Senate Floor

Secretary will call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Mr. President, colleagues, if we could cease all conversations. Return to our desk. Please rise with the guests beyond the railing. Also please rise. This morning will be led in prayer by our own Senator Richardson. After which, please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Senator Richardson.

Today we have a prayer for peace. Make us an instrument of peace. Where there is hatred, let us so love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, joy.

Grant us that we may not so much seek to be consoled, but to console. To be understood as to understand and to be loved as to love others. For it is in giving that we receive and it is in pardoning that we are pardoned. Amen.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance. First order of business tomorrow, Senator Seyarto is his birthday. I want to wish him a happy birthday. Enjoy your week, sir. Moving into privileges of the floor, we have one introduction. I'm going to turn the floor to our pro tem.

Thank you very much. Madam President. I am proud to introduce Mr. Mat. Thank you. I'm proud to introduce Mr. Matthieu Lemay of the Quebec National Assembly on our Senate floor today. Mr. Lemay has served in the National Assembly since 2014 and has served as Vice Chair of the National Assembly's delegation for relations with the United States.

As a Member of the National Conference of State Legislatures where he sits on several committees related to energy, economic development and international relations. Mr. Lemay plays an active role in strengthening ties between Quebec and the United States states.

Mr. Lemay is visiting Sacramento today in his capacity as Special Envoy to the Quebec Minister of International Relations to the US to discuss California and Quebec's environmental collaboration. Together, Quebec and California have led the way on climate engaging by linking their cap and trade investment markets all the way back from 2014.

Now cap and investor, he is accompanied by Ms. Ann Katherine Briefortin. I tried acting delegate of the Quebec in Los Angeles. Please join me in giving a warm California welcome from the Senate to our special guests from Quebec.

Welcome to the California State Senate. For any Member who wishes to be part of the group photo, please go to the back.

Messages from the Governor will be deemed read. Messages from the Assembly will be deemed read. Reports of Committee will be deemed read and amendments adopted. Moving into motions, resolutions, and notices. Motion to approve Senate journals without objection. The Senate journals for January 12, 2026 through January 16, 2026 will be approved as corrected by the Minute Clerk.

Suspend joint rules without objection. Joint Rule 62A will be suspended to allow bills to be heard in Appropriations Committee on Thursday, January 22, 2026 without sufficient notice in the daily file. Introduction and first reading of bills will be deemed read. Moving into consideration of the daily file, we have three items under Governor's appointments, all by Senator Laird.

Senator Laird, please kick us off with item 52.

Thank you very much, Madam President. Item 52 is the confirmation of Courtney Welch to the California Housing Partnership Corporation Board of Directors. She serves as an Emeryville City Council Member, has also served as the Director of External affairs for the California Housing Defense Fund. She was approved by the Rules Committee on January 14th. I respectfully asked for an aye vote.

Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Please call the absent Members.

[Roll Call]

Ayes, 29, noes, 1. The appointment is confirmed. Senator Laird, file item 53.

Thank you very much, Madam President. File item 53 is the confirmation of Janessa Goldbeck for appointment to the California Veterans Board. She served as a captain in the United States Marine Corps and is currently Executive Director, Chief Executive Officer of the Vet Voice Foundation. She'll be a strong advocate for the 1.6 million veterans in the state.

She was approved by the Rules Committee on January 14th. I respectfully ask for an Aye vote.

With great enthusiasm. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Please call the absent Members.

[Roll Call]

Ayes 28. Noes, 2. The appointment is confirmed. Senator Laird, file item 54.

Thank you, Madam President. File item 54 is the confirmation of Tom Huntington for appointment to the State Parks and Recreation Commission. He's a consultant for Vallejo. That's Vallejo Investments. And before that, he served as a consultant and development Director for the western region of the Environmental Defense Fund. He was approved by the Rules Committee on January 14th. I respectfully asked for an aye vote.

Thank you, Senator. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Please call the absent Members.

[Roll Call]

Ayes 28. Noes 0. The appointment is confirmed. Colleagues, we have one item, item 62 on the consent calendar. Would anyone like to remove this item from the consent calendar? Seeing none. Secretary, please call the roll. Please read file item 62 of the consent calendar.

Senate Bill 607.

Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Please call the absent Members.

[Roll Call]

Ayes 37, Noes 0. The consent calendar is adopted. We're going to move back into motions and resolutions. We have four adjourned memories today. Ask that all conversations all seized from the floor and continue them in the back of the chambers. First up, Senator Cortese.

Thank you, Madam President. Senators, I rise today to adjourn in memory of the legendary Elizabeth Betsy Hammer Carr, who passed away on October 17 at the age of 74 in the San Jose area. Betsy was born and raised in San Jose to activist parents Henry and Joan Hammer.

They were early Members of the civil rights movement in the Bay Area and taught Betsy the invaluable lessons of justice, equity and community. From a young age. These early influences shaped her life greatly as Betsy often explained that she had been politically active before she could even walk.

While in high school, Betsy traveled to Washington D.C. to join the Poor People's Campaign, a movement fighting for economic opportunity and housing access for the underserved. Once returning to California, she became active in the prisoners rights movement where she met the father of her daughter, Gia, James Carr.

In the decades long career in public service and activism that followed, there was rarely a community program or social justice campaign that Betsy wasn't attached to. She worked with unions to uplift workers rights, she tirelessly advocated for universal housing access, and she consistently organized for prison reform.

She helped develop and guide programs and campaigns like the Fair Workplace Collaborative and the COVID Assistance Network during the pandemic and the measure a housing bond. On top of this work, Betsy also loves to campaign for local candidates. There was no election too small for her walking precincts and phone banking was second nature.

She was once quoted saying that get out the vote efforts were her favorite team sport. As we celebrate her life and commend her work, it is clear that Betsy worked every day to protect the underdogs and the downtrodden.

With her trademark joy and tenacity, Betsy attended hundreds of protests, knocked on thousands of doors and inspired countless contemporaries to do the same. I would say she inspired countless others of each generation to do the same. It was a goal of her life to build stronger communities in a more just and kind image.

She pursued that objective with grace every day. As I said, she was involved and then hundreds of people who attended her memorial service in the San Jose area are a testimony to that. She is survived by her daughter Gia, her son in law, David Adams, her brother Dan Hammer, and her granddaughter.

We all miss her greatly, particularly her family Members. May her memory be a blessing and may she rest in peace. She will be dearly missed. Thank you, Madam President.

Senator, please bring the community leader's name forward so that she may be properly memorialized. Senator Wiener.

Thank you very much, Madam President. Colleagues, it's with great sadness that I rise today to ask that the Senate adjourn in memory of Alberto Rangel, who passed away from stab wounds sustained while serving with dedication as a health care worker at San Francisco General Hospital on December 6 at the age of 51.

Alberto was born in Brownsville, Texas and was raised in Iowa. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Iowa, studying art and dance, working two jobs to put himself through school. After college, Alberto moved to San Francisco where he began his path to become a licensed marriage and family therapist.

He earned his Master's degree at Notre Dame Dannemura University in Belmont and accepted his first placement as a clinician at Mission Neighborhood Health Center. He worked at Clinica Esperanza, the center's HIV clinic. Alberto would go on to work for San Francisco's Homeless Outreach team and later he joined UCSF's Trauma Recovery Center.

In 2021, he joined the team at Ward 86, which is the storied clinic Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, which started and has always played a key role in the city's response to HIV aids. He tended to the behavioral health needs of his community with passion and dedication.

Caring for those with behavioral health needs, of course, is no easy task. But Alberto's caring nature and dedication to service made him a pillar for the countless people who struggle with behavioral health challenges. Alberto is known by his work friends and his colleagues. Excuse me, by his work colleagues and by his friends.

As an incredibly kind soul, I personally have met him various times over the years and he was just a really sweet, kind, friendly person. Outside of work, Alberto grounded himself in art, a form of therapy he studied as part of his master's degree. He met his husband and the love of his life, Stuart Mulder.

By chance, one evening at a bar in the Castro. Stuart was visiting from Sydney, Australia, and the two agreed to get coffee the following morning before Stuart's flight home. That chance meeting would change their lives.

The two would go on to marry more than 20 years ago, and they made their home in San Francisco's Corona Heights neighborhood, right above the Castro. Alberto and Stuart had just returned from a month long trip to India and Nepal, when Alberto was fatally stabbed by a patient at Ward 86 at San Francisco General.

It's hard to express just how devastating this loss has been for our community. Truly horrifying for so many folks in the LGBTQ community, folks who healthcare workers who work at San Francisco General. Alberto was a magnificent human being and he cared so deeply for the people he worked with and the people he cared for.

The entire community, family, friends, co workers, patients, and people who never even had the privilege of meeting him were heartbroken to learn of his passing. I also just want to say that in addition to the horrific personal tragedy around Alberto's just brutal death, this is also yet another reminder that healthcare workers face enormous risks.

And our healthcare system does not always do what it needs to do to provide a safe work environment for health care workers who are on the front lines, not just putting themselves at risk in terms of infections or illness, but in terms of their own physical safety, particularly in settings where they're working with folks with behavioral health challenges.

And we need to do more to ensure the safety of these workers so they can focus on on doing their job and helping people get healthy as opposed to being concerned about their safety and their co workers safety. Alberto is survived by his husband Stuart, and by the countless individuals whose lives he touched.

Please join me in adjourning the Senate today in his blessed memory. Thank you, Senator.

Thank you so much for that beautiful story of his life. Please bring his name forward so that he may be properly memorialized. Senator Rubio.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, Today, with a heavy heart, I rise to adjourn in the memory of William Louis Bill McIntyre Jr. Bill was a respected business leader and community servant who dedicated his life to public service through his community work. Everyone in the sink of Ro Valley knew who he was.

He was well respected, but always so generous with his time and his finances and always made sure to support local programs, businesses, especially our students and women's clubs. He earned a Bachelor's of Science in Business from the University of Southern California in 1969 and was deeply connected to the university and its football program throughout his life.

In 1972, he became President and chairman of the McIntyre Company, developing more than 1500 homes in the City of Covina. Bill also founded and chaired Empire bank, served as a San Bernardino County Sheriff, and was a lifetime Member of the California Highway Patrol 1199 Foundation.

Deeply committed to community service, he also served on the board of numerous organizations such as the Inter Community Hospital, the West Covina Chamber of Commerce, and the University of La Verne. In 2010, he was named Covina Citizen of the year. And in 2015, he was inducted into the Covina High School hall of Fame.

Bill's life contributed to the growth and success of those around him and reminds us of the importance of also using our time and talents to help support the growth of others in our community. I want to take a moment to also recognize his children who I had the honor to meet, know and work closely with.

In particular, Andy McIntyre, a good friend who has been a great community partner, once again carrying on the legacy of his father, constantly supporting our local nonprofits, our women's clubs, and making sure that our students around our community have what they need.

I'm also very thankful that the children decided to to stay in our community and carry the torch. Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, please join me in a journey in the memory of William Louisville McIntyre, Jr. Thank you.

Seantor please bring his name forward so that the Senate may properly memorialize him. Senator Smallwood Cuevas.

Thank you, Madam President. Good afternoon, colleagues. Today I rise with a heavy heart. Collective heavy heart for so many.

Senator, I'm so sorry to interrupt you. I think your guests are making their way up if we want to wait for them a little. Senator, you may proceed.

Thank you, Madam President. And thank you, colleagues. I rise today with a collective heavy heart for so many in South Los Angeles as we celebrate the memory of Joy Atkinson, a remarkable public servant, civic leader, and unwavering champion for South Los Angeles. Joy loved Los Angeles.

And I want to tell you, if anyone knew Joy Atkinson, they knew that she was. Was a defender. Defender of women in politics, defender of her community, and defender of what is right. Joy lived a life of purpose, and her impact is reflected in the people and institutions she helped to shape. She's a lifelong Angelino.

And Joy's path to public service was guided by a family legacy rooted in civic engagement. Her parents, Eddy and Antoinette Atkinson, were respected leaders in Los Angeles, actively involved in the NAACP, the Urban League and the ACLU. And they were deeply committed to expanding justice and opportunities.

Her father made history as the first African American to advance to a General election for the Los Angeles City Council in the late 1950s. And this was at a time when Los Angeles still had housing covenants and real legal segregation.

This placed the Atkinsons' family at the forefront of Los Angeles politics and shapes Joy's enduring belief in the power of civic participation and political change. She saw these as tools of the black freedom movement.

After graduating from the University of Southern California, Joy carried that legacy Forward as a deputy probation officer for Los Angeles County and as an active Member of Probation Officers Union, AFSCME Local 685. She advocated for working people. She advocated for the care of youth and rehabilitation, and this also deepened her lifelong commitment to equity.

Later, she served as chief of staff to her friend, former Assembly woman Gwen Moore, a role that she led for 16 years, where she played a central role in legislative strategy, policy research and Committee work.

She later served as a special consultant to former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, supporting legislative leadership and civic engagement statewide when there was a political moment. Joy was there.

She knew how to organize the troops on the ground, she knew how to raise the resources, she knew how to talk to her community, and she knew how to put people in motion.

Joy's service extended well beyond the Capitol, and in 2002 she was appointed by then-Mayor James Hahn as Commissioner on the South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission. She later served under three mayors in leadership roles on the Board of Directors of Neighborhood Commissioners.

Perhaps Joy's most enduring legacy, and it's one that I am so grateful to be a part of in terms of shaping leaders and ensuring that women continue to have a voice in California politics. She helped, as founding Executive Director of the Los Angeles African American Women's Public Policy Institute, usher in a new generation of leaders.

Established in 2002, LAWPI did more than train future leaders. It opened doors to decision-making spaces, it built confidence where barriers had long existed, and it equipped African American women with the networks, the tools, but more importantly, the confidence to lead in public life.

Since its first graduating class in 2004, the institute has prepared nearly 400 women now serving across Southern California in elected office, on boards and commissions, in corporate citizenship tables, and at the helm of nonprofit and civic institutions.

Authentically transforming representation is what Joy was all about, and she made sure this transformation happened in places that shaped and supported our community. That legacy includes leaders like Congresswoman Sidney Komlager, Dove, Deputy Mayor Brenda Shockley and Karen Bass, Office of Economic Opportunity, Englewood Unified School District Vice President Dionne Falk and Culver City Mayor Yasmine Imani McMorin.

Their leadership is is a living reflection of Joy's vision and mentorship. Through Law PI, Joy built a lasting bench, a durable bench of women prepared to lead our city, our state and our nation. To those she mentored, she was not only a teacher, but a trusted guide, advocate and friend. Joy's legacy is one of service.

It's one of mentorship. It's one of commitment to democracy and in her final moments, she was on the phone calling and making sure that we were ready to defend our democracy through Prop 50 and through the upcoming elections come November. She understood the importance of people. She understood the importance of servant leadership.

And she understood the importance of letting values lead. And her absence will be deeply felt by so many. Her passing leaves a profound void in South Los Angeles.

Across many communities she served, she will be remembered not just for what she accomplished, but for how she showed up, how she spoke out, how she lifted what she believed in, and how she made everyone feel seen and valued. Today we are joined by Joy's niece, Corrine Atkinson. Family friend Charisse Rhodes. Pasadena School board leader Patrice Marshall.

They are here in the gallery with us today to honor Joy's legacy. And I want to ask them to stand. As we recognize this lifelong commitment that Joy gave to public service.

It is with my deepest respect and gratitude for so many in our community, for her life, well lived, her life of service, that I ask that the Senate adjourn in her memory today.

To the family and friends who joined us today, the California State Senate sends its deepest condolences for your loss and the loss to all of California. Senator, please bring her name forward so that we may properly memorialize her. If there is no other business men in pro tem. The desk is clear.

Thank you. The next floor session is scheduled for Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 9:00am.

The Senate will be in recess until 3:30pm at which time the adjournment motion will be made. We will reconvene Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 9:00am. Have a great day.