Assembly Standing Committee on Budget

All right. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to this informational hearing of the Assembly Budget Committee. And I want to begin just by thanking all of the incredibly hardworking staff and advocates. I know it's an incredibly busy time here in the Capitol, and we are just grateful for everybody's hard work.

And the dad in me can't help but remind you all to make sure getting enough sleep and hydrating and being kind to each other because we have, we've been burning the candle on both ends here. But we are here today to hear the budget and trailer bills that constitute our September budget package.

As I mentioned, today's hearing is informational only. The bills are not in the possession of the committee, but we anticipate votes on these bills tonight or tomorrow morning on the floor. I'm going to offer some brief introductory comments, and I'm going to turn it over to our Vice Chair for any introductory comments he have.

We're then going to hear from Jessica Holmes at the Department of Finance, and there'll be, of course, an opportunity for members to provide questions and comments. And we're very fortunate, as always, to have our very talented Legislative Analyst Gabe Petek with us, as well as Christian Griffith and the Assembly Budget Committee staff for today's hearing.

Committee staff have provided a packet of the bill analysis for the bills in front of us. And then after the hearing, we will provide an opportunity for public comment to conclude. And just to help center us, this budget, September budget package builds on the good work we did in June in passing our 2025 budget.

This has, as always, some of the technical cleanup, but spans multiple bills because of the single-subject issue. But there are some important provisions in here that I do want to highlight. The first is that this allocates over 3.2 billion in Proposition 4 bond funding for important environmental and climate investments.

And I want to thank Mr. Bennett, our Subcommittee Chair, for his excellent leadership and helping us to develop that package. And I'm really excited about a lot of those investments in there. I think there's a lot of good things in there that are going to make a difference for the environment and for climate and for communities across the State of California. So thank you very much, Mr. Bennett.

This bill also includes over 200 million in total funding to begin California's response to the federal bill HR 1 to prepare the state for the coming challenges that will impact so many issues, including food security and the health care of millions of Californians. And this includes important investments in reproductive health and food banks to help those who have already been impacted by this devastating federal policy.

And I want to acknowledge and thank our Health Committee Chair, Ms. Bonta, our Subcommittee Chair, Ms. Addis, for really for leading and for helping us to understand some of the challenges that Californians are going to face in the health care space that are going to be particularly pronounced. And also want to lift up the work of Dr. Jackson and Mr. Lee in the human services space.

We have talked at some length about how devastating the consequences of this federal policy are going to be for so many of our communities here in California. It really is scary when you start to think about it, and particularly for some of our most underserved communities.

And so this work that we're going to do here at the end of session is going to begin California's response. But as I have said, I anticipate that much of the work that we do next year, particularly in Budget Committee, will be about responding to those changes in federal policy and making sure we are doing everything possible to protect our community.

So with that, I want to thank all the Members of the Budget Committee for their hard work this year. It has been an absolute pleasure to be able to serve with all of you, to learn from all of you, to work with all of you. And I look forward to this hearing. And with that, I will turn it over to my friend and our Vice Chair.

I just want to quickly just say thanks to the staff. We got a lot to go over. It's been a long year for everybody. When this budget came out, you know, earlier this week, there wasn't a lot of time. And so both Democrat, Republican staff worked their tails off to make sure that we had the analysis that we had today. So just want to say thank you to the staff. We appreciate you guys. We notice it, and we can't do our jobs without you. So just say thank you. And back to you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Vice Chair. And I will now invite Jessica Holmes from the Department of Finance. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair Gabriel, Vice Chair Flora, and Members of the Budget Committee. As the Chair mentioned, my name is Jessica Holmes. I'm here representing the Department of Finance. Today I will be presenting on a budget bill junior, which amends the 2025 Budget Act and associated budget trailer bills. Many of the items in these bills are technical and clarifying or were items that were delayed to the end of session as part of the June budget agreement.

Some items are in response to changes that have occurred at the state and or federal level since the 2025 Budget Act was passed and require a budget response in the current year. I will present on each bill and am joined by my colleagues to respond to any questions the committee may have.

The first bill, SB 105, is the budget bill junior and makes changes to various 2025 Budget Act items, including several adjustments in response to federal House Resolution, or HR 1, including funds to mitigate the state's CalFresh payment error rate, funds to support local food banks, and funds to implement HR 1's Medicaid eligibility and health care financing provisions.

It also includes appropriations totaling 540 million in 2025-26 in discretionary greenhouse gas reduction funds. The bill includes approximately 3.3 billion in 25-26 for various climate-related priorities from the 10 billion dollars authorized by the 2024 Climate Bond.

The bill also requires the Department of Finance, in consultation with CalSTA, to examine loan or other financing options to support Bay Area local transit agencies. Similarly, the bill requires the Department of Finance to examine loan or financing options that might be used to provide short-term state financial assistance. The bill also includes other changes, including technical revisions.

The next bill is SB 144, the health trailer bill. This bill makes various changes to statewide immunization policies to prepare the state for changes in federal guidance, with flexibility for the California Department of Public Health to supplement or modify requirements for specified populations.

The bill also exempts foster youth and former foster youth with unsatisfactory immigration status until the age of 26 from being impacted by the Medi-Cal solutions included in the 2025 Budget Act related to individuals with unsatisfactory immigration status.

The bill establishes the Abortion Access Fund to provide funding for abortion services and a gender-affirming care program to provide funding to health plans to provide coverage for gender affirming care services. And finally, this bill authorizes exemptions for certain medical providers and clinics to support the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympic Games. The next bill is SB 146. This is the human services trailer bill.

This bill makes various changes to the CalFresh program to prepare the state for the impacts of HR 1, including providing the Department of Social Services with flexibility to make immediate information technology changes to quickly advance efforts that aim to reduce the state's payment error rate and avoid costs associated with the benefit cost-sharing provisions in HR 1.

The bill would also establish a complaint resolution process for counties that opt to receive DSS administered Housing and Homeless Program funds. The next bill is SB 147. This is the TK-12 education trailer bill. I'm so sorry. Oh.

This bill is largely technical and amends the 2025 TK-12 education trailer bill. Among other things, this bill amends the accrual schedule for Prop. 98 through 2039-40, allows the Department of Education to assess fees of private developers of literacy professional development that submit their products for review and approval, as well as additional technical changes.

The next bill is SB148. This is the higher education trailer bill. This bill is largely technical and, among other things, this bill does all of the following: for the 26-27 and 27-28 budget years, allows community college classified employees to access food pantry services offered by campus basic needs centers. It also, for community colleges flexible aid, it also adds reporting requirements for the awarding of emergency financial assistance grants as agreed to in the 2025 Budget Act.

And finally, it enables the Community College Chancellor's Office to allocate unallocated resources appropriated for the Zero Cost Textbook Program to a community college district to contract for the establishment of statewide open educational resources infrastructure and maintenance. The next bill is SB 149. This is the resources trailer bill. This bill would enact various changes related to resources programs.

Most notably, the bill includes statutory changes to do both of the following, expands exemptions from CEQA and coastal development permit requirements related to the 2028 Olympics, Olympic and Paralympic Games. It also expands mussel prevention activities to include all invasive mussels, including golden mussels, and increases the invasive mussel fee.

The next bill is SB 151, the childcare trailer bill. This bill would implement the memorandum of understanding, or otherwise known as a collective bargaining agreement, with Child Care Providers United, as well as provide parity proposals for non-represented child care providers.

The MOU and parity package include one time stabilization payments for represented and non-represented child care providers, a one time cost of living adjustment catch up payment for represented providers. It maintains funding for health, retirement, and training benefit trusts.

And it specifies the MOU with the Child Care Providers United Union would be in effect through July 1, 2028. The next bill is SB 153. This is the transportation and climate trailer bill. This bill would enact various changes related to transportation and climate programs.

Most notably, SB 153 grants local transit operators the authority to operate charter bus service for the 2026 World Cup and raises the number of licensed drivers allowed to participate in the mobile driver's license app pilot program. SB 153 also authorizes the Air Resources Board to assess regulatory fees associated with transportation refrigeration. The next bill is SB 154.

This is the Air Resources Board CEQA exemption trailer bill, and it does as it says. It provides a CEQA exemption for climate reporting regulations adopted by the Air Resources Board. The next bill is SB 155. It's related to the Civic Media Program.

This bill establishes the California Civic Media Program under the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to support journalism, promote civic engagement, and address inequalities among underserved communities.

Specifically, the bill appropriates 10 million dollars general fund to establish the California Civic Media Fund, which will be used to expand the number of journalists in the state and to support local and community news organizations. The next bill is SB 156. This is the labor trailer bill. This bill would enact various changes related to labor programs.

Most notably, it would make various changes related to union dues deductions, Fair Labor Standards Act requirements for home care workers, and collective bargaining for home care workers.

The bill also make changes, also makes changes to local government firefighter employment provisions for purposes of permanent career civilian firefighters employed by the federal government or contracted to serve at any federal installation and firefighters in Humboldt County related to retirement benefits.

And finally, the bill also appropriates 372 million in Prop. 2 general fund for a supplemental pension payment towards CalPERS towards the state's unfunded liability. The next bill is SB 157. This is the public safety trailer bill. This bill would enact various changes related to law enforcement and correction programs.

Specifically, the bill appropriates approximately 103.7 million general fund as part of the modification to the Community Corrections Performance Incentive Grant Program. The next bill is SB 158, housing and homelessness. This bill would enact various statutory changes related to housing programs to implement the Budget Act of 2025.

Most notably, SB 158 clarifies the intent of the governor's reorganization plan regarding the duties of the Housing Development and Finance Executive Committee, restores provisions that were inadvertently chaptered out by AB 130, clarifies the administration of funding for round seven of the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program, and makes various technical modifications to effectuate changes intended in AB 130.

The next bill is SB 159, the revenue trailer bill. This bill is a cleanup to the wildfire settlement tax exclusion in SB 132, enacted in the 2025 Budget Act, and is necessary to ensure that tax relief is provided as intended. This bill additionally clarifies that wildfire settlements qualifying for relief must be related to federally declared or state declared disasters.

There is no fiscal impact of this bill because the changes are consistent with the Budget Act assumptions for revenue loss. The next bill is SB 160, related to fingerprinting and federal background checks. This bill includes changes that are necessary to continue the authority for specified departments to access background check information for their employees, prospective employees, volunteers, contractors, subcontractors, and licensees as specified. The next bill is SB 161, related to memorandums of understanding.

This bill ratifies collective bargaining agreements entered into by the state with the California Association of Professional Scientists and California Association of Psychiatric Technicians. The bill also approves agreements between the state and various bargaining units related to salary adjustments for the special school employees. And finally, SB 162, the special election trailer bill.

This bill makes changes for the special election to be held on November 4, 2025, by establishing the timeline to certify the election results by the 28th day following the election, consolidating elections that were scheduled on or before August 8, 2025, by local governments to be held on November 4, 2025.

Clarifying that resources for special election costs can be distributed directly to counties without an appropriation being made to the state controller. And appropriating 100,000 dollars general fund to the Secretary of State to develop the final report on the final cost of the special election due on April 1, 2026. That concludes my presentation. My colleagues and I are here to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you very much. I now just want to invite our legislative analysts to offer any thoughts or feedback. Okay. Wonderful. Thank you very much. With that, I will open up to comments or questions from the members. Mr. Bennett.

We normally fund hydrogen. SB 105. Sure sounds like... Great. SB 105 has 40 million dollars for infrastructure for zero-emission trucks and buses. We normally fund hydrogen and electric, medium and heavy-duty trucks and buses from these funds. I just want to clarify that we're going to continue to look at both technologies, hydrogen and electric, as we go forward.

Shy Forbes, Assembly Budget Committee. You are correct. The current program is typically medium-duty and heavy-duty hydrogen and electric. There was a drafting error in that section, so we intend to fix that in early action next year that it is both medium-duty, heavy-duty, electric and hydrogen.

Thank you very much.

Gonna go Dr. Jackson and then Ms. Hadwick.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to thank you for your leadership. I want to thank budget staff, particularly on SB 105. Want to thank Nicole, who continues to run the show around here, but also want to thank my chief on this as well.

There's been a lot of lot a lot of talks, a lot of lot of negotiations on this. And I think that the things that we have one of our biggest concerns is what we don't know will happen between now and January when the legislature is out of session.

And I think the work that we've done helped us to help mitigate some of that concern to the best of our ability. But certainly, when we get back, we have more work to do. But I will also have more comments on the floor later on. But thank you very much for your leadership.

Thank you very much for that, Dr. Jackson. And I just want to return the compliment and thank you for digging in here, along with our very talented staff, and also with the support of our Human Services Chair. I think the work that you have done to help shape this is going to make a big difference for a lot of folks, and just want to acknowledge that and give a tip of the hat to you as well. So thank you. Ms. Hadwick.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also want to say thank you, my district, just for investing in our district, for especially for our fire mitigation projects and the Karuk Wildfire Resiliency Center. I'm very thankful for that. I did have a question about 105. There's one million dollars set aside for the UC Davis Integrative Center for Alternative Protein and Meat. And I just wondered, is that coming from Prop. 4 bond funds?

Christine Miyashiro, Assembly Budget Committee. Yes, that's correct.

And how exactly is that infrastructure? Because what I've found is it appears to be like marketing and helping alternative protein companies raise investment. So I'm just wondering where that tie in is.

It's a research center at UC Davis, so it would be used for capital investments at the center. And there is 45 million dollars in the bond specifically for education research facilities. So that's where it's being drawn down from within the bond.

Okay. So I think investing in our agriculture sector is fabulous, especially the dairy digester research and development program that has really achieved high percentages and is effective and working. I'm very concerned about that. A million dollars is a lot of money to send that way. Okay. My next... I have a lot of questions. The, in 233 it allocates 40 million for fairground upgrades. What is the purpose of that program, and what projects are eligible for that?

Hi. Erin Carson, Department of Finance. Can you repeat your question, please?

Yes. In Section 233, it gives 40 million dollars for fairground upgrades.

This is in Prop 4, you mean?

Yes, I believe.

Yes. Those dollars would go to CDFA's existing fairgrounds fair and expo program to support necessary upgrades for fairgrounds for, I believe, emergency response situations and just general upgrades. This is an existing CDFA program.

So they'll be able to apply. I represent the most fairs in the district, so I'm... And they all need money, so they'll be able to apply for those funds?

It's a competitive grant program, so...

Okay. Okay. And then one more. On 149, the golden mussels.

I might be able to answer. So you can start the question and we'll see.

So we, I have 120 lakes in my district, including Tahoe, and gold mussels become a huge issue for us. The trailer bill, really, I'm disappointed it burdens the recreation boaters instead of focusing on the international vessels, which I know we've already expressed to you guys.

But I hope that we'll be looking that for that in the future. I also am very concerned that it ignores our unique relationship with Nevada. I am also the only district that has two states that I border, and Tahoe is very special and we want to make sure that we're working together with them.

So, Nevada boaters right now with their Nevada mussels sticker could theoretically be cited on the California side because they don't have a sticker, even though Nevada already exempts California boats. Is there a way that we can work with CDFW to administratively fix this problem? Because I know the language isn't in there. We were trying to get it in there, but it's not in there.

Okay, yeah. Andrew Hull with Department of Finance. It's certainly something that we could look into.

Yeah. And a couple of things I'll add is in two years, we're going to be taking a look at ensuring that the Harbors and Navigation Fund has a sustainable funding source. So this is something that we sort of talked about with the boaters, that we'll make sure to include them in those conversations as we look at sort of more holistic ways to make that fund healthy.

One thing we did in the trailer bill is we included non-resident recreational boat users, so to try to understandably expand the pool of folks who are sort of having to pay for these prevention fees. But it's something we're looking forward to continuing to work with them on in the future.

Okay. I would, I would like to just comment that golden mussels are very, very aggressive, and two years will be too late for this. It's just, it's something that needs to happen way faster. So, thank you.

Thank you very much, Assembly Member. And I would just for information, if you're interested in the alternative protein investment, I would encourage you to talk to Mr. Kalra, who led a sign on letter. He has tremendous passion and enthusiasm for the work that is being done in that space.

There's an entire ecosystem of businesses that have developed here in the State of California around it. A lot of interesting climate, environmental, health and economic benefits. And I'm sure over an alfalfa sprout sandwich in the lounge, he'd be able to tell you all about it. So would encourage you to connect with him if you want to know more about the work that's being done at Davis. All right. With that we are going to go to Dr. Patel.

Thank you, Chair. I'm thankful to the leadership and the administration, and staff of course, who work diligently to bring this health trailer bill forward. Speaking specifically on AB SB 144, I just have a few comments to make. We often speak about the importance of data and statistics in this body, especially when we're considering the justification for the policies we bring forward. And I want to put one statistic out there for the public.

Since 1974, that's my birth year. So not a long time ago. It's estimated that over 154 million lives have been saved thanks to vaccines. This is more than four times the number of people who have died in every single war since the 1800s. The lives represent our ancestors, our family, our friends, and every single person in between.

And these lifesavers are not caused by a miracle, but from the result of incredible era-defining innovation and government incentives, and also market structures that ensure that we could deliver tangible change to the people in every corner of the world, not just here in California. As I've talked about before, I ran for office.

Before I ran for office, I was a research scientist in the biotech world. I'm grateful to have been able to work at a company that developed novel life-saving technology. But it's the work that we're doing today, right here in this room, that will determine whether we encourage technological breakthroughs and continue to trust the science, and also whether they will reach the people they are intended to serve.

It's the work that we're doing that ensures affordability, as nothing keeps money in people's pockets more than preventative medicine such as vaccines. Vaccines can prevent future hospital visits, lower strain on hospital systems, and maintain herd immunity to keep the entire community safe when those, when there are those out there that cannot take vaccines.

And I know today I'm focusing on vaccines because it's a significant portion of what we're doing here today. And I commend the governor's office and our team here for making this a priority to continue to deliver that service to our constituents and keep our communities safe.

We need to make sure that we continue to use evidence-based policymaking to protect health for our constituents. And it's about ensuring that the science, not conspiracy, drives our recommendations and key health decisions.

Thank you to everyone here in this room for bringing this forward. It's absolutely critical that we continue to allow our constituents know who the trusted sources are for this health care, preventative medicine, and decision making. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Dr. Patel. And I do just want to again thank our Health Committee Chair, Ms. Bonta, and our Subcommittee Chair, Ms. Addis, for the for leading our efforts in this HR response space, for making sure that we are doing it in a thoughtful way. There's a tremendous amount of work to do there, and I just want to thank both of them for that, for that important work. With that, we'll go to Mr. Tangipa.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I want to thank the Assemblywoman from District 1, who represents the largest district in California, for answering or actually questioning a lot of the questions that I have, whether it's golden mussels, coming from the second largest district in the state. One question. I think I've asked this quite a bit. Do we still believe under the LAO that we have a structural deficit of 10 to 30 billion dollars until 2028? Is that where the predictions are still at?

Gabe Petek, Legislative Analyst. Yeah, it's approximately. I mean, the numbers are, you know, rough estimates, but yes, that's approximately correct.

In between 10 and 30 billion, year over year. Does the Department of Finance agree with that analysis?

So, just, I'm sorry. Jessica Holmes, Department of Finance. So, as of, that is, that is roughly accurate as of the point in time of the 2025 Budget Act. So we would agree with the LAO on that. However, would note that we will update our estimates in the Jan. 10 budget to reflect new information as it comes up. Obviously, point in time projections are what we have for the budget to inform the budget. So we will have more news coming in January.

And I should add, our fiscal outlook will come out in November. So we will have updated estimates at that time.

The main reason why I asked that is because it was kind of interesting to me. I see that there's the California Civic Media Program that's being created and allocating 10 million dollars to that. What is that new program, and why is it necessary right now if we believe that there's a structural deficit coming?

I would note that that 10 million dollars was part, it was allocated as part of the 2025 Budget Act back in June. The trailer bill language provides the additional detail needed to implement the 10 million dollars. But that was part of the June budget act.

So what is that 10 million dollars going to do?

Justin Adelman, Department of Finance. It will establish a program in the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to support local journalism. There's been significant losses of many years, and so this is intended to, with additional funding from private donations, which is laid out in the program and the new fund to collect that funding and provide it out to again support local journalism in those initiatives.

So it's going to establish a program of government-run media under the Governor's office?

It's not government-run necessarily. The governor's office administers the program, but the program will have nine members on a board who will advise the Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to distribute those funds. And those members are members of the media. It's spelled out in the program the specific membership requirements.

Is it appointed?

Those positions? No, those are appointed to the board or to the Advisory Committee. Sorry.

Wait, wait. Which one is it? They are appointed?

They are appointed, but they represent certain, you know, representatives from certain media companies.

Okay, who appoints them?

It would be the Director of the GO-Biz.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And I would just note, I expect, I think as the Legislative Analyst said, that once we have a better sense of tax collections from Los Angeles County, we'll of have lot a lot more information about the state's fiscal outlook. So stay tuned for that. Mr. Lee. Oh, sorry. We'll go Mr. Connolly.

Thank you, Chair. I wanted to first ask a couple questions on our HR 1 response, starting with appreciation for the Chair and the committee on the work that's been done on this, stepping up to provide $254 million to fill the gaps that are going to be left by congressional Republicans' HR 1 budget bill. Question. Do we have an estimate for the total cut in federal funding that California will face due to HR 1 in the next fiscal year?

So in terms, I don't have a number for the entirety of the bill. I know that the Department of Health Care Services has estimated that the impact could be upwards of $30 billion. But obviously some of the changes in HR 1 are not in the current year, so those would be in future years.

So a lot of ongoing work ahead for us on that. I see that we're allocating $1 million to support the state's application for what's called the Rural Health Transformation Program, which is kind of a bailout fund in h rural hospitals, which are going to be frankly devastated by that federal bill.

Given how hostile the Trump administration has been to California, do we have a reasonable expectation that we will be able to access these funds? If we are not awarded funding, what will be the consequences to our rural hospitals? And how can the state avoid more health care facilities from closing in rural areas?

Yes. Joseph Donaldson, Department of Finance. So this program still we're learning more about the information of how it's going to operate. Actually, later this month they're going to be giving more guidelines on how the application process is actually going to work. Based on kind of what we've been kind of privy to in terms how the program works.

You know, we're going to go through the application process. There's resources built in to be successful in that manner. But you know, I don't know if anybody has a crystal ball, but we're going to put the best, our best effort forward to apply for the application.

Great. Thanks. I'm looking forward to ongoing discussion. So I wanted to talk about SB 158. This bill does include language to appropriate about $2.1 million to the implementation of SB 131. Since SB 131 passed the Legislature, there's been ongoing discussion around cleanup language meant to limit the advanced manufacturing component and other provisions that have raised a lot of concern.

Frankly, I'm concerned that we are prematurely funding this measure without addressing any of the ongoing issues with SB 131. There has been promised language that is supposed to rectify the issues found in SB 131. However, we have yet to see any language meant to address environmental and labor concerns found in the measure.

The Senate also shared these concerns last night. My understanding is the Senate failed to pass AB 158. So as the Assembly, I believe we should also be critical about funding SB 131 before we see concrete language that will protect our labor standards and the safety of our environment. So more statement than a question, but if you'd like to respond.

I would just clarify for general knowledge that the 2.1 million that you're referring to is for the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate innovation. And it, SB 131 requires LCI to update existing CEQA tiering guidelines for infill projects and create a statewide map of eligible urban infill sites by July 1, 2027 with input from local governments. And those funds are intended to cover the cost of those activities only.

Thank you very much. All right. Now the very polite Assembly Member Lee.

Thank you, Chair Gabriel. First, first I'll say I'm going to comment on three different topics. First, I want to thank our Assembly Budget staff and our Assembly Budget Chair for the great work on these things. I worked very well with Dr. Jackson on the Budget Sub to make sure that we had adequate adaptations to HR 1. It is a preview, Members, of the kind of work we're going to have to be doing in the next current budgets.

The kind of draconian cuts and changes the federal administration has thrust onto California and many other states, even red states and blue states alike, is going to drastically affect not just immigrants but citizens as well and is very well intentioned to throw off more and more people from social services.

And it is our intention to continue to work very hard to make sure people don't lose food, don't lose services just because they are poor or just because they are people of color. Secondly, I wanted to ask very quickly, in SB 105 I heard mention of the Bay Area transit loans. I didn't see in our analysis, but can you comment again, what is the status of the Bayer transit loans and what's going on with that now?

I'll ask one of my colleagues to come up and help answer that question.

Hi. James Moore with the Department of Finance. In SB 105, Control Section 91 requires that Finance, along with the Transportation Agency, examine loan and other financing mechanisms to help support support Bay Area transit. That examination process has to end according to the control section by January 10, 2026 and any results from that may be included in the Governor's Budget.

And can I ask, it was my understanding when we passed the June budget that there was understanding we would be extending loans to our critical Bay Area infrastructure for transit. And now it's changed to an examination of loans. Why is there that change now?

Sure. The Budget Act of 2025 did include provisions within that section that you're referencing that said that trailer bill had to be passed in the 2025 legislative session in order for that to be operative. We're still committed to, you know, to a healthy transit system in California. And we just need additional time to work through what possibilities exist.

All right. Well, I hope it is the administration's priority to continue negotiating about the Bay Area bridge loans because the Bay Area will continue to figure out how to fund transit operations. But if one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country and huge economic drivers loses our transit agencies, we will have huge economic and traffic ramifications across California.

Lastly, I do also want to build upon my colleague, Assembly Member Connolly, his comments about the cleanup with SB 131. I do think it is imperative that we work on more comprehensive cleanup to SB 131. I understand you were talking about the $2.1 million was on implementation of the maps basically to show developers and new folks how to take advantage of the streamlining for advanced manufacturing. Let's be real.

I represent the most manufacturing district in the entire State of California. I am home to many of Elon Musk's pet project companies and they would probably in the 21st century all count as advanced manufacturing. Now we haven't, we still are working on for two months more comprehensive cleanup.

And I want to be supportive of my colleagues on working more comprehensive cleanup, especially when it comes to protection of communities from toxic manufacturing sites for more tribal conservation, endangered species and environments, as well as worker protections too. These are places that are economic drivers, but also very, very much resistant to being pro-worker too.

And so I think as we develop a big freebie CEQA map to so many folks out there to develop advanced manufacturing, we want that kind of stuff. We want there to be more advanced, great clean manufacturing out there, but they also have to be responsible actors to the environment and to the community.

And so I really hope that we'll continue to work on those really comprehensive fixes and take it up as an early January action item. And I want to be sort of my colleagues who have been very much more vocal on this issue, but knowing that it really does affect places like my district, which has lots and lots of commercial industrial plots that will be ripe for people to redevelop. So I appreciate all the work everyone has done. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Assembly Member Lee. Assembly Member Macedo.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Kind of on the same vein, he comes from the top manufacturing district, I come from the top ag district. And if it's not just ag, we don't have clean and reliable drinking water where I'm from. We have the fourth largest economy in the world and we're hauling in bottled water in the Central Valley. And so it's not just our farmers and ranchers that need the water.

It's also farm workers who depend on this water for their homes and for their livelihoods. And California voters agreed that the Central Valley needs this water. And they set aside $75 million in Prop 4 specifically for regional conveyance projects. So why does this proposal only allocate $2 million this year? That's roughly 2% of the available funding.

I'll have my colleague come and join me for this question.

Good afternoon. Andrew Hull with Department of Finance. This particular pot for the regional funding, when we rolled this out in January, it was based on discussions with departments and their capacity to roll programs out. There wasn't anything in local assistance at that time.

There was proposed state operations to get the program up and running. Since that time and since June for the three party agreement, it was agreed to add $2 million in this space. But we'll note that we'll be back in January, and if there's additional needs during that time, we'll continue to roll out funding as needed.

So what criteria did the administration use to decide that only 2 million would be appropriated?

This was through discussions with the departments about whether they thought they could actually get the program up and running and then spend it in the first year. So a lot of these programs have different requirements, but they either have guidelines that they're going to need to update or regulations that they're going to have to do. Sometimes that takes time. And they looked at 26-27 as the year that they would roll out.

I mean, not only do we have issues with conveyance, we have issues with subsidence going on. To my colleague from District 1, we don't have the luxury of time for waiting for these projects or you're going to devastate the Central Valley. And this is not just important to my district.

My district feeds these, everybody's district in some way shape or form. And we talk about underserved communities all the time. The average income in my district is $31,000 a year and it's 65% Hispanic and Latino. We are the epitome of poor and underserved. So it's a slap in the face to only give us $2 million. But was there any engagement with stakeholders on this at all from the Valley?

I would just note that we've, we rolled this proposal out as of January 10th. We spent nine months in subcommittee hearings discussing the various details. We then worked with the Legislature over the summer on other priorities. And this was the amount that was agreed upon. But next year we'll continue to roll out funding. And if that's a high priority, it's something that we can continue to look at.

I just, I don't think there's been any stakeholder engagement. But is there a timeline for this full 75 million, to your knowledge?

I'd have to get back to you on what the plan for the rollout is. Some things will have changed as dollar amounts in this first year have changed. And now that we are discussing funding in September rather than July 1st, there's going to be departments that are going to have to reassess their rollout. But the intent is to get the funding out as quickly as it's needed. It's just in this first year, there's a lot of steps that have to happen before some of these projects are ready.

I appreciate the intent, but what assurances is there that the Central Valley is going to get that 75 million?

I would say that that's how it was laid out in the bond. So this particular section has bond language about its specific criteria, and there is always a desire to roll these things out as money is needed. So we would continue to roll out funding as voted on and as agreed upon by California voters.

But there's no act I desire intent, but no actual assurance, just the language of the bond currently.

I would say once we release, you know, the January 10th budget, there will either be additional funding in here, or if the funding is deemed insufficient, we would continue discussions to try to make adjustments as needed.

I really urge you with Prop 4 funds, and I urge all my colleagues on this committee that we really figure out what metrics and measurements we're using to ensure that Prop 4 money is being rolled out according to the will of the voters. So very disappointing, and hopefully we can rectify this very, very soon. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I think we are going to go to Assembly Member Rogers.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to start off first with just a broad appreciation for everybody who's worked extremely hard on these adjustments to the budget. In particular, I want to call out Mr. Bennett and his team for leading on the Prop 4 discussions. I have not been quiet about the importance of many of the aspects of Prop 4, particularly for my district. But one thing in particular I want to call out is the work around continuing the commitment to offshore wind.

That was allocated in the portion that's going towards the California Energy Commission to continue that work, even as we see attacks from the federal level on true energy Independence and renewable energy cultivation. So I wanted to really thank my colleague for that and for everybody on his team for working on that. I also wanted to lend my voice to the issue raised by Assembly Member Connolly.

Many of us were put in a really awkward and terrible position in the June budget, having new language related to advanced manufacturing, tribal consultation, Endangered Species Act dropped on us literally 12, with 12 hours notice, with the assurances and the promises that this would be fixed and clarified and tightened so that our communities that were concerned about the impacts would have that addressed before they actually saw major projects being approved with absolutely no approval or neighbor oversight.

And we've seen you can move mountains very quickly in this building if there's political will to do it. Again, 12 hours notice. And yet for the last two months we have seen absolutely no movement on those promised fixes that people stood up on the floor and made assurances to us that we would see. So I want to just continue to echo with my colleague that if there was a serious intent to fix that, we could do that today. We could have done it today. And my expectation is that we'll continue to push on this and hopefully get it fixed early in January.

Thank you very much. Assembly Member Quirk-Silva.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I want to thank the Budget Sub 5 Committee that's worked with us step by step on this. I've appreciated the engagement. As you know, as a Budget Chair, we've held many hearings related to these topics. But I do want to go to page 30, SB 158. And I'd like to see if I can get some discussion on items 1 through 5. I'll just make a comment and then let you address this.

But as we know, we have been fighting for housing dollars pretty much from the start of this budget and was very pleased to see progress in that area. One of the areas that was much more in the weeds, unless you actually attended our budget hearings, that could easily be either not known about or not have risen to area of interest was HCD's reorganization plan.

Which some of you who did engage know that I was quite interested in that discussion and if it was an appropriate time to do it. What it did it really mean as far as what my interest is is that the dollars that come through HCD get out to communities as quickly as possible. This reorganization plan expressed that this will in fact move dollars faster, make it more streamlined. So I'd like you to talk about items one through five and then I'll just follow up.

Well, I'll just say my thoughts because you've already heard it, which is we don't need to wait for a reorganization plan, whether it happens next summer or in the future, because this has been a mandate for over 10 years now. We heard it in the accountability hearing, which is that is their job, which is to move this. We don't have to reorganize, take out consumer affairs, wait another year for the this to be happening. So can you address that on one through five, please?

Sure. Good afternoon. Teresa Calvert with Department of Finance. Items one through five cover most of the major provisions of SB 158. Item number one I think is most pertinent to the governor's reorganization of the Business Consumer Services Housing Agency into two separate agencies, as you mentioned. And this is additional language that was discussed at the time of the June budget.

And I think this reflects the Legislature's desire to put in a little more detail and specifying that the executive committee that was part of the legislation related to the reorganization and noting that it shall make recommendations to the Legislature on potential improvements that the Department of Housing and Community Development may make to optimize loan administration to expedite the processing of awards and loan closing.

So again, in the effort to help with streamlining efforts and other goals of the reorganization. Items 2 through 4 are very much related to some of the discussion already related to AB 130, SB 131 follow up. And then item 5 is a follow up to the funding.

The contingent funding for the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention program. And again was in June, was contingent on subsequent trailer bill language. And this clarifies the intent of the Department, again, Housing Community Development moving forward and preparing in anticipation of subsequent legislation related to the HHAP program.

But my question is why do we have to keep adding new committees, new executive committees, new discussions about what we've already said several years ago, which was to be we have legislation related to streamlining applications. It just continues to feel like bureaucracy.

And to be honest, you've heard me say this a thousand times. It's my 11th year and I'm getting pretty darn tired of us not being able to move these funds and creating new agencies and new umbrellas and it's just been exhausting. So it's here. I'm going to support it. But HCD, if you're listening, get moving.

Thank you. Thank you very much. And it is a pleasure to serve with you in your last term, Assembly Member. I just want to maybe lift up something around the HHAP funding here. I think it's my expectation that I would like to have conversations over the course of the fall.

I think with and certainly with Ms. Quirk-Silva and with our partners in the Senate, the administration. You know, we have committed a lot of resources to that program. And I think that there's some pretty deep frustration among Californians about the lack of progress that we have made collectively around the issue of homelessness.

And so I think it's really, really important that as we think about additional funding that goes out through that, that we are laser focused on results, we're laser focused on accountability, we're laser focused on doing everything we can to make sure that taxpayers are getting the highest return on investment and that we're doing everything possible to help people that are suffering on streets.

So that is a conversation that I'm going to look forward to. I know Ms. Quirk-Silva will bring her energy to that conversation. And I think you expect that the Budget Committee writ large will like to have that conversation as well. So just wanted to note that. With that, let us go to, I believe we have Mr. Hart, Ms. Addis, Mr. Ward, and Ms. Ortega. So let's go to Mr. Hart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's a lot to like in this package of bills and appreciate all the hard work that the Budget Sub Chairs have done. But I want to add my voice to the concerns about the SB 131 cleanup that doesn't exist. You know, there are far too many exemptions that are included in that legislation that none of us really had a chance to review carefully. And I think it deserves careful examination before we go ahead. The specifically the overly broad definition of advanced manufacturing.

Excuse me, Mr. Hart, I'm not sure that your microphone's on.

It's on, but I may be too far away and not talking loud enough.

You have lots of people here are very eager to hear what you're saying. So.

I am concerned about. Obviously, I'm not going to repeat myself because I think most of you here heard me. It's the same before? The same. All right. Mic won't reach that far. The three issues obviously that I'm very concerned about are the definition of advanced manufacturing is overly broad, the inadequacy of the tribal consultation, and the issue regarding environmental sensitivity of habitat and the potential for projects that would affect that that are not going to be properly analyzed.

And see, these are significant issues and we really do need sooner than later to address them. And I know there's been a lot of discussion on the Senate side. Just want it to be clear that I think there is equally strong feelings on the Assembly side. And this is a big disappointment in this process that we haven't been able to solve this issue.

Thank you very much, Mr. Hart. I think we were then going to go to Ms. Addis, then Mr. Ward, and Ms. Ortega.

Well, thank you so much, Mr. Chair. And I want to say thank you to each of the Sub Chairs. I know how hard all of the Sub Chairs and their staff worked. And a special thank you to the Health Policy Chair, Assembly Member Bonta, who also sits on our Sub 1 Health Committee and our Budget Sub 1 staff.

I'll say we have the best staff on Health Budget Sub 1. And I'm very grateful for the good work that has been done in this budget in particular at this moment when we're facing huge attacks from the federal government. And I want to say I have the utmost respect for everyone who has worked on this budget.

And there's a tremendous number of really important things in here, including Prop 4 spending that's beginning, the urgently needed health care backfills that I just mentioned and may talk about on the floor, and dollars for critical projects all across our state.

I also want to add my voice to the concerns on SB 131 cleanup and the trailer bill that we have in front of us. And as you all know, I wasn't able to support SB 131. My concerns were so large that I wasn't able to support that bill on the floor. And I continue to have concerns.

And I'd always sort of wondered how realistic it was going to be to get cleanup. And so it's really tough to be in this moment and and have worked so closely with the budget team and then be in a place where I feel so concerned about one of the things that's coming forward.

For me in particular, it's really about protecting the endangered habitat. And this body has done a lot of work on CEQA exemptions. In fact, I think we've done the largest rollback of the last half century on environmental protections has happened since I've been in the Legislature.

It's been very, very difficult, hurtful even for my community to watch how our legislative body has rolled back environmental protections. Because while many people will say that's just about wealthy people at the coast, what we're really talking about is putting real people in danger when projects are built next to them or in their neighborhoods.

It's not just about butterflies, although I love them and did a resolution of support. It's actually about real people and the danger that they face when projects, particularly manufacturing type projects, are built in their neighborhoods or next to their homes. And so we want to be very careful. We also know we had a lot of conversation over the past few weeks around labor protections and lack of labor protections, lack of tribal consultation.

And so you know, when staff, and I appreciate the input from staff. But when you talk about the money isn't really actually going for 131, it's these very dollars that are going to kick off the process to implement yet another piece of legislation that can truly harm our communities. And so I think that's why we're hearing so much concern on the dais here today. So just would add my voice to those concerns and hope that we could take a different pathway as we get closer to seeing this trailer bill in front of us for a vote. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Assembly Member. I think we're going to now go to Mr. Ward, Mr. Ortega, and then Mr. Bennett.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also want to thank Members of this Committee, our subcommittee, particularly Chairwoman Quirk-Silva from Sub 5, which I have the pleasure of sitting on, and all of our staff for all the work that's gone into this update before us.

Also want to extend my appreciation and accolades for the deep thought on Proposition 4 implementation. I do find it very consistent with what we very clearly outlined for the framework to the voters, which I'm grateful for their support. And we're doing our job to be able to move this forward and think even more thoughtfully and specifically about how we're going to be able to benefit community across all these issue areas.

And again, for all those that were involved into putting some meaningful effort into responses, California's response to HR 1 to be able to help the appropriate medically necessary healthcare appropriations that we desperately need to preserve and sustain for our community members that are otherwise just going to be completely left out. Of course, that's something I'd wish for all Americans across the country.

But in here at least we can be able to help to keep stable some of the health care support that many Californians need. So thank you for that close attention, especially in very tight budget times that we're still able to do what we can do. Just in the interest of time.

Very briefly add on my voice to disappointment within not just SB 158, although everything else in SB 158 generally am very grateful for. A lot of process improvements and item detail that I find important to be able to advance. But this was the moment that we were promised.

I would just underscore maybe even more strongly that for all the concerns that we have for SB 131 around advanced manufacturing, not providing decent definition about what even advanced manufacturing was. Thinking about that broad application and what that could be in our communities, that you could have certain toxic facilities located right next to a nursing home or some other sensitive receptor.

Completely unacceptable. And I get, you know, where we are being more thoughtful and tailored about policy discussions with the use of a CEQA exemption. And we do that on a case by case basis. But we were promised the ability to have cleanup language come back on some of these definitions and on tribal consultation. Yes. And on worker protections. And so it's beyond, you know, disappointing. You know, it's a very present, I think, violation of trust.

Coming after the June negotiation that it's not here before us as we were promised it would be here before us. And so what do we, without that breakdown in trust, you know, that's going to be very difficult for us to be able to know that we are going to be able to rely on cleanup conversations going forward. I am expecting in January that we are a lot more that we've had some attention over the fall into this issue and that we are bringing that back for our consideration because these protections are important.

Getting it right, getting the definitions right, and really making sure that we know when an exemption is or is not appropriate is going to be able to protect more Californians from harmful effects from arguably not a simple residential construction project, but something that is inherently a risk of public health and safety.

And so hopefully we'll dig into that. It's really just what I want to underscore there. And to Chair Quirk-Silva's point as well, the reorganization is something we were watching very closely. I appreciate the updates that we've had in subcommittee. Remind me again the timing. The Little Hoover Commission evaluation of the Governor's reorganization proposal was due to be completed, what, about last month? I'm curious about the status of that and when we are going to get high level feedback for the Legislature.

Yes. Meagan Tokunaga Block, Department of Finance. The reorganization plan has moved forward accordingly, according to those statutes. The Little Hoover Commission process was actually already published and the plan went into effect on July 5, 2025.

Okay. And so now we are, okay, trying to be able to implement and accommodate under that, under that reorg. An item for like further study, I think. But I look forward to our future engagement and appreciate the discussion here today.

Okay, thank you very much, Assembly Member. Let's go to Assembly Member Ortega.

Thank you. Mr. Chair, I, I know this has been brought up several times already. I don't want to repeat what several of my colleagues said other than to, you know, say that what is advanced manufacturing.

I know that it's not housing and it was put in a housing Bill and then we were told that we would get an opportunity to fix it. And so to say that the trust has broken, I think is a little bit of an understatement because several of us have asked to have this fixed.

And now we are here and we were told that it was going to get fixed and now we're here and we're told that it's not.

And so I am looking forward, as my colleagues mentioned already, to actually looking into this and fixing this problem, because it is a real problem when you have advanced manufacturing popping up in areas of communities of color with no input that are going to happen as this Bill states, this budget Bill stays in place.

So I have a lot of concerns when it comes to the environment, the labor standards that are not there, and the fact that we were told one thing and now being told something completely different, not acceptable, not acceptable to me, not acceptable to our constituents who depend on us and who trust us.

And right now they are not trusting us on this issue.

Thank you very much, Assembly. I'm going to go to Assemblymember Schultz, who hasn't had a chance to talk yet, and then we will go back to Mr. Bennett and Dr. Patel.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Just two quick points. I do want to start by thanking you, Mr. Chair, and your team. I know you're processing a lot of information and disseminating that to the Committee quickly. So thank you all. I also want to echo the comments from my colleagues, especially Assembly Members Ward and Ortega couldn't agree.

I think that the trust is broken. I didn't vote for SB 131 originally because I didn't care for the process and I didn't care for the advanced manufacturing. And I am very disappointed that we haven't had a chance to correct that.

What I would like to do, though, is close with just commenting that rather than remaining disappointed, I look forward to working with many of my colleagues on the dais here who hope to clean that up next year and really would love to see the Administration work with us in earnest to get that done. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And I think we're going to Mr. Alvarez, who hasn't a chance to speak Yet.

Thank you. Thank you all. Appreciate you being here. I want to definitely start by thanking the Chair of Budget Committee. There is a lot that happens and those of us who have the honor of serving as sub Chairs, you know, there's.

We, we see it all the time because of the work that we do, but then that all, all of the work we all do and these seven subcommittees, the. Our chair has to be there. And so. Thank you, Mr.

Chair, for, for all of that and certainly all the budget staff and of course the staff from sub 3. Thank you so very much. I would say I did vote for 131 and I believe that what we are trying to accomplish is definitely a good thing.

But I don't know how many people in the Legislature actually have lived next to a manufacturing plant. I did my entire childhood, the community that I grew up in, and I suffer from asthma to this day as a result of a chrome plating shop that was my literally next door neighbor.

And I am very concerned about that happening to anyone else this day and age in the State of California. So thank you to the Members who've spoken up. That has to be addressed. And it is disappointing that it's not addressed now.

And it needs to be addressed immediately so that there are not more families and children who are living in places like Barrio Logan, where I grew up, where the hospitalization rate and the asthma rate are through the roof because of land use decisions that were very, very bad in the 1970s and 80s.

But we're not in the 1970s and 80s anymore. So we need to make sure we correct that so that that doesn't happen to more families. So looking forward to that discussion. With that, I actually want to take a moment to recognize the work of, of our colleague, Mr. Hart and also our former colleague, Mr. Garcia.

Oftentimes when people leave our body, we forget about them. But Proposition 4 was a result of the work that Mr. Hart and Mr. Garcia, particularly on our side of the Assembly, the work that they put in.

Thank you for doing that because we could not be talking about the investments that are now going to happen in this state and in our communities, specifically in my community as a result of that work. Thank you. Thank you to Mr. Garcia. We.

And thank you to our Chairman of our Committee, Mr. Bennett, for making sure that this occurred. Because this is what we told the voters we would do and we're now doing it. And that's how we gain the trust of our community.

And in my case, the Tijuana River Valley and the beach closures as a result of sewage spills have been incredibly damaging to our community. We have had beach closures, meaning the beach has not been accessible to the people that I represent in my community since December 8th of 2021.

We're about to go on four years and I want to thank my colleagues from the San Diego delegation who've all recognized that this is a critical and sad State of affairs for our community. And this is absolutely a responsibility of the Federal Government. But I'm not going to blame the Federal Government.

In fact, what we need to do is we need to act. And in this budget, we are acting to make sure that what we wrote into Proposition 4 is being delivered to the people of San Diego, the people of California, with $46 million allocation for cross border rivers in the California Mexico region.

The pollution not only impacts obviously the ability for people who are from underserved communities to actually have access to our waters, which we are so proud of in California.

They don't have access in my community, but not only that, the air quality is bad with now Scripps Institute of Oceanography UC Scripps Institute of Oceanography found that 73% of bacteria in the air, what people are smelling is from the wastewater. So this is a really serious concern.

Again, I want to thank our Chair Bennett for the work, the work of this Committee, again, the work of those who worked on Proposition 4, the language we were able to insert onto that measure, the voters who've entrusted us with this.

And now we want to say to them we are doing what you asked us to do with your approval of Proposition 4. Thank you for that. And work continues and we will continue to make sure that this issue gets addressed. And with that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much. Assemblymember, I will now we'll now go back for a second round with Mr. Bennett. Dr. Patel, I do want to note that we're getting close to the time that we're supposed to go back to school. And I know we have some public comment, so I will turn over to.

I'll be very brief. My earlier comments were just a single question.

I want to point out that in a democracy like we have here in California, it is very easy to stop things and it is very difficult to get things done because you have to line up the Assembly, the Senate and the governor's office to be able to get things done.

And so we're all frustrated because what we did in July was we allowed something to move forward.

And that's where your leverage is, your ability to stop something and we then ran into the problem that we have in democracy, which you have to line everybody up to be able to get the fix that we all are, are talking about.

So one thing I'm pretty confident of is that this Assembly has really learned a lesson about leverage and when to give it up and when not to give it up, et cetera.

And I appreciate all the people making their comments and I feel confident that we can, we can do a good job in terms of doing this, given how many people feel strongly about this. But I would offer it's not at all a done deal because it is really easy to stop things in a democracy.

That Committee Chair, that one person and one place. Second thing I'd like to point out is there's just a comment about the time it takes to set up programs, et cetera. I think we all get frustrated at how long it takes.

But the other side of that equation is we also demand accountability and efficiency and spending and sometimes it's most efficient to make sure a program gets set up properly before you actually start throwing the dollars at it. And it's a trade off all the time.

And we will try to be sensitive from budget sub 4 in terms of that.

Third thing I want to just point out quickly is we would not have the $10 billion to spend if the Assembly, if a number of Members of the Assembly, and I'm not talking about myself, didn't take the leadership on Prop 4 that Assemblymember Alvarez just pointed out.

And if we hadn't done that, and at the time the argument was being made in opposition to that, that, that the environmental community is just out there funding, getting this funding for these environmental things regularly. And the response from the environmental community is because that's the only way we get environmental stuff done anymore.

And now we really see that with what's happened with the federal Administration, et cetera. So imagine where we would be in the State of California if we didn't have Prop 4 and probably climate bonds will have to be a regular part of the future for us.

And so one of the things we're trying to do from the Prop. From this, from budget sub 4 is we're trying to remind the Administration that they were not there for this, like the Assembly was there for this, that this was a legislative leadership with the Senate and the Assembly.

And so these, we have more claim to these dollars than maybe other claim to the dollars. It's still a three way arrangement. We certainly recognize that. Certainly the Executive branch did, did support it, but in terms of driving it and Getting it to come forward, that was different.

Final thing I'd like to do is the same thing that many people have done. But budget chair had unusually challenging things to navigate this year and did it masterfully. And the end product, I think is. Is better than many of us were really concerned about. So thank you very much.

And that means I'm also thanking his staff because his staff has had to work and manage and deal with constant change behind the scenes in terms of something happening. And I would certainly be remiss. Somebody said they have the best staff. And I will, I will. I certainly challenge that.

Certainly we have great staff that have been able to help me on budget so far. And I just want to say thank you and to everybody that recognizes that good government takes an awful lot of work to try to deliver. So thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Mr. Bennett. Dr. Patel.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Really quickly, I just want to echo the concerns around the 131 cleanup, the labor standards, tribal consultation and advanced manufacturing. I remain concerned that I voted for a Bill in good faith that there would be cleanup around this, and I'm seeing that there just isn't.

And I don't know what it takes more than all of the voices in this room saying that that's a concern to bring this back. And I look forward to being a good partner in, in January to actually deliver on what we committed to our people as a new Legislator.

I'm equally troubled that our budget process is increasingly having policy in it, and that is done in a way where we're not able to discuss it through committees in a policy Committee. And it puts all of us in very difficult positions as we want to deliver a budget for our state.

And I would be remiss in not pointing out that I didn't adequately thank my chairs on the Health Committee policy side as well as budget side. I know the heavy lifting that our Chairs do, and I'm new to all of this and I'm excited to work with people going forward.

But one thing that I do want to state is I really, for the record, I really don't like the amount of policy work that's put into the budget process. It bypasses a lot of really thoughtful conversations.

All right, thank you very much. Last call for Member questions. Comments. Okay, with that, I will. We're going to open up to public comment. I will be brief since I know folks need to get back. I think just for our partners in the Administration.

I think hopefully you have heard loud and clear from this Committee and with, with I would say with unmistakable clarity about where, how folks are feeling about the necessity to come and work on these issues. And I would, I would just suggest. Excuse me, please. The Committee's not finished.

Keep it down. Shut the door, please.

Thank you very much, everybody. I want to make sure that the, that that there is a real understanding with our partners in the Administration just how the sense of urgency around these issues and I think that this is not something that, you know, we want to delay on.

I think that I've spoken with a number of you about the need to actually begin the process of developing that immediately and over the fall and taking advantage of that opportunity. And I know I want to thank several Members in this room who I think have already begun that work.

So, so, so I just want to make sure that folks are clear about that expectation and that is something that we look forward to, to continued conversation around that.

With that, I want to go ahead and open it up to public comment and but before I do so, let me one last time thank all the incredibly hardworking staff and also the sergeants and everybody here who makes these hearings possible. So thank you everybody.

Mr. Chair. Chris Micheli on behalf of the LA Metro in support of SB153 and the charter bus service that will help us deliver people to the FIFA World Cup next summer. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, Members. Beth Olhasso for two entities. First for Water Reuse California, we appreciate the Prop 4 spending plan and the allocation for water recycling. Very disappointed that the administration's proposal on the Administrative Procedures act exemptions couldn't go through.

Water recycling projects in Carpinteria, Sacramento, San Francisco, Paris, Irvine are all going to be delayed because the water recycling funding program only has guidelines, not rulemaking. So pretty frustrating there for Inland Empire Utilities Agency want to support the water storage investment program funding and the Golden Muscles Trailer Bill Language. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Kiara Ross on behalf of the City of Burbank here in support of SB149 and the important Golden Mussel trailer Bill Language. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Raquel Mason with the California Environmental Justice Alliance. I want to thank all the Members here today for sharing your concerns for the lack of cleanup around SB131, specifically at the advanced manufacturing provision. And I really want to echo your comments, Assemblymember Rogers, for stating it so clearly. This cleanup could have happened today.

And we are really noting that you guys were able to push SB131 through in a matter of hours. But when we had two months to land this plane, that was the one that wasn't able to happen in this legislative session.

And while we're looking forward to continuing to work with you all on cleanup and want to be true stakeholders in that process, we have to note that this is the law of the land today.

We're already seeing projects and communities that have already had to hold these facilities, rebrand themselves as Advanced Manufacturing and putting themselves right next door to places where there are populations that will be harmed. So we invite you to come to our communities and experience what it feels like to live next to these facilities.

And yeah, thank you so much for the time.

Asha Sharma, on behalf of Leadership Council for Justice and Accountability, we are extremely disappointed there is no cleanup on SB131. We appreciate Assembly Members Connolly, Lee, Rogers, Bennett, Addis, Ward, Schultz, Ortega, Alvarez, Patel and Hart for all raising this concern today.

Legislative leadership clearly committed to cleanup when SB131 was voted on earlier this summer, yet failed to Follow through Despite 35 legislators and more than 230 advocate organizations, labor unions and tribes urging cleanup.

Thanks to leadership in this failure, corporations can now build extremely hazardous manufacturing facilities that handle explosive gases and toxic materials next door to homes and school with no environmental review or public notification.

This legislative session, we've seen legislative leadership turn their back on their constituents values like environmental stewardship and equity and concerns from fellow legislators to side instead with mega polluters. It's incredibly disappointing to see this shift.

We urge immediate action to clean up SB131 in the new year and the Legislature to put real guardrails in place, not more false promises. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Diana Douglas with Health Access California. Health Access as co Chair of the Health for All Coalition, appreciates the Legislature's exemption of immigrant foster youth and former foster youth from provisions related to the freeze on Medi Cal Enrollment, payment of premiums and elimination of adult dental adopted in the 25-26 budget. This is a good first step.

However, we do insist that the Legislature can and should do more, especially at a time when our undocumented community needs our state to stand up and fight back against the Trump administration's cruel attacks on our health care.

We will continue to call on legislators to restore these cuts as soon as possible, or the very least to ensure cuts are time limited and implemented to reduce impact. We also ask that you consider revenue solutions that will uphold our values of health care equity and access for all.

We do appreciate the Legislature's work to authorize the Health Care Affordability Reserve Fund to defray costs of offering state mandated gender affirming care benefits within our healthcare exchange and the establishment of the Abortion Access Fund. Furthermore, we really appreciate the guidance related to provision of immunizations and coverage for vaccines and critical preventive access. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I was just informed by the sergeants that we have quite a line outside, so I'm just going to respectfully ask folks to try to keep their public comment to one minute. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.

Steve Baker with Aaron Reed and Associates for the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District. We just want to thank you for the Gold medal provisions in SB149 and a special shout out to Assemblymember Rubio that did a Member sign on letter that several of you signed on to. So thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Chair Keith Dunn here on behalf of State Building Construction Trades Council as well as the District Council of Iron Workers in appreciation of the Legislature's continued investment in the Offshore wind program and renewable energies. As we have a federal Administration that. Continues to pull back on those programs. We appreciate the investment. Officer.

We'd like to say that we look. Forward to working with you and trust you on coming back and looking at the 131 fix. We know that you're going to get to it and we appreciate you in good faith. Thank you.

Mr. Chair and Members Emily Blanchard Sager, with the Guelker Group on behalf of the Kern County Water Agency, Kings River Interests, Santa Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, Stockton East Water District, all in support of SB149. Thank you.

You nailed it.

Mr. Chair. Members Brian White here to speak on two items on behalf of Offshore Wind California and also on behalf of the Port of Long Beach which is a Member, Offshore Wind California.

We very much appreciate the 225 million for the offshore wind Special Kudos to Senator Rogers, Senator Bennett, who just left, and Senior Zabur for keeping that item in the forefront. We need that funding for to get these ports upgraded.

Second, we also support on behalf of General atomic support the 5 million for the fusion Initiative Research Program and that will help Fund SB80 by Senator Caballero. So thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon Chair and Members. Isabella Argueda, with the Health Officers Association of California. Thank you so much for your work on SB144. This bill will allow the state to make evidence based recommendations on vaccines and preventive services and will help protect Californians against the spread of disease. Thank you.

Good afternoon Chair. Members. Michelle Gibbons with the County Health Executives Association of California representing local health departments. Also in support of Those provisions in SB144 that protect access to vaccines and preventive services. This protects the health of all Californians. Thank you.

Thank you Vanessa Kahina on behalf of the California Academy of Family Physicians, visuni compromiso and Cal PACE. Also in support of the prescriptions in SB144 to safeguard immunizations and keep them affordable. Thank you.

Hi Natalie Brown with the Planning and Conservation League.

We are deeply disappointed to see that despite commitments from legislative leadership, public outcry and the urging of many legislators, including Assembly Members on this Committee, Californians will see no relief from the incredible harms of the endangered species rollbacks and advanced manufacturing exemptions this year, even as projects with extreme damages to workers, families, culturally important resources and endangered species are already moving forward without public transparency or mitigation.

These projects have extreme and fatal histories of explosion, fire, groundwater contamination, hazardous waste, mishandling, gas leaks, air pollution including benzene, lead, arsenic and more.

To be clear, California's will not be protected under SB 131, SB 158 or for that matter, AB 145 from the Senate, we strongly thank the Members of the Committee who raised concerns today and the ongoing work of Assemblymember Connolly and co authors, including those on this Committee, for taking action on legislation and make good on leadership's promises for endangered species protections, safety from hazardous industrial projects and tribal consultation in January.

Still, it's difficult to stomach that these harms will go without relief due to the inability to get cleanup across the line this year. We implore the Legislature to do better for their constituents and hold leadership accountable to their commitments. Thank you so much.

Hi Kelly Longo Flores with the California Association of Food Banks here to express on behalf of 42 food banks who serve 6 million Californians on a monthly basis, our deepest gratitude and special shout out to Dr. Jackson who is not here for your urgent action and SB105 to address the devastating impacts of HR1 on CalFresh and hunger in our great state.

For contacts for every one meal provided by food banks, CalFresh provides nine the Cal Food Investment for food banks will allow us to start meeting the need we're seeing immediately. Also here in strong support for the funds for counties to implement implement the abod provisions in HR1 and funding to address the CalFresh payment error rate.

The time is now to step up and I thank all of you for doing exactly that with these investments.

Kelly Brooks, I'm speaking on three different issues. First, on behalf of the County Welfare Directors Association, we are in support of the funds provided in the budget to assist clients with the federal CalFresh work requirements, the $20 million for Cal Food funding for CalFresh payment, error rate reduction, and the housing and homelessness dispute resolution language.

Second, on behalf of the California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, as well as the urban counties of California, we're in support of the vaccine provisions and the Health Trailer Bill. And finally, on behalf of the Urban Counties, we support the Elections Trailer Bill. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Steve Wallach, on behalf of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the California Tahoe Alliance, we'd like to express our appreciation. And support for the Resources Trailer Bill. Regarding the Golden Muscles language. However, we also look forward to working with you on the issue that was.

Raised by Senate Member Hadwick regarding the reciprocity agreement between California and Nevada to recognize each other's stickers. So we look forward to resolving that issue as soon as possible. Thanks.

Good afternoon. Kathy Viatella with East Bay Municipal Utility District. We are in support of the Public Resources TR, SB 149 and specifically the provisions dealing with Golden Muscle invasion. And we want to thank the Committee and staff and the Administration. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Nicolo DeLuca here on behalf of Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee in support of the provisions in AB158 that helps expedite the HAPP Round 7 funding. And definitely hear your comments, Mr. Chair, and happy to work on behalf of some of the larger cities on accountability. What have you.

Good afternoon. Alex Leumer on behalf of the Karuk Tribe. I just want to give special thanks to Assembly Members Rogers, Connolly, and Hadwick for their support of the early action funding for the Fire Resiliency Center that was referenced earlier.

Also, on behalf of Pacific Forest Trust and the Environmental Protection Information Center, just wanted to echo all the disappointment that's already been voiced by so many Members in this Committee and in line today about the lack of cleanup for SB 131. I think it was said really well earlier by Assembly Member Rogers, this could have been done. It wasn't.

And as a result, over the next few months, before next session starts, we're going to have ecosystems and communities suffering. Tribes are already having their voices silenced while cultural resources are being built on top of. And this is all being done in the name of advanced manufacturing. So we really look forward to supporting cleanup that a number of you are going to be co-authoring next year. So thank you.

Hi. Good afternoon, Chair and the feisty five Members. Thank you for staying. Daniel Schoorl with SEIU Local 1000. Just wanted to... Yeah, I'm bad at math. Sorry. I'm going to defer to LAO for that. I wanted to urge your support on AB 161. We appreciate the side letters and particularly wanted to lift up the leadership of the California Department of Education for their commitment to support the workers we represent at the state special schools. Thank you.

Mr. Chair and Members. I concur with my colleague there from SEIU. Coby Pizzotti from the California Association of Psychiatric Technicians. We're the largest direct level of care providers of inmates, patients, and individuals with developmental disabilities with mental illness. We have just completed our negotiations with the state.

And this is very similar to, this MOU is very similar to what has already been passed for other bargaining units, with a 3% salary increase upon ratification, offset by a 3% salary reduction and a PLP program. The reason for the delay in getting us to this point is, unlike other bargaining units, we don't have a return to work policy or a work from home policy that we could have negotiated.

So we had to find other means in order to come to an agreement with the state and be able to sell this to our members. And that was a reduction in the number of hours or number of days per month that the state could mandate us to work 16 hour shifts in the institutions. So with that, we thank you very much and we urge your support of AB SB 161.

Good afternoon. Silvia Solis Shaw here on behalf of Placer County in coordination with our regional partners at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. We are grateful that the critical issue of golden mussels has been addressed in AB SB 149.

However, we are concerned that the language eliminates the existing reciprocity between California and Nevada over boat inspections on Lake Tahoe and Topaz Lake. We've shared language with the committee and we look forward to working to correct this. And thank you to Assembly Member Hadwick for mentioning this earlier in the hearing. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Julia Hall with the Association of California Water Agencies. We just want to express our gratitude for the Legislature working to implement Proposition 4 this year. We really appreciate the effort. We look forward to working with the Legislature next year to continue to work on further implementations, especially in those areas where we had lower expenditures this year.

We also appreciate the authority for state agencies to use the emergency regulatory process to implement the funding programs. However, I think in future years we'd like to discuss the opportunity to potentially exempt them from the APA process completely. That has been historically how these have been done and we would support that. And then finally, just want to express our gratitude for the golden mussels fix in AB SB 149. Thank you.

Chair and Members. Kathy Mossburg on behalf of just a few clients. First, on behalf of Essential Access Health, want to thank the Legislature and this committee for supporting, establishing and supporting the Abortion Access Fund. And also then on the second item, on behalf of Public Health Institute and First 5 Association of California, I'd like to thank the committee for taking a proactive approach on the immunization language. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Ryan Souza on behalf of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and APLA Health. We just want to thank the Legislature and the Governor for taking a thoughtful and proactive approach to anchoring the preventative language in the USPSTF and still thinking about how future recommendations can occur.

Additionally, on behalf of Roots of Change, a project of the Public Health Institute, we are opposed to the appropriation for the UC Davis research and development of alternative proteins. With the state's limited resources this year, we think that money could be better directed to domestic agriculture producers that advance the state's climate and biodiversity goals. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Angela Hill, California Medical Association. Want to thank the committee staff and the administration for their leadership on protecting access to life saving vaccines. CMA is in strong support of provisions in the health trailer bill 144 that ensure California maintains coverage for vaccines known to be safe and effective, and we're really grateful for the state's leadership on this issue. Thanks.

Thank you, Members. Ryan Spencer. First, on behalf of the American College of OBGYNs District IX and the California Podiatric Medical Association, just like to piggyback on the comments from my colleague from the California Medical Association in support of AB 144 provisions related to immunizations.

And also on behalf of the California Society of Pathologists, I'd like to thank your staff as well as the Assembly and for your work to ensure that any increase of clinical license fees still stays in the hands of the Legislature, not deferred directly to the Department. And so we appreciate all that. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon. I'm Meg Snyder with Axiom Advisors sharing comments on behalf of multiple clients today. On behalf of Invenergy, thankful for the funding for port infrastructure, for the development of offshore wind and Prop 4. So thank you for that.

On behalf of Rewiring America, we look forward to see continued discussions to fund the CEC's Equitable Building Decarbonization Program. And then lastly on behalf of PearlX, again looking forward to continue conversations for funding the CEC's Demand Side Grid Support Program. Thank you so much.

Good afternoon. Rebecca Gonzales with the Western Center on Law and Poverty. I would like to thank the Legislature and particularly Assembly Member Jackson for your partnership in determining our state's response to the crisis created by HR 1 in regards to the devastating cuts to the SNAP program CalFresh in California.

We are grateful for the investments outlined in the trailer bills, but we remain concerned about the 74,000 legally present immigrants in our state who are here on humanitarian grounds who are no longer able to access food benefits. We hope we can continue to look at ways to aid this population, but we're very grateful for the money to the food banks.

In addition, we're also concerned about the upwards of 600,000 people, which now includes those experiencing homelessness, veterans, and former foster youth, and parents and caregivers of children over 14 and adults 55 to 64 who will now be subject to the strict three month time limit on CalFresh benefits unless they can prove compliance with work requirements.

This group, which had been known as able bodied adults without dependent children, now includes many populations that face additional barriers to employment. We also want to pledge our partnership in bringing down the CalFresh payment error rate to avoid 2 billion federal penalties and appreciate the investments there. Lastly, we support the language regarding the housing complaint procedure with due process protections that was developed in conjunction with the Department and advocates. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair and Members. Beth Malinowski with SEIU California. On childcare, 151 will ratify the agreement between the child care providers union, CCPU, and the State of California. The tailer bill in print accurate reflects that final agreement that we are very proud of. On behalf of SEIU and CCPU, request an aye vote.

On public health and health care, we stand with the Coalition of Public Health Voices in supporting vaccine immunization provisions contained within 144. We also second the remarks made by Health Access and other health care advocates on Medicaid provision, gender affirming care, and abortion access. We support labor TBL 156. Appreciate the protections for IHSS providers related to overtime and avoiding disruptions in payroll.

And finally, thinking and reflecting on HR 1, SEIU worked hard as many know against HR 1, engaged many of you and many of you worked hard against it as well. Support the budget funding and process for updating the Legislature quarterly on the multiyear activities and the work we are doing together to hopefully reduce the harm of HR 1. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair and Members. Whitney Francis with the Western Center on Law and Poverty. While we appreciate that the budget does not subject foster youth and former foster youth to Medi-Cal premiums and allows for a grace period for missed premiums, we remain deeply disappointed that the budget continues Medi-Cal exclusions that will result in immigrants losing health care services and look forward to working with administration and Legislature to advance health for all.

We support provisions that ensure access to immunizations, gender affirming care, and abortion services. And finally we support services... Sorry. We support funding for immigration legal services and the Bureau of Descendants of American Slavery. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair and Members. Ross Buckley on behalf of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. We'd like to thank the Legislature and the Governor for including AB 617 program funding. This is critical resources to help some of our most vulnerable communities. While a number of Members worked on this issue, we appreciate Mr. Assembly Member Solache's efforts on this issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mark Fenstermaker here on behalf of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Echo the comments from Mr. Buckley in support of the 617 implementation out of the GGRF. Also want to thank the Assembly and the administration for the funding to the Clean Cars 4 All program through districts.

Our program's been very successful, which is why all of our fundings have been exhausted. Second want to echo or state support on behalf of the Salinas Valley Basin, Petaluma Valley, and Sonoma Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agencies for the prioritization of $3.5 million to small GSAs that struggle financially to implement the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

This funding is really going to help small GSAs across the state. And then lastly, on behalf of Sonoma Water, want to express our support for the Prop 4 funding in the Potter Valley Project. Very complex endeavor to have free flowing on the Eel River and ensure water to Sonoma County. And also express our support for the golden mussel fix in AB 149. Thank you so much.

Good afternoon. Tim Lynch on behalf of the News Media Alliance, an association of 2200 print and digital publications. We're supporting SB 155, the Civic Media Program. This is comes to fruition through a couple of years of really hard work by Assembly Member Wicks. So we want to acknowledge her work here and we appreciate the committee's support. Thank you.

Hello, Chair and Members. My name is Sadalia King with UDW AFSCME Local 3930 and on behalf of Child Care Providers United. AB 151 would not only ratify the tentative agreement with the state, but ultimately move the state toward expanding affordable child care for working families or expanding affordable child care for working families and a step closer to respecting their profession. For IHSS, we thank you for protecting overtime pay from the attacks of the Trump administration in AB 156.

Your leadership on this will make a significant difference to thousands of providers, their recipients, and the availability of home care services. We also appreciate the effort to prioritize streamlining county bargaining. AB SB 156 also streamlines the mediation fact finding process in IHSS collective bargaining to make sure that their contracts are reached within a reasonable timeline. In conclusion, thank you for standing with child care and we urge your aye vote.

Chair and Members. Jael Dantas with Full Moon Strategies. On behalf of Alameda County, we are in support of AB SB 144. We support provisions that that protect immunization with the vaccine language, safeguard gender affirming care, and the Abortion Access Fund. Thank you.

Chloe King with Political Solutions on behalf of the County of San Mateo. Here in support of SB AB 144, the health budget trailer bill, specifically the provisions relating to the immunization safeguard. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Jakob Evans with Sierra Club California. We are very disappointed to not see issues with SB 131 be resolved this year and for SB 158 to be what's on the table. Really appreciate comments from Assembly Members Connolly, Lee, Rogers, Hart, Addis, Ward, Ortega, Schultz, and Alvarez and Patel on how concerning this advanced manufacturing exemption from SB 131 it really is.

SB 158 does not include the cleanup requested by 35 legislators, including many of you all. It should not be acknowledged as a response to those requests. Like was mentioned on the dais, it's a real breakdown in trust in the Legislature and leadership and a very disappointing way to end the year on this. We're very eager to continue the conversation with you all next year. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Kim Stone, Stone Advocacy. Here on behalf of the American Lung Association, who recognizes that this budget does recognize the urgency of support for lower income communities in California. AB and SB 105 do include critical investments in the Community Air Protection Program, air district level Clean Cars 4 All programs, and investment in infrastructure for zero emission medium and heavy duty vehicles. Together, these programs support ongoing reductions in climate pollutants, smog forming emissions, diesel particulate pollution, and other air toxins to try to keep and maintain clean air for Californians. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chairman and Members. My name is Dan Jacobson with Environment California. Two quick points. First on offshore wind, would want to align the comments from Assembly Member Rogers, who hit it right on the head. This is the exact time that we should be investing in offshore wind as the federal government is pulling back. For Environment California and for the Port of Long Beach. And then for Environment California specifically on the 131 comments, it's been mentioned but just want to add our name to the course. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and Members. Victoria Rome with NRDC, Natural Resources Defense Council. And we also want to urge the Legislature to clean up the CEQA provisions of SB 131. Thank you to those of you that are advocating for that as well. And we're also just in support of the Prop 4 spending plan. Thank you.

Chair and Members. Jay Jefferson with the Metropolitan Water District. Just want to thank this committee and your staff for the trailer bill language addressing golden mussels. Since these mussels emerged in California last year, they've spread rapidly throughout California's water bodies and really present major risks to native aquatic wildlife and water system infrastructure. And so this trailer bill language ensures that we can keep delivering reliable, safe drinking water while protecting against the spread of this invasive species. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and Members. Adam Quiñonez, California Advocates, on behalf of Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency, San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, and Mesa Water District. Very appreciative of the Prop 4 spending plan. It's really important to invest in infrastructure this this fiscal year.

We were hopeful to see more money for subsidence and conveyance, but hopeful to see additional funding next year. And then just want to echo the appreciation for the golden mussel trailer bill language. This is going to be a big problem throughout the state, so appreciate your leadership. Thank you.

Brendan Repicky with the California Transit Association here in support of SB 105 for including the $368 million in previously committed SB 125 TIRCP and TIRCP Cycle 6 transit monies. Thank you.

Chair and Members. Brandon Chu on behalf of SEIU California. On transit funding budget bill junior AB SB 105, includes language that requires the Department of Finance and transit agencies to meet through the fall and arrive at a funding solution to meet the needs of Bay Area transit agencies and prevent cuts to staffing or service levels.

We are in support of that provision and are grateful for its inclusion. On CalFresh, we support the budget investments on CalFresh to prepare for the significant and harmful cuts in HR 1. We will not be able to prevent hunger for veterans, foster youth, children, and others as a result of those cuts.

But these investments will help us prevent hunger for many and may help save our state budget from unnecessary related cuts in the future. On CalWORKs, we support the CalWORKs Housing and Homelessness Assistance Program changes. And lastly on immigration, SEIU supports and is grateful for additional investment in immigrant services. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair Gabriel and Members. My name is Danielle Bautista with United Ways of California, also doing a me too with United Way Bay Area. Here to align my comments with my colleague about our appreciation for the proposed dedication of 3.2 million and during this difficult budget year in AB SB 146 to reduce the CalFresh payment error rate. Additionally, we're also grateful for funds dedicated to emergency food banks to support families and households.

We know from United Ways of California's Real Cost Measure report that 1 in 3 households in California, that is over 3.8 million families, don't earn enough income to make ends meet and that food costs occupy a large portion of a family's budget. We thank the Legislature for your action again in AB SB 146 in this session and urge you to continue uplifting policy and budget solutions in to the next year to mitigate the detrimental impacts of HR 1 to protect all Californians' access to food. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Kasha Hunt with Nossaman on behalf of Santa Clara Valley Water District here in support of the golden mussels trailer bill. Thankful for that as it's important to our district. Also grateful for the Proposition 4 allocations. Did want to see some additional funds on subsidence and look forward to seeing additional money. $2 million is just not going to cut it for us. But aside from that, really grateful that we were able to get some Prop 4 allocations. Thank you.

Yesenia Jimenez with End Child Poverty California, also including CRAC and Friends Committee on Legislation in our comment. First we want to thank Assembly Member Jackson, Michael, Nicole, and budget leaders for securing $90 million to address the urgent needs created by the federal administration's HR 1 bill.

This federal administration has continued to do everything to strip food from refugees, including trafficked survivors and asylees just like my mom. The inclusion of 20 million in CalFood to support these newly excluded CalFresh families sends a clear message that California will fight for food for all future.

The money invested for our counties will give workers the tools to fight back as they are forced to implement new federal time limits that impacts family with children, foster youth, veterans, and seniors. The 30 million invested to prevent California from being subject to a $2 billion federal penalty is a start to ensure our entire anti-hunger safety net is not put into jeopardy due to HR 1.

Our immigrant families and children face daily kidnappings and are being disappeared, so any investment made by the state helps keep families together. So thank you for those investments. We celebrate the hard won child care package included in AB 151.

And lastly, while we wish discriminatory Medi-Cal premiums targeting immigrant adults and the new asset limit tests were not in this budget, we know your latest commitments show you don't wish to remain in a health care system that discriminates, and we hope to work with you to ensure health care all for all becomes a reality in California again. Thank you.

We want to make sure everyone is heard. And just as I'm sitting here, I know there's more people in the hall, and if you could try to keep it to one minute.

Yeah. Thank you. Good afternoon. Anallely Martin with the California Immigrant Policy Center. I want to thank the Legislature for further investing state funds to expand deportation defense services and strengthen our rapid response infrastructure in response to the ongoing mass immigration raids and arrests across our state.

We must continue to expand these programs to protect our immigrant communities from mass deportations and ensure they have access to justice, safety, and due process. Additionally, while we support the Legislature's further allocation of 20 million to CalFoods, we urge the Legislature and budget leaders to invest in a greater emergency food relief directly to the 74,000 humanitarian immigrants that no longer have access to SNAP and CalFresh.

This is not enough to meet the anticipated need when the HR 1 goes into effect. Losing access to food benefits for this population not only means increased food insecurity, but severs and undermines public trust, cuts off vital support, and abandons them while under attack by our federal government. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Chloe Hermosillo, also with the California Immigrant Policy Center. Here to urge you to continue to prioritize the health care of immigrant Californians. Medi-Cal premiums still imposed on immigrant adults create unnecessary barriers for families already under attack.

Recent studies show that in Los Angeles immigrant renters' earnings have dropped by over 60% after recent raids, with some reported spending up to 91% of their income on rent, leaving them at risk of eviction. And adding premiums to that only deepens the crisis.

While we acknowledge that the trailer bill language made small fixes, including a re-enrollment window for missing payments and exempting foster youth, families should never have been put in this in the first place. California must continue to its leadership by ensuring immigrant families can access care without punitive premiums or restrictions. Thank you.

And because the floor is waiting for all of us, I think we're going to try to go for 30 seconds if you wouldn't mind. And I know there's people still in the hall.

Okay, perfect. Good afternoon. Emma Jungwirth on the behalf of the California State Association of Counties. We appreciate the Legislature and the administration for several key items, including establishing the goal to disperse HHAP Round 7 funds. And we remain committed to working together on timely distribution of this critically needed homeless funding.

The augmentation of county CalFresh funding that will assist us in managing increased workload, the Prop 4 allocations, the clarifying changes in the elections trailer bill. However, we are opposed to the changes to the IHSS fact finding process timelines that will be counterproductive towards reaching local agreements. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Erin Evans on behalf of the County of Santa Clara. I'm here in support of the language protecting vaccination access in AB and SB 144, as well as supportive of SB 162, which provides sort of addresses a local certification issue involving our own local election as well. Thank you.

Geoff Neill representing the County of Contra Costa Board of Supervisors. Also supporting the vaccine related provisions in AB SB 144 making sure that California has the flexibility to respond to emerging health threats. Thank you.

Mark Farouk with California Hospital Association in strong support of the vaccine language in 144. Just want to make a quick note as well about 105. Really want to thank the committee as well as the staff and the administration for coming together on language related to the hospital value strategy and getting DHCS the resources that they need to carry that out. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Audra Hartmann. I'm be brief on behalf of two clients. California Electric Transportation Coalition. We want to thank you for AB 105 for clean transportation programs, and we'd like to work with you on the GGRF for next year in SB 840. And then the other one is on Contra Costa Water District. We are supporting AB SB 149. It's the golden mussel bill, and thank you very much for including that. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Obed Franco here on behalf of the California Fire Chiefs Association and the Fire Districts Association of California in support of AB 105. The chiefs and the fire districts support the Prop 4 climate bond expenditures in the wildfire and resilience provisions.

In particular, we're pleased to see investments going to the locals to reduce community risk and increase local community preparedness and for regional projects to improve local fire prevention capacity. We look forward to the agency getting this money out the door as quickly as possible. Thank you.

Afternoon. Jerry Desmond on behalf of Recreational Boaters of California. On the golden mussel legislation 149, I want to express our appreciation for the comments and concerns raised by Assembly Member Hadwick and emphasize three points. One is the only fee payers that are identified in the legislation are the recreational boaters.

It doesn't look at other entities that transport the golden mussels in. Secondly, it doesn't address the commercial ships that actually are bringing in in their ballast water these invasive species. And third, the problems that are raised with TRPA and identified by TRPA in terms of boaters going to different states. And we appreciate the opportunity to work going forward to resolve these issues. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Members. Janice O'Malley with AFSCME California. We align our comments with AFSCME affiliate Local 3930 UDW on AB 151 and 156 and really appreciate the Governor and his staff working overtime to find a solution to protect IHSS workers from the federal challenges that we face. Thank you.

Chair and Members. Alex Torres here on behalf of a few clients, Perimeter Solutions and OroraTech, in strong support of AB 105 and the Prop 4 wildfire appropriations. Perimeter Solutions is CAL FIRE's premier partner for aerial firefighting retardant, the only product that is approved by the US Forest Service on the qualified product list.

One of the big opportunities here is to partner with local governments to spray this proactively along high risk areas to mitigate ignition. So that's a huge opportunity, huge investment there. On behalf of OroraTech, it's a German based company with partnerships with countries like Greece and Canada. They shoot constellations of satellites into space to do thermal detection. So really excited on the Prop 4 dollars. Thank you so much.

Good afternoon. Kim Delfino on behalf of Audubon California, California Native Plant Society, and the Power in Nature Coalition. First, let me just start off on a positive note and say we're really appreciative of AB 105 and finally getting the Prop 4 climate bond dollars out.

It'll go to great projects across our state and will be well used and well needed. I am here to echo the many comments expressed by folks here in line, but also by the Members yourselves. Thank you very much. Regarding the failure to conduct cleanup on SB 131, that was a huge disappointment.

That was a promise made and a promise not kept. It is a promise we will hold you to keep going forward. We are disappointed that AB 158 is pretty much kind of a sad reflection of only one tiny part of what was being asked. And I would agree with the concerns about that.

And we want to see habitat cleaned up and we want to see the advanced manufacturing exemption dealt with. Because in the one year while it's going to take to deal with that cleanup, there will be projects moving forward in communities and they will be the ones suffering. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Marie Liu on behalf of CCEJN expressing our extreme disappointment that 131 was not cleaned up in this budget bill. Our chance to clean up, it's going to get harder and harder, as Kim said. We ask actually Members to please come and visit the communities that have industrial facilities directly next to residential areas to bring a picture of actually what is at risk with these. So thank you very much. We look forward to working with you guys and hope for early actions in January. Thank you.

Gabriel Tolson on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife. I reiterate the frustration voiced by other advocates today and sincerely thank the many Assembly Members who expressed their frustration and extreme disappointment with the lack of needed SB 131 cleanup this year.

As a result of the Legislature's inaction, SB 131 leaves communities vulnerable to projects involving chrome plating and metalworking, which can release dangerous levels of lead, hexavalent chromium, benzene gas, and other carcinogens. Uranium enrichment, which poses risks of radiation exposure. Lithium processing and extraction.

Which is known to draw significant quantities of fresh water and release toxic hydrogen chloride gas. Sorry, is that me? I implore the Legislature to prioritize the health of constituents and ecosystems and uphold the commitments it has made to Californians. Thank you.

Abraham Mendoza on behalf of the Community Water Center. So we're grateful to see the Prop 4 funding being appropriated for drinking water projects. These are very timely investments given the federal funding cuts to clean water we've already seen and the new ones that are being proposed by the federal government and Congress. And also aligning with our fellow EJ and environmental advocates on 131 cleanup. We work and operate in areas where this is a real issue and we urge the Legislature to act as soon as it reconvenes. Thank you.

Madam Chair Members. Brendan Twohig on behalf of the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association. Here to express appreciation for the AB 617 community air protection funding contained in AB and SB 105. Also the as well as the Clean Cars 4 All funding. And I'd like to also take this as an opportunity to express our appreciation for the AB 617 Community Air Protection Program continuous appropriation that's in SB 840. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Members. Dennis Cuevas-Romero with the California Primary Care Association in support of SB 144, in particular the provisions related to immunizations. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair and Members. Doug Subers on behalf of the California Professional Firefighters and also registering comments on behalf of CAL FIRE Firefighters Local 2881. We appreciate the committee, staff, and administration for including the following items in these proposals. In AB 105 the Prop 4 spending plan, including specifically Section 73 and 74.

Also the adjustments to the language for CAL FIRE full time staffing. And AB 149, Section 11 also helps facilitate the CAL FIRE full time staffing. In AB 156 and Section 4, we appreciate the adjustments to the displaced firefighter list. And finally in AB 161, the MOU regarding bargaining unit 8. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Members. Andres Ramirez with Blue Shield of California. Just echoing the sentiments of some of my colleagues from the healthcare industry on the vaccination language in SB AB 144. Deeply grateful to the administration, this committee, and staff for all of their hard work. Thank you.

And no other comments? Asking the sergeants. No one else is out there? Well, with that, we will adjourn this informational hearing on the trailer bills. Thank you.