Senate Floor

Secretary will call the roll.

[Roll call].

A quorum is present, members. If we could return to our desk? Members and guests behind the railing, please rise. Before we proceed with today's session, I would like us to observe a moment of silence for the eight lives lost in the tragic avalanche that occurred this week in Lake Tahoe.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones, and those affected by this devastating event. And I hope that the one still missing individual is found soon. Thank you. This morning we'll be led in prayer by our own Senator Grayson; after which please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Senator.

Please join in prayer. Almighty God, whose mercy is everlasting, whose grace is sufficient, and whose love is unconditional, grant us wisdom as we deliberate the issues before us. Open our minds for better understanding, and our hearts for a passion to serve those who look toward us for solutions to their challenges and their difficulties.

Grant the foresight needed to adequately plan for the unexpected and the will to be responsible stewards over what we have been blessed with. Be the lamp to our feet, the light to our path as we navigate our way through the present and into the future. Amen.

Amen. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance... [Pledge of Allegiance]. Without objection, members, we will move into Assembly Third Reading to take up File Item 75, Senator Laird: AB 107 and File Item 76: AB 117. Secretary, please read.

Assembly Bill 117 by the Senate Committee on Budget, an act relating to transportation and making an appropriation therefore to take effect immediately. Bill related to the budget.

We're coming to you, Senator Laird.

Thank you very much, Madam President. AB 107 is a budget bill junior.

Senator, give me one second. We're going to fix something here on the computer. Secretary, please read File Item 75.

Assembly Bill 107 by Assembly Member Gabriel, an act relating to the state budget and making an appropriation therefore to take effect immediately. Budget bill.

That was practice. Real thing now, Senator.

Well, thank you, Madam President. This is still Assembly Bill 107, the budget bill junior, and it amends federal appropriations to reflect updated federal revenue to the budget in the amount of roughly $15 million.

It exempts specific appropriations in this year's budget of Proposition 4 funds with regard to the Administrative Procedures Act, allowing those funds to be more quickly allocated and expended, it makes a variety of technical corrections and changes, such as extending encumbrance dates, changing fiscal agents, correcting the scheduling, and other requirements for various appropriations.

The key fact is, there's no new projects in this budget. Everything in this bill was approved in the budget and there's no new General Fund spending, just accepting extra of federal money. With that, I respectfully request an aye vote.

Senator Niello, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. The comments of my friend from Santa Cruz is accurate insofar as that goes, but the problem here is the lack of transparency, the waiver of the Administrative Procedures Act. I get the point of expediting things, which is nice, but at the expense of transparency makes it not so nice.

The emergency procedures procedure could be invoked to move quickly, too, and yet still provide for appropriate transparency and oversight. So as the bill exists, I would urge a no vote.

Seeing no other mics up, Senator Laird, you may now close.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate my colleague's comments that I was right, at least as far as it goes. On the Administrative Procedures Act, they did go through this process. It was not approved, everything is transparent, every one of these items was in the budget.

There are various agencies, such as the Coastal Conservancy today that is approving money out the door contingent on the passage of this bill. This will get previously identified projects out the door and not stall them. With that, I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

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

[Roll call].

Please call the absent members.

[Roll call].

Ayes: 28.

Ayes: 28: noes: 10. Measure passes. Before we move on, the previous presiding officer forgot to wish a happy birthday to his colleague, Senator Strickland, so we're going to wish him a happy birthday and happy anniversary because they're both on the same day. Senator Laird, File Item 76. You're ready. Secretary, please read.

Assembly Bill 117 by the Assembly Committee on Budget, an act relating to transportation and making an appropriation therefore to take effect immediately. Bill related to the budget.

Senator Laird.

Thank you, Madam President. AB 117 is an early action budget trailer bill related to Bay Area transit assistance. The bill is result of direction that was provided in the Budget Act for the current year for the Department of Finance to negotiate with transit operators to support public transportation in the Bay Area.

This bill is the result of those negotiations. It authorizes the California State Transportation Agency to loan $590 million to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission from existing funds in Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program for projects within the region.

It authorizes the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to use the proceeds of the loan to offer loans to specified transit entities for public transit operating purposes and it includes terms for the repayment of the loan with interest and secures the repayment of the loan with the State Transit Assistance Program revenues received by the specified transit agencies. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

All right. Senator Wiener, kick us off with discussion.

Thank you very much, Madam President. I rise in strong support of AB 117, and I want to thank leadership and the governor and all of our regional stakeholders and the Budget Chair for bringing this forward.

Colleagues, I am not exaggerating when I say that if we do nothing, if nothing happens, if inertia sets in, major Bay Area public transportation systems will collapse. BART will collapse. It could end up going away entirely, and I'm not being dramatic when I say that this is reality.

Muni will reduce service by up to one half, eliminating up to one half of its bus lines of its service. AC Transit will have massive service cuts. Caltrain will effectively collapse. This would be devastating for the Bay Area, devastating for the huge number of people who rely on these systems to get to work, to get to school, to go shopping, to see their family, and devastating for people who are driving in the Bay Area who will now have catastrophic traffic.

We know that even when BART goes down for a couple of hours on a Friday morning, which is a light day, it creates gridlock through various parts of the region for the rest of the day. This is so serious and it is so high-stakes. And we are working, of course, for long-term financial sustainability.

I want to be clear. The State of California does not do nearly enough to support the operations of our public transportation systems in California. When you compare California to Illinois, to Pennsylvania, to Massachusetts, to New York, to other large states, it is embarrassing how little our state government does for public transportation systems.

We provide capital support, which is great, especially during surplus years, but for the year-to-year operations of these systems, the state does not do nearly enough. The Bay Area is going to engage in self-help. Thank you for supporting Senate Bill 63 that I partnered with on the senator-- with the senator from Berkeley last year and that we passed that will allow the Bay Area to engage in self-help going forward.

This loan, which will be repaid, is our bridge to make sure that between now and then, we don't see massive service cuts. This is essential. We tried originally to get General Fund support. That was not going to fly given the deficit, and this is what the Bay Area worked out internally and with the Administration. It is important, and I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Senator Arreguín.

Thank you, Madam President. I also rise in strong support of AB 117, and as the original sponsor of the $2 billion budget ask for transit operating funding statewide, this ultimately ended up being a Bay Area-specific ask, but I want to reiterate my strong support to make sure that our colleagues in Los Angeles get the resources they need to help support operations and expansion of transit in LA, particularly given upcoming events.

The World Cup is coming very soon, as well as the Olympics in 2028, and happy to partner with my colleagues from Los Angeles to help advance that effort, but this is addressing an immediate emergency that the Bay Area is facing.

And to build on what Senator Wiener said, to put the deficits in context, BART is facing a $400 million deficit, and some of you may have seen that there were news reports just last week that as part of their development of their budget for next year, they had to develop a doomsday scenario.

What would happen if the Bay Area did not pass a regional sales tax that Senator Wiener and I were able to-- the senator from San Francisco and I were able to advance last year? They would have to close 15 stations and they would have to cut service after 9:00 p.m. BART is the lifeline of our region's economy.

If the Bay Area's economy fails, the state's economy fails. This is a matter of statewide interest and that's why it's critical that we advance this bill today. Muni would face a 300 million dollar deficit, a 50% cut in service, and ending service by 9:00 p.m. AC Transit faces a $74 million deficit and Caltrain faces a $75 million deficit.

Colleagues, this is an emergency, and if we don't act today, these transit agencies will have to make deep cuts which will disproportionately impact working people, seniors, and people that rely on transit, as well as workers from throughout the Bay Area.

It will help-- it will set us back in terms of our state's efforts to combat climate change and it will negatively impact our state's quality of life. I want to just lift up the efforts that the operators have taken to find efficiencies and make cuts already to address the budget challenges, but they do need this emergency funding to get them through the next 18 months while we're working on a long-term plan for financial sustainability for our transit operators.

I also want to reiterate there are backstops in this bill to make sure that projects that have been awarded funding in TIRCP, that the Administration and MTC will work to ensure that those projects remain funded.

I also just want to lift up there's a $1.5 billion unallocated balance of TIRCP money, and definitely want to reiterate my assurance to make sure that no project in the Bay Area does not get the critical funding it needs to move forward.

I want to thank the administration, I want to thank the operators, and thank the previous Budget Chair, the current Budget Chair for this essential bill, and I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Senator Niello, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. Certainly BART and the public transit systems in the Bay Area are troubled. The question is why. During the pandemic, travel patterns and commute patterns changed substantially, and are they ever going to be what they were pre-pandemic? We don't know.

During the committee meeting the other day, we heard lots of comments about the recovery of ridership. I haven't seen any documented evidence to that effect, so I personally am not sure to what extent the recovery has taken place, if anything.

And it would seem to me that we ought to ask the question of, what are the sustainable commute and travel patterns in the Bay Area as opposed to trying to prop something up relative to a overly optimistic estimate of what those dynamics might be.

An interesting data point on that is something that will occur later on this year and that is the self-help tax that my colleagues from San Francisco made reference to. I haven't seen any polling on that, but if that doesn't pass, that will be a significant statement with regard to the citizens of the Bay Area relative to the questions that I'm raising that we are not raising in the context of this proposal.

Another significant issue I have with it, separate and aside from all of that, even if all of that was answered in the positive is a lack of transparency. Do I-- am I developing a recurring theme here? I don't know.

But there is no requirement as a result of these loans with regard to reportability and that sort of oversight. Now, the Transportation Commission may insist on that, but we are not insisting that they insist on that. I think that is a significant weakness. And the repayment of this is from the ongoing funds that the systems receive.

But I will refer back to that self-help tax measure. If it doesn't pass, in addition to the statement that would be made as I referenced, it would have a serious impact upon those systems' ability to repay this loan. We have some very significant fundamental questions to ask relative to public transit in the Bay Area. If it was all that recovered, maybe this loan wouldn't be needed, but we need to answer those questions, and until we do, I urge a no vote on this.

Senator Durazo.

Thank you, Madam President. I want to start by acknowledging what the senator from San Francisco said about California's need to do more investment in transportation. Over the last six years since I've been on Subcommittee Five, I worked really hard to increase the amount of money that goes to transportation.

And I want to thank also the senator from Berkeley. Thank you for your offer to work with us and be supportive. I support this bill because first and foremost, low-income and transit-dependent riders will see tangible benefits from this assistance. No doubt in my mind.

In LA, we know how important it is to invest in transit riders. Over 100,000 passengers use Union Station in Los Angeles daily and regional travel is expected to double by 2040. We will only meet our climate goals if we invest in the region where one in four Californians live and move.

According to LA's Metro's January 2026 report, the average weekly ridership is 90% of 2019 levels. LA Metro is undergoing the most ambitious transit expansion in the nation. In the last year alone, the agency unveiled the LAX Transit Center connecting the nation's second busiest airport to routes throughout the county.

Several of the projects will be open in time for the city to host the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. All of these projects will continue to bring good jobs that connect transit-dependent populations to jobs, schools, and leisure.

I just want to emphasize by ending-- by saying the importance of how important is it is for statewide investments in this region as we vote for and in support of AB 117. Thank you.

Senator Stern.

Thank you, Madam President. I'll just add on my voice of support from Southern California. I span Ventura and Los Angeles County. I was doing some rough math here, and to the senator from Los Angeles's point, I think the 8 million people or so that this critical bridge is going to serve are all our people.

And so I applaud the senator from San Francisco and I appreciate the senator from Berkeley's sort of holistic focus as well. That's, I guess, what I would say is the transportation solutions for every region are going to be different, so it's important to have these regional solutions that are done statewide.

For us in Southern California, if you look from, say, Santa Barbara County all the way down to, say, San Diego County, you've got about 16 million drivers. We drive about 150 billion, maybe 200 billion miles every year. It is the driving core of the entire world. We consume more petroleum than any other nation on Earth.

Other than the U.S., China, India, and the UK, we're actually well ahead of them. So we eat a lot of gasoline in Southern California and we just-- we're going to try to solve that puzzle, too. That's what I'm excited about this year.

And I think part of the challenge in this legislation is the inherent tension in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. And I guess I would just raise that because the promises that were made last year around what the priorities will be going forward, this sort of gets into that world by touching the Transit Intercity Rail and Capital Improvement Program, TIRCP, and right now, all the money is either for High-Speed Rail or for the CAL FIRE pot.

And so we're going to just have to figure out within that complicated puzzle how to not make this such a zero-sum game and I think meet a lot of regional needs that I think are going to be very exciting, and I actually think the best way to do it is to get private capital invested.

Let's not fight amongst each other but to find ways to leverage outside capital, because right now, sitting on the sidelines throughout that corridor I just discussed is about $40 billion, not of taxpayer money, but of people who actually see value in both the transportation operations, but also the land and all the uptick that we're going to see in property value throughout those regions that get this help.

And so, we actually have ways to, I guess, not fight over a smaller pie, but in fact grow the pie, and I think that's the reform effort that I think we can go through. Around GGRF, even within the High-Speed Rail conversation, I think there's good things to be done there to really go where the need is. So I'm glad we're going where the need is today, and I hope we do that in the future.

Senator Blakespear.

Thank you, colleagues. I rise in strong support of AB 117, but I also want to emphasize that this is a very small effort toward what is a major problem in the State of California. So this is a loan from the TIRCP program that needs to be paid back with interest only for the first two years, but we have many transportation transit agencies that are on the brink, months away from looking at that insolvency that will lead to substantial reductions in transit throughout the state.

And it's really important to recognize that we tasked, we gave $5 billion as part of of SB 125 to transit agencies and formed the Transit Transformation Task Force to say, those who are closest to the problem should be looking at what are the solutions for fiscal solvency, and also for governance reform, and also critically some sort of income stream.

What is it that's going to fund transit into the future? Because we have to ground through some things, which is that farebox recovery is never going to cover transit. So the idea that passengers, if we just have enough of them we're going to be able to cover operations and capital, that is just a complete fallacy.

So recognizing that we have to have public support for a transit system to work, and it's not always going to be just the local sales tax revenues because it's variable across the state and we need transit to work at a certain level across the entire state. And also, locals are sometimes just not-- they have a parochial interest that isn't always focused on having people be able to go outside of their county or outside of their city.

And so the state having--as the good senator from Berkeley said, and aligning my comments also with the good senator from San Francisco--this is an urgent problem and recognizing it as of statewide concern.

So looking at what we're doing in the General Fund budget or what are our revenue streams to support transit, these are questions that we as a body need to be tackling, and our brightest minds from the Governor's Office, to our agencies, CALSTA, to our budget subs, should all be focusing on what is the revenue stream, what are the governance changes we need, and what are some of the success stories we see in other areas of transportation, like for example, at airports they've been very successful at monetizing parking and concessions.

There are also some-- like for example, Caltrain has been very successful at changing when does the train go. If it actually serves people every 15 minutes or every 30 minutes, if someone misses it, they can get the next train, and having transit agencies focused on transit stops and the trains themselves, the transit being a pleasant, safe, reliable way for people to get where they need to go. When it is unreliable, people have a very low tolerance for taking transit.

So that has to be one of the first things we look at when we're thinking about reforms, is making sure that we don't have transit that is unreliable, that doesn't show up on time, that they're canceled, they're down, all of the things that happen on transit.

So these are all questions that we need to be tackling, but it's important that the State of California support transit, support it as a public good, and recognize that this is the first step, it's only a loan, and it's very modest. So I'm hoping that as a body, we will continue our efforts here and do far more. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator. Senator McNerney.

Thank you, presidents, colleagues. You know, all major transit systems, all major cities in the state, in the world have traffic congestion. BART, AC Transit, County Connections, Caltrain--they all help in reducing that traffic and still we see significant snarls. If you ever get stuck on Highway Interstate 80 into San Francisco, you know what I mean.

If you get stuck on 580 through my district, it's a daily exercise, but ridership fell up drastically during Covid. BART had to keep running. If you were going to the airport during Covid, you would be the only person going through security clearances through-- and so they had to keep running.

And yet, now we saw revenues drop off. But now the same thing happened here in Sacramento. Shops closed, Sacramento became a little bit more difficult to get around in, and so, if BART closes, if AC Transit closes, then we're going to see major problems.

Now, personally, I'm going to be taking BART to San Francisco this weekend, and if BART wasn't there, I probably wouldn't go. And who wants to drive into San Francisco? I sure don't. So this Bay Area, it's a significant part of the California economy.

BART is now looking at plans to closing their stations in my district, which would cause additional traffic snarling, and I appreciate many of my colleagues from Southern California standing up and saying, hey, we need to do this. It's a statewide problem.

Let's start here and let's work out how we can make transit available, reliable, affordable, safe for everyone that needs it in the state. And I just want to point out again--it's repeated--this is not a grant. It's a loan. It has to be repaid. And with that, I ask my colleagues not to let AB 117 fail. I ask for your support, and let's keep our transit operating. Thank you.

Senator Smallwood-Cuevas.

Thank you, Madam President, and I align my comments with all of my good colleagues in support of this SB 76. I want to add one point to this, and that is transit funding creates transit jobs.

And as we are trying to look at ways to stand up and support Bay Area transit, certainly in Los Angeles County and in my district, South LA, where 90% of my constituents rely on public transportation in many of the neighborhoods, it is critically important that we figure out a way to prioritize public transit funding.

Before coming to the chamber, I worked for many years at the Black Worker Center, fighting for good jobs for unemployed Black workers and women, and the construction sector is where we found those jobs.

And the largest number of workers, where we took the participation of Black workers from 2% in our Regional Transit Authority construction sector to 25%, was the investment in expanding our rail lines and systems and creating the connectivity to actually help get Angelenos out of their cars, onto the trains, creating jobs, saving the environment, and overall improving our community.

So this isn't just one transit agency. This isn't about one project that we need to get done in LA. This is about an anti-poverty win, win, win strategy that says, let's deal with the environment by getting more cars off the road, let's create an affordable transit system that all of our residents can access, and let's create some good jobs that help to build and maintain our transit, particularly our regional transit system. So I support this initiative.

I hope we continue to have more conversations to see how we uplift and stand up our agencies at the northern part of our state, but also in the southern region of our state, and with that, I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Senator Cabaldon.

Thank you, Madam President. I wanted to pick up where the vice chair of the Senate Budget Committee stopped because he reminded me that we-- the way that we finance roads in California is failing. We actually don't know how we're going to pay for roads in a few years from now.

The gas tax revenues are declining. So we can't-- who can say what will happen? Will we have roads in five years from now? Should we stop investing in them today because the financial model is uncertain? Because too many of our roads have potholes, too many of them are choking on traffic? No.

We all know that it's absolutely essential for us to keep investing in all of our transportation system despite the questions. The only way-- the only sure answer to the questions that have been raised on the floor today about the future of transit in the Bay Area is to not vote for this bill.

Because there will be no question then. Without this bill and the tax measure that the voters of the Bay Area will be considering later this year, we already know there will be no transit system for us to see whether people come back to it. This bill is essential for that to occur.

And as has been noted, there's no worry--even if the sales tax measure doesn't pass--that these funds will be repaid because these are not local funds that the Bay Area can choose or not choose to pay back. If the transit system doesn't-- if the tax measure doesn't pass, the state transit dollars that go to the Bay Area will not go there, and they will repay this loan directly. So there's zero risk to the state, zero risk to the taxpayers.

I represent the half of the Bay Area that isn't in this bill, and I can guarantee you, none of my transit agencies are looking to be in it because it's not a grant, as the senator from Encinitas mentioned. This is a tough, hard-driven bargain by the Department of Finance for the Bay Area, but transit is so critical in the Bay Area that we're set to do it.

The other thing I want to note is that over the last several years, through the budget and through bill after bill after bill, this Legislature has rightly said that we need to emphasize transit-oriented development in California.

And so whether it's in Merced, or in Woodland, in Rohnert Park, as well as in the core urban parts of the Bay Area, community after community is stepping up, and developers and neighborhoods are stepping up and saying, yes, we are committed to, and we're going to build, and we are building transit-oriented development projects. Transit-oriented development is the most sustainable way of achieving our goal of housing production and affordability in California.

But the worst-- the worst scenario for transit-oriented development is transit-oriented development at the densities of transit-oriented development with no transit. That is the cruelest hoax that we could ever play on the people of California is to build the densities of housing we need to support public transit and then not deliver the transit and tell everyone you have to drive in a community that's not designed for driving.

So if we're going to make real our commitment both to the environment and to affordability and to homeownership across the state, we must support the backbone of our transit systems and deliver on the promise of transit that we have made. I urge an aye vote on AB 117.

Senator Becker.

Thank you. Want to say three things. First, I rise as chair of the Bay Area Caucus, and my first-- thank the senator from San Francisco and the senator from Berkeley for their tremendous work and the many months of negotiation with Department of Finance and all the members of the Bay Area Caucus that weighed in with the Department of Finance on this ultimate agreement.

Second, I stand in allyship with my colleagues from Southern California and the need for more funding for transportation broadly. And thirdly, my colleague from Fair Oaks brought up, you know, BART specifically-- as someone who carried the seamless Bay Area bill, which ultimately didn't pass, but we've seen a lot of progress over the last several years and also will be in this measure to have more integration, more schedule coordination, more fair coordination, more-- better signage, better signage--excuse me--which has all been very helpful.

And BART particularly, you know, as someone who's been critical. In 2024, we had a hearing, and they said new fare gates were going to be in 2026. I said, why is it going to take a year and a half? Well, to their credit, they got them done in early 2025 with excellent results. So across the board, whether it's safety, cleanliness, timeliness, overall satisfaction, the scores are way up.

And so I want to commend BART and our agencies who are taking all of the feedback seriously because we know that this loan is just that, this ballot measure is another piece, but ultimately, we need satisfaction in our transit systems for people to embrace them and to keep moving forward. Thank you.

Senator Wahab.

Thank you. So I want to be clear on what we're talking about today. So I rise in support of this emergency loan for Bay Area transit to protect riders, but not to reward failure. And I want to be very clear about this. BART and other agencies have mismanaged their way into a fiscal cliff, and yes, Covid is a small portion of that, but what we have seen year after year after year is bloated overhead, weak accountability, and years of declining service.

In fact, when we're talking about riders, there are other surveys and data that clearly show that riders do not want to take public transit because one, they feel less safe, it is less clean, and it's less reliable, and it's not as fast.

And what we're talking about, when we're talking about this loan, is again, to just keep it afloat and ensure that our public transit systems are intact. But with 27 public agencies in the Bay Area, I have said this year over year, transit consolidation in the Bay Area must happen.

There is no other way to get around it. At the end of the day, they are taxing residents over and over and over again and specifically using it for duplicative services in similar areas. Luckily, we have an audit that is studying both Contra Costa County as well as Alameda County to see what this type of consolidation can look like.

We are competing when we're talking about public transit, not only with public-- the 27 different agencies, but also the private sector when we're talking about Uber, and Waymo, and much more. So at the end of the day when we're also talking about facts and figures, yes, I want to specifically support the riders, I want to support the employees, and overall public transit, but the data seems to be inaccurate as well.

Unique individual riders, you can't even tell what that is. They have a algorithm that talks about exit trips, which is basically twice in a single day, and if you did the math, it's roughly a little under 100,000 unique riders. That is a fraction of each of the senators here and who they represent.

So I say this: in support of this effort, but before we actually end up doing more--and you know, Alameda County residents are already the most heavily taxed in the State of California, at the very top, in fact--we have to ask Bay Area public transit, BART included, to cut costs and control spending, set clear service standards that are actually exceeding public expectation, and fix safety and cleanliness and prove results with transparent performance the public can see.

Again, we have had threats from public transit agencies, BART in particular, to cut off complete lines into the Tri-Valley, not seeking funds for the Irvington BART station, and abandoning projects that they have committed to nearly a decade ago. So I expect more from public transit.

I specifically expect more from Bay Area Rapid Transit, which is BART, because we, as the people in the Bay Area, deserve better and we cannot keep giving out free money. If they can't pay this loan, it's another debt for them. Thank you.

Senator Wiener, you're recognized.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Madam President. I appreciate the comments of my great colleague from Hayward, but I do just want to just point out a few things. Yes, these systems have struggled in recent years because of the pandemic.

They've also struggled because for decades, they've not received the funding that they need to survive and thrive. I do just want to point out a few things. Muni right now has almost a half a million boardings every single day, almost a half a million every single day.

The rider satisfaction surveys that happen every two years, the most recent one from second half of last year, shows the highest rider satisfaction since Muni started doing these surveys. The system is better, it's more reliable, it's cleaner, and in terms of BART, BART has increased its cleaning capacity, there's more staffing in the system, they changed the fare gates, which is dramatically reducing fare evasion, so there's plenty of work to do.

Fully appreciate that and fully agree with my colleague and with others who are critics of the system, but there is good work that's been happening and we have to make sure that this progress continues.

Senator Wahab, we're going to come back to you now.

Thank you. I do appreciate that. Again, I want to be very clear. I am supportive of this loan, but I also believe in accountability and transparency. Muni is very different. The San Francisco metro area is very different. The rest of the Bay Area is very different.

Our riders and the lines and the effort have been consistently being threatened to be cut, even years before Covid. And more specifically, the lines that are-- and the service that are being cut or threatened to be cut is in more lower-income areas.

And when we are talking about attracting more riders, it's not surveys about the current riders that are dependent on public transit, but it's how do we expand and ensure that more people want to become riders? And that is still a failure. Again, the unique riders in my district is minimal. Seventy-six percent of my district drive. Why? Because we need better public transit. So as much as I support this loan, in support of the current riders and employees, I do believe management needs to do better. Thank you.

Thank you, Senators. That was a great live example of a reminder that every senator gets to speak twice if they wish on a bill. Just a reminder. Senator Laird, you're able to close now.

Thank you. This is my second speech, so I am very grateful for that. I want to thank all my colleagues for the extensive comments because they really lay out what's in front of us. And there are many issues related to this that aren't part of part of this bill that are in front of us, and I think it's good that they were highlighted.

But let me just make clear: the agencies in question asked for this. That's why we got here. The money in this bill comes from projects or things that are earmarked in their area. It is a loan that is being paid back by interest, and as one of my colleagues from Los Angeles said, this is a critical bridge for 8 million people. I think we need to do this. The case has been made. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll call].

Please call the absent members.

[Roll call].

Please call the absent members. Oh. Ayes: 28; noes: 9. The measure passes. Moving on to File--

Messages from the Governor will be deemed read. Messages from the Assembly would be deemed read. Reports of Committee will be deemed read and amendments adopted. Moving into motions, resolutions and notices. Will any Senator wish to be recognized under this section? I'm seeing none. Introduction and first reading of bills will be deemed read.

Moving into consideration of the daily file, we have two items under Governor's Appointments File item 55 and 56 by Senator Grove. Senator, you may begin.

Thank you, Madam President. File item number 55 is a confirmation of Sonoma County Supervisor Linda Hopkins for appointment to the California Air Resources Board. She also serves as the chair of the Bay Area Quality Air Management District in northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District boards.

She was approved on the rules at the rules or by the Rules Committee on February 11th. Respectfully ask your aye vote.

Just a quick note here on this appointee. Another appointee. I got to be in Brazil representing this great state and our great country with Linda Hopkins and with Patricia Locke Dawson. And they're both excellent. Both great. Very academic backgrounds and also very practical policy backgrounds. Highly recommend them both. Thank you.

Senator McGuire, you're recognized.

Thank you so much, Madam President. Briefly, I have the honor of sharing Sonoma county with the good Senator from West Sacramento. And I stand in support of Supervisor Hopkins here today. Ms. Hopkins, bottom line, is smart, she is tenacious and is going to be tremendous. She's been serving on the board for almost the past year.

And what I appreciate most about Supervisor Hopkins is she brings a different perspective representing rural voices of the North Bay Area. Grateful for her and would ask for an aye vote.

Senator Grove, you may now close.

Thank you, Madam President. While I appreciate the comments we are on from my colleagues, one of them was correct. We are on the confirmation of for Patricia. Excuse me. First Hawkins. Supervisor Hawkins. So I will have my colleague speak again when we get to the other board Member, but respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Senator Grove moves a call Senator Grove, you have file item 56.

Thank you, Madam President. File item 56 is a confirmation of the City of Riverside Mayor Patricia Locke Dawson for appointment to the California Air Resources Board. She is serving in the governor's position for representative South Bay Air Quality Management District Board.

She was approved by the Rules Committee on February 11th. And a unanimous name. This would be the appropriate time for my colleague from Menlo park to make a comment on this particular appointee. Senator Becker. We'd love to hear those comments again.

Trying to streamline. But let's rise again to strongly urge the confirmation of Patricia Locke Dawson. A tremendous academic background, practical background, deep experience here will be a great Member of the board.

Thank you, Senator. Senator Grove, you may now close Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Senator Grove moves a call. We Senator Cook Bolton has some amazing guests in the gallery. We have the State Champions Winters football team from his district. All 49 of them in the gallery. We'd like to give him a warm welcome to the State Senate. Thank you for joining us. Congratulations on being champions. We will now be Moving into Senate third reading for file item 62, SCR 89.

Americans from participation and from visibility in this country. And it's offensive and vile. And I ask for an aye vote.

Senator Perez, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise in support of SCR 89. And you know, I want to emphasize what I think many of my colleagues have said already, which is it's unfortunate that we're even having to have these conversations about protecting diversity, equity and inclusion programs here on this floor.

DEI is not a bad word, it is not a bad phrase. But you would think that it was the way that it has been demonized and targeted by this administration.

As the chair for Senate Education here in the state Senate, we have heard from hundreds of colleges, universities, K12 schools who have had their own diversity and equity inclusion programs targeted by the federal administration grants be eliminated and have received threatening letters from the administration because they are trying to do what is right and what is best for students.

We know, based off of copious amounts of research that diversity, equity and inclusion programs lead to better outcome for black students, for Latino students, for API students, for Native American students. And it is part of the reason why these programs have become so central to our education systems.

And so it's been utterly horrifying to watch this frankly Anti Education Administration wield its power over our systems and take away critical funding for from programs that are a lifeline to some of our most diverse students and to some of our low income neighborhoods.

Now, one of the things that I think is frankly just utterly absurd is what we've seen as we've been hearing from education stakeholders across the state is that the federal administration has essentially been approaching this issue by hitting control f to find the term diversity, equity and inclusion within documents and using those findings to then delete entire programs to get rid of funding.

And so in that process, they've not just eliminated DEI programs, they've also eliminated other programs that happen to mention the words diversity, equity or inclusion separately that have nothing to do with DEI. It is frankly, governance for dummies. I can't even believe that you have folks approaching- approaching governance in this way.

And you know, as- as I think the folks that I work with that come from academia, it's been utterly infuriating to watch this administration drive a narrative that is not based in data, that is not based in any sort of fact, and that ultimately is going to hurt students.

Now what many of you probably have probably heard is that that decision now the Trump Administration has dropped their lawsuit going after DEI, going after DEI funding. And so we're not seeing those types of same attacks on- on our schools anymore. And that has been stopped. But the harm has already been done.

You have hundreds of thousands of programs all across the country that have been defunded, staff that have been laid off as a result of this administration effort. In less than a year, they have managed to dismantle some of our most important programs that we have for some of our most at risk students.

And so I appreciate SCR 89 being brought forward today by the good Senator from Los Angeles. But I do want to articulate. Our work once this administration is done is not going to end. We are going to need to go through the process of rebuilding what the Trump Administration has burnt down.

It is disgusting, it is unacceptable and our students are going to lose out because of it. And the Trump Administration needs to be held accountable. I urge an aye vote

Senators, we have to remind ourselves, when referring to the person in the White House, you have to use their title. Senator Rubio.

Thank you, Madam President. Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, I also stand in strong support and I thank the good Senator from Los Angeles for bringing this forward. I mean, we just have to look around this floor to see what we all bring to the table and why diversity is so important.

Not only are we so proud of the changes that have happened on this floor in terms of equity and parity, but I think that it makes us stronger as a community, as a nation. And so again, this is something that needed to be brought to the forefront and it's happening across our

communities where our young individuals are scared that they're not going to have a chance and an opportunity to move forward just because of the color of their skin and who they are. You know, diversity, equity and inclusion are not just merely buzz words. And I think that's who our President, he's afraid of these words.

And I still, you know, I'm baffled and don't understand why it is so important for him to just clear the color from all highest offices in his cabinet. I think that we need to understand that diversity acknowledges and values the full range of experiences and we all have something to contribute, no matter who we are.

Equity ensures that everybody has fair access to opportunities and resources. The opportunity is so essential for- for our youth. Inclusion means creating environments where every person can succeed, but regardless of backgrounds, where they feel welcomed, respected and empowered to contribute.

In cities and nations that embrace DEI, they are stronger, they're better decision makers, they're innovators, and they create more and are stronger for it. Moreover, inclusion is a moral imperative that we have to keep fighting for and it's extremely sad to me that we are fighting for something that should have been done with years back.

When we think of the civil rights movement, when we think of all the marches, we think of all those who have bled, who have fought, who have struggled to ensure that there's equity. Here we are in this era still fighting for the very same principles of, you know, those that fought in decades past.

A diverse and equitable society is one where every child again, regardless of their circumstance, feels they can thrive and that they can in turn contribute in the future. In a rapidly changing world, DEI is not a luxury, in today's society it is a necessity.

And cities and nations that intentionally foster diversity, ensure equity, and welcome inclusion will be more adaptable, more competitive, and more just. Let us reaffirm our commitment to this very simple principle that our diversity is our strength. And so I thank the good Senator for bringing it forward. And I also ask for an aye vote. Thank you.

Senator Cabaldon.

Thank you, Madam President. I served as the chair, along with the Mayor of Atlanta, Kesha Lance Bottoms, of the National Mayor's Task Force to Dismantle Systemic Racism. And I want to say only one thing about this, which is that we still have DEI in this country. It's been transformed into dumb, evil and incompetent.

SCR 89 is our moment to reclaim DEI for all of the reasons that our colleagues have mentioned. And I urge an aye vote

Senator Richardson.

Thank you, Madam President. I hadn't actually planned on speaking on this measure, but listening to all the discussion, it's always important to speak, speak our truths. And when I went to high school, I went to a high school where I was an athlete.

And so because I was a minority and I was an athlete, I wasn't even offered API courses. And so that really impacts your ability to go on to college, your ability of your success in college, of where you can go. And sometimes it's just because of neighborhoods where you grow up in.

We only had so many slots for API classes, and so they figured minority jocks, you know, aren't smart enough to be able to participate in those classes. And then when I went to UC Santa Barbara, speaking truths here and played basketball, I first went in as a EOP student, EOP Equal Opportunity Program.

And so I want to speak that because sometimes people have connotations to think about that because a person maybe participated in a minority program, that they're not good enough, that they're not smart enough. And that's very far from the truth.

And as my presence of being here today, I think, speaks to the fact that just because a person is a woman, just because a person is a minority, just because a person comes from a district where they may not have access to some things that other people have, does not mean that they can't bring significant value to the table.

And that's what DEI is about. It's about giving people who maybe there are perceptions about particular groups. It's giving that second chance to be able to consider those individuals, to be at the table, not to do anything for them, not to give them anything once. It's just being able to have the door open.

And finally, what I want to say about DEI that I think is so important is that for people, when I went in and transferred to UCLA and because I was a part of the EOP program, I had to take this English class, and half of the students in this English class who had been in API classes had already taken it and had book reports on, for example, 'Taming of the Shrew'.

Well, in my high school, I never read 'Taming of the Shrew'. That's Shakespeare. And I wasn't in those classes. So half of the people already had read the book, had their, you know, essays and everything written, and they were a step ahead of me just because they happened to have been in a different environment. So that's why it's important.

And in closing, when I worked for Xerox, one of the VPs who were a part of the Black Employees association said, we'll open the door, but it's your job to get in and walk through through. And that's what DEI is about.

It's making sure that the door is open, that everybody has a chance to walk in and to be valued and have a fair shot. And then from there, it's up to them to earn it and to stay there.

I want to applaud the great Senator from Los Angeles for her efforts today, and I urge an aye vote on SCR 89.

Senator Smallwood-Cuevas, you may now close.

I want to thank all of my brilliant colleagues for their comments and education on the floor today around this issue of DEI California. We are strong because we are DEI. And with that, I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Secretary, please call the roll.

[roll call]

Senator Smallwood-Cuevas moves a call. We're moving to file item 73 by Senator Cabaldon from the Majority Leader's desk. Secretary, please read.

Senate Resolution 78 by Senator Cabaldon relative to Japanese American concentration camps.

After adoption of the resolution by the Senator, we're going to move into privileges of the floor for the Senator to introduce his guests. Senator.

Madam President, thank you. SCR 78 acknowledges and memorializes and reminds us of the significance and the meaning and the lessons of the internment of Japanese Americans.

It's 84 years ago, on this day, that President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, ordering the rounding up and the internment of Japanese Americans throughout the west in camps like in California, here at Tule Lake, and in Manzanar, based on a perceived military threat that American citizens, legal American immigrants, were somehow based on their blood and their ancestry, a threat to the United States during World War II.

Now, a year before this, polling across the United States and here in California showed that Americans were soundly opposed to rounding up Japanese Americans. They were sadly opposed to discrimination against Japanese Americans and how quickly America could change.

Between 1941 and 1942, as the equivalent then of today's bloggers and influencers and talk shows and podcasts whipped up the country, often with fake stats and information about the threats that were posed. DoD and the DOJ participated in this and later had to apologize for fabricating information about activities of Japanese Americans.

But it is an important reminder that the values that we hold dearest in this country, we hold because, as the Senator from San Diego often reminds us, because we continue to clutch and to fight and to defend those rights.

And that even the best of us, whether it's Californians and Americans or President Roosevelt, who, in so many ways, is a hero, that even the best of us are capable of the worst acts and that we have to be constantly vigilant for ourselves.

So, the Japanese Americans rounded up, sent to camps, stripped of everything, back with no notice, their properties stolen from them, their goods, their businesses. Finally, when they were released and returned to California, the horror didn't end. So, often, they were prevented from going back to their home communities.

In a community like Winters, whose football team we honored earlier today in my district, where the Assembly Majority Leader was the former Mayor, when they returned, they found out that on Victory Over Japan Day, the entire Japanese sector of Winters had been burned down.

But they came back and found their friends and neighbors, their Little League coaches, their altar boys had stolen everything, had taken everything from them in so many cases. And so, the horror was revisited on them once again. Now, after that, in the decades that followed, we—as we reflected on this as a country, we determined this was wrong.

This was thoroughly un- American. President Ford said as much, said it was motivated by racial bias, by lack of political leadership and integrity. President Reagan signed the legislation providing for reparations and for a national apology to the Japanese American community. This Legislature enacted the California Civil Liberties Education Public Education Fund as well.

And over and over again—I was here from all of those things—over and over again, we all said, never again, never again would we subject Americans. Like how backwards could they have been in 1942, to round up Americans, legal immigrants and citizens, and put them in camps. That would never happen today.

We will never allow that to happen. Well, all of those statements that we have all made for decades since, this is where we now repay them. And so, today's resolution is an important memorial for what happened, but a reminder that it happened because people didn't stand up enough. Now, I said the story.

There were some Californians that, when they came home, they had fought hard for their neighbors to make sure that their laundry, their restaurant, their farm was protected. So, in that moment of the worst parts of our country, we also saw the best.

And it is a reminder that that, too, is in each of us and in all of us and I urge an aye vote on SR 78. Thank you, Madam President.

Senator Rubio, you're recognized first.

Thank you, Madam President and colleagues. I stand in strong support of this resolution, and I happen to know people personally impacted by what happened in that era, and I felt compelled to speak because I heard the stories personally.

And it's really important that we recognize what's happening today as it pertains to how easily we could lose our footing in this country. So, as today, as we mark Japanese American Internment Remembrance Day, not simply just to recall that moment, but to reflect on what's happening here today.

We need to confront the moral failures of that era and make sure that we don't repeat them again. In 1942, more than 120 people of Japanese ancestry, and I'd like to note that 2/3 of them were American citizens, were stripped of their dignity, their liberty. They were not charged with crimes. They were not charged with anything.

They were not given trials. But also, they were not given their basic constitutional right to due process, which we see a lot in today's society. They were removed from their homes, their businesses, and separated from their families and thrown behind barbed wire, which is something that, again, is so reflective of what's happening today.

What is more—most—painful for me is not just seeing what was done to them, but how easily it was accepted, how easily people looked away, many rationalizing it as necessary, many rationalizing it as temporary, not understanding how many generations the trauma would carry.

Injustice does not survive just on its cruelty, but it survives because people stay silent. They say nothing. I have a staff member, as I shared, whom I deeply respect and value, who shared with me how that era did not end when those concentration camps closed. The trauma did not disappear with an apology decades later.

It carried forward into parenting, into identity, into family dynamics, and into quiet fear that pushes some of those individuals into silence today. Three generations later, the pain still echoes. That is what happens when a government strips its own citizens of dignity. The damage does not stop at the fence line. It becomes generational.

When we accept that some people are less deserving of due process than others, when we grow numb to citizens being detained, assaulted, or even killed without accountability, we begin to walk down that very familiar, dangerous path of repeating everything again.

Once a society decides that the rights are conditional, that liberty can be selective, it weakens our very fabric of the foundation of this country. Japanese Americans deserve better, but people stood silent—a failure to insist that constitutional protections apply to all, regardless of what you look like, especially in moments of fear.

More importantly, our humanity must never be conditional. So, Senators, I urge us to not only remember, but let's reflect on this moment. I urge an aye vote. Thank you.

Senator Caballero.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise today on behalf of the Legislative Latino Caucus in strong, heartfelt support of SB 78. The forced relocation and incarceration of more than 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II remains one of the most painful chapters in our country's history.

By Executive Order, as you heard, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered families to leave their schools, their homes, their farms, their jobs, everything they knew, to live in rough, primitive concentration camps surrounded by armed soldiers and barbed wire.

The actions were driven by fear, war, anger, prejudice, and violated the constitutional and the basic rights of thousands of families, many who lost their homes, their businesses, and livelihoods they had worked so hard in this country to achieve.

What makes this injustice even more troubling is it took nearly 46 years, almost half a century, for the Federal Government to formally acknowledge and apologize for the harm caused by this Executive Order.

With the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1998, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, our nation took a critical step towards accountability by offering a formal apology and providing reparations to surviving Japanese Americans who were wrongfully incarcerated.

I had the honor to become acquainted with a number of the Japanese Americans who lived during these very difficult times, who suffered the indignities and the painful experiences. I'm happy to say that for every sad story, there are stories of resilience and hope for a better world.

In rural regions, non Japanese friends stepped up and protected the assets, the land, the houses, the farms, the businesses, and the money left behind by the detainees. These assets were then returned to the owners when the detentions ended.

And for those of you that like fresh fruit and vegetables, if you know the Tanamera and Antle brand, the Tanamuras were part of the detention families, and their relationship in the agricultural sector with neighboring farms allowed them to come back and to continue what they had left behind, not in the same spirit and the same—with a lot of pain, put it that way, with a lot of pain.

But they were able to recoup what they lost and they were able to continue to farm and to do good things in the community. They're incredible philanthropists in the community. As this resolution reminds us, especially in light of recent national events, we must remain vigilant.

We must learn from the mistakes of our past and ensure that fear and hysteria never override our commitment to civil liberties and equal protection under the law. Members, please join me in support of this important resolution as we honor those who endured injustice and reaffirm our shared responsibility to protect the rights and freedoms of all communities.

Senator Durazo, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise today to honor the Day of Remembrance. And as I understand, the good Senator will be introducing some of the survivors with us today. We are humbled by their presence.

84 years ago, in a neighborhood that I represent, on the streets of Little Tokyo, families lined up carrying only what they could in their arms, waiting to be loaded onto buses that would take them to incarceration camps. They were given days, sometimes hours, to abandon everything they had built, and still, they endured.

Many volunteered to serve the very country that had imprisoned them. That is not irony. That is grace under the most profound injustice. I am proud to represent Little Tokyo, a community that has carried this history with remarkable dignity and that refuses to let this nation forget. To our survivors, your testimony is a gift and a warning.

A gift because you chose to speak up when silence would have been easier; a warning because this history did not emerge from nowhere. It was born of fear, of scapegoating, of the failure to protect our most vulnerable promise of this democracy. We must never stop learning from you.

And yet, just a few months ago, on the same day that hundreds of us were gathered inside the Japanese American Museum to denounce the immigration raids taking place in our communities, dozens of ICE agents were outside arresting and detaining a Latino fruit vendor with no warrant. We must never stop learning from you.

We must never let it happen again. And in some ways, it is happening again, which is why it's all the more important to talk about it. I urge your support for SR 78.

Senator Perez.

Thank you, Madam President. I want to begin with thanking the good Senator from West Sacramento for bringing forward SR 78. I can't think of a more timely conversation to have, especially given today's date.

Now, I wanted to add in addition to that, you know, I spent some time at the Japanese American National Museum on this President's Day this Monday. And this was for purposes of introducing a piece of legislation intended to protect the legal observers that are in our communities documenting what ICE is doing.

And part of the reason why we were so intentional with organizers about pictures picking this key location is the Democracy Center, located at the Japanese American National Museum, is located right along the walkway where individuals were lining up to get on these buses that ultimately took them to concentration camps.

It is a moment in history that is so incredibly important for us to not forget in this time period. 125,000 Japanese Americans across this country were sent to 10 concentration camps that were built by the United States government. And today, we are watching, yet again, the same thing happen.

We hear reports on the news that the Trump Administration is working on building out warehouses in order to essentially create concentration camps to hold our immigrant communities.

We've heard real time stories from folks about people that are being held in detention centers not being given clean water, not being given clean food, being forced into labor, being taken advantage of. We've heard of sexual assault, sexual violence taking place in these locations.

And so much of this is so similar to the stories that we heard when Japanese Americans were being interned in these same detention camps. And so, it's so important for us to remember what occurred at Manzanar, what occurred right here in California, what occurred in Los Angeles. These things were not that—they did not occur that long ago.

And it is a dark history that what we must remember but it is one that we must reflect on in this moment because we are seeing it happen yet again.

So, I appreciate the good Senator from West Sacramento for bringing this forward so that we can have this discussion and have this reflection about this moment in history.

What does the state mean as we sit here and we reflect yet again on what we are doing, not just to our undocumented communities, but to American citizens and the way that we are targeting and demonizing people?

So, today, I urge an aye vote on SR 78 and encourage all of us to deeply reflect on what this state means to us and what this state means to this country.

Senator Umberg.

Thank you, colleagues. The internment of Americans during World War II is a black mark on our history. And the premise of interning those Americans was somehow that they weren't loyal Americans. And their example put the lie to that premise very early on. During the course of World War II, there were tens of thousands of young Japanese Americans who were interned.

And military recruiters went to the internment camps, and they recruited thousands and thousands of Japanese American young men to serve in our armed forces. There's some very famous units. My very favorite unit in the Military is the 442nd Gopher Broke Regiment and 100th Infantry Battalion.

Their exploits during World War II were equaled by no other unit in our military. One of the most famous events of World War II was the rescue of the Lost Battalion. In late World War II, there was a battalion of Texas infantry. 275 men were surrounded by Germans.

And the Unit Commander of the 442nd ordered the 442nd, after 10 days in constant combat, to rescue the Lost Battalion. And indeed, they did. They rescued those 275 individuals. They rescued—211 of them survived. However, the 442nd suffered over 800 casualties rescuing the Texas Battalion.

Now, the Governor of Texas made that battalion, made that regiment honorary Texans, as they should, the 442nd—there were 26 Medals of Honor recipients. There were over 9,400 Purple Heart recipients. There could be no greater example of someone's love for their country than they lie down their life for their country. And one quick little anecdote.

I was fortunate to spend time with a number of members of the 442nd early in my legislative career. And one individual told me about being interned. His family. He was the oldest of five. They owned a grocery store in Oakland. They were interned. They lost everything. They lost everything.

He was in the internment camp, and he joined the 442nd. And he fought and he came back. And when he returned, they returned to nothing. And I asked him, I said, weren't you bitter? I mean, this was your country you fought for, you watched your friends die for, and you came back and saw that everything was gone.

And he said, no, it was my country and I love my country. So, I urge an aye vote.

Senator Smallwood-Cuevas.

Thank you, Madam President. I wanted to thank the Senator from West Sacramento for bringing this important resolution. And I want to say how important it is for us to know our history, because those who don't know our history, we're damned to repeat it. And here we are in another dark moment.

And it's these kinds of conversations that help us to understand our history and why we should never go back to these kinds of immoral and inhumane tactics that we see happening right now to so many of our Californians.

I stand in support of this resolution because I went to a day of remembrance event in my district last year put on by the Southern California Library, and it brought together the second generation Japanese families with black families who, after the war in the 1950s, there was a tremendous effort for folks returning from internment joining with black residents to fight against housing discrimination, particularly in the Crenshaw Corridor.

And they're told the stories of how these communities came together, both the black and Japanese communities, to fight injustice out of their own pain and struggle of oppression and disservice by this nation, to make the nation hold up to its promise to provide fair and equal housing to the residents of Los Angeles.

And so, along the Crenshaw Corridor, you will see very beautiful Japanese inspired architecture from the many families who returned and settled along Crenshaw Boulevard and opened businesses because Crenshaw was one of the few places where, where people of color could own businesses in the 1950s and 60s. And so, it was a very vibrant multiracial effort and community.

I thank you for bringing this important resolution. I thank the Japanese community for their courage and resolve and resistance and power. and I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Senator Allen.

Members, in this moment where we've seen dramatic cutbacks for museums and libraries and also censorship in the National Park Service, I wanted to just build on some of the comments made by my friend from Altadena, Pasadena area to commend two really special California institutions that help to tell this really important story.

That's the Japanese American National Museum and the Center for Democracy, which are across the street from each other. They also highlight the extreme extraordinary story of the 42nd that was mentioned by our friend from Orange County.

There's also a very special place, Manzanar National Historic Site in the Owens Valley, which was of course, one of the most, one of the largest facilities where they brought people of Japanese descent. That museum, I've had the opportunity to visit several times over the years, and it speaks to the power of the National Park Service's storytelling.

It went from a dusty tumbleweed ruin, which I visited when it was first acquired, to more recently, a really special museum about the story of internment and all of the issues that it raises about human rights, civil rights, American democratic values. It's a special place that I think deserves all of our attention and support.

We need to make sure that that story continues to be told accurately, and I just want to thank the hard-working people who help to interpret these places that help to tell America's story. They are working in the shadows. Oftentimes, they are getting cut and even vilified at times for telling accurate stories about American history.

And I want to uplift their hard work in interpreting our past and providing a place for Americans to come and learn about our past. So, I want to just tip my hat to the hard work of the folks who work at the Center for Preservation Democracy, the Japanese American National Museum, and Manzanar National Historic Site.

And I urge an aye vote on SR 78.

Thank you, Senator. Senator Alvarado-Gil. Senator Alvarado.

Thank you, Ms. President. I want to show gratitude and rise in support of Senate Resolution 78. Gratitude to my colleagues from Yolo and Baldwin Park, Pasadena, Merced, Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and Santa Monica who so graciously brought the memories of history forward.

I also stand in solemn remembrance of the men and women and children who were confined to the Manzanar War Relocation Center in Inyo County, in my district.

Sitting in the backdrop of Sierra Nevadas and the Owens Valley, there was more than 10,000 Japanese Americans who were uprooted from their homes during World War II and were brought to this remote valley under a government order. As conservatives, we believe deeply in the Constitution of the United States.

And we believe in limited government, individual liberty, and equal protection under the law. We also understand that Executive orders, particularly during wartime, are not always have the intent or the impact that they were intended to do. And I think this is precisely the convictions, as conservatives, we must speak honestly about this chapter of our history.

We do remember the...elders who had already faced discrimination long before the war. We remember the Nisei youth who pledged allegiance to the country who had imprisoned them and many who went on to serve the distinction of the US Military.

We remember the families who stood in long lines for meals and children who tried to make sense of the new reality. And yet, even in detention, behind barbed wires and under watchtowers, we saw the resilience. Families built schools. Parents taught their children faith, discipline, and love for the country and their culture. The children's spirit endured, and even when America was in turmoil.

Remembering Manzanar is not about diminishing our nation, it's about strengthening it, because patriotism does not require silence about our mistakes. It requires the courage to learn from them. And if we cherish freedom, we must guard it carefully, especially in moments of fear and certainly, in times of war.

Me—the Manzanar National Historic Site stands as a reminder that security and liberty must walk together, that constitutional limits matter most when they are hardest to keep, and that every American, regardless of heritage, is entitled to full protection under the law. I encourage an aye vote on this this resolution. Thank you

Senator Dr. Weber Pierson.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise on behalf of the California Legislative Black Caucus in support of SCR 78 to acknowledge the grave injustice that forced incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese American during World War II.

Under the Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, families, most of them American citizens, were removed from their homes without charge or due process, solely because of their ancestry. Fear and prejudice replaced constitutional rights. African Americans understand this history deeply. Our communities have also endured laws rooted in racial profiling, collective punishment, and discrimination.

This is why we stand in solidarity. In 1988, Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 to formally apologize and provide reparations. That act affirmed a simple truth, what happened was wrong. Let us remember this history not just with words, but with diligence ensuring that no community is ever again targeted because of race, faith, or national origin.

And I respectfully ask for an aye vote on SR 78.

Senator Cabaldon, you may now close.

I ask for an aye vote.

Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Ayes, 36. Noes, zero. The resolution is adopted. Senator Cabalson, you may now introduce your guest.

Thank you, Madam President. We are deeply honored today to welcome to the rear of the chambers a group of survivors, family members, and activists who continue to tell the story of the internment. In some ways, they're time travelers coming forward to tell us the story again, but not really.

They have all been building communities, fighting for reparations and for their rights, and serving in all the ways that we've heard about today.

And the great—with the grace and the dignity and the courage that have been spoken about by so many colleagues. We stand in the congressional district of one of the survivors of the of the internment camps, Congressman—Congresswoman—Doris Matsui.

But I would please ask the members to join us in welcoming and honoring survivors, family members, and members of the JACL from the Japanese American Internment. Welcome to the chambers.

It is a great honor to have you here in the California State Senate. Thank you so much for joining us today. Senators, we're going to be taking one photo and one photo only, so we invite everybody to join in the group photo right now, please. One photo.

It.

We will be lifting the call on three items. Secretary, please open the roll call on file item 55.

Dahle, Jones, Limon. Aye.

Sorry, Senator Limon. Not you, Senator

Limon. Ochoa, Bogh. Aye. Reyes. Stern. Aye. Valladars. Wahab. Aye.

Please call the absent Members.

Dahle, Jones, Limon, Reyes, Valladeres.

Ayes, 31. Nos for the appointment is confirmed. Please open the roll on file item 56.

Arreguin. Aye. Cortese, Grove, Limon, Padilla, Reyes, Stern. Aye. Valladares.

Please call the absent Members.

Cortese. Aye. Grove, Limon. Padilla. Aye. Reyes, Valladares.

Ayes 36. Nos 0. The appointment is confirmed. Please open the roll call and file item 62.

Alvarado, Gill. No. Choi, Dahle. No. Grayson, Grove, Jones, Limon, McNerney. Aye. Reyes. Valladares.

Please call the absent members. Please.

Choi, Grayson. Aye. Grove, Jones, Limon, Reyes, Valladares.

Ayes. 28. No 6. The resolution is adopted. Moving into special consent calendar number 21, we have item 78 through 83. Secretary, please read all of them.

Assembly concur resolution 1121-161181-20121. And Assembly Concurrent Resolution 122.

Secretary, please call the roll on the first item and apply the roll call to all the items.

Aye. Alvarado, gill, Aye. Archuletta, Aye. Arreguin, Aye. Ashby, Aye. Becker, Aye. Blakespear, Aye. Cabaldon, Aye. Caballero, Aye. Cervantes, Aye. Choi, Cortese. Dahle, Aye. Durazo, Aye. Gonzalez, Aye. Grayson, Grove, Hurtado, Aye. Jones, Laird, Aye. Limon, Mcguire, Aye. Mcnerney, Aye. Menjivar, Aye. Niello. Ichoab. Padilla, Aye. Perez, Reyes. Aye. Richardson. Aye.

So let's do it up here.

Rubio. Aye. Seyarto. Aye Smallwood, Cuevas. Aye. Stern, Aye. Strickland, Umberg. Aye. Valladares, Wahab. Aye. Weber, Pearson. Aye. Wiener. Aye.

Please call the absent members.

Choi, Cortese. Aye. Grayson. Aye. Grove, Jones, Limon. Ochoa Bogh, Reyes, Strickland, Valladares.

Aye 33, nos zero. The consent calendar is adopted. Returning to motions and resolutions. Senators, I need to have you take all your conversations to the back. We're going into adjourning memories. We have two adjourned memories today. Senators, if you could return to your desk and seize all conversations from the floor. Senator Caballero, you may begin.

Thank you, Madam President. Colleagues, today I rise to adjourn in the memory of my dear friend, Susan Gail McCall Carrasco, who passed peacefully at her home in Fresno on September 25th, 2025. Surrounded by her loved ones, she lived a full life until the very end.

In true fashion, friends say, she did not want to sit around and cry, but rather gave each person their marching orders and made her expectations of them crystal clear. Susan McCall Carrasco's greatest pride was always her family.

She is survived by her sister, Tracy James, her sons, Jason Brent McCall and Mario Tomas Carrasco, and their spouses and her eight grandchildren. She loved them fiercely, and family was the center of every choice she made.

She built a remarkable career in staffing and recruitment, leading a prestigious firm in Washington, D.C. for more than 20 years, and she mentored countless young professionals, helping them grow into confident leaders. After returning to Fresno to care for her father and sister, she continued to guide everyone around her by sharing her life experience, wisdom and values.

Her commitment to justice and fairness came from her father, Edward James, a World War II pilot, lifelong Democrat and proud member of the IBEW and the AFL CIO. From him she learned to value civil rights to the to stand up for others and to fight for fairness.

Those lessons guided her through a lifetime of advocacy, from politics to community service. Susan McCall Carrasco's Love and Courage were most visible in her relationship with her sister Tracy, who has down syndrome, and she never let anyone limit Tracy's opportunities. When Tracy's right to vote was challenged, she fought tirelessly to restore that right.

She she believed in Tracy, defended her and ensured she could live with dignity and independence. This was Ms. McCall Carrasco's approach to life protect the vulnerable, uplift others and fight for justice wherever it is needed. She was a fearless advocate.

She co founded the first California Latina Democratic Club with her sister Tracy, giving women an opportunity to lead, to run for office, and to make their voices heard. She also served with the San Joaquin Valley Democratic Club, the Fresno County Democratic Central Committee, and countless campaigns.

She fought for veterans health care, represented families seeking justice in court, and challenged local leaders and corporations to ensure fairness and accountability. At her core, she believed in the power of ordinary people organizing to demand change. She was the kind of friend who answered the phone, showed up, and always had your back.

Susan Gail McCall Carrasco lived a life of love, service and courage. She showed us how to care for each other, to fight for justice. Please join me today to honor her memory, carry forward her values, and continue the work that she dedicated her life to.

I respectfully ask the Senate to adjourn in her memory to Susan's loved ones

here in the gallery. Please accept our Senate's deepest condolences in your loss, Senator Please bring her name forward so that she may forever be memorialized. Senator Gonzalez.

Thank you, Madam President and Members. I rise today to adjourn in the loving memory of Emiliano James Uranga. Emiliano was a beautiful soul who blessed the lives of his parents, former Long Beach Councilwoman Tonya Reyes Uranga, and our current Vice Mayor, Roberto Uranga. If you knew Emiliano, he was kind, soft spoken, but super deep.

He attended St. Anthony Elementary School. He graduated from St. John Bosco, where he played football and track, and earned a BA In Labor Studies with Dominguez Hills.

Emiliano dedicated his life to public service, participating in campaigns locally and nationally since he was a child, joining a Democratic mentorship program in Washington, D.C. and serving as a campaign supervisor in Arizona and in New Mexico. Emiliano was a devoted father of very small children, Macy and Mateo, who he loved deeply.

A passionate fan of USC and The San Francisco 49ers, Emiliano's love of music ran very deep as well, especially loving Los Loney Boys, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Johnny Cash. He enjoyed playing the guitar and sharing music with all of those around him. He was known as a heavyweight trivia player and an excellent dancer.

Emiliano brought so much joy, laughter and energy wherever he went. He now joins the universe along with his baby brother, Roberto Tomas Tito Uranga, who preceded him in death in 2022. The Senate is so very deeply sad and provides condolences to my dear friends Roberto, Tonya, Rosalinda, Macy and Mateo.

I respectfully ask that we adjourn in his memory.

Thank you, Senator. Please bring his name forward so that his legacy of joy will forever be memorialized. If there's no other business, Madam Pro Tem, the desk is clear. Thank you, members.

The next session will be on Monday, February 23rd at 2pm The Senate is

in recess until 3:30pm at which time the adjournment motion will be made. As a reminder, tomorrow is the last day to introduce bills and the desk will open until. And will be open until 5pm tomorrow. We will reconvene Monday, February 23, 2026 at 2 pm.