Senate Floor

Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

A quorum is present with the Members and our guests, please, beyond the rail and in the gallery, please rise. We will be led in prayer this morning by Senator Durazo, after which, please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

Thank you, Madam President. Loving God of mercy and justice, as we celebrate the birthday of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We are reminded more than ever of his words to us as he wrote in a letter from Birmingham jail. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.

And whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Mysterious God, we pray for a greater understanding of our interdependence on one another. May we refuse to believe that we are unable to influence the events that which surround us. May we refuse to believe that we are so bound to racism and war that justice and peace are impossible.

And through your goodness at work within each of us, may we reach out with healing hands to those we serve. We ask this in your name. Amen.

Members, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. I pledge. Members, today, please make sure that you wish Senator Choi a happy belated birthday. I believe his birthday was yesterday. Yesterday. And under privileges of the floor, there are none. Messages from the Governor will be deemed read. Messages from the Assembly will be deemed read.

Reports of committees will be deemed read and amendments adopted. Members, we are now at motions, resolutions and notices. Are there any Members that would like to be recognized at this time? Senator Gonzalez, you are recognized. Thank you. Madam President, I request unanimous consent for a letter to be printed in the Journal.

This letter has been approved by leadership and the Secretary. Thank you. Without objection, seeing no further Members that would like to be recognized. Under motions, resolutions and notices, we will now move to introduction and reading of first bills which will be deemed read.

We are now under consideration of the daily file with a second item file reading item one. Secretary, please read.

Senate Bill 381 with amendments will be deemed read.

We are now at Senate Third Reading, file item 59, SCR 107. Secretary, please read.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 107 by Senator Richardson, relative to Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Senator Richardson, you are recognized.

Good morning, Members, and thank you, President. Good morning. I rise today to bring forward this resolution, SCR 107, on behalf of Dr. Martin Luther King. I'm going to hold my comments till the end to give more people an opportunity to speak. But I'd just like to introduce this with a few thoughts.

Dr. Martin Luther King died at the age of 39. There are only two of us in this room or Members who represent in the Senate. There are only two of us who are less than 39 years old. Imagine stepping forward to do the incredible work that he did and not even 39.

So why can't we agree that the principles that many of you are going to talk about today, that we can do in our positions today. Because, in fact, we have, some would believe, more power than what he had because we're a legislative body. We have the ability to pass laws. He had to go to legislators to pass laws. But he did it at a mere age in his 30s. So I urge all of us to hear and listen from the comments.

But I also urge you on behalf of Dr. Bernice King, his daughter. One of the things she often says as we begin to speak and honor him and celebrate this holiday, she often says how hurtful it is to the family to hear people use her father's words and yet still spew hate, inaction, and discrimination.

So I look forward to the comments. This resolution was brought forward on behalf of all of the Members of the California Legislative Black Caucus. And I even believe that all of you would have signed on as well had given the opportunity. So today, let's celebrate, let's learn, and let's take all these thoughts.

So as we go out into our districts, we will share these in the next couple days and motivate people to do as he did, even at the early age of less than 39. Imagine that gentleman, what he did, that caused us to be here today. With that, I yield and will close. Thank you.

Thank you. Senator Archuleta, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise to support SCR 107. It is my pleasure to do so. It is my honor. SCR 107, which commemorates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King's life served as an extraordinary example of how one person can have a huge impact on all our lives.

Dr. King is a symbol of justice. He was an educator of civil and human rights, a role model, and beloved friend to so many. He understood the value of unity and the power of solidarity.

He inspired our Latino civil rights leaders, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, during their struggles for farm workers rights to utilize his model of non-violence. He held an honest conversation and gave powerful speeches about his many topics relevant to our society today, including civil rights and social justice.

Today, as we continue to fight largely the same injustices Dr. King fought for which he paid the ultimate price. African Americans, and Latinos continue to lag in educational attainment, have fewer opportunities for socioeconomic empowerment, and we continue to be targeted for incarceration at a higher rate than than other Americans.

Our communities continue to be demonized and judged on the color of our skin and not the content of our character. We see this in rhetoric from the President and his administration and in the policies they propose, including the treatment of our immigrant communities. But there is hope.

Today as we celebrate and honor Dr. King and his legacy, let us acknowledge the community leaders that we have in this room, the teachers, those individuals who utilize Dr. King's vision, his spirit, and his dream to continue to fight for social equality and justice.

I'm proud to stand in support of this resolution and will do my part to honor Dr. King's legacy by advocating for his most vulnerable and ensuring social and and economic prosperity for all. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. Senator Choi, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President and the Members. Today we are commemorating the life and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, a man whose courage, sacrifice, and moral clarity forever changed the course of American history.

Dr. King reminded this nation that the people should be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Many people recite these famous quotes that have been announced when he was alive. Those words were not just etched into our history books. They are alive in our lived experiences.

I am personally grateful for that truth. In 1998, the voters entrusted me with the honor of serving on the Irvine Unified School District School Board. They did so not because of my ethnicity or the color of my skin, but because of my character and my value and my commitment to serve the community.

On the day of ushering in, I thank the voters for electing me by saying just that. That moment in my life stands as a quiet but a powerful testament to Dr. King's dream becoming reality. As a Korean American, I also stand here with deep gratitude.

We thank Dr. King for the immense sacrifice he made through the civil rights movement he courageously led. His leadership was not without cost. He endured hatred, imprisonment, threats, and ultimately gave his life so that this nation could live closer to the founding promise.

Without his sacrifice and without the equal rights achieved during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, it is difficult to imagine what America would look like today. The doors that were opened then did not benefit only one group. They transformed the future for everyone because Dr. King helped pave the road forward.

Immigrants from every corner of the world, people different colors, cultures, languages, and the faith are able to come to this country and live with freedom, equality, and human dignity.

We are able to participate fully in civic life, just like myself, standing in this room as a Senator, raise our families, educate our children, and contribute to this great nation. Dr. King's dream was not just an African American dream. It was an American dream, and indeed a human dream.

It is a dream that calls each of us to continue his work. Not only in words spoken on the holidays, but in the way we live, lead, and serve one another every day. May we honor Dr. King, not only by remembering him, but by striving to be worthy of the freedoms his sacrifice made the possible he made possible. I urge your aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you. Senator Smallwood-Cuevas, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President, and good morning. I rise on behalf of the Legislative Women's Caucus and as a Member of the California Legislative Black Caucus in support of SCR 107, honoring the the Reverend Martin Luther King. His life, his fight for racial and economic justice that endures.

At a time of renewed division and distrust, Dr. King's vision reminds us that justice was never about exclusion. It was about a rising tide that lifts all people grounded in dignity, in fairness, and in collective responsibility. Dr. King taught us that budgets are a moral document and that public policies reflect our values.

What would he say as we now look at what has happened in our country, as we have seen recently the cuts in health care, in child care, in education, in arts and culture, in our environment, in immigration, to our businesses, to our communities?

He challenged the nation to measure success not by power or punishment, but by whether people are able to live with dignity and security. Through the Poor People's Campaign, Dr. King called for an economic Bill of Rights, insisting that every person is entitled to basic needs, including fair wages and housing and health care and opportunity.

When we view today's choices through that lens, what would we do in honor of Dr. King? How would we stand with him? Would we recognize how the consequences have become so clear? As of the new year, immigration enforcement agencies reported that more than 328,000 arrests nationwide have happened.

And data is showing that an increasing number of those are pregnant women. At the same time, current federal budgets, as we talked about, threaten the lives of so many. Dr. King challenged us to confront systems that concentrate wealth while leaving basic needs unmet.

He challenged us to confront systems that invested and enforcement brutal state violence and ensure that we put the needs of the people first. Today, California's reliance on unstable stock markets driven by revenue has limited our ability to sustain growth, protect families, deliver real affordability and economic security. What would Dr. King do?

Dr. King warned that a society that prioritizes punishment and neglect over care stability risks losing its moral direction. Justice, he believed, must be consistent, compassionate, and rooted in shared responsibility. That work was collective. The civil rights movement and the millions of women who stood behind Dr. King understood this imperative. And that imperative lives today.

Coretta Scott King expanded the movement's vision to include peace. She fought for the rights of the poor and for global human rights, ensuring that Dr. King's legacy remained a living call to action. Women leaders such as Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Dorothy Height, Rosa Parks carried the movement forward through strategy, courage, and relentless organizing.

Their leadership reminds us that justice is sustained not by speeches, but through action, through courage, through risk, and collective care. Honoring Dr. King means that reflection, particularly on today, is necessary.

It means recommitting ourselves to the work he left unfinished by building policies that reflect our shared humanity, protecting families from harm, ensuring that dignity is not reserved for the very few, but guaranteed for all. Dr. King reminded us that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice.

And that gives me so much hope and inspiration on days like this, and it should for you all as well. Only when people choose to bend that arc will it be realized. Today, honoring his legacy means choosing compassion over punishment, care over neglect, and shared responsibility and courage to achieve that dream. For these reasons, I urgently and respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. Senator Blakespear, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. Members, I rise today in support of SCR 107 and to honor the greatness of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and all he stood for, his many accomplishments, and his profound legacy, which is more meaningful and relevant today than it has ever been. To say that today American democracy is under stress is an understatement.

We have a federal government that is, let's be honest, terrorizing cities and communities across this nation. It is sending the National Guard and troops into communities to support ICE operations that involve snatching people off the streets and disappearing them without any due process.

And even innocent bystanders who are simply trying to get out of the way are being abused, beaten, and even, as was the case in Minneapolis, killed. The federal administration's lawlessness and disregard for basic civil and human rights is horrifying. Now, to be sure, American democracy has always been under stress, as we have always struggled to live up to the ideals set forth by our founding fathers.

And it certainly was not easy for Dr. King and his followers to demonstrate peacefully in the face of fire hoses, tear gas, attack dogs, beatings, bombings, unspeakable violence, and hatred of all kinds. The civil rights movement in this nation, like the labor movement, was long, torturous, and full of violence and strife. And it is not over.

Dr. King recognized that fighting violence with violence was a losing strategy. That civil disobedience was the way to highlight injustice and advance social progress in a democracy. Dr. King understood the ultimate goodness of all people that you could change hearts and minds and create meaningful social change with persistence, goodwill, intelligence, caring, and particularly mass action.

We have a federal administration whose approach is confrontation, bullying, and threats of violence and and actual violence. That might makes right. Forget about any moral imperative or ethical standards. As law abiding citizens who believe in democracy and the rule of law, we must turn to the example of Dr. King now.

To social consciousness, to togetherness, to mass peaceful action, to civil rights reform. Personally, I marvel at Dr. King, his character, and his example. He is one of our greatest figures, one of our most admirable, our only modern founding father. It's important that we keep close to us Dr. King's vision for building the beloved community.

The community based on justice, equal opportunity, and love of one's fellow human. He envisioned that world where we collectively rejected bigotry, discrimination, and racial prejudice, all kinds of prejudice. He struggled mightily in his lifetime and he was fought by many on all sides. Those who flatly rejected or opposed his notion of a colorblind society.

Those who thought he wasn't pushing hard and fast enough. Those who thought he was too aggressive. But he stayed the course until his life was tragically cut far too short. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day is the only federal holiday that is officially recognized as a national day of service to volunteer and to give back.

To work to create that beloved community of which he dreamed. Here in California, we pride ourselves on so many things. But perhaps what we should be proudest of is that California strives to live Dr. King's dream. To epitomize his ideals like no other place on Earth. I urge all my colleagues in the California State Senate to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and support SCR 107. Thank you.

Thank you. Senator Pérez, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise today on behalf of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus and the in support of SCR 107. Today, we honor a giant in the fight for civil rights. He sparked a revolution, and his legacy is one of action in the name of justice.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lit a path for millions to follow. We honor him through peaceful protest and continue to work for equal rights, an end to discrimination, and a more just America. Dr. King inspired us to stand tall in the face of hateful rhetoric and challenge those who oppose equality at every turn.

He told us to be brave, even when the goals may not seem achievable. Dr. King called for an end to wars being waged abroad, as well as wars being waged here at home against innocent people. He called for social, racial, and economic justice. These calls included support for a guaranteed income. Dr. King's legacy is still felt today as we invoke his name and try to fulfill his dream of equity and equality for all. I respectfully urge your aye vote on SCR 107.

Thank you, Senator. Senator Weber, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. President. Today I rise as Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus to recognize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day and support SCR 107. Not just as a ceremonial holiday, not as a convenient quote for social media, but as a moment to tell the truth about who Dr. King really was and what he actually fought for.

Dr. King was not just a dreamer. He was a disruptor. He challenged systems of power. He confronted racism head on. He demanded economic justice. He opposed war and militarism. He called out the moral failures of this nation, even when it made people feel uncomfortable. Especially when it made people feel uncomfortable. He marched when it was dangerous.

He organized when it was illegal. He spoke when it cost him allies, safety, and ultimately his life. He put his body on the line so that black people, so that all people could live with dignity, safety, and an opportunity in this country.

His sacrifice made it possible for every person, regardless of where they come from, where they're born, how they look, or what zip code they live in, to have the fundamental human right to live in freedom. And at the end of his life, Dr. King did not speak with blind optimism. He spoke with urgency and realism.

He once confided in a friend right before the end of his life that he feared that he might be, quote, integrating his people into a burning house, end quote. Because he realized that without true structural change, without moral courage, without economic justice, America could betray the very freedom it claimed to offer.

That is the Dr. King that we need to honor today. Not the watered down version, not the convenient version that makes everyone feel comfortable. Not the version reduced to a single line while everything else that he said and did gets ignored.

Because if we are completely honest with ourselves, what we are witnessing right now is not the dream that Dr. King spoke of. It is actually this fear that he spoke of. He did not dream of federal agents hunting down people because of the color of their skin. That's exactly what he fought against.

Dr. King did not dream of families living in fear of government raids in their own neighborhoods. That's exactly what he fought against. Dr. King did not dream of a President saying that the Civil Rights Act legislation that he fought for, that he bled for, and ultimately gave his life for, resulted in white people being treated, and I quote, very badly. That statement is not just wrong, it's dangerous.

It rewrites history and dishonors the sacrifice of those who forced this nation to live up to its Constitution. We cannot honor his legacy while staying silent as civil rights protections are being dismantled in real time. We cannot praise his words while condoning attacks on the very communities that he fought to protect.

We cannot invoke his dream while policies are being passed that are rooted in fear and exclusion. Dr. King's dream was not passive, it was not polite, and it was not safe. It was active. It was disruptive. It was fearless, and it was a demand for transformation. Yes, we celebrate the progress he made because of his sacrifice.

We cannot ignore what he has done for this country because many of us are sitting in this chamber on both sides because of his sacrifice and the sacrifices of countless others. We must recognize that. We must honor that. But we also must tell the truth that the fight is not over.

So today, as we recognize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, let this resolution not just be a symbolic one, Let it be a reminder that justice requires courage, not comfort. And if we are to honor Dr. King, we must challenge those in power not to protect. I'm sorry. To protect them. His dream only lives if we are brave enough to fight for it. Anything less is not remembrance it's erasure. And with that, I respectfully ask for an aye vote on SCR 107. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator. Senator McNerney, you are recognized.