there is more work to be done and I remain committed to finding the right solution that fits California.

I will continue to engage the industry and consumers and where possible, we aim to find a compromise with that. Colleagues, I respectfully ask an Aye vote and thank the speaker for adding this bill to his affordability package because it will result in cost savings for Californians.

Thank you. Thank you, Assemblymember Boerner, Assemblymember Bonta, you are recognized.

Thank you. Members, I want to thank the author from San Diego, our colleague from San Diego, for bringing what is really a quite monumental bill.

It will go, I'm sure, with the sense of making sure that we're providing coverage and affordability and broadband for everyone in this age where broadband is an essential service that needs to be in every single home to the extent we can.

And I just want to really thank the author for her continued championing of this issue around equity and affordability for broadband and her leadership over the many years to be able to do that. This is a smart, make sense solution that will enable every person to have access that they don't have now. Thank you.

Thank you. Assembly Member Bonta. Seeing and hearing no further debate. Do you wish to close?

Respectfully ask your Aye vote.

All debate having ceased, the Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll. Tally votes. Ayes.

52. Noes, 17. The measure passes. Madam Majority Leader, you are recognized Members. Can I have your Attention, please, Members.

All right. Good job, everyone. We have dispensed with 35 bills this morning. We are moving at a steady, steady pace. So let's get back to. Let's go to lunch and then come back within the hour, and we'll see you there.

Members, we are going to break for lunch for one hour. The quorum call will be lifted. Members may leave the floor. We are resuming business in one hour at 1:30. Please report back to the chamber at 1:30.

Members, if you have vote changes, now is the time. Please approach. Dais, please approach dais. Not from your desk. Please approach dais.

Ready. David. Aguiar Curry. AB435 Aye to not voting.

Vote change. Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry. Assembly Bill 435. Aye. To not voting.

Mr. Hart, do you have vote changes?

Assembly Member Hart. Vote Change AB 660 Aye to not Voting.

Vote change. Assembly Member Hart. Assembly Bill 660 aye to not voting.

Majority leader. Okay, the House is back in session. Madam Majority Leader, you are recognized.

At the request of the author, please move file item 57, AB 1313 Papan to the inactive file.

Clerk will note. Okay, thank you. Members, before we get back onto the business on the daily file, I do want to recognize we have our former majority leader. V. Manuel Perez is off on the side next to Mr. Gonzalez. Welcome back, sir. Welcome. Nice to have you.

Okay, we're going to pass and retain on file item 87 and start again from the beginning of the file. First item we will be taking up is file item 14. That is AB 1079 by Assembly Member Avila Farias. The Clerk will read

Assembly Bill 1079 by Assembly Member Avila Farias an act relating to civil actions.

AssemblyMember Avila Farias. You are recognized.

Thank you Mr. Speaker and Members. I'm pleased to present AB 1079. This Bill will eliminate the automatic stay in cases involving the California Voting Rights Act and the Fair Acts map. Nearly 25 years ago, the CBRA was enacted to give historically underrepresented communities a real voice in democracy.

Yet today, even after courts rule that an election system violates the law, local jurisdictions can delay compliance simply by filing an appeal, prolonging injustice and silencing voters of color. AB 1079 ends that loophole. It ensures court decisions protecting voting rights take effect without unnecessary delay.

I would like to thank my colleagues from Santa Cruz and West Hollywood for their collaboration and expertise and input in this measure. This Bill no longer has any opposition and I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you Assemblymember Avila Farias. Assemblymember Zbur, you are recognized.

Mr. Chair, Members. I rise in support of AB 1079. I want to thank the author for her collaboration and partnership. There were the original version of this Bill would have had impact on the existing litigation. And she's amended the Bill so that it doesn't do that. Very grateful and rise in support of the Bill. Thank you.

Thank you Assemblymember Zbur. Seeing and hearing no further debate, Assemblymember Avila Farias, do you wish to close?

I respectfully asked for an aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you. All debate having ceased, the Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll. Tally the votes. Ayes 43, noes 14. The measure passes.

We're going to skip ahead.

File item 20, that is AB 30 by Assemblymember Alvarez. Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 30 by Assembly Member Alvarez and others, an act related to motor vehicle fuels and declaring the urgency thereof to take effect immediately.

Assemblymember Alvarez, you are recognized.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Members, we're presenting a Bill that is impacting all of Californians and you've all been talking about this topic for the last several months.

AB 30 is a Cleaner, Cheaper Fuels Act which will authorize E15 as a new blend of gasoline which will include up to 15% of ethanol for sale and use in California. California is the only state out of the 50 states in the United States that does not currently allow the use of this blend of fuel. So AB 30 brings California in line with the rest of the nation.

This Bill is a reintroduction of AB 2X9, which the chair of Utilities Committee and Member from Irvine, our colleague, introduced last special session and it passed this body with overwhelming support last year. But unfortunately it was not taken up in the Senate.

The reason this Bill is is needed is due to the regulatory delays that we've seen at the Air Resources Board. CARB initiated the regulatory approval of this blend of gasoline over seven years ago. A Tier 3 report, also known as the Multimedia Risk Assessment Report, was circulated to relevant agencies in 2022.

But no, literally almost no progress has been made since then. Last October, Governor Newsom sent a letter directing CARB to expedite the rulemaking for this, a welcome partnership for us with the Legislature. AB 30 is a result of that partnership.

And I'm also grateful for the Governor's Budget Change Proposal that provides additional support for CARB to expedite this process because it is clear that California consumers cannot afford to wait any longer.

By approving this Bill, California drivers could see up to a 20 cent per gallon reduction in their cost of gasoline according to a recent study by UC Berkeley.

AB 30 is a common sense bipartisan solution that ensures that the E15 blend can be used in California while preserving CARB's formal rulemaking process.

The Bill has an urgency clause so that we can ensure that as soon as it passes and the Governor signs this takes effect and consumers can see the improvement to their cost of gasoline as soon as possible. We have strong support from a diverse coalition including agriculture advocates, organizations representing small businesses, veterans, seniors, and others.

I also want to recognize and thank Members of the Problem Solvers Caucus for their work on this. This is a sponsored Bill by the caucus. Together with my colleague from Lodi, we have brought this forward and worked this through and appreciate your support of our consumers saving the money by supporting Assembly Bill 30.

Thank you, Assemblymember Alvarez. Assemblymember Flora, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, I rise in strong support of AB 30. Over the last few years we've talked a lot in this body about reducing costs and this is one of those bills that we can absolutely do that.

We're one of only state in the country that does not allow ethanol 15 and it's time that we step up. I do appreciate the Governor engaging on this. I want to thank my colleagues as well with the problem solvers for engaging, making this a priority as well.

But this is a small step to affordability and this with many other things, we can make the state affordable again. And I appreciate your aye vote.