Assembly Floor

The assembly is now in session. Assembly member Castillo notices the absence of a quorum. Sergeant at arms will prepare the chamber and bring in the absent members. Clerk will call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Members, the quorum is present. We ask our guests and visitors in the rear of the chamber and in the gallery to please stand for today's prayer. Assemblymember Calderon will offer today's prayer. Assemblymember Calderon.

Dear Lord, may we always be inclined towards keeping an open mind and open ear to what others do and say. May we always be known for our tolerance and compassion toward all of God's creatures, and may we find a way that all of humanity can live in peace and harmony with each other. May this be God's will. Amen.

Assembly member Lackey, you are recognized.

Colleagues, today a national tragedy occurred in my district at Edwards Air Force Base where a B52 bomber crashed and eight people were killed. And I would ask that we observe a moment of silence.

We ask our guests and visitors to remain standing to join us in the flag salute. Assembly member Solache will lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Members, please join me. Ready. Begin.

May be seated. To our guests and visitors today, state law prohibits persons in the chamber from interfering with legislative proceedings or disrupting the orderly conduct of official business. Persons disrupting legislative proceedings are subject to removal, arrest, or other appropriate legal remedies. Reading of the previous day's journal.

Assembly Chamber Sacramento Thursday, October, 11/07/2026. The assembly met at 9am. The honorable Josh Lowenthal speaker pro tempore

Authority leader Aguiar Curry moves, and Mister Lackey Seconds that the reading of the previous day's journal be dispensed with. Presentations and petitions, there are none. Reports of committees will be deemed read and amendments deemed adopted. Introduction and reference of bills will be deferred. Messages from the governor, there are none.

Messages from the Senate, there are none. Moving on to motions and resolution, the absences for the day are as follows for illness, Assemblymember Sanchez. Onto our procedural motions. Madam majority leader, you're recognized for your procedural motions.

Good evening, mister speaker. Pursuant to Assembly Rule 96, I request unanimous consent to re refer the following bills to committee. SB 16, Blakespear from the Housing and Community Development Committee to the Health Committee and the Judiciary Committee. SB 28, Umberg from the public safety committee to the Health Committee and judiciary committee. SB 226, Cabaldon from the higher education committee to the arts entertainment, Sports and Tourism Committee, and the Local Government Committee.

SB 330 Padilla from the Utilities and Energy Committee to the Education Committee. SB 423 Gonzales from the Local Government Committee to the Judiciary Committee. SB 526 Perez from the natural resources committee to the health committee. SB 549 Allen from the local government committee to the education committee. SB 561 Blakespear from the environmental safety and toxic materials committee to to the Judiciary Committee.

SB 594 Padilla from the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee to the Local Government Committee. SB 632, Arreguin from the Insurance Committee to the Higher Education Committee. SB 685 Cortese from the appropriations committee to the education committee. SB 715, Allen from the Housing Committee Housing and Community Development Committee to the elections committee. SB 892 Grove from the Appropriations Committee to the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

SB 942 Caballero from the Health Committee to the Judiciary Committee. SB 969 Reyes from the Human Services Committee to the Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee. SB 1078 Laird from the local committee, government committee to the Judiciary Committee. SB 1156 Caballero from the Public Safety Committee to the Transportation Committee. SB 1177 Cortese from the transportation committee to the labor and employment committee.

SB 1224 Jones from the insurance committee to the Health Committee and the military and veterans affairs committee. SB 1322 Richardson from the housing commit commit and community development committee to the human services committee. SB 1388 Durazo from the local government committee to the insurance committee and the Housing Community Development Committee. SB 1370, Stern, from the utilities and energy committee to the natural resources committee. SB 1394, Gonzales, from the natural resources committee to the government organization committee.

SB 1418, Cervantes, from the Elections Committee to the Public Safety Committee then back to the Elections Committee. And SB 1423 Stern from the Transportation Committee to the Local Government Committee.

Without objection, such shall be the order.

I request unanimous consent to suspend assembly rule 56 to allow utilities energy committee to notice the following bills. SB 887 Padilla for their hearing on Wednesday, June 24, pending re referral from the Natural Resources Committee, and SB 1425 Cortese for the hearing on July 1, pending rereferral from the Transportation and Judiciary Committee.

Without objection, such shall be the order.

Pursuant to Assembly Rule 96, I request unanimous consent to withdraw the following bills from the Budget Committee and suspend assembly rule 63 to allow assembly member Gabriel to take up the bills today without reference to file. SB 110 layered, SB 122 budget and fiscal review, and SB 125 budget and fiscal review.

Without objection, such shall be the order. Okay. And pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2, I'm re referring item 29, Senate Bill 493 by Senator Becker to public safety and appropriations committees. The budget Madam majority leader, you may proceed.

The budget bill, Assembly Bill 109, has been received from the Senate. I request you to ask the consent to allow Assemblymember Gabriel to take up Assembly Bill 109 today without reference to file for the purpose of concurrence and Senate amendments.

That objection, such shall be the order. Okay. Assemblymember DeMaio, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister speaker. I move that the assembly suspend the rules to permit amendments to assembly bill 109 that was just warped, currently pending concurrence in Senate amendments, and that the bill be returned to the third reading file upon adoption of such amendments to reduce health care premiums I'm submitting to the desk.

Just a moment, Mister DeMaio. Mister DeMaio, that motion is out of order. That bill is on concurrence. You cannot amend and build the time concurrence. And I suggest if you're open to it to please come speak with the chief clerk on the process.

For suspending the rules?

I can wait for you, mister DeMaio. I can wait for you just a moment. You wanna ask a question?

Mister mister DeMaio, I understand the clarification is to return the bill to the Senate.

I'll re amend the motion. I move that the assembly suspend the rules to per to permit debate on amendments to reduce health care premiums and send those amendments back to the Senate by rereferring assembly bill 109 to the Senate with the amendments.

Okay. Mister DeMaio, the motion is out of order. Once again, I will ask you to return back to the chief clerk. We cannot debate or consider amendments here in this body because the bill is here for concurrence. The bill would have to be returned to the Senate in its original form in order for those to be considered in the Senate.

And once again, if you'd like to speak with the chief clerk, I will wait until that conversation has taken place. If you need another minute or two, please please come forward. Mister admirer, you are recognized.

Mister speaker, so that we may have the Senate consider these amendments that we are sending to the desk, I move that we suspend the rules to return assembly bill 109 to the Senate.

That requires a second. Is there a second by Assemblymember Johnson? Thank you, Assemblymember DeMaio. This motion has been moved and seconded. This requires 41 votes.

Suspension of the rules is not debatable. The clerk will open the roll. Mr. DeMaio is asking for an aye vote. The majority leader is asking for a no vote.

All members vote who desire to vote. All members vote who desire to vote. Mister De Maio is asking for an aye vote. The majority leader is asking for a no vote. All members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll, tally the votes. Ayes 13, nos 45, the motion fails. Mister Zbur, you are recognized.

Members, Democratic caucus in the members lounge. Please proceed to the members now, lounge now.

Members of Democratic caucus will meet in the members lounge right now. Recess under call.

The house is back in session. Members, please report to the floor.

Okay. Reading clerk, we ready to go? Without reference to file, Assembly Bill number 109 by Assemblymember. The clerk will read.

Assembly bill 109 by Assemblymember Gabriel, an act relating to the state budget to take effect immediately. Budget bill.

Assemblymember Gabriel, you are recognized.

Thank you very much, mister speaker. Colleagues, I am pleased today to arise on AB 108. This is our 2026 budget act. And I just wanna begin by thanking the budget committee for their extraordinary hard work. We have had 62 hearings to bring us to this moment, thoughtfully considered all of the options before us.

I stand corrected on AB 109. My apologies. Thank you very much, mister speaker. On AB 109, which is our 2026 budget act. I just wanna speak for a moment, to express some gratitude and then maybe talk a little bit about, what is in our legislative budget agreement. And I wanna thank our partners in the Senate for working with us to craft this agreement.

And I also wanna express my gratitude that this agreement really, in many ways, deeply reflects our assembly budget blueprint. And the essential work here was to, as we have talked about in prior years, that we have talked about extensively this year, to meet this unprecedented moment that we're in, and to do that by balancing compassion and fiscal responsibility. And so I'm pleased that the budget committee, in crafting this bill, took a very real and eyes wide open approach to the challenges that are facing our state.

We are, balancing our budget not only this year, but next year. We are reducing our structural deficit by more than half, and we are building up over $29 billion in total reserves and also put forward important reforms to our rainy day fund as part of this budget practice.

And so I'm grateful that the assembly said we don't wanna kick the can down the road. We wanna meet these challenges head on, and we wanna center ourselves in fiscal responsibility.

At the same time, we are also deeply centered in compassion and understanding that our state, in many ways, is under attack from a hostile federal administration, from folks who are intent on ripping away health care coverage, who are undoing our safety net programs, who are making life more expensive for working families and our most vulnerable communities. And so we have done the work to protect those programs and services that middle class families, the working families that are most vulnerable rely upon.

And I'm very, very grateful for the work of our budget sub committee chairs to do that, to make important restorations in the health care space.

And I wanna thank our budget subcommittee, one chair for that to protect health care coverage and hospitals and clinics, the work that we have done to protect human services, food banks and our safety net, the work that we have done to ensure record school funding and protect our world class institutions of higher education, the work that we have done on wildfire prevention, on housing, to protect victims of crime. So many issues that we have heard are important to Californians up and down our state.

And so with that, I wanna thank everybody for their input, for the thoughtful conversations. Obviously, a lot of work ahead to do as we continue our conversations with our partners in the administration. But I think at this moment in time, we can be very proud of the product that we have produced in our legislative budget.

And so I respectfully request your I vote on AB 109.

Thank you, Assemblymember Gabriel. Assemblymember Tangipa, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister speaker. Today, I rise in opposition. This budget is a clear reflection of the majority's values. If you're a hardworking Californian or a small business owner, your taxes are going up. If you pay for private health insurance, your premiums are going up.

If you run a business and use QuickBooks, Microsoft 365, Adobe, or any digital tools, your costs are going up. If you're an employer, your payroll taxes are going up. Meanwhile, this budget protects and expands services for illegal immigrants and criminals. A 100 million more for illegal immigrant legal services. 11 billion for illegal immigrant health care.

While they blocked even a modest increase in the monthly fee for 30 to $50. The average Californian family of four pays over $500 a month for insurance and should expect another increase. This budget closes another state prison, refuses to fully fund Prop 36, and keeps releasing more criminals while raiding law abiding taxpayers. This budget shows exactly where the majority priorities lie. Criminals and those who broke the law get the benefits, and working Californians get the bill.

For those reasons, I respectfully ask for a no vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Tangipa. Assemblymember Davies, you had your microphone up. You wish to speak?

Thank you, mister speaker. Members, today I rise in opposition to AB 109. Every year on this floor, we hear that our state budget is a reflection of California's values and priorities. However, I find it very hard to believe this budget passes the test of reflection of the values our constituents hold dear. While there are many objective provisions of this bill, I most take issue with the lack of prop 98 funding.

This bill short changes our district $3.9 billion they need right now, not in future budget years. When it boils down, that is roughly $684 per student district we lose. Prop 98 was passed overwhelmingly by voters to ensure that no matter the state of our finances, education funding would always be there. This bill uses clever accounting to hide a massive education deficit, but California's parents and teachers can do the math.

If Sacramento handles this budget to a math teacher, it would come back covered in red ink with a failing grade.

When you pull 3.9 billion out of our system, it doesn't vanish into thin air. It disappears from reading programs, mental health counselors, and our classes. We're bouncing the budget on the backs of students who can't vote, can't lobby, and can't afford to lose these resources. For those reasons, I must strongly urge a no vote on this budget measure. Thank you.

Thank you, Assemblymember Davies. Assemblymember DeMaio, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister speaker. I also rise in opposition to AB 109, which is a phony budget. The chair of the budget committee talked about how many hearings it took to get to this point, but we know this is a get out of town budget. Actually, it's get my paycheck budget. We're up against the statutory deadline, and we know that a number of issues are still being hammered out that will end up costing taxpayers more and giving them fewer services.

But here we are, so that politicians can get a paycheck, putting together something really quick and sloppy, knowing that this is not a budget that reflects the best interest of Californians. This budget punishes working families. The only people who can be happy about this budget are illegal immigrants, criminals, and apparently a lot of campaign contributors. Because the core services of government, they're neglected. But what are we doing?

We're putting a billion dollars into the high speed rail train to nowhere because a bunch of politically connected interests benefit from that boondoggle. We're closing down prisons. We're not funding prop 36, despite the fact that California voters repeatedly said that they want to make public safety a priority. Overwhelmingly, it passed every single county in the state. And yet this budget says, we don't care about the will of the voters.

We can easily invalidate it and cancel it out by simply not funding criminal justice programs. There's been a lot of talk this year about fraud, waste fraud, and abuse. This budget does not put in place internal controls and fraud detection and elimination programs. And so billions of dollars, again, in this budget will be wasted. This budget fails to properly fund wildland fire mitigation, brush management.

But, of course, when the fires come, you'll blame climate change. Not your fault. Right? This budget cuts elder care programs and student financial aid, but it does give free health care to illegal immigrants at taxpayers' expense. Typically, I will focus on budgets in terms of the financial sustainability of them.

Today, the LAO was very clear in questioning at the budget committee by my colleague from Central Valley that this budget is unsustainable. Even with all of the Enron style accounting, the accounting gimmicks, the raids on reserves, we're looking at a 20 to 30 billion dollar structural budget deficit. The worst part of this budget for this year in particular because every year I've seen an unsustainable budget from this body. The worst part of this budget is it will exponentially worsen California's cost of living crisis.

The speaker came into this session of the legislature promising that we would lower the cost of living for Californians.

And what has this body done? You have skyrocketed the cost of living higher and higher, and this budget is like the fatal blow. One last swipe at working families in the form of higher taxes, $5 billion in the form of higher health care premiums, a 10% increase in premiums if you're lucky, a 97% increase for a family of four for those that can least afford it. And then on top of the premium increases, you add a $400 per family health care premium tax, higher gas prices.

By not suspending the gas tax, by not reforming costly regulations, you put California at a dollar 68¢ per gallon more than the national average.

That costs a single driver $1,747.20 more because of these failed policies in California. Not anything having to do with national policy. These are cooked right here in California.

Thirty seconds.

We ought to reject this budget. We ought to do our work. We ought to do everything to bend the cost curve of Californians, but no. Instead, we pass a budget that since Governor Newsom was sworn into office, has increased by a $154.5 billion, a 76.75% increase during a time that the population has been flat and inflation has gone up by 33%. Are we getting 76.75% better services for all the money that's being spent?

The answer is no. We're getting worse services and a higher cost of living. And that is why this budget fails working families. I urge a no vote on AB 109.

Thank you, Assemblymember DeMaio. Assemblymember Quirk-Silva, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister speaker and members. Today, we take up a budget at a time when Californians are looking for something that feels increasingly rare in our politics. Steadiness. Working towards balancing budget that works for all Californians. When we do our budgets at home, we know that many of our families come up short.

We know that families are struggling to pay bills at the end of the month, pay the rent, to endure these gas prices. But we have to ask what why? My colleague from San Diego just said it's because of our gas prices. We know California has high gas prices, but they've been increased recently because of a war. We know that costs have risen this year because of tariffs.

So again, stop gaslighting us. Stop calling people names. And let's talk about what we have done in this budget. We've worked together as a team to bring over 62 hearings. I chair the budget subcommittee that's so exciting, the budget sub five, which is government administration.

And there's a lot in this budget. Budget for veterans. Budget for our labor community. Under this committee, we talk about housing and homelessness. And we have had fights, not only amongst our democratic caucus members, but the entire body and even with the governor.

And we'll continue to fight until we can move forward a budget that speaks to all. But for some of the most hard hit Californians, we know that what we do tonight is going to make a difference in them eating and them sleeping in a home. We know that these programs have to be backfilled because of the huge devastation that we have seen with the big beautiful bill. Did we forget about that? So we have had hard choices.

And we've had to work hard to find ways to fill in the gaps. We know that people need homes that they can afford. They need access to healthcare. And we know that part of our job is when people get knocked is to help them stand back up. And that is why I'm so proud that this budget invests 900 million in homeless programs.

I know that it expands housing production with 500 million for the low income house, housing tax credit, and 200 million for the multifamily housing and keeps families housed with a 100 million in housing stability supports.

We know that government cannot solve every problem, but government should do things that only government can do, which is create stability, protect opportunity, and make sure hard work still leads somewhere. That is why this budget also invests in children and schools providing roughly $2.7 billion for proposition 98, programs expanding special day education, 2.4 billion for ongoing and supporting childcare. And we know these childcare positions are essential to getting women back into the workforce. California has never moved forward by choosing between physical discipline and compassion.

We move forward when we insist on both. That is what this budget does, and it does what we need to do to continue to uplift California. And with that, I not only support this budget, but I ask for your support as well.

Thank you, Assemblymember Quirk-Silva. Assemblymember Dixon, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister speaker, and good evening colleagues. I also rise in respectful opposition to AB 109. As my colleagues from Fresno and San Diego have spoken, there are many sections in this 900 page bill that I find deeply problematic. We all know California does not have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem choosing priorities to keep our balance, our budget balanced.

And this budget is unsustainable. Even the legislative analyst has indicated that it's not sustainable. One component I want to draw attention again to, and that is I find especially concerning, is the absence of meaningful funding for Proposition 36. As we know, in November 2024, Californians approved Prop 36 because they were tired of watching repeat offenders cycle through a system that failed victims, communities, and law abiding residents.

Prop 36 was an attempt to undo Prop 47 and reclassify some misdemeanor theft and drug crimes as felonies and establish mandated drug treatment programs for criminals.

Prop 47 in 2014 reclassified several non violent low level drug possession and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and effectively created a loophole that criminals could exploit to avoid accountability from fentanyl trafficking and repeat retail theft. Proposition 36 passed, as we all know, with 68% support, carrying all 58 counties in California. In Orange County, it succeeded with more than 74% of the residents voting in support. Interestingly, Governor Newsom publicly opposed the proposition.

And so the consequences, despite the overwhelming public support for the measure, the governor has continued to underfund Prop 36, including in the most this most recent budget revise, which had no new funding for Prop 36.

Similarly, last year's budget only included about a 100 million to implement it, about a quarter of the 400,000,000 necessary to fully fund Proposition 36 at the local level. Proposition 36 cannot work without funding. And increase in crime, not just in Orange County, but across all of California. One way to kill a proposition is simply don't fund it. Unfortunately, AB 109 continues this pattern and includes no additional dedicated funding.

Furthermore, the state prosecutors don't have the necessary funds to implement the mandated drug treatment. Funding has to come from the state. Ultimately, the failure to fund proposition 36 puts all Californians at risk. If it were to be funded as the voters believed it would be when it passed two years ago, we would see communities become safer in a decrease in crime. Funds will also help those seeking addict addiction treatment and wanting to make a meaningful change in their life.

Prop 36 provides addicts and those that need help with a choice, get help or go to jail. Get off drugs means less crime. Voters were clear, repeat theft offenders should face meaningful consequences and the cycle of endless consequence free theft needs to end. The failure of the governor and the failure of the legislation such as AB 109 is to appropriately fund Prop 36 directly contradicts and ignores the will of the voters. This must stop.

For these reasons, I will not be supporting AB 109, and I respectfully ask for a no vote from my colleagues. Thank you.

Thank you, Assemblymember Dixon. Assemblymember Kalra, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister speaker. I rise in support of AB 109. Would like to thank the the speaker, our budget chair, and budget subcommittee chairs, as well as the leadership in the Senate and the numerous staff, that have worked, on this and other budget items, to do the best attempt we can to reduce suffering, being given a very difficult hand, that we've been dealt.

In the wake of devastating cuts by the Trump administration that attack everything we've built here in California, I'm proud to support a budget that will protect vital health care and reject some of the coolest cuts. So let's talk about what's at risk.

Under HR 1, more than 2 million Californians are poised to lose health coverage. That's more than one out of every 10 medical recipients. Millions more face reduced coverage of future loss of benefits, including hundreds of thousands of immigrants who reside in California legally. Not only are benefits being threatened, but this administration's reckless policies also mean uncertainty for community hospitals.

The reality is Donald Trump and his allies are gutting our health care system, and it is both morally and intellectually dishonest to completely ignore that havoc caused by the big cruel bill and massive tax cuts to the wealthiest people on earth while the masses suffer.

And that suffering isn't abstract. It's about real families, real consequences, and real harm. California has led the country in expanding health care coverage to every resident, and it is now our responsibility to defend that. Under this budget, we are investing a $190 million to make sure your local hospital can stay open and $300 million for lower health care premiums.

We also reject immediate medical asset test limit cuts as well as delayed dental cuts, prevent premium increases on undocumented Californians, and reject in home supportive services that assist seniors and people with disabilities.

Particularly of importance to my district, I'm happy to see the inclusion of the mobile crisis benefit as part of Medi Cal, which will enable the county of Santa Clara, the second largest public health care system in the state, with the support from the city of San Jose to sustain the trusted response urgent support team, the trust team. From January to March just of this year alone, trust received 1,484 calls, of which 94% stabilized the affected person with referrals to essential community based resources.

It's truly a program that's saving lives. Lastly, this budget will take a step towards holding large corporations accountable to pay their fair share by limiting the number of tax credits they can use, generating billions of dollars in the years ahead that will help pay for health care, schools, and housing. Access to health care isn't just a talking point, it's a lifeline.

And under this budget, we're not about to let it be cut to the core. Members, I respectfully ask for your I vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Carl Ra. Assemblymember Schultz, you are recognized.

Well, thank you, mister speaker and colleagues. I usually try not to use all five minutes, but tonight I feel the need to. Because yet again, for now the second year that I've been in this building, there's this pervasive and completely false, not based anywhere in fact, narrative that there's a failure to fund proposition 36. And I am certainly not gonna question the integrity or motivations of my colleagues. I like to assume that maybe we're not all properly informed.

So I'm gonna take five minutes and walk through what this legislature has done and what we're willing to do. And so I certainly hope after tonight that no one would ever intentionally suggest that there hasn't been proposition 36 funding because if that person were to do so, they'd be telling an intentional lie on the floor here, and I I know none of us would wanna do that. So let's start with the, 2025 budget act.

This legislature, and it was signed by governor Newsom, appropriated $130,000,000 in new general fund dollars for the implementation of Prop 36. And by the way, I I I don't mean this flippantly.

I don't know that people understand this or don't, but you're never gonna see a line item in the budget that says proposition 36 because that's not how we fund public safety. We don't fund the budget based on crimes. There's no line item for murder investigations. We fund it holistically. So a $130,000,000 last year, that's what we did.

How did that break down? $50,000,000 for county behavioral health departments with an l emphasis on behavioral health capacity. And don't worry, I'm gonna get to this year next. There was $20,000,000 for courts to address increased workload, including collaborative courts. We had $15,000,000 for pretrial services to primarily support probation departments and sheriff's departments.

We had $15,000,000 for public defenders. That's part of proposition 36 and how it all works too. We had $30,000,000, for CDCR for the increased prison population. And aside from the $130,000,000, I will also add that separately, in a whole different pot, we had a $127,000,000 in proposition 47 grants that were released in the fall of twenty twenty five to local entity local entities for uses, including substance abuse disorder treatment and mental health services. By the way, a large amount of these funds remain unspent.

That's what we did last year. And if anyone even bothered to remember that, we certainly wouldn't be hearing on the floor any sort of false narrative about a failure to fund proposition 36, but let's get to the heart of the matter. Now we're gonna talk about this year's contemplated budget. I'll note that the governor's May revise indicates that there'll be nearly $90,000,000 available to local entity entities for proposition 40 proposition 47 grants. So that is again separate from the general fund.

And then let's look at what we've contemplated in AB 109 and the accompanying trailer bills. We have 70,000,000 ongoing augmentation for trial courts, $50,000,000 one time for court workload, 50,000,000 ongoing for pretrial services, 25,000,000, for VOCA above the May revise, which now brings the total to $50,000,000. We have $68,000,000 above the May revise for various victim support programs. That includes VOCA, human trafficking, trauma recovery centers, MMIP, and incarcerated sexual abuse victims.

We have 20,000,000 for rehabilitation programs that cut the CDCR recidivism rate by more than half, and we also have a million dollars for crime data reporting.

If you're trying to track all that, here's the cliff notes version. There's approximately $375,000,000 in new funding in this budget for courts, prop 47, substance abuse and mental health treatment, additional victim support, rehabilitation, and pretrial services. So we are funding proposition 36. And by the way, all of this funding is more than the architects of proposition 36 ever paid to figure out when they brought that before the voters.

And now the last topic, and I guess I will finish in a little under five minutes, but there was one other comment made by my colleague from Clovis about a prison closure, and I did want to address that too because we are talking about public safety.

What he omitted from his comment was this was actually a recommendation made by the nonpartisan independent legislative analyst office, which provides fiscal and policy analysis to this body. And the other thing that he forgot to mention is that of all the state departments that are contemplated by this budget, there is one budget, one department specifically that has nearly $1,000,000,000 in new funding, new spending. That's CDCR.

And one of the small things that we're trying to do to offset all that new spending is, yes, follow the advice and the recommendation of LAO in recommending a new prison closure. So I think we can all be proud of this budget.

It certainly prioritizes public safety, and to suggest otherwise is quite frankly a lie. Thank you.

Thank you. Assembly member Schultz. Assembly member Carrillo, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister speaker. Good evening, fellow members. On behalf of the Latino caucus, I rise today in support of assembly bill 109, the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven state budget. I want to begin by thanking our budget committee chair, Jesse Gabriel, and his staff for all their work ensuring our state's budget protects communities that are often hit first and hardest when funding becomes a concern.

Our budget chair met with us numerous times, listening to our concerns, certainly proposed budget cuts to the health care of individuals already being targeted by the federal administration through HR 1.

Those exchanging with budget share translated into the progress and continued health care services we're protecting with the budget being voted on today. I also want to thank our health committee chair and fellow Latino caucus member, Mia Bonta, for being there with us in those conversations and ensuring on the assembly side and the Senate side that we understood the full effect of the proposed budget cuts.

I also want to thank the Latino caucus vice chair, Lisa Ortega, for being with us and helping reinforce how important it was that this budget reflected our values as a caucus. And thank you to our subcommittee one self subcommittee one chair Don Addis for meeting with us as well as on short notice to discuss how elements of the proposed budget were legitimate cause of concern for anyone in our caucus.

I rise today with gratitude for the work that has gone into crafting a budget that reflects California's values.

This was this was not an easy year. Families across our state continue to face rising costs of living, economic uncertainty due to the international conflict and confrontation, and growing concerns about federal policies that threaten health care and essential services. That is why I am proud that this budget chooses responsibility and compassion. The decision to keep UIS patients in in managed health care delivery systems instead of moving them into fee for service systems reinforces that in addition to numerous other priorities we collectively protect.

We protected access to health care by delaying harmful medical cuts, preserving coverage for vulnerable Californians, and providing time to find better solutions for communities that depend on these services.

We strengthened our commitment to public education, childcare, workforce development, and opportunities that help families move forward. We supported food banks, legal service, and critical safety in the programs that many Californias depend on simply to get by. Importantly, we did all of this while maintaining strong reserves and taking steps to protect our state's long term fiscal health.

On behalf of the Latino caucus, I want to thank our speaker Rivas, pro tem Limon, our budget leaders, and all of our colleagues who work together to deliver a budget that protects people, preserves opportunity, and prepares California for the future. Our respect for us for your vote receiving on assembly bill 109.

Thank you.

Thank you, Assemblymember Carrillo. Assemblymember Gibson, you are recognized.

Thank you very much, mister speaker and members. I wanna preface my statements by thanking one, our speaker, our budget chair, and also subcommittee chairs, and also the staff that supported all the committees, in bringing us here, this evening. I support, assembly bill 109, and raise my microphone to state that assembly bill 109 helps helps preserve access. And I'm gonna be very, very specific in terms of my comments and honing in on health care.

So assembly bill 109 helps preserve access to health care by providing much needed relief to hospitals across California that are struggling to remain financially viable and to continue to serve their communities.

Our hospitals are entering one of the most dangerous errors, that anyone has ever seen, at least in my lifetime. The tools we have before us in this budget includes distressed hospital loans and supporting for medical patients. Our and are the matter of fact are the lifesavers for those of thousands of vulnerable communities and vulnerable Californias. Colleagues, I lived through the most worst pandemic years, in my district, which some of the highest, individuals during the pandemic I've seen.

We've seen the coronavirus devastate the black and brown communities.

I've seen, bodies, in bodies that were absolutely delivered like packages in my community at Martha King Hospital, piling up in refrigeration system and delivered in trucks. Without this critical funding, California's hospitals would be less prepared to respond to the next catastrophic emergency, increasing the risk of preventing deaths and worsening health care outcomes for our patients across California. AB 109 provides $250,000,000 in general fund for public hospital systems and help prepare our counties to deal with the unknown harm of HR 1.

And please let's not make make no mistake about it. This is all about what's coming down HR 1.

We would not be in this situation if it was not for HR 1. And so California is stepping up, and we're stepping up in a large way, protecting the most vulnerable communities. And I certainly believe that AV one zero nine is stepping up and protecting the most vulnerable people among us. Many of you know that the loss of the any hospitals and personnel will be devastating to Californians.

During my six terms in the assembly, there have been multiple occasions when I have spoke on this floor about Martha King hospitals and what it has faced, real prospects of closings and threatenings access across my communities and other communities that reflects the same thing that Martha King hospitals.

We cannot afford to let any hospitals close. Every year, I have, again, raised my microphone and spoke on this floor about the concerns that face Martha King hospitals. Assembly bill 109 helps all Californians and all hospitals. Members, I respectfully ask for a strong I vote on AB 109. And, again, I want to underscore thanking our budget chair and the leadership to getting us to this point.

And people could talk about the rhetoric. All they want is lies. This is the this is the way to go. And, again, respectfully ask, but I vote.

Thank you. Assemblymember Gibson. Assemblymember Ortega, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister speaker and members. I actually want to thank the voters of California for allowing us the privilege to come to work every day and ensure that we pass the people's budget, especially while we're living in cruel times. On one hand, we have the world's first trillionaire in history who made his fortune with the help of our tax dollars. 3 billions dollars in public subsidies that we gave him.

At the same time, we have patients piling up in emergency rooms because Trump has defunded our health care system to fund his big, beautiful, cruel scam.

As a result, our healthcare system is at risk of collapsing under the weight of HR 1. But we're saying no, like we've done many other times. We're stemming up to his regime. We won't let kids die so more billionaires can have second or third yachts. We won't continue to ensure that we have another trillionaire in our hands who would rather see our babies in cages than provide health care.

What we have done in this budget is to find new revenue and protect what matters. We're providing much needed funding for public hospitals who are on the verge of closing. We're preserving dental care for children. And we are funding our state network of diaper banks because we know that a clean diaper is a crucial thing to keeping a baby healthy.

As vice chair of the Latino caucus, I'm also proud of the work our caucus did to protect our health care as well as funding for legal services, food assistance for all Californians, including our immigrant communities.

And as labor chair, I will continue to watch and hold our departments accountable who receive our precious dollars to ensure that workers and workplace safeties are accountable and are protected through this budget process. For these reasons, I respectfully ask for your eye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Ortega. Assemblymember Ramos, you are recognized.

Well, thank you, so much, mister speaker. And I wanna thank, our budget chair and speaker for their leadership in this long process as we crafted a budget that supports the people of California. I want to highlight a few items of importance to me that showcase our state's commitment to important issues. I want to first highlight in the budget bill the inclusion of funding for judgeships, particularly in the Inland Empire.

This funding brings much needed funding to ensure parity and ensure access to justice is no longer delayed for our region in the state of California.

I have heard from community members for years of the importance of ensuring funding for new judgeships, and I am glad we were able to deliver for our region. Additionally, this budget provides ongoing support for California's only tribal college, which with the state support was recently awarded early accreditation. This crucial funding will allow Singh to continue to be a tool to assist our Native American population here in the state of California for higher education.

This budget also includes critical funding for tribes by a commitment of $15,000,000 ongoing funding to support the missing and murdered indigenous persons here in the state of California. We continue to make sure that the voices of California's first people and the people of California continue to move forward.

As chair of budget subcommittee on public safety, in this budget, we have set out to provide funding necessary for proposition 36. And any suggestion that the budget does not fund prop 36 is wrong. We had hearings on this issue. We dove into this issue. We are investing 375,000,000 for court workload, substance abuse, and mental health treatment, victim support, rehabilitation, and pretrial services for the people in the state of California.

That is on top of the 300,000,000 provided in the budget last year. Now some may have liked to see more, but the 675,000,000 we have invested is 675,000,000 more than was allocated in Prop 36 itself. This budget has set out to provide funding needed to support Prop 36. Prop 36 continues to move forward. And we also have to bring light, bring light when we talk about taxpayers and their dollars moving forward in the state of California.

When we look at the federal balance, 15% of the total federal budget is derived from citizens here in the state of California, where California has paid over $275,000,000,000 more to the Federal Government than we received. If we got that money back, $275,000,000,000 we probably would not be in the situation that we're in now. I think it's time that California fights for their right, for the money that they paid to the Federal Government to bring back to the state of California.

Again, over $275,000,000,000 was paid, overpaid to the Federal Government that has not come back to the state of California. It's time that we fight for our share to make sure it comes back.

That's why I'm supporting AB 109.

Thank you, Assemblymember Ramos. Assemblymember Addis, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister speaker. I rise with so many thank yous this evening, actually. I first and foremost, wanna thank mister speaker for delivering a budget that I personally have gotten so many compliments and thank yous and words of gratitude for this budget in particular.

And I wanna thank our budget chair for all of the work that, that you have done, mister chair, in really supporting our caucus members in coming forward with their priorities and being heard and knowing that their voices are the voices of 40,000,000 Californians who are asking us to stand up for them each and every day. And I wanna thank my colleagues who are the budget subcommittee chairs who have done the same.

Every time a hearing is held in this state legislature, we're bringing the voices of our neighborhoods and our communities and the districts that we represent. I particularly wanna thank the members of the Health Committee, budget subcommittee, our health committee chair from Oakland, and members from every single corner of California who brought the voices of their constituents to the table.

Every time we held a hearing, we had over nine hearings, hundreds and hundreds of public comment, folks that came to give public comment and me too and over 50 witnesses at one of our hearings and hours upon hours of advocates, patients, providers, labor organizations, community groups, and Californians who spent their own personal time traveling to Sacramento really to ask us to stand up for them and to ask us to please do the thing that would help them survive in these very, very difficult times.

I also wanna say thank you to the department staff and the legislative staff, but most importantly to our budget staff, whether you agree with this budget or you don't agree with this budget. If you see a budget staff, they're probably in the back of the room right now.

You should say thank you to them for delivering something that really represents all of our values today. It's only my second year as the assembly budget, subcommittee chair, and it has been a wild ride. Both years. I would say this has had a lot of ups and downs. And what we're delivering tonight, I can say I'm genuinely proud of, because I think that what we're delivering tonight really honors the people of California.

We entered this year with nearly 96% of Californians covered by health insurance. And that's a value we should be proud of, 96% of Californians covered by health insurance. It's a value that we should be proud of. And unfortunately, in the face of the largest rollback of health care access in modern American history, we've had some make some very, very tough choices.

And we've had to really double down because if millions of Californians lose their health care, millions of Californians face their own personal affordability crisis that is like nothing we've ever seen before.

And so we've had to come to the table faced with this reality, and we've had a choice this year. We could turn away as many on this floor have asked us to do. You've heard those speeches and tell struggling families that we're not willing to come to their aid, that it's too hard to come to their aid.

Or we could do what California does best, which is move into this budget clear eyed to move into this budget with compassion to say to ourselves, to our colleagues, to the people of California that we don't believe health care should be reserved solely for the fortunate or solely for the wealthy. But that health care should be for regular people, for working people, for people with disabilities, for seniors, for children, for families all across California.

And I would say that this budget absolutely reflects our values and it should reflect our values and we should be proud that it reflects our values. Because those are values of protecting access to care, of preventing hospital closures, of strengthening our health care workforce, of improving California's ability to see see a doctor, of funding ALS wraparound services, of helping children go to the dentist, of maintaining health care for Californians with disabilities, and supporting reproductive and gender affirming care.

Values that strengthen behavioral health services for those with, mental health crises and providing care and coverage for refugees and asylees and maternal health services and menopause care and access to acupuncture and helping the values of helping our county services stay intact and ensuring ultimately that we don't decimate our health care system, a system that many on this floor have fought for before my class got here, before the freshman class got here.

This fight has gone on for decades, and we owe a a debt of gratitude to folks that have fought for that and we should be proud of it and we should lean into it. And when any advocate comes to us and asks us not to do that, we should be strong and we should be able to say that we do value Californians and we do value health care.

And so colleagues, I will just say that I believe this budget does answer our call. It answers the call of the people of California. It answers the call of many members on this floor who want to do the right thing and want to vote their values. And I think you have A Budget in front of you tonight that allows you to do that. So members with that, I respectfully ask for your aye vote on AB 109.

Thirty seconds.

Thank you. Assemblymember Addis. Assemblymember Muratsuchi, you are recognized.

Thank you very much, mister speaker. I I first want to thank and acknowledge all of the hard work that went into this budget. You know, I didn't have an opportunity to work as much on this budget as in past budgets, but I do appreciate the challenge that that we have all faced in this budget given the bad hand that the Trump administration has dealt the state of California to provide a compassionate budget that meets the needs of all.

This will be my last budget that I'll be voting on. And I as, I I recognize that this is the caucus budget, and I will be supporting the caucus budget as a collective effort.

But I'm not gonna act like there isn't stuff in this budget that all of us can be unhappy with. And so I wanna focus on two things. I I know that this is, you know, the first step in well, it's it's the the step toward the ongoing negotiations that that are gonna be concluded by the end of this month. Number one. Number one.

As, you know, my colleague across the aisle from Orange County stated, why are we playing games with proposition 98? $39,000,000,000 being withheld from our schools. California voters passed proposition 98 to establish a constitutionally required minimum funding guarantee to provide that consistency and that predictability to our schools. Stop playing games with proposition 98. Number two, you know, I was here when we passed the ethics studies high school graduation requirement.

And I know that the the ethics studies funding was supposed to be the top priority of the three diversity caucuses. I don't know what happened to that money. I asked the governor when he came to meet with the caucus. And I'm looking at the budget report, the floor report. And it's not like there weren't opportunities to fund ethics studies to fulfill the promise that we established in 2021 when we passed the ethics studies high school graduation requirement.

We have $700,000,000 in the budget coming out of proposition Actually, I don't know if it's coming out of proposition ID. $700,000,000 one time for the kitchen infrastructure and training program with hands on food education, school gardens, and family food pantries. We have $350,000,000 one time proposition 98 general fund dollars for the California newcomers program. We have 350, million dollars one time proposition 98 general fund dollars for the Dream Resource Center grant program. Now I understand that these are all valuable important arguments in and of themselves.

But you can't tell me from looking at these line items that we could not fund ethics studies to fulfill the promise that ethics studies will be a high school graduation requirement in the state of California. So I'll be supporting this budget with a lot of heartburn.

Thank you. Assemblymember Muratsuchi. Assemblymember Jackson, you are recognized. Doctor Jackson.

Thank you very much, mister speaker. I want to first thank the speaker and our budget chair for the tremendous skill in which they have been going about guiding us through the budget process, for the last few years and particularly this year, especially under a time when under normal circumstances, this budget would be tough. But due to, HR 1, we know for sure, that Republicans are trying to make sure that California fails. And so what are we doing to ensure that California doesn't fail?

Number one, we've been guided by three priorities, especially in terms of human services budget subcommittee.

Number one, how can we do all that we can to make sure that we keep our population stable? Because we know bad things happen when people fall into survival mode that will have ripple effects, that will cost us billions of dollars down the road to try to clean up. Number two, what are we doing to make sure that we're taking care of the immediate needs? And I'll just point out two immediate needs that this budget takes care of.

Now there's no doubt that we have to make sure that if we vote for this budget, we have to take the good and the bad with it.

And when you vote down the budget, you have to take the good and the bad with it as well. There's two issues that this budget addresses. Because we looked at the data, and we looked to see who are we missing. Who are we missing? Number one, through many discussions, we found out that there have been many calls in many counties in which CPS was called because a child was in danger.

But the calls and the backlog was so long, we did not get to them in time, and they lost their lives. This budget answers the request from counties to make sure that that doesn't happen.

But the calls and the backlog was so long, we did not get to them in time, and they lost their lives. This budget answers the request from counties to make sure that that doesn't happen.

We also looked at the data and we saw in the county the state's annual public health report that there is a growing rise of seniors who are committing suicide because of the issues of loneliness and isolation. And this money provides funding to ensure that they get the help and the home visitations that they need, particularly in rural areas. The majority is recommending an aye vote.

Republicans are voting no. And then also, we make sure that we hold the line on homelessness and childcare. And, yes, as a co equal branch of government, we are rejecting the governor's recommendations when it comes to that. Because we've heard from our constituents loud and clear. What else is the majority supporting and Republicans are rejecting?

Thirty seconds. This agreement fully rejects the governor's proposed IHSS cuss, protecting seniors and people with disabilities. It allocates a 108,000,000 for Cal Food. It helps counties to make sure that nobody falls off of, CalFresh even though HR 1 kicks off over 730,000 people. It rejects the governor's proposed cuts to adult protective services, provides 80,000,000 more for immigrant legal services.

And yes, we're proud of that because we'll stand on the side of humanity any day. And it supports $16,500,000 for diaper banks. In other words, even though Republicans have tried to set us up for failure, this budget still helps to set up Californians for success.

Thank you, doctor Jackson. Assembly Member Alvarez, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise proudly as the Chair of education budget subcommittee to speak in support of AB 109. And when I say proudly, I don't mean it because it's the perfect budget. I mean it because this budget is people centered and progress focused. On making progress for the most vulnerable people in the state of California.

Everywhere you look in this budget, it is true. We are funding more for vulnerable Californians, and it is true that that includes our immigrant community. I have no issue with that. I have no problem with that. I'm proud to stand in support of all people in the state of California who need help.

And we have a lot of people in the state today who need help. So whether it's elder care, vulnerable population, feeding programs for kids and families, health care for anyone regardless of their status, if they need access to health care, we are standing up for that. And I am okay with that. I don't have to stand here and defend anything because I think that's the right thing to do.

And when it comes to education, the people that matter in education budget are mostly young people, little kids, in our pre k through 12 school system, in our community colleges, and in our universities.

And this budget is historically the most the largest budget in the history of the state of California to support students. And if that's not progress for you, then I'm not sure what it looks like. What progress looks like in this budget for students and for families is historical investments in special education, a population that has been left behind for far too long. Historic investments in this budget in special education.

Focused on dual enrollment so that students can go from high school to college more effectively, more successfully.

We want students to have an education, to be able to have a career, to be successful in California. We've gotta support them where they're at. Historic investments in our community colleges where we know that the majority of students are coming from working class communities who are looking for an opportunity, who may not afford it to do it any other way if it weren't for the community colleges, which is free and accessible to everyone no matter what walk of life they come from. Historic investments.

Immigrant resource centers at our schools.

Again, I'm proud of that because we have students in the state of California that are today because of the federal administration, in this case, the Trump administration, refusing to support students and basic things like what what I thought was all we were all agreeing on a few years ago, DACA recipients and a process for them to renew being delayed today. That is why we need these resources for our students in California. These types of investments matter for Californians for all those reasons.

And I do wanna talk about, because people have raised it, the issue of proposition 98 and $3,900,000,000 in this proposal. It is absolutely correct to say that we must fund fully fund proposition 98 because the constitution calls for that.

And what this budget deal says is that we will do that. We will do it within the requirements of the constitution and the statues in the state of California to make sure that that money gets paid and it gets to the classroom. All of those investments are historic, but they're worth it. So we can have a teacher pipeline, the types of classrooms we support, the types of school communities that we support, the types of student supports that are needed so that our students can be successful.

Thirty seconds.

That is why I stand here and I ask that you support the historic investments like never before in education by voting Aye on AB 109. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Assemblymember Alvarez. Assemblymember Ransom, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So you all know I don't need to generally take, the entire time, but I may just need to do that this evening. So I wanna be clear about this budget, and there's a lot that can be said about this budget. I'm gonna start by saying that I really wish that the critics, those finding fault with this budget were equally critical about how we got here.

We are here because Donald Trump has lodged an attack and intentionally and continually made life harder and unaffordable for millions of Americans, including those right here in California.

What Trump is doing is unprecedented. It is an attack, a deliberate systemic dismantling of everything that we know in California. We did not pick this fight. We did not pick this fight, but we are not gonna back down because we have to stand in the gap for Californians. The president who wants to hand 2,000,000,000 to insurrectionists and rioters who attack the nation and who can afford to focus on building a ballroom.

This is the same president who's cut billions for the most vulnerable in our communities, creating nationwide uncertainty and anxiety. So in California, we are fighting to save our state from feeling the burden of these federal cuts. A budget is always about balancing what our constituents need with what we can provide in the state. And what we're here to do is to provide stability and certainty and more clarity. Those things that have been taken away from this entire nation.

And California has taken unprecedented steps to expand and protect our constituents' health care. Those laws don't discriminate based on whether you're in a red area or whether you're in a blue area, north, south, coastal, or valley. Our colleagues across the aisle have the luxury of voting against funding Medi Cal, CalFresh, and home supportive services because they know that we will pass a budget that they can go home and take credit for. We've all seen the numbers.

Some districts and, yes, red and rural have 49%, 6070% of their population enrolled in medical.

So AB 109 is about everyone lives are on the line in California. So my colleagues can bicker and babble about what they find disagreeable, why the majority party puts food on the constituent's table and takes care of the aging grandparents in those districts. And if you wanna talk about fairness, please explain how that's fair. It's easy to go on our platforms and stoke divisiveness and talk about the bad Democrats.

But the reality is is because of Democrats, struggling families across of California, including rule in red, will not suffer, starve, and die unnecessarily.

While Trump is kicking more than 2,000,000 Californians off of their health care through the big beautiful bill, we are expanding access with $300,000,000 for lower health care premiums, $1,000,000,000 in clinics and hospitals, investments in keeping our counties in the position to provide eligibility, connecting California's to the help and hospitals before they ever see a bill.

While communities are being put at risk, we are making sure that local hospitals can stay open and we are putting public hospitals in rural hospitals on a standard of sustainability with a 300,000,000 investment. Because of Trump, nearly 800,000 workers, children, seniors, veterans are losing food assistance. So, yes, we are feeding children, seniors, veterans with a $108,000,000 for food banks.

So while Trump's actions are increasing grass gas prices and grocery costs across America and definitely in California, we are supporting families and investing $1,600,000,000 to build more affordable multifamily housing.

We are also looking to make sure that 22,000 new childcare opportunities are open so that parents can work and bring home a living for their children while the same is being cut at the federal level.

Thirty seconds.

I will end by saying that I appreciate the work of the assembly, budget chair, Gabriel excuse me, the the budget chair and our speaker. And it is so important that we protect Californians at a time that California is under attack. And with that, I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Ransom. Assemblymember Patterson, you are recognized.

Great. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I Miss being a staff member at times, and I'd like to congratulate and thank the the comms team from the Democratic caucus because clearly, they were up late drafting all these rosy talking points by many of my colleagues on the assembly floor today in alignment. And there's a pattern in all of them, Trump bad, all these good things that we're doing. You know?

And, look, nobody believes it. Nobody believes all of those things. But I will say, they did a fabulous job, and they probably got the budget before we did. So we're at a little bit of a disadvantage as we went through the budget ourselves, but but they were very prepared, so congratulations to them. You know, of course, there's some good things in the budget.

When revenues are up $60,000,000,000 from the current budget year and you still borrow $14,000,000,000 in reserves, there's gonna be some good things in the budget. You can't contain yourself with all that extra money. You still gotta spend more money than you're collecting.

But one of the things is I kinda I'm almost spit out my soda when you say lower health care premiums every time that was said today because there isn't I'll just tell you right now, Californians, your health care costs are not going down under this budget. That is a certainty.

You're stealing money from health care in this budget. $2,300,000,000 stolen from health care to balance the general fund because that 60,000,000,000 and 14,000,000,000 wasn't enough money. So let's take another 2,300,000,000 out of health care to balance the general fund. And it's already been mentioned by my Democratic colleagues. Let's continue to short the kids billions of dollars in their school programs.

And why is that? Is are their test scores going up? No. They continue to fall behind peers throughout the nation, but let's go ahead and steal some more money from them anyways. So let's steal money from health care.

Let's steal money from schools. We're on a good track record here. We're also the last state to not pay off our debt, an unemployment debt. We won't even talk about the billions of dollars of of fraud that happened right here in this state. But the debt that we took out, we're the last state to not pay it off, and we're one of the only states to not use the stimulus funds.

The billions of dollars we got from the Federal Government, by the way, some of that under the Trump admin the first Trump administration, we're one of the only states to not pay off that debt. So what are we gonna do? We're gonna charge employers. But let's take 600, what is it, 688 $668,000,000 to pay the interest. That's coming out of programs because we weren't forward thinking to pay off that debt in the first place.

And there's a new tax on software that's that's just snuck in there. I hope people don't use apps on their phone. And we can't forget about research and development tax credits that we continue every year to fight about. I mean, this is the state. Everybody likes to talk of promise and opportunity, but we're one of the only states that doesn't fund research and development.

By the way, that money goes to jobs, great jobs, whether it's biotech, whether it's other types of technology in this state, whether it's manufacturing. That money goes to a lot of jobs, and we're gonna go ahead and not fund that so we can pay a lot of other special interests. So I just you know, I could just my message to Californians is this.

If you think this budget is gonna do anything to improve the quality of your life, all of those nice things they were talking if you think the cost of living is going down, if you think your health care premiums are going down, if you think your utility rates are going down, if you think your gas taxes are going down, they're actually going up in a couple of days here, if you think any of those things are happening under that budget, don't be misled by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle because they're all going up underneath under this budget.

I respectfully ask for a no vote.

for a no vote.

Thank you. Assemblymember Patterson. Assemblymember Elhawary, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members. I feel compelled to begin my comments by reminding Everyone that HR 1 was never just about providing more unnecessary tax breaks for the wealthy. It was also about kicking people off of Medi Cal, taking food assistance away from families, and putting massive holes in our safety net. The cruelty of this should be unimaginable, but this is the reality that our communities are living every single day.

And so as the rich get richer, people in my district are fighting every day to stay housed, keep a job, and care for their loved ones.

This is a constant and daily struggle. I invite any of you to come to my district to see proof in communities like South Central and Skid Row, but you don't have to. The consequences are visible there and all across our state where there are pockets of poverty in every district and every single one of yours. Poverty is not a district issue. It's a California issue.

We see the impact of what that looks like, distressed hospitals, school districts laying off staff and going into receivership, public transit near collapse, homelessness and human despair on our streets and in our emergency rooms every single day. This is a collective issue. These challenges belong to all of us, and we have a responsibility to do better. I would like to thank the speaker, budget chair, and the subcommittee chairs for fighting to protect our most vulnerable residents.

In particular, I'm grateful that this budget rejects cuts to IHSS for seniors and people with disabilities.

IHSS is not a luxury. It's the support that allows people to remain in their homes, maintain their independence, and live with dignity. And the need for these services will only continue to grow. By 2030, nearly 10,000,000 Californians will be older adults, which is about one quarter of our state's population. Protecting programs like IHSS is not only the right thing to do today, it is essential in preparing for California's future.

I'm also encouraged by the continued commitment to closing another prison, saving a $150,000,000 in ongoing funds, which can be reinvested into programs like rehabilitation, drug treatment, and reentry services that will end up saving lives and taxpayer dollars.

And I'd like to shout out our health committee chair for advocating for what is known as the fair share plan for big corporations, for employers that cost shift their employees to Medi Cal, which is reflected in this budget agreement as a commitment going forward for the next governor and their administration. But it is so ironic that some of the most difficult conversations in this building involve asking large corporations to contribute their fair share. Budgets are more than financial documents. They are a reflection of our values.

This budget reflects many of the values that we all hold dear. I recognize that challenging negotiations remain ahead, and I understand the importance of preparing for the future. But a rainy day fund is supposed to be there for when it's raining. And in my opinion, the storm is here. It is a whole hurricane.

And while I understand that it's being fiscally responsible to build up the rainy reserves and prepare for the economy to potentially get worse, or the most likely scenario, that the policies of the Trump administration will continue to inflict even more harm on our state and its residents and our economy and budget. I also don't wanna lose sight of the fact that our residents have needs that must command our attention now.

Because what good is a rainy day fund if you have no roof over your head, no health insurance, or no job? Families need support now. Seniors need support now.

People with disabilities need support now. The true measure of a budget is not what it saves, but who it serves. I would like to again thank our speaker, our budget Chair, and their Senate counterparts for keeping the residents of my assembly district and all Californians at the center of this agreement. Thank you.

Thank you, Assemblymember Elhawary. Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members. First, I wanna thank the speaker, our budget Chair, our subcommittee Chairs, and the incredible staff who were tasked with preparing a budget under extraordinary conditions. There are a lot of things in here that help us preserve the systems that maintain our social safety net, and I'd like to recognize all the good that my colleagues and I have fought for that made it. But there are issues, especially in our outlook for next year.

I would like to start by saying that all of us are not questioning that California is facing difficult budget choices.

While California has benefited from strong revenue growth in recent years, those revenues alone have not insulated us from growing fiscal pressures and reductions in federal support as we have discussed this evening. However, balancing our books on the backs of working immigrant families, even if those costs are being put off until next year, is not a long term solution.

If this discussion is truly about fiscal impacts, then we should also acknowledge the billions of dollars immigrants contribute to our economy and the revenues they generate for our state. Undocumented Californians contribute billions each year in state and local taxes and play an essential role in our economy. Harvesting our food, building our homes, caring for our children and seniors, and keeping entire industries moving forward.

When we talk about fiscal impacts, we should also be honest about the cost of inaction. When people lose access to preventative care, those costs do not disappear. They show up later in emergency rooms, county systems, and struggling hospitals at a far greater expense to taxpayers. The question before us is not simply what we can cut today. It is whether we are making decisions that recognize economic reality, treat all taxpayers fairly, and avoid even greater costs tomorrow.

So while I'm going to support AV 109, and I will continue working with my colleagues to ensure that our future budget reflects a simple reality. California's prosperity was not built by excluding immigrant communities, and it will not be sustained by turning our backs on them. With that, I respectfully ask for your continued engagement and your eye vote on AB 109.

Thank you. Assemblymember Rodriguez. Assemblymember Soria, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members. I also rise in support of AB 109. This budget recognizes that California is facing a financial health care crisis because because of HR's 1 disastrous policies, and it's taking steps to defend the medical infrastructure that Californians had depended on and that this legislative body has chosen to invest in. Make no mistake, if we do nothing, HR 1's cuts will leave millions of Californians uninsured, particularly California low income communities like the ones I represent.

This federal administration continues to push California's hospitals to the brink of closure, especially the most vulnerable facilities in rural areas like the ones in my district.

I know the damage of just losing one of these facilities and what it can cost to a community. When Madera Community Hospital closed in 2022, it not only created a health desert in Madera County, but it also overwhelmed hospitals in neighboring counties, creating a cascade of consequences. These consequences resulted in the loss of life. People died in my district.

Women without any maternity ward within 30 miles of where they live were forced to give birth on their couches, in their homes, without any medical aid or nurses to help them because their community hospital shut down.

It was a crisis. There remains a crisis. That is why this budget funds the distress distress hospital loan program, the program that saved Madera Community Hospital, and it brought it back to life, the program that saved Kaweah Delta Hospital, which is down a little bit south where I was born by giving it a lifeline. And it brought other close to dozen hospitals back from the brink in 2023.

By investing $190,000,000 into critically at risk hospitals throughout the state will be able to save those hospitals like Madera.

I support AB 109 not because it's perfect, but because it means we are stepping up for our communities. We are stepping up for our schools and our children. We are stepping up for those who rely on medical and desperately need the safety net of a basic health care of basic health care. A vote today is a vote to keep hospitals open. A vote today is a vote to fund health care access for the most vulnerable, including immigrants, in my community.

Those that pick the food and the vegetables that you all eat. A vote today is to keep funding for IHSS. Funding that is critically important, not only for my mother, but for thousands and millions of people in this state that rely on this program. A vote today is a vote for funding affordable housing and keeping families housed and not homeless. So today, members, while this may not be perfect, it is a budget that will keep California moving forward and puts families first.

I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Assemblymember Soria. Assemblymember Rambula, you're recognized on the measure.

Thank you, mister speaker and members. I wanna begin by thanking speaker Robert Rivas, pro tem Monique Limon for bringing our houses together and coming to this two party agreement. I wanna thank chair Gabriel, sub one chair, Addis, sub two chair, Jackson, sub three chair, Alvarez, sub four chair Bennett, sub five chair Quirk Silva, sub six chair Ramos, and sub seven chair Hart for their hard work on this.

And let's not forget the staff who work so diligently to provide us with the most consequential bill policy bill that will vote on this floor this year. I'm looking at you, Jason Sisney, and Christian Griffith, and Nicole Vasquez, for all the hard work that you've done to put this bill together.

And let us remember where we are here in the people's house. So let's thank the public for making us work so hard to deliver a budget that's reflective of our values as we are the people's house, and we're here to do their work. I'm gonna begin by focusing on the areas that I spent most of my time working on since coming here to Sacramento, and that's on health and human services.

While I won't be going through every line item, I'm gonna highlight some of the important ones that we were able to preserve. So I can tell you a little bit about them, so you can continue to fight for them next year.

Because this is my last budget. I've worked on 11 so far, and I'm proud of what we've been able to accomplish together. So I'm gonna begin with the $1,000,000,000 that we invested to make sure that we rejected the elimination of our prospective payment system for our community clinics. The alternative was for us to have fee for service. That PPS system allows us to do valued based care rather than fee for service where you're billing for every single procedure that you do.

That saves us money as a whole where you're now focused on the diagnosis or the condition that we have. Let's talk about the $250,000,000 to support our public hospitals or the 190,000,000 for us to make sure that we are reinvesting into our distressed loan revolving program to help our hospitals that are on the brink of collapse. Let's look at the 190,000,000 that we're investing into preserving Denti Cal for our UIS populations.

Let's look at the 84,900,000 that we're going to now preserve and not force the restricted caps that come with our PACE program, our programs for all inclusive care for the elderly. These are programs that helps us to do medical and social to make sure that our elderly are able to live with dignity in their own homes rather than going to nursing homes.

Let's look at the 200 and nearly 14,000,000 to support our county administration for workload, to help those who are on Medi Cal, the 245,000,000 to augment county CalFresh workload administration. This is vital money where the rubber meets the road. The rejection of the medical asset test, the 300,000,000 that goes into covered California, and let's now focus on human services. The 100,000,000 that we're investing into our immigrant legal system.

In particular, I wanna call out the 7 and a half million that we invested for the legal fellowship program over the next three years that does capacity building.

The 94,000,000 is a backfill to Prop 64, which were proposed to cut 6,800 childcare slots. And the additional 228,000,000 that we're investing to create 22,700 childcare slots. Through saving and creating, there are now over 29,000 childcare slots that were not there the year before. The 112,000,000 for us to pay our childcare providers a cola that they deserve of two point o 1%. And of course, we have to recognize the rejection of the IHSS cuts.

The 100 bill million that we invested into Cal Food above the merely 8,000,000 that the governor put in or said another way, an increase of 1350% to Cal Food to support our food banks across the state. The 16 and a half million for our diaper banks, and I'm looking at the Central California Food Bank and the leadership of Kim Dildine and Natalie Capels who help us to deliver on that.

As well as our 25,000,000 into housing and disability advocacy program to protect those who are disabled, who are at risk of homelessness, or experiencing homelessness to make sure that they stay housed.

Thirty seconds.

50,000,000 that we have going into our home safe program to protect those on APS. The 25,000,000 for those who are on bringing families home to protect those with child welfare systems so that we don't can bring and reunite families rather than having them go into foster care. And finally, the item zero five zero nine one zero one dash zero zero one. Doesn't sound like much to all of you, but that's a 100,000,000 going to the Fresno public infrastructure plan.

So we can finally meet the commitment that the governor had where we can rebuild our sewer and our water infrastructure.

We are ground zero for high speed rail. We are building tomorrow, today. We are having a chance to make sure that when we have that first high speed rail station, that we're gonna have a great downtown. Great cities have great downtowns. Fresno's long on its way, and we're creating momentum today.

Thank you for allowing me to share words on my final budget. Thank you, mister speaker and members.

Thank you, doctor Rambola. And assemblywoman No. Alright. Seeing no other members wishing to address this measure, once, twice. Mister Gabriel, you may close on maybe 01:09.

Thank thank you very much, mister speaker. I I don't know that there's much left to be said, so let me just say the most important thing was just thank you. First, thank you to all of the colleagues from across the state who have spoken, and I really wanna appreciate everyone for their incredible, thoughtful engagement for the work that you have all have been part of in crafting this budget. I wanna thank our staff who have worked so tirelessly, all year to bring us to this moment.

I wanna thank both our democratic staff and our Republican staff.

All of our staff in this building worked so hard, and I especially wanna shout out the staff of the Assembly Budget Committee under the very able leadership of Christian Griffith. And the in in incomparable and irreplaceable Jason Sisney from the speaker's office, who has just done an extraordinary job. And, again, wanna thank, our budget subcommittee chairs.

You know, there's a tendency in politics for people to wanna avoid tough choices, to wanna fall back on partisan talking points, and our subcommittee chairs have done the opposite of that. They have rolled up their sleeves.

They have done the hard work. They have dug in. They have made difficult choices. They have found areas to tighten the belt and also areas to hold the line, and I just wanna thank them, with immense gratitude. They have been the heart and soul of this budget process, and we would not be at this moment without their very capable leadership.

So thank you to all of our budget subcommittee chairs. And finally, I wanted to thank our speaker, speaker Rivas. I have had, quite a few sleepless nights as I have contemplated the choices before us in crafting this budget. And when you take a step back and you think about these not as numbers on a spreadsheet but as people, there's a lot of choices here with profound moral implications. And they're difficult choices.

They're hard choices. And I wanna thank our speaker because of his guidance and his leadership. We have crafted what I think our colleague from San Diego referred to as a people centered budget. And that was exactly the direction that our speaker, gave us. So every time we faced a fork in the road, it was always about our seniors, our students, our veterans, our working families, our middle class taxpayers.

That was the guiding light in crafting this budget, and that is the people that we are sent here to serve. That is who this budget serves. And so on behalf of the people of the state of California, respectfully request your aye vote on AB 109.

Thank you, Assemblymember Gabriel. All debate haven't ceased, so Cook 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 59, nos 18. The measure passes, and then amendments are concurred in. Without objection, immediate transmittal to the governor. Madam majority leader, you are recognized.

I request unanimous consent to suspend assembly rule 56 to allow the Labor and Employment Committee to notice the following bills for their hearing on Wednesday, June 24. SB 954, Blakespear, pending rereferral from the Natural Resources Committee, and SB 1024, Menjivar, pending rereferral from the Public Employment and Retirement Committee.

Not objections. That shall be the order. Okay. We are going to be moving on to business on the daily file. We begin with the second reading file, items one through eight.

The clerk will read.

Senate Bill 327 with amendments, Senate Bill 868 with amendments, Senate Bill 1233 with amendments, Senate Bill 742 with amendments, Senate Bill 929 with amendments, Senate Bill 943 with amendments, Senate Bill 1138 with amendments, and Senate Bill 925 with amendments.

All bills will be deemed read. All amendments will be deemed adopted.

Just a moment, folks. Okay. We are back on to concurrence file item number nine. We're gonna pass and retain reconsideration file items 10 through 12. All items shall be continued.

The assembly third reading file is file items 13 through 19. We shall pass and retain. That brings us to the Senate third reading file, file items 20 through 36. We'll pass and retain them file items 20, 21, 22. File item 23 is SCR Senate concurrent Resolution 89 by Senator Smallwood Cuevas presented by assembly member McKinnor.

Clerk will read.

The Senate Concurrent Resolution 89 by Senator Smallwood-Cuevas and others, relative to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Assembly Member McKinnor, you are recognized.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of SCR 89. I am also one of only 24 Black women to ever serve in the California State Legislature. That's right. In the 175 years of California statehood, only 24 Black women have ever been elected to serve in this building behind me.

I was elected to California State Assembly not because I am a Black woman, but my service to my constituents, to my district, and to the people of the state of California have been and will continue to be influenced by my unique experience.

And that's a good thing. Growing up Black in LA County in the 1960s, raising Black boys in a world that has not always valued Black youth, navigating my career path in the public and private sector as a Black woman; all of my unique life experiences bring value to making public policy. And that is what is at the center of DEI in the state and in the nation: valuing the unique life experiences and the uniqueness of who we are as individuals.

The federal government is actively trying to silence the voices that are making decisions. The federal government is actively trying to silence the voices of people that look like me. But I will not be silenced, my colleagues. Our state and our nation are stronger and more resilient when voices of all people are heard and not just a few. Our democracy is stronger when we value the voices of people that look different, love different, and have different life experiences.

Our democracy should demand more voices be heard when decisions are being made in state capitals, in the U.S. capital, and in the White House and in board rooms across America. And that is in the center of why I support SCR 89. We as Californians are not afraid of each other's, my friends. We as Californians are-- we value each other.

We as Californians are stronger when we listen to each other and build a state and a nation that realizes the true potential of all people. I thank Senator Smallwood-Cuevas on valuing the voices of all Californians and for authoring this important resolution. Thank you.

I thank Senator Smallwood Cuevas on valuing the voices of all Californians and for authoring this important resolution. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members, I rise today on behalf of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus in strong support of SCR 89, which affirms our state's unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. For the Jewish community, the principles of DEI are not merely modern policy goals. They're deeply rooted in the Jewish community's history and values. Jewish tradition teaches us a sacred responsibility to pursue justice and to recognize the inherent dignity of every human being.

We know all too well what happens when societies abandon these ideals and refused-- and the Jewish community refuses to be bystanders in this moment of rising hate. Diversity is the foundation upon which California was built, and it would not be the place it is today without the remarkable contributions from communities of color, indigenous peoples, women, LGBTQ plus individuals, and people with disabilities, among others.

The Jewish community will continue to stand in unwavering solidarity with every community fighting to protect civil rights, equal opportunity, and human dignity. SCR 89 recognizes that diversity is California's greatest strength. When we remove barriers and expand pathways to success, we ensure that our state remains a beacon of hope and opportunity for all.

At a time when communities across our nation are experiencing increased fear, polarization, and extremism, this resolution sends a clear message. The American Dream and the California Dream belongs to everyone. In that spirit and on behalf of the Jewish Caucus, I respectfully request an aye vote on SCR 89.

The American dream and the California dream belongs to everyone. In that spirit and on behalf of the Jewish caucus, I respectfully request an aye vote on SCR 89.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today as Chair of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus in support of SCR 89 because today, we have to say, clearly and unequivocally, California must reaffirm its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, not just in words, but in action. SCR 89 takes that step by affirming that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not optional add-ons but essential foundations for achieving the American Dream and ensuring that all people can thrive.

These principles are deeply rooted in our nation's history from the expansion of voting rights to landmark civil rights protections to laws that open doors for people with disabilities, women, veterans, and generations of workers. DEI reflects our ongoing effort to move closer to the promise of equal opportunity for all.

But let's be clear. DEI is under attack through deliberate efforts to narrow who belongs, who is valued, and who gets access to opportunity, and we see it when loan forgiveness and workforce development programs that once helped LGBTQ students, veterans, and public servants are eliminated under the guise of being, quote, too inclusive.

We see it when LGBTQ resource centers are shut down and resources like the LGBTQ dedicated suicide prevention hotlines are eliminated, cutting off safe spaces and academic support and in spite of overwhelming evidence that individuals face higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide risk.

And in spite of overwhelming evidence that individuals face higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide risk.

And we see it when DEI bans erase our history from classrooms, silence conversations about identity, and tell young people that who they are is something to be hidden or erased. And we see it in the workplace where attacks on DEI weaken anti-discrimination protections, eliminate inclusive hiring practices, and make it harder for workers, especially pregnant individuals, people of color, transgender individuals, and those with disabilities to access good jobs, fair pay, and safe working conditions. Now these are not abstract debates.

These are real policies with real consequences for real Californians. There is a collective-- there's a collective actively attempting to distort DEI and payment as diverse--excuse me--divisive, unnecessary, or even harmful, and let's be clear. The opposite is true.

Here in California, we have always stood and understood that our diversity is our greatest asset. It is what fuels our economy, it enriches our culture, and it makes the state a place where people come not just to survive, but to thrive. Efforts to roll back DEI are just not about fairness or merit. They are about exclusion, erasing history, limiting opportunity, and deciding who gets left behind. So we must be clear and unapologetic. Affirming DEI is not partisan. It is moral. It is practical and it is necessary.

They are about exclusion, erasing history, limiting opportunity, and deciding who gets left behind. So we must be clear and unapologetic. Affirming DEI is not partisan. It is moral. It is practical, and it is necessary.

The LGBTQ Caucus is proud to stand alongside Senator Smallwood-Cuevas and our colleague from Inglewood in support of SCR 89, reaffirming that California stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. I respectfully ask for your aye vote on SCR 89.

Thank you, Assembly Member Ward. Assembly Member Bonta, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and members. I rise today in strong support of SCR 89, on behalf of the California Legislative Black Caucus, as a member of the Women's Caucus, and as a member of the Latino Caucus and the beautiful people in my district of Oakland, Alameda, and Emeryville, a community nearly four times more diverse than California is as a whole, and a community whose name is synonymous with diverse resistance, diverse excellence in this country.

I stand here today because the American Dream belongs to all of us or it belongs to none of us. Every time I come to this floor, I think about the diversity of Oakland and what it gives to this country: the Black Panther Party, free breakfast programs for children that became a federal model, a labor movement that built the American middle-class.

The Black Panther Party, free breakfast programs for children that became a federal model, a labor movement that built the American middle class. Diversity is strength. Research shows that closing racial gaps in wages, education, housing, and lending could have added $16,000,000,000,000 in The US economy over the past two decades. Companies in the top tier of workforce diversity are significantly more likely to outperform their competitors. DEI is investment.

Diversity is strength. Research shows that closing racial gaps in wages, education, housing, and lending could have added $16 trillion in the U.S. economy over the past two decades. Companies in the top tier of workforce diversity are significantly more likely to outperform their competitors. DEI is investment.

It is how we build an economy where everyone can contribute, yet right now, the federal government is issuing executive orders designed to dismantle diversity programs, pressure universities, and tell employers that correcting discrimination is itself discriminatory. Let me be direct. That argument is not new, and it has always been wrong. We cannot build a race-blind future on a foundation that was never race blind.

The Thirteenth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Fifteenth Amendments, those were DEI. The Civil Rights Act, that was DEI. Title 1 education funding, that was DEI. This country has always known that the promise of equal opportunity requires active, deliberate work. SCR 89 says California will not abandon that work.

We are reaffirming that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not radical ideas. They are foundational American values when those struggles written into our law become a part of our essential future. Our communities did not wait for equity to be handed down. We organized, we marched, and we demanded it. We will continue to do that work. California will not be silent. With SCR 89, we hold the line. Thank you, and I respectfully request your aye vote.

California will not be silent. With SCR 89, we hold the line. Thank you, and I respectfully request your aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Bonta. Assembly Member Fong, you are recognized.

Good evening, Mr. Speaker and members. I rise in strong support of SCR 89, on behalf of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus. The American Dream and California Dream for many families is defined by access to opportunity, yet for many communities, those opportunities have not always been equitable. DEI efforts recognize the diversity within our community and help first-generation families, individuals, students who face language, economic, and systemic barriers.

DEI initiatives create culturally responsive campuses that better serve students and strengthen learning environments for everyone. SCR 89 reaffirms California's commitment to uplifting diverse communities and protecting inclusive environments, even in the face of federal rollbacks. When we protect DEI measures, we protect our opportunity for people to fulfill their dreams and aspirations. On behalf of the API Legislative Caucus, I respectfully ask for an aye vote on SCR 89. Thank you.

Thank you, Assembly Member Fong. Assembly Member Wilson, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good evening, colleagues. Today, I rise in support of SCR 89. To the privileged, equality feels like oppression. We all recognize privilege is desirable. It feels good to have access to something that others do not have. And we all have privilege in some form or another in our lives.

It feels good to have access to something that others do not have. And we all have privilege in some form or another in our lives. However, privilege can be antithetical to the American dream. The American dream is rooted in one's ability to achieve their own version of success no matter where they are born, what class they are born into, or their race, ethnicity, or culture, or even one's disability, or lack thereof. I often say that DEI is like a math problem.

However, privilege can be antithetical to the American Dream. The American Dream is rooted in one's ability to achieve their own version of success no matter where they are born, what class they are born into, or their race, ethnicity, or culture, or even one's disability or lack thereof. I often say that DEI is like a math problem.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion should equal belonging. If it doesn't, then you're doing it wrong. If I'm lifting one up to exclude another, then it's missing its mark. However, if I'm lifting one up to bring parity to another, then I've created an atmosphere of belonging and an atmosphere of success.

So I rise to support SCR 89 and strongly encourage my colleagues to reaffirm its commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion in a way that allows all Californians to feel a sense of belonging in order to achieve the American Dream. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Assembly Member Wilson. Assembly Member DeMaio, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A good number of members of this body will not be voting for this resolution, and, of course, the setup is if you don't vote for DEI--diversity, equity, inclusion--you must be a racist. Those of us that don't support DEI do so because we do not believe that people should be treated any differently on the basis of immutable characteristics such as their skin color or their religion or their gender or who they love.

We should not be looking at those factors and saying, we're gonna treat people differently, and that's exactly what DEI does. That's the definition of DEI. We just have a disagreement on how to achieve better outcomes for all. You have just celebrated California as a leader in DEI. You say how wonderful DEI is. It's gonna lift these communities up, but let's take a look at California.

That's the definition of DEI. We just have a disagreement on how to achieve better outcomes for all. You have just celebrated California as a leader in DEI. You say how wonderful DEI is. It's gonna lift these communities up.

You've had, what, a couple decades of DEI out here, and the policies have only been more DEI with each passing year. But let me tell you, Black and brown Californians are getting hurt the most by your policies. So much for DEI. Some might even argue that you're sponsoring a resolution like this because it's all about talk, not action.

Let's review the bidding. Even CNN's Fareed Zakaria this weekend slammed California basically as a failed state. They went through a litany of stats. When you lose CNN on quality of life and affordability, who else do you have? Sacramento Bee, maybe?

But take a look at some of the issues. Cost of living in California for the typical California family is almost $30,000 more for a family of four versus the national average. $30K to live in California versus what a family of four would have to pay if they live anywhere else. That is indefensible. But when you take a look at who's in poverty, it's disproportionately Black and brown.

So much for DEI lifting them out in California of poverty. How about our schools? Fifty percent of California students can't read or write at the proficiency standards. Two-thirds are not able to do math at proficiency standards, but when you take a look at Black and brown kids, 80% in all three of those categories.

But our schools are perhaps the most DEI schools that you can get in this country. This is not a policy that works. There's something else that's failing, not just Black and brown Californians, but all Californians. But instead of focusing on those problems, you got a resolution, and anyone who opposes you and points out the obvious must be a racist. They don't care about Black and brown people.

It's divisive, not constructive. If we wanted to actually help all Californians, irrespective of their skin color or who they love or their gender, we'd be making things more affordable, we'd be creating more jobs, we'd be making communities more safe, we would be making our schools better, but every passing year, all of those issues get worse and the budget we're about to pass lets those communities down once again. So I will be registering a no vote. You can call it what you'd like, but I will stand on the facts. Talk is cheap. Action is everything. Let's take real action for all communities.

But every passing year, all of those issues get worse. And the budget we're about to pass lets those committees down once again. So I will be registering a no vote. You can call it what you'd like, but I will stand on the facts. Talk is cheap.

Action is everything. Let's take real action for all communities.

Thank you, Assembly Member DeMaio. Assembly Member McKinnor, seeing and hearing no further debate, do you wish to close?

Yes, Mr. Speaker. I am standing to support SCR 89. We will see who the people are who are not voting for this bill. No one-- and I thank my colleagues for rising in support of the resolution. I don't think any of my colleagues called anybody a racist but, you know, if you're feeling guilty, I've never-- me being a Black woman, I never wanted to be treated differently.

I never thought people should be treated differently. And so I rise because I believe that everyone-- that there's room for everybody to have jobs. There's room for everybody to be successful. There's room for all of us to be educated. And so DEI is very important to this state, and with that, I ask for your support on SCR 89. Thank you.

And with that, I ask for your support on SER 89. Thank you.

Assembly Member, do you wish for the first role to be open for co-authors?

Yes, please.

All debate having ceased, the clerk will open the roll. Members, this is for co-authors. All members vote who desire to vote. This is for co-authors. All members vote who desire to vote. Clerk will close the roll and tally the votes. Ayes: 50; no: zero. Excuse me. There are 50-- it's late. I'm sorry.

Clerk will close the roll and tally the votes. Ayes 50, no zero. Excuse me. There are 50. It's late.

I'm sorry. There are 50 co authors added. Without objection, we'll take a voice vote on the resolution. All those in favor, say aye. Aye.

There are 50 co-authors added. Without objection, we'll take a voice vote on the resolution. All those in favor, say aye. All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The resolution is adopted. We're gonna pass and retain on File Items 24 through 36. Okay.

All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The resolution is adopted. We're gonna pass and retain on file items 24 through 36. Okay.

Continuing on. Mister Gabriel, SB 110. Okay. Without reference to file, Senate bill 110 presented by Assembly member Gabriel. The clerk will read.

Senate bill 110 by Senator Laird An act relating to the state budget and make an appropriation therefore to take effect immediately budget bill.