Senate Floor

Secretary will call the roll.

[Roll Call]

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 the flag.

We gather in God's presence, O God of limitless embrace. The grandeur of our dreams brings us before you today. We ask that in this world where there are many sides to everything. That. We may experience hushed hearts by trusting that all sides of everything are yours.

That we may experience the liberation of knowing we are acting for the greater good of all. And that we may have the passion to continue our efforts despite the success or failure of our stance. Gracious God, help us to continue to lean into your spirit for the benefit of those who rely on our efforts. Amen.

Members, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.We will now move to privileges of the floor. We have none. Messages from the Governor will be deemed read. Messages from the Assembly will be deemed read. Reports of committees will be deemed read and amendments adopted.

We are now in motions, resolutions and notices. We will take a quick pause.

Okay. Members, are there any motions or resolutions? Okay. We will now move to consideration of the daily file, starting with the Governor's appointment. Senator Grove, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. I apologize for being late. My seatmate tried to kill me yesterday by giving me my first round Red Bull in my entire life. And it was not a pleasant experience. Just saying.

File item five, colleagues, is the confirmation of Allison Ganter to the serve on the inaugural Director in the in custody death review for the Board of the State of Community Corrections. This appointment is extraordinarily qualified. Prior to this role, she has been serving as the board of Deputy Director.

Her career at the BSCC started 24 years ago as a field representative. And this is an individual whose collaborative can bring both sides together, not create a hostile environment for anybody and really solve the problems. Respectfully asked for an aye vote.

Thank you. Seeing no further discussion or debate. Secretary, please call the roll on file. Item five.

[Roll Call]

Secretary, please call the absent Members.

[Roll Call]

Ayes. 34, nos. 0. The appointment is confirmed. Senator Grove, you are recognized for file item six.

Thank you, Madam President. File item six is a confirmation of the following appointees. Kim Craig and Willie Pelote for reappointment to the Cal Expo State Fair Board. Tiffany Alvidrez for reappointment to the State Lottery Commission. And Anthony Bertram, Tanya Farrelly and Yolanda Jimenez for the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology.

They were unanimously confirmed by the Rules Committee on May. Excuse me. Yeah. May 21st, respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you. Seeing no further discussion or debate. Secretary, please call the roll on file item. Oh, I'm sorry. Senator Choi, you are recognized.

Good morning, Madam President and the Members. I'll be supporting this governor's appointment today, but I do have one item to speak on. That is, A constituent from Irvine contacted my office with a simple question about the state exam conducted by the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology.

My staff reached out to the board on May 8 and May 21, and my office has still not received a response. I support these appointments, but if they could direct their staff to provide. Provide my office with a timely response, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. Saying no further discussion or debate. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Secretary, please call the absent Members.

[Roll Call]

Ayes, 34. Noes, 0. That appointment is confirmed. We will now move to Senate. Third reading file item 26, SB 37 by Senator Umberg. Secretary, please read.

Senate Bill 37 by Senator Umberg and accurately to attorneys.

Senator Umberg, you are recognized.

Well, thank you, Madam President and colleagues. As I understand it, we only have one bill today to decide upon, and I also recall that the Pro Tem said that we should plan on being here until noon. So I'm going to make sure that we... I'm going to speak slowly so that the Pro Tem keeps his word and we remain here as long as possible. Okay. I hear, Senator, my colleague from Monterey is disquieted by that comment. Colleagues, what we have before you is SB 37. SB 37 is a bill that creates a mechanism to sanction attorneys for misleading advertising. I urge an aye vote.

Thank you. Seeing no further discussion or debate. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Secretary, please call the absent Members.

[Roll Call]

Ayes 35. Secretary, please call the absent Members.

[Roll Call]

Ayes 36, noes 0. The measure passes. Members, we will now move back to motions, resolutions, and notices. Senator Wiener, you are recognized.

Thank you very much, Madam President. I'd like to request to move three items to the inactive file. File number 21, SB 607, which will be part of budget discussions. File item 20, SB 747, and finally, file item 19, SB 310. And with respect to SB 310, I want to just express that, over the coming months, we will be working with the Chair of the Judiciary Committee in order to be able to advance it in January so that low wage workers have a remedy when their wages are delayed or stolen and they can't buy groceries or an asthma inhaler for their child. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you. Desk will note. Senator Cabaldon, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. In my continuing quest to experience every part of this process as a freshman, it is my distinct pleasure and honor to request that SB 299, file item 14 be moved to the inactive file.

Thank you. Desk will note. Seeing no others, there is no other business. Senator McGuire, the desk is clear.

Wonderful job, Members. 16 minutes in. And I think Leader Jones, myself, we only have a couple hours of things to say, so... I'm kidding. If it is all right with the presiding officer, I'd like to be able to turn it over to Leader Jones to be able to have a few closing remarks. I will do the same. And then we're going to get you back to your families. Leader Jones.

Thank you, President Pro Tem. Thank you, Madam President. Members, it's, as always, a great honor to wrap up the house of origin. As you know, this is going to be brief because it's not the end of session, it's not September yet, it's not budget deadline yet either.

So I would encourage all of us, maybe a little hint to those in the majority party, the budget is due next weekend. Based on the work that we've done this week, I think we can have the budget done by Thursday. And if you just kind of let the, you know, let the Republicans come in and help out, we'll do our part, is what I'm saying. But the point of this morning is just to say thank you to the many people that helped this week run smoothly.

When we came in on Monday, we were admonished, I think, that we were, there was a real chance we were going to be here through Friday. I bet on us. I just want you to know all that. I bet on Thursday, and I won the bet. But I just want to say thank you to the CHP officers, the sergeants that keep us safe, the special services that got us to and fro and everywhere we needed to go. I especially want to recognize the desk staff, Erika and her team.

And look, the Republicans are intentional when we say that we want to work in a bipartisan manner. That doesn't, that does not happen without the help of Erika and her team and the entire desk team helping us get our stuff done so that we can work with you as well.

I want to thank the folks that were mentioned earlier in the week that had some tough life choices that they made, but they're here working with us, and I'm proud of them. I want them to know that. The Republican staff, you all gave our comms team, a lot of work to do this week and our comms team really stepped up and have done a great job.

We have worked them overtime this week and just want to thank you for the opportunities that you've given them to work hard, and we will keep doing that. Our policy team always, as always, was on the ball before we even got here on Monday.

Our budget team will be working overtime over this weekend and next week, but again, we look forward to doing everything we can to be helpful next week. Get the budget done and let's all do the work that we need to do for our constituents and for the entire State of California. Thank you all very much.

Thank you, Leader Jones. And I just want to say, despite political differences and especially in this hyper partisan climate, I'm grateful to be able to have the relationship that I do with Leader Jones. So I just want to say thank you so much and I promise not to go any further because it will hurt him if I do. But in all sincerity, I am grateful to work with you, Brian. So thank you so much.

What we do in this building, and I start getting a little emotional about it because it is so personal for all of us. What we do in this building and in the communities that we so proudly represent, it's one of the biggest honors of a lifetime.

And to work for the people of California in the State Senate, it is such a remarkable privilege. And this milestone week where the Senate and the Assembly advance legislation, we're all here for one purpose, help improve the lives of millions of Californians. And it is such an honor, no matter what your party affiliation may be.

And this esteemed body rose to the occasion with determination, resolve, and yes, we've even embraced some spirited and lively exchange of opinions, which is incredibly healthy to a thriving democracy. And that's the way it should be. And we do it right in the State Senate.

As always, Senators are committed to tackling this state's toughest challenges and lifting up communities and the people we so proudly represent. And that was in full display this week with the bills that were in front of us. So we owe you, the Senators who are part of this esteemed body, a thank you.

We owe your staffs a heartfelt thank you for your tremendous work this week. You've all put in incredibly long hours with a lot of pressure, and we are incredibly grateful. If we could please give a round of applause to the staff teams and the amazing California State Senate staff. We couldn't do what we do without them.

We need to say thank you. I also would like to acknowledge our Senate Floor leadership led by our Majority Leader, Ms. Gonzalez. Thank you so much for keeping us moving forward. Thank you. Very grateful to our Assistant Majority Leaders, Senator Ashby and Wahab. Thank you so much for all the work.

To our floor team, Senator Cortese, Limón, Richardson, Durazo, and Senator Padilla. We are grateful for your work. To our presiding officers, Senator Menjivar, Grayson, Niello, and of course, Dr. Weber Pierson. If we can give them a round of applause as well. And also want to say thank you to the team that get to work with every day.

Rebecca and Diane and Kimberly, Nicole, and Kip, our entire policy team, of course. Michaelina, the Senate desk staff. Heshani, you are the jam. And we are so incredibly grateful to work with you. Can we please give Heshani a round of applause? She is the fixer. And very grateful always to Erika Contreras, her entire team.

To our Chief Sergeant Rodriguez and all of the sergeants. We are so blessed to have such amazing people here in the State Senate and want to say thank you so much. Quickly, as always, we have to look ahead and we're going to immediately move forward with the budget and we need to protect our progress.

But also know that we have some tough decisions ahead. A reminder that we may have some weekend budget votes, weekend budget votes on June 14th and 15th. Please keep your calendar breezy for that weekend. Senator Niello has respectfully requested to celebrate Father's Day here in the Capitol. Am I right, Mr. Vice Chair? Okay.

And it just got awkward. So thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. And after that, we're going to be working on our bills and the Assembly and we welcome hundreds of Assembly bills to the State Senate. And I'd be remiss if I did not say thank you to our Budget Chair who has been working overtime and all of his hard work. Senator Wiener, thank you so much. I'm going to end it right here. There's a lot in front of us.

But just wanted to acknowledge your work today before we move on to what's next. Hope you get some time with your families, spend some time with the people that you love, and know that we have a lot of work in front of us. Enjoy the weekend. We are getting out a day early thanks to the efficient and great work of the State Senate. Madam President, I'll turn it back over to you.

Thank you, Pro Tem McGuire. Thank you, Leader Jones. We are not only getting out a day early, but we are leaving very early on Thursday. So with that, the Senate is adjourned. We will reconvene Monday, June 9, 2025 at 2:00pm. Enjoy your weekend.