Senate Standing Committee on Rules

All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the June 11th edition of the Senate Rules Committee. We're grateful that each and every one of you are here and again, want to say thank you so much for your patience in us convening. We really appreciate it. We have some stellar potential appointees who are here in front of us today.

But let's. First things first. Let's establish the role and establish the quorum and call the roll. Madam Secretary, please proceed.

[Roll Call] Quorum.

We're off to a silky smooth start, ladies and gentlemen, so it should be a great day. Senator Grove, our Vice Chair, will be here momentarily. It's a busy day throughout the Capitol with several committees going. Please do any offense as Members will be coming in and out of Committee today.

To our appointees, we'd like to ask for some patience. We're going to get through some of our paperwork and get us moving here. So we're going to go through some of our administrative items. While we're doing that, we're going to invite Senator Roth to be able to come forward to the table. Senator Roth, we welcome you.

And as Senator Roth advances, we're going to take up our first item. This is Governor. Appointees not required to appear. My understanding is that we're going to take a vote split, and that is not required to appear. Items 2D through J.

Senator Grove, understand, would love to be able to make the motion under two E, H and I. This is Governor. Appointees not required to appear.

Aye. No, you're making a motion. Zero, make a motion. Yes. I've so moved. Thank you so much. Being sarcastic. No.

Okay, this is the vote split again. I just want to say. Smooth as silk. The people of California can feel good about how. How the state's rolling. I was screwing up earlier, Madam Vice Chair. All right, so we have a motion, a motion on items 2, E, H and I. Any additional discussion or debate.

Any additional discussion or debate hearing. Seeing none. Madam Secretary, can you please call the roll?

[Roll Call] 5 to 050 vote.

That motion passes. We're closing the roll. We're now going to be moving on to our second request for a motion. This is under Governor. Appointees not required to appear. Is there a motion to approve two D, F, G and J. We have a motion by. We have a motion by.

Senator Laird, is there Any discussion or debate hearing Seeing none. Madam Secretary. Can you please call the roll?

[Roll Call]

3 to 0 as a 30 vote. That motion passes. We're closing the roll. Ladies and gentlemen, Committee. We're now moving on to item three. This is reference of bills to committees. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. We have a motion by Madam Vice Chair. Any discussion or debate by Committee hearing seeing none. Madam Secretary.

Can you please call the roll?

[Roll Call]

5 to 050 vote. Motion passes. We're closing the rule. We're now going to be moving on to Joint Committee appointments. This is item number four on today's agenda. And is there a motion to approve? So moved. We have a motion by Madam Vice Chair. Is there any discussion or debate? Hearing Seeing none. Madam Secretary.

Can you please call the roll?

[Roll Call] 5 to 050 vote.

That motion passes for closing the roll. We're now moving on to floor. Acknowledgments. This is items five through nine on today's agenda. Is there a motion to approve? Floor, floor. Acknowledgments. Thank you so much, Madam Vice Chair. We have a motion by Madam Vice Chair. Items 5 through 9. Discussion or debate by Committee. Last call Hearing none.

Madam Secretary, can you please call the roll?

[Roll Call]

5 to 050 vote. That motion passes. We're closing the roll. I do want to say thank you again to all of you who are present today and to our appointees. We're grateful for your patience. We're now going to be moving on and heading back up to item number one, and that's governor's appointees required to appear.

And I would like just to take a little bit of a privilege, if it is the will. My goodness. This to my right. Is Doc in? Is. There we go. I just want to take a point of personal privilege to be able to acknowledge Senator Roth and Senator Roth.

You are one of the most genuine individuals that I've ever met. You are incredibly loyal. You have given to this country decade. After decades serving us in the military, in the California State Senate. You always put people first and you work so incredibly hard.

We are grateful that you are in front of this Committee today and just want to acknowledge your service and candidly, your legacy here in the State of California. The floor is yours. I will say you have three minutes to be able to make opening testimony.

At that time, you're more than welcome to be able to acknowledge any individual individuals who may be here or watching online afterwards. What we're going to do is we're going to open it up for questions or comments from the Committee. Again. Senator Roth, we welcome you back to the California State Senate.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Committee Members.

You know, I left the Senate in November of this last year after 12 years, and I have to say that, and I didn't think I would say this 12 or 13 years ago, but my job in the Senate was, frankly, the most rewarding work and the most rewarding work experience I think I've ever had.

And I've had several jobs in my career gave me the chance to serve and to help others. And even though I had to leave, it didn't change my desire to serve. And so I want to thank the Governor very, very much for giving me the opportunity to serve in this position.

And frankly, I want to thank the Rules Committee for considering my confirmation. So thank you all very, very much. And thank you for those very kind words. I look forward to your questions.

Senator Roth, I know it may seem I'm putting my finger on the scale on this one, but there are very few people in life that I want to be in a dangerous black alley with besides Richard Roth. So thank you so much. Of course, in Senator Grove. You're damn right, of course. Yes.

Speaking of Madam Vice Chair, why don't you kick us off with some comments?

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Pro Tem. I have those same thoughts about you, sir. Even the other side of the aisle, you were always deeply respectful and kind, and you actually worked on some legislation that was good and helpful to my district. And I just appreciate you very much.

I do apologize for walking in and going from one thing to another and sitting down and not knowing where the agenda was. So I do apologize for that. Once I got my bearings, we were on a hot roll. So I apologize to the people of the State of California for that as well.

But this Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, I don't have any questions. I know you understand unemployment. I know you understand legal issues surrounding businesses. I know you understand what the organization does.

And I know that you'll work hard to make sure that the people who deserve that benefit for losing their job and gives them a little bit of a sustainability before, you know, they get another job. And I know that you're going to be fair and apply equal justice. And I've worked with you for, you know, eight years.

Right. So I have nothing. I mean, there's no doubt in my mind you're totally overqualified for this job. I don't know why you're taking it, but I appreciate that you are. And so thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Madam Vice Chair. We're going to turn over to Senator Laird.

Thank you. And Senator Grove and I always agree on everything. And so I totally subscribe to the comments that she just made. And she needs to tell her granddaughter that who doesn't believe we agree. And thank you for meeting.

And I think one of the things that you could infer from the comments is we all have common experience and know and, and one of our unique common experiences is when we had to take the COVID tests, they gave us the results, and you had to scroll all the way down to your age.

And so General Roth and I were like some of the longest scrollers to be able to get to our, our Covid results and compared notes.

The one thing I thought I would just ask is when we met yesterday, you actually described sort of the number of cases you work on and how you handle them and what the workload is. And for anybody that thinks this is some kind of appointment that is pushy, you do a lot.

So could you just describe maybe the typical week you might have in sort of the number of cases and what you do?

Yes, sir. I'll just sort of set the background because some of this I really didn't realize. But the EDD takes in about 2.2 or 2.3 million claims a year. About 10% or so of those are appealed to the first level. And we're separate from the edd. That's a separate Department.

We are an independent administrative adjudicative body to handle the appeals from claims coming out of the edd. Unemployment, disability, paid family leave, the tax, payroll tax, appeals and collections, those come to us. And so about 10% of those 2.2 million or so claims are appealed to our first level.

And as a board, we have both an Executive and a legal appellate job. And the Executive job is to manage the appellate operation. And that's the hiring and staffing, which includes about, I think, about 140122 in the field offices, but administrative law judges in the system and the staff to support them.

Almost all of those are down at the field level in the 11 regional offices that the board operates around the state. And so about 10% of those 2.2 million claims are appealed to the first level and those are heard by our administrative law judges and then they issue a decision.

And about 4 to 5%, depending on the year of those, are appealed to those. Because in addition to being an Executive with the Executive Director or chief administrative law judge and the board Members, we have an appellate job to do which is to decide the second level of appeals.

About 4 to 5% are appealed to us and that's about 12,000 appeals a year, give or take. So we get about 1,000 appeals that come to the board, the board Members a month.

We're divided into two panels of board Members and we're assigned cases every day, Monday through Friday and Mondays and Fridays tend to be light, but the cases assignments range anywhere from 8 or 9 or 10 to my high one day was 27 cases. And we get those in the morning about 8 o' clock and it's all computerized.

We get the exhibits, we have the hearing record, the testimony, the recording from the hear, various hearings that are conducted and other things. And then we have some administrative law judges at the appellate office who work with us to also review those cases, provide advice and propose decisions and modify those to help us do our job.

And so every day that's what we do and we decide the second level appeals. And so then from there, if someone is still dissatisfied, they have the opportunity to take a writ to the Superior Court. And so that's what the job entails.

And I frankly did not necessarily know all that, and I certainly didn't know the extent of the work that the folks at the EDD are required to do as a result of the claims volume that they get. Did that answer your question, Senator?

Very well. I think if anybody had any doubts why we all shouldn't vote to confirm you that answer just did it. So thank you very much, I really appreciate it.

I'd like the record to reflect that I made that statement first and there was no need for you to do that long drawn out, lengthy question because we all know you're qualified.

What happened was, is I went up to her granddaughter on the floor after we agreed and said, see three, she's three. And I said see your grandmother and I just agree all the time. And the three year old, unprompted, said that's not true. So, so I am obligated to do that. Thank you.

Senator Roth, would you like to wade into the middle of this? See there we go. That's what I say. Exactly. I love it. I love it. We're going to go to Senator Caballero.

I know Senator Roth to be wise man, so he's not going to walk into that one. Let me just say thank you very much for the recitation. I did back in the day, I did I represented clients in front of the Appeals Board.

And it's the work that you do is really, really important because it makes the difference between whether people can claim an insurance when they're no longer employed, and that's critically important to maintain families and pay the rent. And so I really appreciate your service.

The only I'm obviously wading into that whole argument, have absolutely no question about your qualifications. But while you're here, I wanted to ask you about the backlog of cases and whether that backlog is getting reduced substantially with the appointments that have been made and whether that's something we should worry about.

Well, the backlog is being reduced and we have an amazing staff at the board working on that every single day. For example, in fiscal year 202324 the backlog was about 84,000 cases. Today in fiscal year 2425, the backlog is 40,000 cases. In 202324 in that FY, the board opened about 22,000 cases, but closed 27,000 cases.

And in FY 202425 to date opened about 18,400 or so and closed 22,000. So the backlog is being reduced by closing more than they open. You're seeing it in the statistics in terms of the case, the open cases, in terms of what we call the backlog being reduced, we should have that backlog.

There will always be some backlog, maybe 2030,000 cases, but not what we've seen before, which is 80 or 100,000 cases. In terms of a backlog, we're making significant progress because, as you know, we have to report to the United States Department of Labor on time standards in terms of closing.

The appellate operation sets records within the nation. I mean, I think the U.S. dOL requires 50% or more of our cases to be closed within 45 days or less. 50%. The appellate operation is almost at 75% closure rate. And DOL requires 80% to be closed in 75 days or less, and they're at 93%.

And the case aging is down to what, 32.6 days in the appellate operation. The national average, by the way, you should be very, very proud on. Case aging is, as I recall, about 153 days and we're at 3232.6. Field office requires some work in this area, but we're making substantial progress there.

Closing in less than 30 days. The DOL wants 60% or more closed. Well, we're at 7.1% now. But keep in mind that a couple months ago we were at 3.7%. They want 80% or more closed in 45 days or less. A couple months ago, we were at 6.1%. We're now at 29.5% in the field office.

So we're picking up the pace down there and fully expect to be in compliance with the standards, if not ahead of them at the end of or during 2026. Certainly by the end.

That's great. That's good. It's good to hear that the numbers are going down. And obviously when the economy is not doing well, you end up with more claims and a lot more work. And when the economy is strong, which it has been in terms of employment the past year or so, the numbers go down.

So that's always a good thing. Gives everybody a break. So thank you very much. I have no questions as to your qualifications. I thoroughly enjoyed serving alongside you and found you always prepared. And as always, so I appreciate it. Thank you very much for being here.

Those kind words.

Thank you, Senator Jones.

Thank you, President Pro Tim. Appreciate it. Generosity. Thank you for coming and thank you for wanting to do this job. I can't believe you actually want to do it, but God bless you for stepping up to serve one more time. It was great seeing you this morning.

As the son and grandson of U.S. airmen, I am thankful for your service to our country. And as your colleague in the Legislature, I'm thankful to your service to our state and I'm happy to support you. Thank you for being here and thank you for doing the job.

Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Senators, we'd like to be able to see if there's any additional discussion from the Senators here on the dais. All right, well, why don't we do this? We're going to open it up for public comment.

We're going to invite any individual who would like to now speak in support of Senator Roth. If you could please step forward to the microphone at this time. We're looking forward to those who want to speak in support. We're now going to transition to those who maybe want to speak in opposition.

If you could please come forward to the microphone at this time, looking for those who are in opposition. Seeing no one rise. We're going to bring him back to Committee. NC please.

Senator Laird, I would move the confirmation of General Roth and that we forward his appointment to the floor for a full vote.

We have a motion by Senator Laird. Final discussion or debate? Last call. Motion by Senator Laird. Let's call the roll. Mcguire, aye.

Mcguire, aye. Grove Grove. Aye. Caballero. Aye. Caballero, aye. Jones, aye. Jones, aye. Laird, Laird. I. 5 to 0.

That's a 50 vote. Motion passes. We're going to close the roll. Congratulations, Senator. Next stop is the Senate Floor. And meant what I said when we started. There are so few people as good as you, sir, who walk this earth.

And we're grateful for your work and your service to the people of California and grateful that it is going to be continuing in this exciting new role.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members, thank you for your comments and for your trust and confidence in me.

Thank you so much, Senator. Congratulations. We're going to take a 60 second break. We're then going to invite the secretary to please come forward and 62nd recess. And we'll be right back with you.

All right, we're going to bring him back. We're grateful that Mr. Maduros is here today. Nick Maduros, who is looking for the appointment for Secretary of Government Operations here for the State of California. I think there are very few people in this town that knows taxes better than Nick Maduros.

He has been able to master what is probably one of the most complicated and boring subjects and do it so incredibly well and do it for the people of California. No one knows the books like Mr.

Meduros and have had the honor to work with you when you were at the Department of Tax and Fee Administration on all issues from cannabis to vacation rentals. And you knew every step of the way and just want to say thank you and it's exciting that you're in front of us here today.

You could be doing a lot of things in life and you continue to serve the State of California. We just want to say thank you. We'd like to go over here how we're going to proceed. It will be a three minute opening statement. I'll give you a 30 second heads up.

When you get close to the three minutes, then we're going to open it up for the Committee to be able to ask any questions and provide comments. We'll then go to the public for those who may be imposed or those who may be in opposition. Mr. Maduros, it's always wonderful to see you. The floor is yours.

Thank you so much for having me and thank you so much for those kind words. It's an honor to be here today and it's an honor to go after Senator Roth who was always so supportive of our efforts to improve tax Administration in California.

I also do want to thank the team at GovOps for being here, so many of them, and thank my mother and brother who've come up from Stockton, where I grew up today, and my wife has come in from Davis.

And then I also do want to also thank the gold standard of government operations, secretaries, Maribel Batcher, who's here today, who was the secretary when I was hired as the Director of the Department of Tax and Fee Administration and has been a wonderful mentor and friend over the last years.

So as you mentioned, I've just spent about eight years at the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and prior to that I spent a few years as the Chief of Staff at the U.S. small Business Administration.

And over the past 11 years of managing in the public sector at scale, I have come to appreciate the overwhelming need to make government work better and not only from A government, you know, it impacts the government and everybody who works in it.

It makes everything easier if government works better, and it makes everything harder if we have processes and procedures that don't work. It also makes everything much more expensive.

And after spending eight years collecting tax revenue for the State of California and all the cities and counties in the state, there are few who appreciate how important it is to spend those resources wisely.

Once you spend time collecting taxes, you know how hard it is to get the money and how hard it is for people to pay their tax obligations. And it has made it all the more clear to me the need for making government work as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

And also from a citizen perspective, all Californians, the easier we can make it for them to interact with the government, the better off they will be.

And so my, the excitement of taking on this new role is to work, to try to do what we did at cdtfa, where we really did improve service while reducing costs, to try to take that across state government.

And with that, I look forward to your questions and I thank the Governor for his confidence in me and be happy to answer any questions any of you may have.

Thank you so much. Great to have your mom, your brother, your wife, and of course, President Bacher here who takes on some of the thorniest dam issues and is able to smooth them out. Madam President, it's good to see you. Let's open it up, please. Madam Vice Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, thank you. Thank you for taking on this role. I, I'm only asking this again. I say this often, and I'm sure we're going to get some flack right here. But as a business owner, we just did this whole Trans technology transformation. It was hard. I mean, it was hard.

It was hard because in my business, we pay payroll every week. We do billing every week. You have to pay workers comp. Every week. You have, you, you know, all these things that have to take place. So it's like fixing it while it's in midair.

You're under that same situation, like you're going to fix this while it's in midair. But I also know that after we went through that tough, you know, 36 days, and I know it's going to be much longer for you because, you know, state government just doesn't work as fast as the private sector.

But I know the implementations of transparency, you know, improving technology will do that. It'll be data driven. There'll be a better accountability for auditing, less fraud and abuse. But what are your Thoughts? And how are you going to do that?

Thank you. It is a challenge. Government technology projects have historically been very challenging and in my opinion, they frequently take too long and cost too much. And so I think we've got a few ongoing projects now. The state payroll system project has just kicked off. It predates me, but this is the third attempt to fix that.

It's something that, you know, is being led out of the controller's office, but CALHR certainly has a partner role in that and is something that we are working on to make sure that that project is successful and the state gets its. Gets its money's worth.

We also have a middle mile broadband initiative that I discussed with Senator Laird that is, you know, a big investment of public resources that there's been a lot of attention on and that we're committed to making work and get it out there on time and on budget.

It is a challenge we have, you know, and it's particularly frustrating given that we are 65 miles from the technology center of the world and we still struggle with so much technology.

I actually had a call recently with the Ukraine digital service and they are doing incredible things and they're at war and halfway around the world from the center of the world's technology industry. And it's eye opening what can be done if we put our minds to it.

And I think we've got to do that working with the Legislature and the Executive branch together to try to resolve some of these things and do better for the people of California because I think everybody is getting service on you now to do your banking.

We used to wait in a long line at the bank and now people get on their phone and tap a few buttons and I think they're coming to expect that same level of service from the government. And currently in large measure, we're not providing it. And so I think that's the challenge.

Thank you. I also just want to say thank you for your opening remarks and your comments specifically about the taxpayer, that sometimes it's very difficult to come up with all that money and it's hard to part with, especially with the cost of living and the increases.

And, and I appreciate that you take that into consideration and want to make sure that that money is spent wisely. And I think again, again, you're overqualified for the position, but I appreciate you taking on the job.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Madam Vice Chair. We're going to send a Caballero. Thank you very much, Madam Secretary. I should say.

Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Seems like in a past world. And it's good to see secretary Vasher here as well. So one of the big issues, and I also want to thank you for, as the pro tem said, taking on some boring issues. Some of us really like them. And.

And one of the big issues that has been of critical concern in my district is Internet access. And I think we learned during the COVID pandemic that it was a nice to have before, but it became urgent to have during that time.

The pictures of the two little girls sitting in a Taco Bell parking lot trying to get Internet access came from Salinas. And it hurt my heart to see that because that was how they were accessing their studies at that time, because there were no classes.

So the resources that we put into the Middle Mile became very critically important. There was a plan. There was a plan that was developed by the Administration as to how the Middle Mile would roll out. We knew it wasn't enough money to. To complete the system, but there were some promises made. And then the plan changed.

And I was on the Committee for the Senate looking over that middle mile to make sure that we understood how it was going to progress and what legislation might be necessary to get things done in a more efficient manner. And then it changed.

And it's changed a couple times, and it's been very confusing for the Legislature and undermines trust, if you will, that it's going in the right direction. We made some commitments to our constituents and then are not really sure if they're the ones that are going to get the service after all.

So, number one is there were federal funds that we pledged. And do you know if all the federal funds have been expended so that there will be no clawback, number one? Number two is, and if you. If you don't have that information today, that's fine. We can get it for the future. Are we.

There were some issues with local permits that were causing delays. And the last time that I had a discussion with the Administration on those permits, I committed that if the reason was local intransigent, that the Legislature would get involved to make sure that we could expedite things in a way that would move things.

And so I'm wondering if you have anything you can tell us about that, because it was my understanding that, well, that there wasn't any help needed.

And yet I'm really not sure whether in particular it's Fresno to get the resources, the middle mile that is necessary, the trunk, to be able to then access Internet services in some of the rural Part of the west side of the valley.

I appreciate your concern about the Middle Mile Broadband Initiative. It is something that has been new to me since taking this role a few months ago and has taken, is taking a lot of my time and the Governor has as well as taken a personal interest in this matter.

So let me take a few of your questions from the federal Fund perspective for the actual build out. I think those funds have, are safe and have been expended and there have been some accounting issues. But those, those I think are safe.

The Federal Government has recently canceled some digital equity grants that were tied in with broadband initiative and over I think that would have been a few years of funding at about 110 to $120 million and those are in doubt. But we should have enough to complete the network.

As you mentioned, due to cost constraints, the mileage went from 10,000 to 8,000 on the middle mile portion of the network. The permitting issue. So the PUC is working on the last mile which will take it from the middle mile sort of trunk out into communities so individuals can access the network and log on.

And I share your concerns about particularly underserved parts of the state. You know, kids shouldn't have to sit out in front of a convenience store in order to get Internet access to be able to go to school or do their homework.

There have been some permitting issues along Caltrans rights of way that have implicate also federal permitting rules because of the federal funding of highways. Those have proven thornier, I think than anticipated. And so we are working through those issues.

I've been in very regular conversations with Secretary Omeshakin at Calsta and we're working with Caltrans and the California, California Department of Technology to try to work through those issues as quickly as we can to make sure that we stay on schedule and we get the system built. So those are the permit issues so far.

The real permitting issue right now is with this federal NEPA requirements and Caltrans and their rights of way. We haven't yet that I've, that I'm aware of encountered local permitting issues and those would likely be on the last mile portion rather than on the middle mile portion that we're responsible for.

But I certainly will follow up and make sure that if there are any, that we raise those and bring them to your attention if we need to deal with those.

Well, I appreciate the information that you just provided us. Let me just say that the last conversation I had with the Administration was that they were local issues, local permitting issues as opposed to federal. Federal. Sorry, my letter to the Federal Government isn't going to make any difference.

But I appreciate the complexity of having to negotiate NEPA issues, given that it's Caltrans right of way. I mean, we own it, right? What's the problem?

And so if you could have, have someone that is accessible to give us briefings periodically, that would be really helpful because I think part of my frustration is that we started this work a long time ago. And the more, the longer it goes on, the more there's a feeling that we just don't know what we're doing.

And I hate to feel that way because, like, you want to think that government can work. Right? That's why I'm here. And if there's anything that we can do to make things move a little bit faster, by all means, if you let us know, we want to be there.

Thank you for that. I really appreciate it. And this is definitely an issue that we're following and that is causing me some, some stress as well. And, and something that we're committed to making sure gets done and gets done properly. I will follow up.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you so much, Madam Senator. I think on that point, and I'll turn it over to Senator Laird and then we'll go to Leader Jones.

What I've been concerned about, and Senator Caballero and I have similar rural districts, is the over promise under deliver principle, and it should be the exact opposite when it comes to projects like this. You are an expert at complicated issues, and this is incredibly complicated.

And I do feel sometimes we over promise in regards to delivery dates and how it's going to roll out and then reality sets in. And please, Mr. Secretary, you can respond to that.

I agree 100%. I mean, it is a challenge. And you know, this is a matter of almost first impression to me. I was, you know, notionally aware of the Middle Mile Broadband Initiative before taking this role. The challenge is, I've been reading the code myself to try to figure out how we can break this logjam.

And the permitting issues are a challenge involving CDT and Caltrans and this federal overlay. And we've got to get through it, and we've got to get through it very quickly. And we're trying to bring all the resources we can to bear, but the rules.

And I think this is something that is probably indicative of permitting issues that we experience across other government programs as well.

I mean, what we're having applicants do in terms of making sure that there are, that we're not disturbing historic sites and the endangered species work and all of that, all of which is very important except we're talking about building along the side of a pre existing highway. Flipping.

That's the hard part for me to wrap my mind around. And that is the mindset shift that we're going to have to impress upon people who are actually responsible for some of the, you know, processing some of these permits in my mind. But it's, it's not as easy as it looks. Yeah.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Maduros. From one secretary to another, turn it over to Mr. Secretary now.

Senator, thank you. And it's all I could think of is it's not even along a highway in the coastal zone, you know. And so thank you for meeting and I'm sorry that I had to leave partway through to vote to the Budget Committee. But I want to talk about two things and you just talked about one.

And actually some of the areas I brought up in our meeting were the exact areas that Senator Caballero was referring to in her question.

And then it's as if the pro tem was sitting in our meeting because he said the over promise under deliver, talking about the specific places where there had been commitments and it had been pulled back. So just count me in.

As you know, from our private conversation, but on this, because of the districts that, that we have, that this is a major issue. The other thing I wanted to talk to you about is you got most of the way to confirmation with me when you said that First Secretary of GovOps was the gold standard.

But when we talked about that, one of the reasons she was the gold standard is she shifted government operations from so called controlled departments to actually trying to serve the other departments.

And that is my big concern in conserving confirming someone for your position that that ethic is still going to continue, that we're not going to fall back because you have some departments that way in the past were impediments to doing anything. And so it's so important to have that service. We talked about it.

I want to give you the chance to talk about what you want to do in that regard.

Well, as someone who's been who just spent eight years as a Department Director, I have a strong appreciation for state government. I also have a lot of white hair from dealing with state government. And we don't make it easy to get done what needs to get done on behalf of Californians always.

Sometimes we do, but sometimes we don't. And that Control agency mindset is one that I found particularly problematic as a Department Director. And that's why I've started referring to them not as control agencies, but as support agencies.

I think having that mindset shift that these agencies within govops exist to empower other state departments to be able to do the work that they need to do on behalf of Californians and that they need to do to carry out the will of the Legislature as, you know, embodied in the state code.

And that mindset shift, I think, is vitally important. And that's, you know, I've.

In addition to the Middle Mile, my other priorities are trying to fix the state HR system, which is both too complicated for applicants and too complicated and too time consuming and resource intensive for state government, frankly, and to deal with procurement issues, which again, in my estimation, frequently the state takes too long and pays too much.

And I think we're not able to. To then keep up with what people expect from government with the resources that we have available. Middle mile is sort of an example of that mindset, not so much on the procurement side, but partially it does touch the same problems.

So I'm taking all of that experience that I had as a Department Director and trying to apply it now at the agency level on some of these other, you know, very thorny issues. And if they were easy, they would have been resolved a long time ago.

And I think part of it is we've got to put aside the mindset that these things can be solved in a couple of weeks. I mean, these are thorny issues that have plagued government for years.

But a lot of the processes that we've put in place, you know, date back 100 years, and the world has changed substantially in 100 years. And we are still trying to do government the same way.

And it is frustrating both, I think, to Californians and to people even who work in government, maybe especially to people who work in government.

Well, let me follow up on that a couple of ways and then close out.

And one is, is that when we talked, we talked about how I had worked with, you know, the founding secretary of the fact that we were just trying to do wetlands projects in the Delta to move ahead, and it kept getting stuck in DGs.

And she convened a table that was our Department and her Department, and we walked through it and figured out how you process that.

And then we said, this is the first of 13, so we hope that what is decided here is going to get applied to the other 12, and we are actually going to learn how to move these. And so I just want to say that in public because you've sort of responded.

You get it, but that's what I hope that you would do. I don't know if you're nodding and that's nonverbal. So I don't know.

I would just say absolutely. And on the HR front, we're doing just that. We're pulling together CalHR and SPB and other Department HR folks to walk through all of the thorny issues and try to resolve them there. In one room, Middle Mile Broadband.

We're bringing CDT and Caltrans and Calsta and GovOps all together to just lock everybody in until we can get some of these permit issues resolved so that we can then have a process that we know works that can be replicated throughout all of these other permits.

And we've got a team, many of whom are here in the room doing the same thing. On procurement, Maribel blazed the way for how you can get these things done that are very difficult.

And I think it's sort of going back to first principles and just looking at what the law actually requires, because sometimes it's just you have years, decades of procedures and processes that are overlaid on top of what actually is required. And we need to clear away all of that underbrush and get back to sort of what's essential.

And then, because our meeting was cut short, I couldn't vent about one issue that is not totally in you, but it really explains this, and that is this. There is a housing project that wants to be built in Santa Cruz for 110 units right by the intersection of two freeways. Needs this little bit of.

Of Caltrans property that they want to sell. And we've been wrapped around the axle about trying to figure out what the process is to access it. And in the middle of it, the Administration said, we're determined to create housing opportunities. So they switched the parcel over to dgs when we've been working with Caltrans for a while.

And I set up a zoom with the Director of dgs, and by the time I can have the zoom, it's been switched back to Caltrans.

And all I want to do is figure out a way to get a piece of this transferred so that we can actually build housing, which is the reason all this stuff was moving around and we were doing.

And so what I'm really hoping, and now that's back in, in the vortex of Caltrans and away from, from your departments, is knowing that I could call you and say, would you put your eyes on this, because I have a feeling that that's when. I mean, when I was secretary.

And I always hate to do this because it drives Senator Grove crazy, but I spent so many meetings saying, how do we get to the end? Everybody was in the perfect process, but it's like, no, how do we get to the end? And that's what I would look for. And if that was.

And who knows, the way it's going, it could get transferred back to DGS with no notice. And I might be calling you, but I am just hoping that we can count on you to have your eyes on those problems when it happens and try to work through it.

Absolutely. You have my commitment, and I reach out anytime. And even on that, I will be more than happy to take it on and see if I can help.

You'll have no extra time for anything else.

I don't have that much extra time as it is. I've got three teenage girls at home as well. Well, so I'm. So it's an advent. Life's an adventure.

Well, thank you. I really appreciate your willingness to serve. I appreciate our meeting. Thank you. Supporting.

And been there, done that. They grow up and they have grandkids that are wonderful. And you forget those horrible years.

He doesn't appear to be there. That's what I'm saying.

I don't know if you heard, but the entire room groaned when he said that.

So they're wonderful children. Just. But it's a lot there. Three teenagers.

Hey, there we go. Leader Jones, floor is yours.

Thank you, sir. And I agree with the comments and support, and we'll be supporting you today. I just wanted to get your thoughts on one thing that kind of came up, I think, in the interview with staff, and I've actually been.

The Governor gave a return to work order for state employees a while back, and they have to start complying, but by July 1st, and I've been kind of, I think I can say, surprised by some of the resistance that the governors received from some of the different groups that represent the employees, the employees themselves, some other officials and leaders.

And, you know, most of the private industries is back to work. You know, there's a few that still allow remote work. I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. It's not. It's not.

Doesn't impact my vote today, but I just was curious as to more of a General concept and question than, you know, how you might deal with that with the organizations that you're responsible for.

Sure. You know, having just been a Department Director and I was there pre Covid and then through the pandemic and then sort of as we ramped up to go back to work. You know, I appreciate the employees concerns. I understand that it is, you know, a big life change. It can be for some or. You.

Know, sort of change of routine. So I certainly appreciate that. And I know that there are costs involved with commuting and other things. I do think, you know, the Governor, as he laid out in his Executive order, there are benefits also to working in person in terms of collaboration and mentorship.

And I think probably I know in my career, you know, particularly in the earlier years that, you know, some of my closest friends are made at work. Some of my most important professional relationships were made at work. And I certainly learned a lot that I'm not sure I would have had the same experience in a virtual setting.

And I think the Governor laid out all of those issues and we still are talking about a hybrid work situation. I mean, even four days in the office, you know, I spent decades, five days in the office. And so I think, you know, we are still talking about hybrid. So it's an adjustment. But I, you know, I'm.

We'll just, we've got issues that we're going to have to work through and I'm hoping we can all work through them respectfully and collaboratively because you know, even the unions, you know, those are just my team Members is sort of how I viewed it when I was a Department Director.

And you know, we do rely on everybody to get the actual work of the state done. And I think to me that's the most important thing is that we work together to make sure that that work keeps getting done and gets done in a sustainable way.

Which is, I think one of the things that's important about the Executive order and is, you know, it's one thing. To. Maybe work very remotely in an emergency situation, but if we're looking at a state government that's going to last for another 175 years, how do we do that? And so that's what we're focusing on.

Well, I'll share personally, I support the governor's order on that and return to work because I agree with the comments that you made. I'm hopeful that people will take it serious and comply and that we don't have to take additional steps of compulsion. I don't think that would be productive.

But you know, I'm just throwing it out there that might, we might get to that spot and you know, the Governor might have to get A little bit more, for lack of a better term, heavy handed on his order on that. But I'm also open, you know, to what you're saying.

Saying is there not all of these positions probably require five days back in the office. Maybe there is an appropriate hybrid situation.

But that needs to be case by case and it needs to be well thought out and it needs to be researched and substantiated I think for that, you know, on the individual position case or Department, whatever. Philip, thank you. Thank you for your comments on that.

I appreciate your thoughts on that and knowing that you're paying attention to it helps.

Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Leader.

We'd like to see if there's any discussion or debate before we go to public comment. Any additional thank you to the Senators. We're now going to open it up to any individual who would like to be able to speak in support of Mr. Secretary, if you could please step forward now.

We're looking for those who may be in support. All rise. We have royalty coming forward. Madam President, it's really good to see you.

Obviously your work in state service, but I also want to acknowledge your work at the Public Utilities Commission in probably one of the toughest times in the history of the Commission and you really took two by four to utilities and very grateful for your work.

Oh Mr. Pro Tem, thank you so much for those very kind words and I so appreciate them and I find them that I didn't meet up to all the things that you all have said so kindly about me today, but I sure as hell tried.

And hello to my fellow old secretaries from as you said Senator, from another time in our lives it feels like today. But I rise certainly Mr. Pro Tem and Committee Members in support of Nick Maduros who is just a fabulous, fine human being and a brilliant man and wonderful colleague to have had.

I take pride in the fact that I helped recruit him, talked him into the job, swore him into the job and we had a great time together when he was Director and I was secretary. And he will make a fabulous secretary as he has displayed today in responding to many of your questions.

So again I thank you so much and I thank you so strongly. Support my dear friend Nick.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Madam President. It's wonderful to have you here.

Thank you.

Let's see if anyone else would like to be able to rise here in Sinon now We're going to look to those who may be opposed. We're going to ask that his wife not rise. She has a first hand. I know she does have. Yes, that's absolutely right.

We're going to see if there's anyone who would like to be able to step up. Seeing no one, we're now going to bring it back to Committee. We'll look for a discussion, debate or a motion.

I'd like to move that Mr. Maduros be moved to the State Senate Floor for a full vote.

We have a motion by Madam Vice Chair. Any additional discussion or debate hearing Seeing none from the Senators if we can please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

5 to 0. 5-0 vote. Motion passes. We're going to close roll. Mr. Secretary, congratulations. Next up is the California State Senate Floor. Let's give him a round of applause. Thank you so much. We're now going to take a 60 second break. We're going to welcome Madam Honorable Secretary to please come forward. 62nd recess. 62nd recess.

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we're not going to be coming back. We are going to welcome Ms. Buchanan who has been appointed Under Secretary at the Health and Human Services Agency. She brings a wealth of experience from both local government nonprofit world and of course her work here with the State of California.

Madam Undersecretary, we're grateful that you are here. A little bit of how we're going to roll here. Three minutes for opening statement. I'll give you a 30 second heads up. We're then going to open it up for Senators for any questions, comments, concerns that they may have. We'll then open it up for public comment.

Thank you for your work. On behalf of the State of California, the floor is yours. I'll give you a 30 second prompt.

Wonderful. Good afternoon Mr. Chair McGuire and members of the committee and than thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I am deeply grateful to Governor Newsom, to Dr.

Mark Gally for his decade plus of mentorship and for asking me to join state service and also to Secretary Johnson for her unparalleled leadership and her confidence in me.

I want to thank my mom who is a teacher and care- in home caregiver, whose calling to serve young people and adults with developmental disabilities has been an inspiration to me.

I want to thank my wife whose support makes it possible for me to do the work that I love, and my two highly energetic young sons who keep me on my toes.

I've spent around a decade of my career at the county level in systems change work, especially focused on addressing the social drivers of health as a part of the healthcare delivery system, which has served me well in my five plus years in state service.

As I bring an eye to the realities of on the ground implementation, I also bring with me a deeply held belief in the vision that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. When we work together, the outcomes that we achieve are much stronger than when we go it alone.

For CALHS, this means that we are working to improve systems of care with local partners, with advocates and with people with lived expertise across our 12 departments and five offices. As we've all seen, the eruption of an uncertain federal climate projected against our own state budget deficit poses significant challenges.

But it is this difficult path that we must navigate and through the CALHHS ethos, which is to approach each day in service of those with the greatest needs, we can partner with local communities, we can celebrate the places where we have true innovation and we can find grounding in our diverse communities.

And we have made really great strides in a lot of places, including addressing homelessness, transforming our behavioral health system, supporting youth with complex needs, and building out a health and human services workforce. But there is much, much more that we need to do to make good on these efforts.

Every day we are working using a person centered, data driven, equity focused model. And I'm honored every single day to roll up my sleeves with the team to do just this. I look forward to our conversation today about how we can do this work even better to realize our vision of a Healthy California for all.

Thank you so much, Madam Under Secretary. I have a four year old son. How old are your sons?

I've got a five and an eight year old.

Oh my gosh. It is like a damn tornado in the house.

It is. You should see the living room floor every day.

I'm with you. I had one of those moments in the middle of the night where I was walking out of the den and I stepped on one of his Legos. That is just the worst. I'm going to keep moving. Alright, there we go. We're going to see who would like to be able to kick off, please.

Senator Laird.

Since first. Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet. I appreciate your willingness to serve. Thank you for your opening statement. And with Senator Grove out of the room, then I would make a reference to my prior incarnation.

In one of the interesting stories of the time when I was secretary is I had this meeting with the undersecretary and with an agency head. And the agency head thought they were going to get all this bond money that we had just appropriated.

So we walked in and we sat down and I immediately said, you are not getting all the money and do this stuff. And when the meeting's over, the undersecretary says to me, what the hell were you doing? You know, I'm the bad cop. Why weren't you letting me do that?

And so that is the role you are moving into. And I thought it would be good to hear your vision because in many ways a secretary looks out and does the external relations, the high level relations with the governor's office, the other people. But the undersecretary makes sure the trains run on time.

So what's your vision for making the trains run on time within your agency?

Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, I think there is a lot of work that we are at the agency level trying to do to create, to coalesce around our vision and our goals. And a lot of that means bringing together people around a vision of whole person care across our departments and offices.

That means, as you mentioned, working with our stakeholders, working with our partners in the governor's office, working with the legislature to be able to effectively come, as I mentioned before, this deeply held belief in that when we work together, we're more likely to be successful.

So helping find those opportunities of shared- shared goals and shared commonalities is I think, a big part of what we're trying to do at the agency level and also within this role of undersecretary.

You know, I think we have a really strong workforce within the Health and Human Services because we are just filled with people who are doing the work for the right reasons, for their passions and, and being able to give them the tools that they need to be successful in their jobs in collaboration with even our partners at GovOps to be able to do that.

And so I think keeping the vision alive, finding ways to work together, bringing people together, breaking down the silos of government is I think, a big part of what we're trying to accomplish under this leadership within our agency.

Well, one of the, one of the departments that is in the agency is the Department of Aids and they had a little blip a few years ago and we have authorized through the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and audit.

How do you sort of at a, management level, A, hope to prevent some of the stuff like that that happened, but B, how would you say this audit comes in and says you need to make fundamental changes in the department, you might even need to make personnel changes.

You have to put in certain security things to make sure this doesn't happen again. How do you as the undersecretary sort of take that and make sure all that happens?

Yeah, I'll start by just saying that our Department of Public Health is really invested in working closely with the State Auditor to make sure that we can identify the ways in which the resources that flow through the Office of AIDS can be implemented effectively, including financial controls, ensuring that the dollars as they go to the locals are being used most effectively and most appropriately and equitably.

So we're looking forward to those recommendations and the process with the State Auditor to make sure that we're the best Office of AIDS we can possibly be. And also in terms of the undersecretary role, I really feel like it is our job to help ensure we're setting ambitious goals.

So again, setting those data driven targets to help us define success and make sure that we're on a track, that we've got clear steps in terms of how we're going to reach those goals. So that's a big part of

I think what we do is we create that accountability and those plans of action and ensure oversight to accomplish the complex tasks we're- we're assigned with.

And one last one, you have the Department of Aging and they have done a master plan for HS services and we are behind because those of us that are baby boomers are busting every program with a great number of people and demand for services.

And it seems like they laid out this vision, but it's been really hard to implement it. There hasn't been a lot of financial resources. There needs to be a mobilization of different agencies to make sure these needs are met.

In what you discussed as your role, how do you make sure that happens or how do you make sure it's on a path to address those issues?

That's a great question.

I've been really honored to be a part of the master Plan for Aging process and it has just been an inspiration to see the way that advocates and folks across the State of California have been able to coalesce behind this really, like I would say nation leading model that's been replicated now in other parts of our country.

And I'm proud of a lot of the work we have been able to do in spite of, you know, a challenging budget situation. We've made big strides in terms of our workforce to meet the needs of seniors in California.

We've made great strides in innovative projects like a program called the Community Care Expansion Program that provided new capital funding to create more senior care settings and licensed care settings that could meet the needs of seniors who are receiving Social Security.

SSISSP. We've done a lot of interesting work and have brought on contractors and thought leaders to help us think about how we design long term services and supports so that we can support seniors to age and place in their communities.

So there's been a clear focus on the dignity and contribution and sense of belonging and inclusion that we envision for seniors in California. So it's been a, you know, we're continuing to work together and not giving up the fight.

I look forward to working with you on that. And some of us are aging in place in the workforce and continuing to go ahead here. But I really think that we are still short of a lot of the things we need to do. So I would look forward to working together. Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you so much. Senator Laird. Let's go to Senator Caballero, please.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much for being here today and for your commitment to improving the lives of Californians There is so much in your agency that it's hard to pick one question to identify whether it's hospitals, saving hospitals, whether it's housing, whether it's seniors. But you.

I want to follow up on something that Senator Laird asked about, which is the master plan and seniors. I'm really concerned because the largest group or the largest demographic that are ending up homeless after the age of 50 for the first time are seniors.

And it occurs to me as I see the demographics that it's people who have spent their entire life working, but working in blue collar jobs where they either don't have the retirement or their retirement is Social Security and that's it. And it's pretty impossible to live on Social- Social Security just on Social Security in California.

What can you say about the master plan and whether it's worked in rural communities? Number one, and number two is if it recognizes the cultural differences within different ethnic groups so that there can be adjustments based on what's the lived experience of people.

And what I'm referring to are multigenerational families that live together but may need a little bit of assistance because it's not that easy to move a senior into your home and then have no resources available to make sure that they can- they can adjust to whatever the changes are in their life.

Yeah. Thank you so much. I mean, thank you for lifting up the- the first goal of the Master Plan for Aging, which is housing for all ages and stages. And I've spent much of my career working on homelessness issues. And we certainly know that, as you mentioned, seniors being the fastest growing population of people experiencing homelessness.

And at agency, we commissioned a study with Dr. Margot Kushel out of UCSF to look at the precipitants of homelessness. And what we saw in that data was certainly high rates of individuals who are becoming homeless as seniors. And it's just sort of one shock to the system that leads to their homelessness.

So being able to stabilize those individuals is incredibly important. We do see some exciting local innovations at the local level you described, in particular shared housing models. And we've got some important new resources that can help us in our work to address homelessness.

As I mentioned, we're looking at opportunities to expand and think differently about long term services and supports that can keep people in their homes, but also looking to locals in many ways to look for innovations and how we can expand the. Expand what housing looks like.

We have some new housing resources that have also allowed for shared housing models. You mentioned intergenerational housing models, but I Think you know, we need to continue to understand what's happening and what the needs are.

And to your point, looking at the diverse needs of different parts of our state where there may not be as much new development or large development complexes, but how can we support single family home models and other types of housing that's embedded in community.

Thank you very much. Appreciate the opportunity to ask your question. Thank you for being here. Thank you.

Thank you, senator. Please Leader Jones.

Thank you. Thanks for coming forward today and wanting. To do this job. I'm always thankful for somebody that wants to do these jobs that require appointments. Or approval of the appointment. Kind of just in general concept question.

And again, this is just out of curiosity if you can speak to it, not really determinant on my decision to support or not support today, but your agency since 2018 and 19, and I know you haven't, I don't think you've been there that long, has grown from 30,600 employees to 38,700 employees to 8,000 growth in positions and the budgets increased about 50% in that same time.

I was just wondering if you could speak to where is that growth in the government? And then maybe while you're at it. Speak to the question I had for the previous appointee on the return to work order. You know, so where's the growth?

If you know and pinpoint it today and then your comments on the return to work.

Yeah, absolutely. So there has been a lot of growth within our agency over the years. And we have seen growth in our health delivery system in particular and including in our MediCal program. We've seen also growth in the delivery of services through our Department of Social Services and have seen some significant growth in home supportive services.

And then another place where we've seen a lot of growth is our Department of Developmental Services with increasing caseloads of individuals who are receiving services who have a developmental disability.

So as we've grown, we've been again always with a focus on being responsive to the needs of our diverse Californians and again trying to find ways that we can address the whole person. So how we can think holistically about how we deliver services.

We are not just 12 departments and five offices, but we are collectively trying to meet the needs, the diverse needs of a particular family. Thanks for asking the question about return to office. I think my the two big things I think about, and I spend a lot of time right now thinking about return to office.

I think about how we can create the kinds of communities that are really envisioned in the executive order? How do we create spaces in our office where there's the best chance of collaboration and coordination and mentorship and community in our offices?

So we're thinking a lot about how we bring people together intentionally, how we create buddy systems and informal, informal mentorships and how we do trainings together and how we create learning communities together and how we create those water cooler experiences that we actually all really miss quite a lot.

So that's a big part of what we're thinking about. And then we're also thinking a lot about change management.

And you heard the secretary talk about some of the challenges that people face and what can we do to break to address those challenges and support folks through quite a bit of change they're going to be experiencing as we go back to the office in this new way.

So that's what, that's what's top of mind for me these days. Yeah.

Thank you so much. Would like to go to see if there's any. Please, Senator Grove.

Sorry. Thank you. I apologize. I had to go to Health and then come back. So thank you. Thank you for being here. If these questions have already been asked and they're on the record, you don't have to respond to me. You can just say it's been asked and answered.

But I do want to make sure that we do have on the record. You know, I have huge concerns over our vulnerable children population and I know that's part of what you guys deal with.

There's been instances in our foster care system of sex trafficking, which is just, I'm sick to death of what happens in California over that. And then, you know, drug addiction, just everything that's going on in our foster care system. There's a lot of legislation going through to make sure that people are protected, specifically our truly vulnerable population.

What's your role or what are your thoughts about making sure that these individuals that are in California's care custody control are protected? Yeah, if that's been asked, I apologize.

No, not yet. Thank you. I think I'll start by saying that I think we have a secretary who wakes up every morning with this on her mind as well. And I think we're really lucky to have a secretary that's so focused on thinking about the young people of our state. And I share that commitment with her.

And I have been honored to be involved in some of the work around system of care reform for foster youth, including a table where we bring together our directors of our Department of Healthcare Services, our Department of Social Services, and our Department of Developmental Services, and our agency leadership.

So I represent our agency in that body to really think about how we're supporting locals to be responsive to the needs of foster youth, in particular foster youth with the most complex needs and how do we help them stay in family and community settings.

And so we are doing a lot of technical assistance with our locals through the same collaborative, including bringing together the same types of people, but at the local level and requiring through MOUs that they are actually doing that coordination and working together collectively to meet the needs of those young people.

But there's certainly commitment at high levels of our organization to make sure that we're working together and focused especially on those highest need kids.

Okay, so I'll just ask one more question. Do you support Kim? Do you support Kim? I shouldn't say that the mad secretary, like fully 100% because I love her and she needs a team around her that's going to support her accomplishments.

She is an unparalleled leader. We are deeply lucky to have her. To work for Kim Johnson is to feel deeply supported. And I was just telling someone earlier in the hall, you know what the person in front of you is doing, you know what the person behind you is doing.

And you know very clearly where you're headed when you work for Secretary Johnson. There is a very clear vision and I'm deeply grateful.

And I'm sure and I should have addressed her as Secretary Johnson. I apologize, but thank you for that. I don't have any further questions.

Thank you so much. Very grateful for the testimony. Ladies and gentlemen, the committee going to take a two minute pause just with leader Jones. A two minute pause. We'll be right back. And we're going to open it up and opening test. We're going to have public testimony in just a moment. Two minutes.

Each and every one of whom we apologize about the delay.

Alright, let's keep this party going. We are now going to ask for any individual who would like to be able to speak in support of the undersecretary. If you could please come forward. We respectfully request first last name and organization. We're also going to respectfully request that you keep your comments to 30 seconds or less.

Good afternoon and welcome.

Thank you. Kelly Brooks on behalf of the California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems here to support Ms. Buchanan's appointment. She's demonstrated a commitment to protecting the health and well being of all Californians

throughout her career. She's cultivated this commitment as a local health leader and two of our largest safety net providers in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Under her leadership, Ms. Buchanan was responsible for the implementation of health programs and housing intervention services that were key to improving local health outcomes for entire at risk low income and underinsured communities.

At CAPH maintains our commitment to improve access to comprehensive, high quality and equitable health care services for all Californians, regardless of status or ability to pay. Ms. Buchanan's dedication to reducing barriers and driving equitable access policies aligns with CAPH's vision. We look forward to continuing to partner with her.

Thank you. And that was. I don't know if you remember the micro machine man in those commercials. Thank you. I do apologize. Thank you so much. Good afternoon.

Thank you. Mr. Chair and Members. Kathy Sunderly McDonald. I'm here for the California Pan Ethnic Health Network in support of Undersecretary Buchanan's confirmation. We appreciate her demonstrated commitment to inclusionary programs and services across the positions she sold in state and county government.

We also appreciate her deep understanding of how various systems can work together to help Californians build better lives for themselves, their families and their communities. Especially at this time of great federal and economic uncertainty. We look forward to working closely with Undersecretary Buchanan and her great team at agency.

We say I'm ready to help bring together advocates, administrators, service providers and those receiving assistance from our critical public programs to chart a course for even greater success together. We are your aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Very grateful. Hi. Good afternoon. Nice to see you.

Good afternoon. Vanessa Gonzalez with the California Hospital Association. Proud to support undersecretary Buchanan's confirmation. Ms. Buchanan has been a thoughtful and collaborative partner to to hospitals and healthcare providers across the state and consistently demonstrated her commitment to improving healthcare delivery in California.

With two decades of experience in state and local health care and housing initiatives, she brings the expertise and leadership that the role requires. And we respectfully urge her confirmation today. Thank you.

Thank you. Give her best. Ms. Coyle. Appreciate you. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Tony Anderson from the Association of Regional Center agencies. We're serving 440,000 people in California with developmental disabilities. And this appointment is very important to us. We're in support. And it's not every day that somebody at this level comes to us with intimate knowledge of developmental disabilities and the needs of people with developmental disabilities in California.

She's already told you about her experience growing up. Anybody who has that experience understands the needs of our community. The other piece that's very important to us is that as the Health and Human Services Agency is so many different departments, that we are just one.

She also appreciates that there is an intersection of developmental disabilities in almost every single section in health and Human services. So we appreciate that and urge your support.

We're very grateful for your words. Appreciate you. Thank you so much. Hey, good afternoon. Nice to see you again.

Good afternoon. Mr. Chair and Members of the Committee. Malik Bynum with the County Behavioral Health Directors of Association and proud to be here and strong support of Ms.

Buchanan's confirmation as under secretary for the California Health and Human Services Agency, as a key thought leader and partner to county behavioral health over the years in implementing the CARE act, the Behavioral Health Bridge housing program and the Behavioral Health transformation.

We're grateful for your championship of these issues over the years and look forward to continued work ahead to protect our progress in future years to come. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Hi. Good afternoon. Welcome. It's nice to see you.

Good afternoon, chair and members. I'm Adrienne Chilton representing the California Alliance of Child and Family Services. And we represent nonprofit community based organizations across the state that are serving children and youth and families in public systems, including foster youth. And we are proud to support this, this confirmation today. We have a long history with Ms.

Buchanan working on human services issues, including the tiered rate structure and other programming that's going to support our most vulnerable, our- our foster youth. And we consider Ms. Buchanan a great partner to California's nonprofit community based organizations. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Grateful for your words. Hi, Good afternoon. Welcome. It's nice to see you.

Good afternoon, chair, members. George Cruz, on behalf of the California Behavioral Health Association and also speaking on behalf of the Steinberg Institute, we just wanted to stand in support for Ms. Buchanan as she for her appointment. Sorry. And we look forward to continue working with her in the community. Thank you.

Appreciate you. Thank you so much. Hey, good afternoon.

Good afternoon. Catherine Freeman, on behalf of the California State Association of Counties. And I won't repeat what's been said before, but I want to say that Ms. Buchanan, her experience both at the county and state levels equip her to understand and support the complex state and county relationship that underpins California's health and human services infrastructure. Ms.

Buchanan has been an excellent partner to California counties throughout her various roles at CDSS and Cal HHS. We urge Rules Committee to confirm her appointment as Under Secretary of Cal HHS. And thank you for trying to be in this position.

Thank you so much. Appreciate you being here. Hey, how you doing? Good afternoon.

Hi. Thank you. Mr. Pro Tem. I'm Farrah McDaid Ting. On behalf of the County Health Executives Association of California, or CHEAC. We're in strong support of Ms. Buchanan's appointment today. She has served with Cal HHS and DSS admirably, and since the moment she arrived in Sacramento, she has been a convener, a mediator and a listener.

Her local government experience especially has stood her in good stead in this position, and we look forward to continuing to work with her in the future. Thank you.

Really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you so much for being here.

Good afternoon. My name is Divya Shiv with Housing California in proud support of the appointment of Ms. Buchanan as undersecretary of HHS. Housing California has worked with Ms.

Buchanan for nearly a decade, dating back to her time in Los Angeles as Deputy Director of the Office of Diversion and Reentry, working at the intersection of reentry, behavioral health and housing.

She has been a leader at the intersection of housing, health, reentry and behavioral health in her time at the Department of Social Services and at HHS, as well as pioneering several programs. Through it all, Ms. Buchanan always centered housing as the foundation for sustainable health outcomes.

We strongly support her appointment as undersecretary and look forward to continuing to work with her in this new capacity.

Thank you so much. Appreciate the words today to each and every one of you. Thank you so much for your eloquent remarks. We're very grateful. We're now going to see if there are any individuals who would like to be able to speak in opposition. If you could please step forward to the microphone at this time.

We're going to do a last call for opposition here and the seeing no one rise. We're now going to bring it back to committee to see if there's any additional questions, comments, or we'll also take a motion, please. Hot damn. There we go.

Absolutely.

Madam Vice Chair--

To the full floor for confirmation.

That is a motion by Madam Vice Chair. Madam Secretary, if you can please call the roll.

[roll call]

That's a 5, 0 vote. The motion passes. We're going to close the roll. Congratulations, Madam Undersecretary. Your family must be so proud. And the next up will be the California Senate Floor. If they could please give a round of applause.

We are so grateful to each and every one of you who have hung with us this entire day. Thank you to all the individuals who spoke in public comment. We truly appreciate it. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now going to adjourn the public segment of the Senate Rules Committee. And we're going to be convening executive session.

Thank you so much. We'll start in two minutes. Start in two minutes.