Assembly Floor

The assembly is now in session. Seems like there's a quorum out there. Can't be sure. I'm looking. I can't really notice if there is an absence of a quorum.

Maybe there's somebody here who can notice if there's an absence of a quorum. Assembly member Wallace? Assembly member Wallace? Leader Flora recognizes and notices the absence of a quorum. The sergeant officer will prepare the chamber, bringing the absent members. Clerk will call the roll.

Addis, Edgar Curry, Aarons, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Avila Farias, Baines, Bauer Kehan, Bennett, Berman, Burner, Fanta, Brian, Colozah, Carrillo, Castillo, Chen, Connolly, Davies, DeMayo, Dixon, El Hori, Ellis, Flora, Fong, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gibson, Jeff Gonzales, Mark Gonzales, Adwick, Haney, Harabedian, heart, hoover, Patel, Patterson, Petrie Norris, Quirk Silva, Ramos, ransom, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Rubio, Sanchez, Shievo, Schultz, Sharp Collins, Solace, Soria, Stephanie, Ta, Tangipa, Valencia, Wallace, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zvere. Mister speaker.

Clerk will close the roll and tally vote. Ayes 54, Noes 20. That measure passes. And Ayes 54, Noes 20 on the urgency. Okay. We are back in file order. File item 157 AB 2037. The clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2037 by Assembly Member Patterson, an act relating to older adults.

Mister Patterson, you are recognized on the matter.

Great. Thank you, Madam Speaker. AB 2037 creates a pilot program to help seniors and individuals with disabilities mitigate their properties for a wildfire. Respectfully ask for an Aye vote.

Thank you, Mr. Patterson. Seeing and hearing no further debate on the matter, the clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. 159.

All Members who desire it, the clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes 52, Noes 0. The measure passes. Moving to file item we'll pass and retain a file item 158. Moving to file item 159, AB 2101.

The clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2101 by Assembly Member Gipson, an act relating to human trafficking.

Mr. Gipson, you are recognized. Thank you for being ready at your desk.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I rise to present Assembly Bill 2101, which strengthens protection for disaster response workers to protect them from human trafficking. In the aftermath in the aftermath of natural disasters, recovery efforts are often driven by utilities crews, debris removal teams, construction workers, and electricians, and day workers. Despite the essential role they play, they often face widespread issues of wage theft.

Assembly Bill 2101 addresses the need by requiring posting of know your rights materials for human traffic hotline information at designated disaster sites if able to for businesses for hiring employees of disaster response workers. This bill is essential. I respectfully ask for an aye vote on Assembly Bill 2101.

Thank you, Mr. Gipson. Seeing and hearing no further debate on the matter, the Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll and tally vote. Ayes 55. Noes zero. The measure passes. We are gonna move back in file order to file item 65.

AB 1915. The clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1915 by Assembly Member Gabriel and others, an act relating to restaurants.

Mister Gabriel, you are recognized on the matter.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I rise today to present AB 1915, which a measure that will support California's neighborhood restaurants by cutting red tape and modernizing outdated regulations. Neighborhood restaurants are the backbone of communities across California and employ one of the most diverse workforces in the state, but too many are continuing to struggle.

This bill will modernize California's food facility to code to reflect the realities of how small businesses operate, will cut a lot of red tape, and make it less expensive to open and operate a neighborhood restaurant. This bill is supported by a coalition that includes the Los Angeles County Business Federation, the California Association of Environmental Health Administrators, the California Restaurant Association, local restaurants and business councils.

It has no registered opposition. Thank you, and I would respectfully request an Aye vote.

Thank you, Mr. Gabriel. Seeing and hearing no further debate on the matter, the clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote? All Members vote who desire to vote? All Members vote who desire to vote?

The Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Ayes 57, noes zero. That measure passes. Now we will move on to file item 66, AB 1924. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1924 by Assembly Member Gabriel and others, an act relating to housing.

Mr. Gabriel, you are recognized on the matter.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I'm proud to present AB 1924, which would ensure that homelessness prevention is a central pillar of our homelessness response. Data shows that for each individual we house, nearly three new individuals become at risk of homelessness for the first time. To meaningfully address our state's homelessness crisis, we must prioritize preventing homelessness before it occurs.

This bill would create a comprehensive straight ride strategy for homelessness prevention that would include coordinated action plans, identification of model best practices, and accountability measures to track progress.

This legislation is supported by a broad coalition of service providers and organizations working to end homelessness, has received bipartisan support, and has no registered opposition. Respectfully request your aye vote on AB 1924.

Thank you, Mr. Gabriel. Seeing and hearing no further... Oh, Ms. Quirk-Silva, you are recognized. I apologize.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and good evening, Members. I rise in strong support of AB 1924. Members, this bill is a good bill and is actually getting my second housing award for the year, the Quirk-Silva Housing Awards. And why? Because over the years, the decade since I've been here, we have invested in homelessness and we have made progress.

And yet, we still see that there is work to do. One area that we have not focused on has been prevention. And this is a math equation, friends. If we were to invest in keeping people in their apartments, just say $500 a month times 12 is actually $6,000. Versus what we understand to house people in homeless shelters, which is about 60,000 a year.

So sometimes we have to go backwards to go forward, which means let's do the work to keep people from falling into homelessness in the first place, which is not only very difficult once they get an eviction on their record, but it's also extremely difficult to find those units that we are so desperately looking for. With that, our second housing award of the year, please support AB 1924.

Thank you, Ms. Quirk-Silva. Mr. Gabriel, would you like to close on this award winning bill?

I, you actually stole my line. Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I wanna thank our incredible colleague from Orange County for her thoughtful leadership on this issue, and respectfully request your aye vote on this award winning bill.

Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll and tally the vote. Aye 60, noes zero. This measure passes. We will move to file item 87, AB 2244. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2244 by Assembly Member Gabriel and others, an act relating to food.

Mr. Gabriel, you are recognized on the matter.

Thank you, Madam Speaker and colleagues. I rise today to present AB 2244 on my favorite topic. As I have discussed with many of you in recent years, doctors and scientists have increasingly warned us about the negative health consequences of ultra processed foods, which have been linked to serious health harms, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, metabolic disorders, reproductive harm, and neurobehavioral issues in children. Unfortunately, consumers continue to face real challenges in identifying healthier food products.

Ingredient lists are often long, technical, and incomplete, leaving families without clear accessible tools to distinguish between minimally processed and highly processed foods.

This bill would establish a not ultra processed certified seal that food manufacturers could place on products that meet clear science based standards for not being ultra processed. Modeled after the successful and widely recognized USDA organic label, this seal would provide consumers with simple, trustworthy way to identify healthier options with a quick glance. I wanna acknowledge the productive conversations we've had with opposition and with stakeholders, and I'm proud to report that the California Grocers Association has officially moved from opposition to support.

I'm proud that this bill is supported by a broad coalition that includes the California Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, and nurses, and many more. And grateful for the bipartisan coauthorship.

With that, would respectfully request your Aye vote on AB 2244.

Thank you, Mr. Gabriel. Mr. Bryan, you are recognized on this matter?

Yes, ma'am. I'll speak a question for the author and it's closed. Does this bill make it even harder for us to get hot Cheetos, Skittles, Taki, Starburst, or any of the other delicious foods that so many Californians love?

Seeing and hearing no further debate on the matter, would you like to close and address the question about Mr. Bryan, Skittles?

Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. I would invite my dear friend from Culver City, LA, depending on the day, to come up and join me and my Skittles pillow. We can talk about it.

This will be a great way for your constituents to find all the healthier products that they're seeking. And with that, with respectfully ask for your Aye vote.

Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Members vote who desire to vote? Clerk will close the roll and tally vote. Aye.

16, no zero. The measure passes. We will move on to file item one zero three, AB 2354. Clerk will read.

Assembly bill 2354 by Assembly member Gabriel, an act relating to pupil instruction and making an appropriation thereof.

Mister Gabriel, you are recognized on the matter.

Thank you very much, madam speaker. I'm applied to present AB 2354, which expands the California Serves grant program for students in grades six through 12, helping schools build stronger and more sustained civic engagement opportunities. This bill has no opposition as received unanimous bipartisan support. Respectfully request an aye vote.

Thank you, mister Gabriel. Seeing and hearing no further debate, no questions, no awards, the clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

The clerk will close the roll and tally vote. Aye, 65, no zero. That measure passes. Moving to file item one twenty six, twenty six twenty six. The clerk will read.

Assembly bill 2626 by Assembly member Gabriel, an act relating to housing.

Mister Gabriel, you are recognized on the matter

Thank you very much, madam speaker. Proud to present AB 2626, which would provide targeted flexibility to protect the low income Californians from losing their homes. Our affordable housing developments already operate on razor thin margins, and many are at risk of foreclosure because of skyrocketing insurance costs and other financial pressures. This bill would authorize HCD to waive annual monitoring fees when necessary to maintain the fiscal integrity and long term viability of a development. This is a targeted tool.

Waivers are only permitted when HCD developments that determines that a development truly needs relief, helping to stave stabilize vulnerable properties, prevent court foreclosure, and safeguard long term affordability. This bill has a long list of bipartisan support and no registered opposition. Respectfully request an aye vote on 2626.

Seeing and hearing no further debate on the matter, the clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. The clerk will close the roll and tally the vote.

Ayes 49, noes one, that measure passes. We will now move to file item one forty five, AB 1729. The clerk will read.

Assembly bill 1729 by Assembly member Lee and others, an act relating to state employment and declaring the urgency there for to take effect immediately.

Mister Lee, you are recognized on the matter.

Thank you, madam speaker. I rise to resend AB 1729 to update the telework policy for state agencies. This policy has not been amended or updated in over thirty years and does not reflect the technological opportunities of workplace realities in 2026. According to the state auditor report last year, if state workers telework three or more days weekly, the state could reduce office space by roughly 30% and save upwards of $2,225,000,000 annually.

Telework and hybrid schedules are the norm in many start departments and return to office requires planning.

According to the state according to the Sacramento bees reporting, more than 70 state offices could not state offices could not accommodate state workers ahead of Newsom's RTO order for July 2025. The RTO order did not acknowledge realities about office space, office leases, office equipment, or parking. The RTO order did not acknowledge employees that have been hired as remote workers over the last six years and may not be able to reallocate. Approximately three fourths of local governments offer hybrid schedules.

Looking at Indeed website, the following companies offer remote jobs like Amazon, Cisco, CVS, Humana, Salesforce, and Wells Fargo.

Remote and hybrid workplace are becoming a standard for a wide range of jobs. And this is a bill that also benefits greatly the constituents of the members from Folsom and Rockland. And I would really highly encourage you all to vote for this because we are asking our city departments to do so much, and this is a great way to improve the quality of life and cost of living for our hardworking state employees. Respectfully ask your aye vote.

Thank you, mister Lee. Mister Hoover, you are recognized on the matter.

Thank you, madam speaker. I rise as a coauthor and in strong support of AB 1729, on this bipartisan measure. This, bill has a lot of benefits across the board. In my district specifically, obviously helps our state employees out a lot. And what we did a few years ago is we actually passed an audit out of this very building that really dove into the productivity and the effectiveness of remote work in state government.

And it actually found that if we embrace remote work where it makes sense, we can actually save taxpayers $225,000,000 per year by reducing our state footprint when it comes to office buildings, energy, maintenance costs. It also helps commuters in my region by keeping our highways clear. It obviously has environmental benefits as well. But I think there is so many reasons why this can be a good thing. This is not the goal of this is not to neglect our downtowns.

In fact, we want to invest in our downtown and revitalize and reimagine our downtown core, but the but it is really critical that we allow these employees where it makes sense to continue working remotely. This gives state agencies the flexibility to do that with strongly urge an aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you, mister Hoover. Miss Rubio, you are recognized on this matter?

Thank you, madam speaker. I rise in opposition of this bill. I appreciate all of the benefits that were just articulated. However, as a female, I can tell you that I feel that our young women are going to suffer. We already suffer from not getting paid enough, and I spoke to the author about a schedule, etcetera.

But when I was younger, the way that I learned was, quote, water cooler conversations, watching my colleagues. And there was always somebody that could b s their way through some promotions. And the value of me being present was that I could demonstrate that I was working as harder and harder than the people that were able to talk themselves into these promotions. And by people, I mean the men. We already are at a disadvantage.

And I, again, I believe that this will disadvantage women, young women especially, that are trying to advance in their careers. Again, I appreciate all the benefits that were articulated, but I think as a female and we all talk about the the difference between the pay between, men and women, the promotional opportunities between men and women. And, I believe that two resumes being equal, the man will get the job if the female is not working in the office or everybody else is not working in the office.

Again, I appreciate the conversation about remote work. The other issue that I have is when we are hired, you are hired to do a job.

You were not hired to, do remote work. And I know there's some flexibility already in some of the departments. But when I took this job, for example, I knew that part of the job was to fly, was to have twelve, fourteen hour days. And I did that consciously even though I have two children that I care for for a while. I was a single mom.

And so, again, appreciating the the benefits, I think that it's gonna hurt young women when they're trying to advance in their career. And for that reason, I respectfully ask for a no vote.

Thank you, miss Rubio. Oh, mister Tangipa, you are recognized on this matter.

Thank you, madam speaker. And I I rise in support of this bill. I wanna thank the author for actually thinking about this in a modern fashion, which I believe that we're in a reformation and how work is actually being done. And I hear some of the comments, that a colleague from Baldwin Park shares, but I also wanted to share one of my family members, my sister's personal story. She actually is a teleworker for the state of California.

This has provided her an opportunity while her husband works for this, sewer district. She can work from home, but also take care of my nieces and nephews. And because she's been able to maximize her productivity value, she was just promoted as a supervisor. And I think that telework has actually provided an opportunity for a lot of those that actually haven't had the ability to work, especially when they're trying to make make it out of a system that sometimes seems detrimental.

So I believe that this is a necessary modernization tool. I think we need to find ways that we can make sure that we're promoting and protecting some of our downtown corridors that have built their economies off of that. But I just wanted to thank the author and respectfully ask for your aye vote on this.

Thank you, mister Tangipa. Miss Macedo, you are recognized.

Thank you, madam speaker. I have to rest respectfully disagree with my colleague from Clovis. You hear stories that people are more productive from home, but then you also hear stories like I have heard of state workers talk about how they only work a couple hours a day, but then they do house chores, or they get distracted by their kids. And we've seen them on the Zooms before. Now I think there are exceptions to this rule, but I think that it's overly broad.

I agree with my colleague, that we need that inner office, camaraderie and interaction. I think that's actually how you build healthier businesses and workmanship, so I will be opposing the bill today. Thank you.

Thank you, miss Macedo. Miss Krell, you are recognized on the matter.

Thank you, madam speaker. Good evenings. I'll I'll keep this brief. I have the honor here in Assembly District 6 of representing thousands of thousands of state workers. I've heard from many of them about their support for this bill.

I'm supporting it too. I think that employees, can slack off at the office just like they can slack off at home, and they can work hard and be productive at home just like they can do so at the office. It depends on the individual. This is an important bill. It adds flexibility.

It allows workers to maintain current levels of productivity, and it gives our state a chance to continue to evaluate. So I'm supporting this bill, and I appreciate all the constituents who have, reached out to me and my team on it. Thank you.

Thank you, miss Krell. Mister DeMaio, you are recognized on the matter.

Thank you, madam speaker. I am rising in opposition to AB 1729. I'm not against telework. It can be very, useful. It can be, a good tool for improving performance and and and allowing for, work life balance.

However, the approach in this bill, I believe, is overly restrictive. It ties the hands of agencies and management unduly. It requires that the agency and management basically grant permission for telework. And if they don't want to allow telework, then they have to go through a very cumbersome bureaucratic process of justifying for each individual employee and position classification why they need to come in to work. I'd rather reverse that approach.

And I think that my bigger concern is that the Organized Labor Unions are putting pressure on this body to interfere with labor management relations unduly. So I am not going to be able to support this even though I absolutely support the concept of work life balance and telework. I just think that this is an overly restrictive bill.

Thank you, mister DeMaio. Miss Quirk Silva, you are recognized on the matter.

Thank you, madam speaker. This bill actually not the legislation, but the issue came up through our budget sub five hearing last year. As last year, the Governor proclaimed a return to work that was supposed to go into effect last July. We had hundreds of state workers come through and voice, their opinion. And one of the things that we ask through our budget committee is are we prepared particularly here in the Sacramento area for thousands of work workers to return to work?

And the truth is we aren't. When we look at our state buildings, even as simple as would the employee return to work with the stated desk was not identified. Then we even asked more to the HR department that came to our committee, which was what about goals that have been a California goal like climate when we're bringing people in, that don't necessarily need to drive in. And we had, some responses that were very poor. Meaning things like, well, this would help the local Sacramento economy.

But if you know many of the state workers, they are not taking, hour lunches to leave the building. They bring their lunches with them. So this economic activity, was overstated. But the biggest issue is had they vetted where these workers were returning to. The other issue is that California state workers aren't only in Sacramento.

They're really across the state. Some are fish fish and wildlife. And are we really asking people to come back, for an urgency that maybe we all feel is necessary, and yet the data shows that we've had very productive workers. So I do support this bill for many reasons, but one of those include my four adult, children who are now between the ages of 30 to 37. And this is exactly what they are looking for.

My daughter actually works as a fund developer for Stanford Children's Hospital. She works remote in Fullerton and comes goes up to Palo Alto about once every six week, and she has a two year old. So people can be very effective in the office or out of the office. But certainly, this bill allows for workers to be in the office as well.

And I think that flexible plan of of a few days in the office and a few days remote is something that, the younger generation, I'm certainly not in that generation, really are asking for. And with that, I hope you will support AB 1729.

Thank you, Assemblymember Quirk Silva. Assemblymember Ortega, you are recognized.

I thank you, mister speaker. I also rise in support of AB 1729. As labor and employment chair, one of the first hearings I held was related to, workers with disability. And for the first time, I heard from many of our state workers with disabilities who felt like they belonged in the workforce, who felt like they were seen with the ability to work from home. And that is a part of this conversation that hasn't been discussed.

We need to continue to provide accessibility for everyone, and that includes the ability to serve our state for workers with disability. Thank you. And that's why I'm supporting AB 1729.

Thank you, Assemblymember Ortega. Seeing and hearing no further debate, Assemblymember Lee, do you wish to close?

Yes. Thank you, mister speaker. And I really appreciate the bipartisan robust debate we had. I understand some of the concerns that were expressed today, but this is a bill that has no formal opposition. This is a bill that folks who are state workers up or down the state of all genders have expressed to me how important it is for them.

Because since 2020, for the last six years, we have hired so many desk jobs who now work and live in more remote oh, sorry, more affordable places where they work remotely. Many folks cannot afford to come back to the big cities because they value obviously having more, more in their savings and also that work life balance. This is the modern reality that our Governor was very ingenious to create the work the telework policies, and this bill is about enshrining that.

And also from 2020 to 2024, the state proudly displayed a dashboard of the savings and benefits of telework. This bill would bring that dashboard back so the public can see whether or not telework is working for the state. I respectfully ask for your aye vote so that we continue to support our state workers who support our goals. Thank you.

Thank you, Assemblymember Lee. I'll debate having ceased, so clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. This is a 54 vote bill. All members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the rule tally votes. Ayes 55, noes five on the urgency. Ayes 55, noes five on the measure. The measure passes.

We're gonna go back to where we had left off, which is file item 160 AB 2152 by Assembly Member Mark Gonzalez. Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2152 by Assembly Member Mark Gonzalez and others an act relating to environmental quality.

Assembly Member Gonzalez, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I rise to present AB 2152, a bill that offers judicial streamlining for fire stations should they meet basic requirements. I wanna thank the chairs of natural resources and emergency manager for working with me on this bill and for their ongoing commitment to work with my office in many of the bill to ensure a series of best practices lead to a streamlined review process. Places like Los Angeles need 62 new fire station.

The last construction station in LA resulted in two sequel lawsuits and a two year delay and almost $2,000,000 in delay costs.

But operating streamline process, future products will allow us to address infrastructure needs while also protecting the environment surrounding communities. This bill enjoys bipartisan support and respectfully ask for your Aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Gonzalez. Assemblymember Demaio, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to AB 2152. While I absolutely support, our ongoing efforts to streamline CEQA, what we're doing is we're providing, a weapon for special interests with this bill. This bill says that if you get the relief that's common sense, you must do a a deal with a powerful special interest using a project labor agreement, mandatory union, hiring and contracting. What that means is that these projects will not be built in a fair and open manner.

You're telling 86% of construction workers that they don't deserve an opportunity to work on these projects. 86% of our construction workers are nonunion. This is not this is not a fair, equitable use of government authority. And what is particularly galling is that we know CEQA relief is needed, but you're trading that common sense relief in exchange to provide a special interest that has a lot of political support, that gives a lot of political support. Let me just correct myself there.

Doesn't have a lot of political support, offers those in power a lot of political support. Many would look at this and say, this is corruption, that this is not a good public policy, that this is driven by special interest desires. So if we are gonna give sequel relief, which is such a common sense thing to do, streamline our building process, let's make sure it's open to everyone, that everyone has an opportunity for this remedy, Not just the powerful, not just the politically connected.

I urge a no vote.

Thank you. Assembly member Demaio. Assembly Member Bryan, you were recognized.

I rise in strong support of this bill and wanna thank my colleague from Los Angeles for bringing it forward. We've passed a number of CEQA streamlining efforts and some, CEQA exemption efforts over the last few years. And I think it's the first time a member from across the aisle has referred to somebody like the firefighters as a special interest. Firefighters are our heroes, especially in Los Angeles.

And then when they need support, building infrastructure that is desperately needed, it's our job to step up and do it.

And that's what we did in this bill, and I respectfully ask your Aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Bryan. Seeing and hearing no further debate, Assemblymember Gonzales, do you wish to close?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to my colleague from San Diego, and thank you to my colleague from Culver City for this robust discussion. At the end of the day, this bill is about something pretty simple, making sure firefighters can do their job safely and effectively. Right now the demand is growing. The infrastructure is aging and the gap between the two is getting harder to ignore.

We can either delay critical projects or we can be honest about the consequences of that delay. Because when a fire station is held up, it's not just paperwork that's stalled, it's response times, it's emergency care, it's lives. With that respect, please ask for your Aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Gonzalez. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll and tally the votes. Ayes 62, No's zero. The measure passes. Pass to maintain on file item 161, pass temporarily on file item 162. File item 163 is AB 2202 by Assembly member Muratsuchi. Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2202 by Assemblymember Muratsuchi and others and accurately the people achievement.

Assemblymember Muratsuchi, you are recognized.

Thank you very much. AB 2202 seeks to address one of the persistent long standing challenges facing public education in the state of California, closing the achievement gap. This bill will help will establish the closing the achievement gap commission to provide statewide coordination and leadership to address this challenge. This this bill has received unanimous bipartisan support, but no opposition respectfully asked for a I vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Muratsuchi. All debate now and cease clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the rule, tally the votes. Ayes 61. No's zero The measure passes. File item 164, Assembly Bill 2225 by Dr. Patel. Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2225 by Assemblyman Patel and others in Appollating the People Achievement.

Doctor Patel, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and colleagues. I rise to present AB 2225, which convenes a working group of educators, families, researchers, and policymakers to develop a comprehensive statewide plan with clear goals, benchmarks, and annual performance targets to close achievement gaps and evaluate how well our state education programs are supporting our student success.

California is home to extraordinary public schools, incredibly dedicated educators, but we also know something that should concern every single one of us, and that is too many students across all social dimensions, income levels, race and ethnicity, language background, and foster status are clearly being left behind. Our state systems must better coordinate policy, funding, and oversight. AB 2225 is the first step to do that.

This is a support support bill, and I respectfully ask your aye vote.

Thank you, Dr. Patel. I'll debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

All members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. I-sixty four, no zero. The measure passes. File in 01/1965 is AB 2227 by Assemblymember Connolly.

Assembly bill 2227 by Assemblymember Connolly and others, and I'm playing to farm labor contractors.

The clerk will read.

Assemblymember Connolly, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members, AB 2227 will provide comprehensive protections for domestic farm workers against wage theft. Domestic farm workers are the backbone of California's agricultural industry, yet they often are the victims of labor violations such as wage theft at the hands of their employers and farm labor contractors or FLCs. Because of the prevalence of labor violations, the state requires FLCs to purchase a surety bond.

This bond functions as an added protection from exploitation and harmful work conditions, allowing workers to access bond funds to compensate for stolen wages or fines.

AB 2227 simply will strengthen the farm labor contractor license renewal process, increase the surity bond amount, and create a default judgment to expedite wage recovery for workers. These changes will ensure that FLCs are held accountable and cannot leave workers high and dry. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Connolly. I'll debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

All members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll tally votes size 41, nose 15. The measure passes file 166, AB 2,254 by Assemblymember Addis. Clerk will read.

Assembly bill 2254 by Assemblymember Addis and others, and I play in the coastal resources.

Assemblymember Addis, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and members. I bring you the Coastal Monarchs Protection Act, my second annual bill, to support the monarch butterflies, and I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Seema recall somebody on the floor dressed as a butterfly once. All debate having ceased, clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll tally to vote Ayes 58, No 0. The measure passes. File item 167 is AB 2296 by Assemblymember Papan. The clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2296 by Assemblymember Papan and Appling into Land Use.

Open up. Assemblymember Papan.

Sorry about that. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to present AB 2296, a practical bill to help cities complete their housing elements on time and get housing built faster in California. You know, we've spent a lot of time on this floor talking about housing production, but far less attention is paid to the long and complicated process cities must navigate just to complete just to complete a compliant housing element.

The very document that guides how and where housing gets built. Right now, cities are stuck in a process filled with uncertainty, delays, housing production we all say we want. For the last two sessions, I focused on one simple issue. Cities deserve timely, clear, and usable feedback from HCD. And let me tell you, the road has been miles long and anything but black and white.

A January state auditor report confirmed what cities across California have been saying for years about HCD. HCD should provide individual assessments to cities. Individualized guidance would reduce existing ambiguity and confusion. HCD currently lacks the staffing and bandwidth to provide individualized feedback. AB 2296 moves us towards addressing these audit findings by providing more time for cities and the department.

The bill requires HCD and councils of governments to get their RHNA numbers to cities six months earlier, allowing local governments to begin planning sooner and avoid unnecessary delays. Those extra six months matter. They give cities time to work through revisions without the looming threats of penalties hanging over every single conversation, and they create a more predictable process for everyone involved. And for those watching in the ether out there, I remain committed to continuing this conversation, and pushing for clear standards in the miles ahead.

Because if we are serious about building more housing, we should also be serious about building a process that actually works for cities.

I request respectfully request, an Aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Papan. All debate having ceased clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 62, noes zero. The measure passes. File item 168 is AB 2302 by Assembly Member Celeste Rodriguez, presented by Assembly Member Lee. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2302 by Assembly Member Celeste Rodriguez and others, an act relating to food.

Assembly Member Lee, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to present AB 2302 on behalf of Assembly Member Celeste Rodriguez as a proud co-author. AB 2302 requires manufacturers of infant formulas to test for heavy metals and disclose these testing results to the public. This legislation builds on California's leadership and is part of a nationwide bipartisan effort. Respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Lee. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 53, noes zero. The measure passes. We've already dispensed with file item 169.

File in 170, AB 2335 by Assemblymember Valencia. This is a 54 vote bill. The clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2335 by Assemblymember Valencia and applying to unclaimed property and making an appropriation therefore.

Assembly member Valencia, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Moving on, I started as members. AB 2335 would establish a digital asset reserve fund to strategically invest digital assets and generate new returns for the state considering we are in a budget strain. With that, I respectfully ask for a yes vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Valencie. Debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

All members vote who desire to vote. The clerk will close the roll, tally the votes, Ayes 63, Nos zero. The measure passes. File item 171, AB 2352, also by Assemblymember Valencia. The clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2352 by Assembly Member Valencia and others, an act relating to Medi-Cal.

Assembly Member Valencia, you may open.

Once again, thank you, Mr. Speaker. AB 2352 will clarify that nonprofit public benefit corporations that provide nonspecific mental health services may enroll into the Medi-Cal system through a PAVE process. This bill was recently amended in Assembly Appropriations to lower the cost to the state. With that, I respectfully ask for a yes vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Valencia. All debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote.

All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 61, noes zero. The measure passes. File item 172, AB 2405 by Assembly Member Gipson. Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2405 by Assembly Member Gipson, an act relating to Emergency Medical Services.

Assembly Member Gipson, you are recognized.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Members, Assembly Bill 2405 addresses an issue that has become one of the statewide's concerns as hospitals throughout California faces an epidemic or overcrowding. This is a simple bill that would require law enforcement to transport patients to the geographically closest hospital rather than a hospital they choose.

This bill seeks to ensure that vulnerable Californians receive timely medical care by establishing clear, concise standards for law enforcement transport. Additionally, it would establish a statewide reporting framework enabling the Emergency Medical Service Authority to monitor compliance, publish data, and enforce standards.

Recently, amendments allowed exceptions for emergence for urgent and trauma related circumstances, situations if hospitals is on diversion status. Assembly Bill 2405 addresses inequities and strengthens overall emergency care systems while supporting long term stabilities for safe net hospitals and improve outcomes for patients across California.

I wanna thank stakeholders for their thoughtfulness for considerations for these proposals, and I have had conversations with law enforcement and emergency service communities. And I am committed to working with other stakeholders as this bill moves through the process. This bill is a thoughtful bill. Respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Gipson. All debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote.

Mister Gibson has asked to move the call. Continuing on file item one seventy three, AB 2409 by Assembly member Valencia. The quick read.

Assembly bill 2409 by Assemblymember Valencia and Accolade into Digital Assets.

Assemblymember Valencia, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister speaker. A bill that I am very passionate about, AB 2409, prohibits California public officials from issuing crypto meme coins and bars digital asset exchanges from listing any meme coin that uses the likeness or image of a public official for sale, like our current president is doing. With that, I respectfully ask for a yes vote.

Thank you. Assemblymember of our NCL debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

All members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the vote size 57 to zero. The measure passes. Pass and retain on file item one seventy four. File item one seventy five is AB 2475 by the Committee on Emergency Management, presented by Assembly Member Ransom.

The clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2475 by the Committee on Emergency Management and Accolade to Emergency Services.

Assemblymember Ransom, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members. California relies on after action reports to capture critical lessons learned from disasters and to improve future emergency response and recovery efforts. However, Cal OES often completes after action reports one hundred and eighty days after an emergency declaration ends, which can postpone reports for over one year due to lengthy recovery efforts. As a result, state and local emergency managers are left without timely access to information that could strengthen preparedness and response.

This bill brings clarity, accountability, and timeliness to the after action reporting process by separating the response and recovery components into two distinct after action reports with clear deadlines.

Also, at the request of local emergency managers represented by the California Emergency Services Association, this bill codifies existing local after action reporting regulation and provides additional time for local managers to complete their after action reports. This bill strengthens our ability to learn from past emergencies and to better protect communities in future disasters, so I respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Assemblymember Ransom. All debate having ceased, clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 52, noes 5. The measure passes. Pass and retain on file items 176, 177. File item 178 is AB 2510 by Dr. Arambula. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2510 by Assembly Member Arambula, an act relating to CalWORKs.

Dr. Arambula, you may open.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members. AB 2510 strengthens the CalWORKs Family Reunification Program by ensuring that families have the support they need to bring their children home safely and successfully. CalWORKs provides critical supports to families working to reunify with their children who have been placed in foster care, including family reunification funding for families who have had their children removed from the home.

Successful reunification requires stable housing, food, childcare, and transportation. However, under current rules, all CalWORKs eligible children must be removed from the home to qualify for family reunification funds. Cutting off support during this critical time undermines reunification efforts and creates unnecessary hardship that jeopardizes family stability and delays reunification.

This bill aligns policy with the goals of keeping families together whenever safely possible and increases the likelihood of timely reunification. AB 2510 ensures that families have access to these critical services by allowing families to continue receiving cash aid and childcare during the reunification process. This bill is about stability, equity, and better outcomes for children and families, and I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Dr. Arambula. All debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll and tally the votes. Ayes 43, Nos six. The measure passes. File item one seventy nine, AB 2605, also by Dr. Arambula. The clerk will read.

Assembly bill 2605 by Assembly member Arambula and others, and I play the state government administration.

Doctor Arambula, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and members. California's long standing issues providing public defense to individuals accused of crimes has a real cost to some of the state's poorest and under resourced counties. Though the sixth amendment enshrines the right to counsel for defendants in criminal prosecution, the state does not currently collect data on how this public defense is provided at the county level.

This has created a system where some defendants have never even having met their attorney and repeated failures to investigate the accusations which are made against them. AB 2605 addresses this issue by establishing reporting requirements on the nature of public defense services provided across the state.

Amendments and appropriations have removed all opposition and I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Dr. Arambula. I'll debate having Cease Clerk who open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

All members vote who desire to vote? Clerk will close the roll. Tallied votes. Ayes 59, Nos zero. The measure passes.

File item 180 is AB 2635 by Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez, presented by Assembly member Schultz. Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2635 by Assembly member Celeste Rodriguez and Abilene to Air Pollution.

Assembly member Schultz, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and colleagues. I rise on behalf of Assembly member Rodriguez to present AB 2635, the Just Transition for Landscapers Act as a Latino caucus priority that creates a practical pathway for landscapers to transition to zero emission lawn equipment. The bill provides a realistic path to compliance, protecting livelihoods while keeping us on track to achieve our climate goals. I respectfully ask for your aye vote on behalf of Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez.

Thank you, Assemblymember Schulz. I'll debate having seized clerical up in the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll, tally the vote. Size forty five, nose eleven. The measure passes. Members, you're doing so great. Everybody is doing really wonderfully.

Keep it up. File item one eighty one is AB 2679 by Assembly member Hadwick. The clerk will read.

Assembly bill 2679 by Assembly member Hadwick and others an act relating to transportation.

Assemblymember Hadwick, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I rise to present AB 2679. This bill is a unanimous support and has no opposition, and I respectfully ask for aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Hadwick. All debate having ceased, clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll, tally votes size 57, no zero. The measure passes. We're gonna pass and retain on one eighty two, one eighty three. Violating on one eighty four is AB 2684 by Assemblymember Wynne. The clerk will read.

Assembly bill 2684 by Assemblymember Nguyen an act relating to Juveniles.

Assemblymember Nguyen, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister speaker. This bill aligns state law with federal law, support support. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Wynne. All debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

All members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally of votes. Ayes 57, no zero, the measure passes. We're gonna pass temporarily on file item one eighty five. Folks, we're gonna go back to the beginning of the assembly third reading file.

We're gonna pick up bills that we missed that are ready to go. That's gonna do it for our day. We have already dispensed with file items four through. File item 21. File item 22 is AB 2211 by Assembly member we dispensed with.

I just wanna do it again, madam clerk. Okay. We are going to skip all the way to Okay. We are going to take up file item 44. That is AB 1675 by Assemblymember Lee. This is a 54 vote bill. The quick read.

Assembly bill 1675 by Assemblymember Lee and others an act related to taxation to take effect immediately tax levy.

Thank you, mister speaker. I rise to present AB 1675, the no tax breaks for ICE contractors act. This bill simply says that if you or a corporation that does business with ICE, we will cancel your tax breaks. These corporations, especially multinational corporations that benefit from California's generous business tax breaks have to make a choice.

Do they side with the deportation machine or do they side with the American public? This is a very simple bill in that sense, but we're encouraging companies to stop aiding and abetting ice in the reign of terror, whether it be Palantir, providing them deportation software or weapons and vehicles.

This is a very straightforward bill, and I respectfully ask for I oh, before I say that, I'll also say that go if this bill should move to the Senate, I will be addressing concerns from affordable housing folks to make sure that nonprofit houses are able to receive the LIHTC credits. And I will also be taking amendments to ensure that it is very specific that this bill is about ICE, CPB, and the management directorate, not any other aspect of DHS, and also about procurement specifically.

I appreciate all the concerns I heard from members, and I will respectfully ask your aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Assemblymember Lee. All debate haven't ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

Mr. Lee has moved the call. Okay. File item number 63. File item number 63. That is AB 1887 by Assembly Member Zbur.

The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1887 by Assembly Member Zbur and others, an act relating to health care coverage.

Assembly Member Zbur, you are recognized.

Mr. Speaker, Members. I rise to present AB 1887, sponsored by the California Chronic Care Coalition. This is a targeted bill to remove unnecessary insurance barriers that delay or interrupt access to life saving treatments for Californians living with rare diseases. I'm very proud to chair the California Rare Disease Caucus, and this bill is the direct result of a rare disease patient roundtable that we convened in December that several of you attended.

When we asked patients what single change at the state level would most improve their lives, the answer was strikingly consistent. After years of fighting for a diagnosis, they face a second battle getting their health plan to authorize the medication that their specialist prescribe.

While seeking a diagnosis, families are draining savings, taking second jobs, and choosing between a rent payment and a child's test or travel to a distant specialty center. Denying or delaying an FDA approved treatment could drive patients into hospital beds, operating rooms, and intensive care units. This doesn't reduce costs.

This shifts them on to families and on to the rest of the system. AB 1887 is deliberately narrow and targeted. It requires accelerated prior authorization and prohibits step therapy requirements for rare disease treatments when prescribed by an appropriate specialist based on medical necessity.

Specifically, this bill automatically and immediately certifies a prior authorization request that is submitted to a healthcare plan if that request is not approved within a 30 day period. And second, requires that the pre-authorization process cannot take more than 30 days, and that if it exceeds those 30 days, it's automatically approved.

Even the most innovative and effective rare disease treatments are only as valuable as they are accessible. This bill ensures faster access to life saving and life altering therapies and supports accelerated access to treatment for one patient in a million cases.

This is a bipartisan bill, has received no no votes. And I wanna say, this is about health care for kids with rare diseases. Sometimes there's only a handful of these kids in our in our state. The treatments they require are hard to obtain, and and most of the rare disease patients are children. So with that in mind, I respectfully ask for your aye vote on AB 1887.

Thank you, Assembly Member Zbur. Assembly Member Papan, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanna thank my colleague from West Hollywood for bringing this very enlightened bill. AB 1887 ensures that rare disease patients are not an afterthought. And that processes such as step therapy do not delay necessary treatment to those who really need it, including our most vulnerable children with rare diseases. I think it's a great bill, and I respectfully request an aye vote.

Thank you Assembly Member Papan. Assembly Member Dixon, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just just want to add my support as a co-author to our good friend, our colleague from Santa Monica. He fights so much for people with rare diseases, and we're all in it together. It's so important. And this bill is so important.

And this is what the families and the caregivers want and the medical community. It is really important to simplify this process. So these children and adults can get the treatment that they need as quickly as possible. And thank you so much, Assembly Member, for carrying this bill. It's so important. Thank you.

Thank you, Assembly Member Dixon. Seeing and hearing no further debate, Assembly Member Zbur, do you wish to close?

I'd like to thank my colleagues for the support here. I wanna thank the other Members of the Rare Disease Caucus and those who participated in the roundtable that led to this disease. Again, this is about protecting the health of children with rare diseases. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Zbur. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 59, noes zero. The measure passes. We're gonna... Excuse me. Madam Majority Leader, you're recognized for your procedural motion.

Mr. Speaker, at the request of the author, please move file item 32, AB 2525, Ward, to the inactive file.

Clerk will note. Okay. We are going to go to file item 95, AB 2304 by Assembly Member Lackey. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2304 by Assembly Member Lackey and others, an act relating to social workers.

Assembly Member Lackey, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, for my entire time here on this floor, I've been trying to pass legislation revolving around this horrific tragedy. I know there's not many people here and they're all eating, but I would like your attention, please. This is a big deal to me.

We had a young man named Gabriel Fernandez who was tortured by his own family. His biological mother and his and her boyfriend. They tortured this young man. He was eight years old. Our system did not protect him. And I've been trying since I've been here to try to bring remedy to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening.

And guess what? We've had four others. Four, by their own family. This is ridiculous, and it's heartbreaking. And I understand the hesitation because we don't want to, we definitely don't want to accuse somebody who's not guilty, but we gotta protect these people that deserve our protection for heaven's sake.

Think of the tragedy of these young people being tortured by their own family. There are holes in our system, folks. And we're, this bill, all it does is try to bring remedy to that. Please understand how important this is. I'm not gonna belabor the point, but I hope that you will act in the interest of these innocent kids.

I guarantee you there's more of these crazy families that are engaging in this kind of conduct, and we need to make sure that when there's injury involved and there's professionals there, that they take action, and they don't falsify reports. That's what's happened in these cases. People aren't acting in the interest of children. What kind of despicable act is that? We need this kind of remedy, folks. This is very reasonable. Please help us protect these children. Vote yes.

Thank you, Assembly Member Lackey. Assembly Member Carrillo, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also rise to support AB 2304, a tragedy that happened in the Antelope Valley. We both represent the Antelope Valley, the author of the bill and myself. I do remember those days and knowing that now it happened four times to four different families. I urge your aye vote on Assembly Bill 2304.

Thank you, Assembly Member Carrillo. Seeing and hearing no further debate, Assembly Member Lackey, do you wish to close? All debate having ceased, the Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Aye 60, noes zero. The measure passes.

And we are going to go to file item 129. 129 is AB 2716 by Assembly Member Ávila Farías. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2716 by Assembly Member Ávila Farías, an act relating to oil and gas.

Assembly Member Ávila Farías, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members. I'm pleased to present AB 2716. AB 2716 delivers a cleanup legislation that the governor called for when he signed AB 1167 in 2023. In his signing message, he cautioned that the increasing financial assurance required for oil well transfers could cause more operation operators to desert their wells. Historically, CalGEM processed an average of 3,500 wells per year.

Since the passage of AB 1167, there has been one well transfer, and as a result, no decrease to the state's liability. As amended in the Natural Resource Committee, AB 2716 gives oil and gas well operators reasonable alternative financial assurances options while simultaneously increasing bonding amount cap with a tiered system, requiring additional financial information to be periodically provided by CalGEM.

And made and made this bill and it's this bill is contingent upon the passage of AB 2461, Hart bill. AB 2716 along with AB 2461 strikes the right balance and will reduce the occurrence of orphan wells, protecting California's environment and public health. I thankfully and respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Ávila Farías. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll tally to vote Ayes 41, Noes 0. The measure passes. File item 162. File item 162 is AB 2189 by Assemblymember Nguyen.

The clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2189 by Assemblymember Nguyen and others, and I believe to developmental services.

Assemblymember Nguyen, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This bill authorizes the State Council of Developmental Disabilities to to award an $800,000 annual grant over three years for a coordinated effort statewide coordinated effort to be able to train parents of students with disabilities are in a special education to learn how to advocate for themselves and also be able to know their rights. This bill has enjoyed bipartisan support, and I respectfully ask for your Aye vote.

Thank you. Assemblymember Nguyen. All debate haven't seized excuse me. Mister Jeff Gonzalez, you are recognized.

I appreciate my colleague on this. This is something that we had to learn firsthand with with our with our kids. This is a vital bill, colleagues. This is absolutely necessary that you do this. I can't tell you how many parents we run across all over California that just don't know how to how to traverse the system.

So I thank you to my colleague for being a leader in this space, and I respectfully ask for an Aye vote.

Thank you. Assemblymember Gonzalez. Seeing and hearing no further debate, Assemblymember Nguyen, do you wish to close?

I wanna thank my colleague for standing up and speaking in support. I felt like I was one of the only ones that would come out and speak about this, and I wholeheartedly appreciate you and really appreciate the fact that we both get to be on this floor here advocating for not just our kids, but all

the other kids that get left behind and all the other parents that get left behind. So this is gonna be a

game changer for us to start, like you said. And I think between us here here on the floor, we're going to be able to do so so much more. So thank you and I respectfully ask for your Aye vote.

Thank you Assemblymember Nguyen. All debate having ceased clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote.

The Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 58, noes zero. The measure passes. File item 185. File item 185 is AB 1923 by Assembly Member Soria. The Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1923 by Assembly Member Soria and others, an act relating to hospitals and declaring the urgency thereof to take effect immediately.

Assembly Member Soria, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members. AB 1923 will help keep California's hospitals open by expanding the Distressed Hospital Loan Program to new financially distressed hospitals, ensuring past loan recipients still under financial distress are able to receive loan forgiveness and increases. And this bill increases safeguards on the program to ensure only hospitals under true financial distress receive these loans.

And December 22, 2022, less than three weeks from the day I was sworn in, as you many of you know, I learned that the Madera Community Hospital's hospital was intending to close. By January of the following year, the hospital had closed its doors and created a health care crisis in the heart of my district.

To address this crisis and numerous looming financial crisis at other hospitals throughout the state, many of us worked hard to ensure and we to create the Distressed Hospital Loan Program. This program today will infuse $300 million into 15 desperate hospitals that our community is dependent on, keeping them from closing or severely curtailing services.

And in Madera's case, it reopened the doors in March 2025. However, as we all know, the financial strain on California's hospitals has only continued to to grow. And with the impacts of HR 1, we know more hospitals are gonna be in financial distress.

And so today, we are I'm bringing this bill forward to ensure that we keep our hospitals open by building on the success of the original Distressed Hospital Loan Program and expanding it to ensure that no hospital experiences what my hospital and my community did during its closure. So I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Soria. Assembly Member Rogers, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise as a co-author on AB 1923 and wanna thank my colleague for bringing the bill forward. I don't need to belabor the point. I think she hit it well. But just as a reminder for this body, 20% of the state's citizens live in rural communities, but only 9% of its health professionals do as well.

We had a shortage before HR 1. This body was already taking action to stabilize our rural communities and rural hospitals and health care before HR 1. And then we know that, obviously, those impacts are gonna be significant on our communities as well. So I urge an aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Rogers. Seeing and hearing no further debate, Assembly Member Soria, do you wish to close?

I just respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member. All debate have been ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 63, noes zero on the urgency. Ayes 63, noes zero on the measure. The measure passes.

Assembly Member Petrie-Norris, we're gonna take up file item number 58. File item number 58 is AB 1830 by Assembly Member Petrie-Norris. Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1830 by Assembly Member Petrie-Norris and others, an act relating to vehicles.

Assembly Member Petrie-Norris, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members, I rise to present AB 1830. This measure requires that any individual convicted of a DUI in California install an ignition interlock device. This will help keep our roads safe and save lives across the state. This bill has received broad bipartisan support and no no votes. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Petrie-Norris. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 62, noes zero. The measure passes. Members, Mr. Gipson has asked to lift the call on file item 172, AB 2405. Clerk will post. Close the roll. Tally the votes. Ayes 45, noes 18. The measure passes. Okay.

We are going back to file item one fifty five. File item 155. This is AB 1883 by Assemblymember Bryan. The clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 1883 by Assemblymember Bryan an act relating to employment.

Assemblymember Bryan, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and colleagues. I rise to present AB 1883. It's a simple bill that limits invasive workplace surveillance tool. It's the rare combination of a labor Fed sponsored bill and a poor act supported bill carried by me. It's been voted by every single Democrat in the privacy committee, and I respectfully ask for your Aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Bryan. All debate having ceased clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll tally of the vote. Ayes 43, Noes 12. The measure passes. Assemblymember Gabriel, we are going to do a a grip of your bills when you're ready. Okay.

We're gonna start with item 59, everybody. File item 59. AB 1836 by Assembly member Gabriel. The clerk will read.

Assembly bill 1836 by Assemblymember Gabriel and others and accolade in the state government.

Assemblymember Gabriel, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm proud to present AB 1836, which expands the eligible uses for the California Nonprofit Security Grant Program to include off-site events. Currently, the program allows funding to be used for physical security improvements at a nonprofit facility, but not for events hosted in the community, including celebrations, religious festivals, and cultural gatherings. AB 1836 provides a simple and practical fix by allowing nonprofits to use grant funding to help secure those events as well.

The bill has no opposition and has received unanimous bipartisan support. Respectfully request your aye vote.

Thank you. Assembly member Gabriel, debate having deceased clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote? All members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll tally votes. Ayes 63, Nos zero. The measure passes. File item 70 is AB 2020, also by Assemblymember Gabriel. The clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2020 by Assemblymember Gabriel and athlete in the housing.

Assemblymember Gabriel, you are recognized. Decorum members. Decorum. Assembly member Gabriel.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Pleased to present AB 2020, which would preserve existing affordable housing developments and protect low income Californians. California's affordable housing developments operate on razor thin margins relying on carefully structured reserves, just to say solvent over their fifty five year affordability periods. The pandemic forced many to drain reserves while facing rising insurance and maintenance costs, leaving some now facing operating deficits and real foresaw risks.

AB 2020 fixes that by authorizing HCD to allow the transfer of excess reserves or operating income between development sharing the same sponsor or affiliated ownership.

This gives developers a practical tool to stabilize portfolios, protect vulnerable tenants, and safeguard long term affordability. This legislation has bipartisan support, and a broad coalition of affordable housing advocates and builders respectfully request your aye vote on AB 2020.

Thank you. Assemblymember Gabriel, I'll debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

All members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll tally votes. Ayes 65, Nos zero. The measure passes. File item 81 is AB 2204 also by Assemblymember Gabriel.

The clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2204 by Assembly Member Gabriel and others, an act relating to prisons.

Assembly Member Gabriel, you may open.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and colleagues. I am pleased today to present AB 2204, which would expand access to organized sports in California correctional facilities. Sports can promote improved physical fitness and mental health, and research has shown that sports program can reduce disciplinary incidents and lower the likelihood of recidivism.

This bill builds on that principle by increasing access to organized sports by directing CDCR to develop a policy on sports programming and establishing the Second Chance Sports Fund to accelerate the expansion of programming. This bipartisan support support legislation has received unanimous votes and has no opposition. Respectfully request your aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Gabriel. All debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. All Members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 63, noes zero. Measure passes. Finally for Mr. Gabriel, file item 105. That's AB 2378, also by Assembly Member Gabriel. The Clerk will read.

Assemblybill twenty three seventy eight by Assemblymember Gabriel and others, and accolade in criminal justice.

Assembly member Gabriel, you are recognized.

Thank you very much, mister speaker and colleagues. I am proud to present AB 2378, which would establish the Office of Community Violence Intervention to administer and guide the CalVIP grant program. CalVIP is California's flagship community based violence prevention program and a proven method to reduce gun violence. Last year, California had its lowest gun homicide rate in recorded history, driven in large part by significant reductions in violence among populations served by the CalVIP program.

This bill would establish the Office of Community Violence Intervention to be led by a full time director enabling more effective administration of the CalVIP program.

This support support legislation will strengthen and improve the CalVIP program and has received bipartisan support. Thank you and respect for your question. I vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Gabriel. Debate having ceased clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll tally votes. Ayes 60, Nos zero. The measure passes. We're gonna skip to file item 121 by Assemblymember Ward to AB 2564. Clerk will read.

Assembly Bill 2564 by Assembly member Ward and others, faculty and consumer protection.

Assembly member Ward, you are recognized.

Well, good evening, Mr. Speaker and members. Today, I'm here to talk about an issue that affects every consumer, each one of your constituents here in California, and that is surveillance pricing. So right now, companies are using personal identifiable information collected on a consumer, like your age, your gender, marital status, your geolocation, or online search history to adjust the price of goods based on their perceived willingness to pay.

And simply put, companies are using what they know about you, who you are, and where you go, and how much you spend, and even your location to decide how much to charge you. So at a time when we hear nothing but address affordability, when prices of basic necessities are rising across the board, it is more critical than ever to be able to ensure that people are not being unfairly charged higher prices due to their actual or perceived characteristics.

Let's be clear. This practice hits hardest on lower income individuals and those with limited shopping options or limited time to shop around. Now last year, an investigation by Consumer Reports revealed that, some created detailed profiles on shoppers based on inferences from data collected through programs and purchased in search histories.

In January 2025, the Federal Trade Commission released a preliminary study indicating a wide range of personal data was being used to set individualized consumer prices with initial findings revealing details like a person's precise location or browser history could be frequently used to target consumers with different prices for the very same goods or services.

Unfortunately, with the change administration, it seems that the FTC and, the Federal Government have abandoned the issue, and that is why California must act now to prevent surveillance pricing before it becomes an industry standard.

Right now, legislatures across the country are waking up to this issue. Over 30 bills in 30 states have been introduced this year alone in both red and blue states. California has always been a leader in consumer protections, and we must ensure that we are not left behind at the expense of our constituents. AB 2564 will put a stop to this practice to ensure that consumers are protected from predatory and discriminatory practices designed to maximize consumer spending.

Now I deeply understand and have had a lot of conversation, and I understand those concerns from retailers and business owners about the impact to loyalty programs and discounts.

Many of you have talked with me about this here too. Since the introduction of AB 446 last year, we have significantly narrowed the scope of the bill and realized that there is more work to be done, and we also have draft amendments ready to go in Senate rules to make sure that consumer discount pro programs are protected.

Pull up the bill on your Ipad, and you can see right now there's already a robust discussion on the preservation of discounts, loyalty programs, and other ways to be able to save monies, but those can certainly be clarified and enhanced. These last two weeks, I've met directly with many of you and took those concerns back to my sponsors.

We put together these amendments that I am committing to take at the Bill Moose Board and committing for further discussion on these issues and broader issues with those that still remain in opposition.

Specifically, amendments that we'll take immediately narrow the scope of the disclosure portion of the bill to only prices based on personally identifiable information, clarify that these offers do not need to be offered to all consumers, just made available to consumers who meet the stated terms and conditions for the available offer.

And importantly, provide judicial discretion to ensure that any attorney, the attorney general, district attorney, city attorney who brings the case, the judge can weigh the facts of the case to be able to make sure that any penalties are actually fair. This is not a bill that is meant to engender a whole barrage of lawsuits that are especially gonna target potential small businesses.

That would be a factor in these amendments right now to make sure that a wide scope of considerations are taken by a judge to make sure that if a unintentional infraction of this occurred, not that we're and we're trying to avoid any scenario in that where where that could be, but if somebody got clever and decided there was a infraction of this bill should it become law, that all these circumstances could be taken into account to make sure that they wouldn't be penalized unfairly.

We're committed to continuing this work in the Senate with the opposition to ensure that the bill is workable. Importantly, this needs to stand as a model for other states. We have, like I said, 30 states working on this in a variety of different ways. We can get this right and California can continue to set the gold standard if we continue these conversations. I respectfully request your aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Ward. Assemblymember Zbur, you are recognized.

So I wanna thank the author of AB 2564. I wanna thank him for his engagement with me this week. As we have discussed, I think this bill continues to have need some work related to discounts. Discounts that don't, obviously, discriminate based on income or discriminate on certain characteristics are good things. And I think consumers want discounts.

They want loyalty programs. And there are still some aspects of the bill, I think, that, you know, some of the things requiring posting on websites that, when these discounts, you know, are are changed pretty frequently on sort of the normal course activities of a retailer. I appreciate that the that the author has, committed to continue working with the with the retailers and others about this bill. I do think that needs some work. I have confidence in the author that he will continue doing that.

And with that, I plan on supporting the bill today. Thanks.

Thank you, Assemblymember Sporris. Assemblymember Wilson, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister speaker. I had an opportunity I rise to talk about this bill. I had an opportunity, to vote on a version of this bill last year. It didn't get where it needed to go, and the author on his own pulled the bill, Which I recognize as a trustworthy colleague. This year, I've had the opportunity to see this bill in committee, voted on it, shared my concerns, thought it had gotten to a better place, voted to share my concerns.

But it was more, centered around these late amends that, brings me, to talk today. I think that everyone on this floor can agree that no one wants there to be personally identify personal identified information to be used against you in the marketplace. Whether that causes you to pay a premium for goods and services, or be unfairly excluded from discounts. I think that is like a common denominator related to this, and I think that's the intent of the author.

I I still though, having seen the mock up of the men's that are going to be taken into Senate, I still have some concerns.

And so I just want to talk to the you know, ask the author to either address immediately or address in his closing related to those concerns. I'll be supporting the bill today, but these are extremely important to me that I think in order to be able to support this when this comes back have to be addressed. First of all, litigation risk associated with offering discounts.

The current language or the mock up language, I will say, makes any discount offered unlawful unless specifically outlined in the provisions of the bill. And I know there's been in the mock up language, we disagree on this.

But because the language goes back to existing statute, which talks about inferred, that still is an issue. Because you can use personal data to infer something, then that would be unlawful. Secondly is the disclosure requirements, I believe are still onerous. And definitely need to be worked on. And last but not least, I support civil action that you have in the bill by the attorney general, city attorney, County Council.

But for the individual consumer, even though it's no longer a monetary damages, but injunctive relief, I still think is an issue. I mean, when we think about litigation risk and this particular part of the private right of action, remember, every time you go into a court case, involving a court case, that is costly. And so every business or retailer that is spending their time battling courts are spending resources which drives the cost up for everyone.

And so I think those are three areas that I still think need working on, give you an opportunity to address those at your convenience, but I would like to see those, dealt with as you navigate the second house.

Without objection.

Mister speaker, I'm happy to address those, because I have some separate thoughts from my close, of course. You raised some really good points. Exactly some of the other points that others that are paying close and special attention to this bill are raising, and so these are areas of focus that we will continue to be able to work on.

With regard to the conversation or the the issue around any, discount pricing, whether or not the language in here is really specific to information that is inferring something else. I do note that one of the, amendments that we do need to especially enumerate here is that we are making sure that just on a top line basis that any discount that is publicly available is already off of the table.

So a little bit above the section where we're getting into what is qualified as discounts that are offered attached to any personal identifiable information collected through electronic surveillance technology. There already will be this broad exemption for any personal and what do I mean by that when we're talking, like, statutory code language? Right? In plain English, that means that if a discount is a vet available to a veteran, it should be available to all veterans. Right?

And it's not something that should be subject to, like, you know, the, any, infraction of this bill. And then to the issue of civil action, you're right. The work that we did last year actually removed the private right of action from the ability to have, civil suit. We still, believe and we're working intentionally to make sure that the right to be able to make sure that somebody is able to say, hey. This happened to me.

Is there an opportunity for injunctive relief? Open discussion here. I do agree, and we have shifted a lot of the burden for any prosecution or the ability to be able to prosecute onto these public attorneys. But this is still an open question here that I'd be happy to continue the conversation.

Thank you, Assemblymember Ward for that response. And seeing and hearing no further debate, do you wish to close on the measure?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I really appreciate a very, great discussion through our Judiciary Committee, certainly through our privacy and consumer protection committee, because this is a very real and present issue. I I might argue a real and present danger to so many consumers. We know that this is happening right under our nose, but the thing well, actually, we don't know that this is happening That's the problem.

This is so nefarious and so under the radar that this is happening if you do a little bit of research and you're able to actually take that extra step to be able to compare with a friend across the country or somebody else with a different kind of profile.

Even my spouse and I were sitting on the couch next to next to each other looking up, online, for two things, and on our phones got two different prices. Right? At the exact same time for the exact same thing. We went for the cheaper one. But you have to take these other steps now as a consumer to really make sure that you're getting the price.

Some would argue, okay. Well, you wanna do that diligence. You but a lot of us don't have the opportunity or the time in our day as we're going through our our busy and daily lives. We wanna know that the price that we see online is the fair price. And you might agree that that's my willingness to pay, but you should not be in a we should not be in a consumer society, where you are being subjected to a higher price because of your own personal characteristics.

Because if you're a single mom and that algorithm knows you have the profile of being a single mom, you shouldn't have to pay more for diapers to be overnighted because you're about to run out of diapers. If you are trying to be able to call an Uber because you are in desperate need to be able to get home and your battery is running low, you should not have that information about how low your battery is.

Factor into that price that is elevating the price because your battery is about to die and you need to get that price. And these are all of these sort of back channel ways that our constituents and consumers across California are getting taken for a ride at the expense at their expense and to the profit of others that are really, I think, abusing a very what was formally a very fair relationship between the consumer and a retailer, consumer and a business.

So we really have a responsibility to be able to set those parameters and level that playing field, but the devil is in the details.

When we bring it back from plain English and into the statutory code, getting the code right matters. Getting these definitions matters. That's why working on privacy bills is one of our most challenging, and I would argue one of my favorite opportunities here in this legislature, because the impact is real. The dollars are real to everybody that's trying to tackle affordability, and we can make a lot of progress here and set the gold standard for the country.

I respectfully ask for your aye vote to continue the conversation in the Senate.

Thank you. Assembly member Ward, I'll debate having ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

All members vote who desire to vote.

All members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll tally of the vote. Size forty one is twenty one. The measure passes. Assemblymember Bauer Kehan, you are recognized.

Point of personal privilege, mister speaker.

State your point.

I'd like to congratulate our reading clerk, David Bowman, on the graduation of his first born today from high school. Congratulations you and your daughter.

Your point is well taken. File item number 88. File item 88. Quorum, everybody. Got bills to do.

Let's go. File item 88. That is AB 2253 by Assemblymember Burner. The clerk will read.

Assembly bill 2253 by Assemblymember Burner in acclating the solid waste.

Company member Burner, you are recognized.

Good evening, ma'am, mister speaker and members. Today, I rise to present AB 2253, a bill that would protect consumers from deceptive recycled content claims by requiring companies that advertise recycled content in their products to be honest about the amount of recycled material used. The bill emerged from a simple premise. If a product has a marketing claim on it that is that it is made from recycled content, it should actually be made of recycled content.

In our affordability crisis, Californians shouldn't be charged more for a product that claims to be green, but it isn't.

Furthermore, this practice undercuts the California companies that have invested billions of dollars in real recycling and product manufacturers that pay a premium for more sustainable materials. I introduced this bill because California has always been ahead of consumer and environmental protections. We shouldn't be bamboozled by these companies' false marketings on products that are not green. I have not received constructive amendments from the opposition.

However, the member from Thousand Oats and other colleagues that have worked on recycled bottle legislation and other EPR programs have been extremely helpful in providing feedback.

I have also agreed to take a number of amendments in the Senate. I will continue working with opposition. This is about saying, if this bottle says it's recycled, there's some amount of recycled material in it. That's all it does, and I respectfully ask for your item.

Thank you, Assemblymember Berner. All debate haven't ceased. Clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

All members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll tally votes. Aye 42, noes 19. The measure passes. Members, mister Lee has asked to lift the call on file item 44.

Clerk will post. Clerk will close the roll tally of the vote. Size fifty four, nose twenty. Measure passes. Moving backwards in the file to file item 75, decorum members.

Members, this will be our final item on the night. Let's give our respectful attention to the author, please. File item number one twenty two. That's AB 2575 by Assemblymember Ortega. The clerk will read.

Assembly bill 2575 by Assemblymember Ortega and Appolina Health Care Services.

Assemblymember Ortega, you are recognized. Members decorum, please. Thank you.

Thank you, mister speaker, members. I had a very long speech prepared, but I know we wanna go home. So AB 2575 is built around a simple principle that in health care, AI should support clinical judgment, but never replace it. AI may offer a promise, but in real world real world settings, these tools can often be biased and get it wrong.

Now I've heard a lot of concerns from the opposition of this bill, and I wanted to commit that if this bill gets out, I'm striking out the provision that requires a ninety day notice on updates to an AI tool.

In addition to the many other amendments that I've taken, and I wanna personally thank Assemblymember Bonta, Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer Cahan, as we work through this bill together to ensure that we get it right. But I recognize that I will continue to work as I'm hearing other concerns about AI in the health care space. With that, I respectfully ask for your eye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Ortega. All debate having ceased, Clerk will open the roll. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote.

Clerk will close the roll. Tally votes. Ayes 42, ayes 43, noes 15. The measure passes. Members, we are going to pass and retain on all remaining items.

All motions shall be continued on the assembly third reading and on the Senate third reading. We're gonna move on to announcements here. Please remember to show up session on time. We still have many bills to dispense with. Expect a busy day tomorrow.

Our session schedules, as follows Thursday, May 28, floor session at 10AM. Madam Majority Leader, you are recognized for your announcement.

We'll see you here at 10 tomorrow morning, not 10:30. Thank you, Mr. Lackey. Members, we have dispensed with a 125 items. We have 55 assembly bills left to work on. Let's be ready to start at 10:00 so we can get everybody to their flights.

Thank you.

Seeing you're hearing no further business. I'm ready to entertain a motion to adjourn. Madam Majority Leader moves, and miss Sanchez seconds that this house stands adjourn until tomorrow, Thursday, May 28 at 10:10AM. Please be here at 10AM. Quorum calls lifted.

We are adjourned. Vote changes from the dais.