Senate Standing Committee on Rules

Alright. The Senate Rules Committee will come to order. Before we begin today's agenda, let's establish quorum.

Can we please call the roll? [Roll Call] Quorum.

A quorum has been established. If there are no objections, I'd like to take up first on today's agenda, governor's appointments not required to appear starting with item two e, the appointment of Dorka Keehn as member of the California Arts Council. Thank you.

We have a, motion you did you say so moved?

I didn't say so moved.

Oh. Do we have a motion?

There you go.

Thank you, Senator Reyes. We have a motion. Can we please call the roll?

[Roll Call] 3 to 0.

Thank you. That item is approved three to zero. Next item for governor's appointments not required to appear is item two f, Luciana Profacca, PhD for the Commission on Disabilities. Do we have a motion?

So moved.

Thank you, Vice Chair Grove. Can we please call the roll?

[Roll Call] 5 to 0.

Alright. The next item for governor's appointments not required to appear is item two g, Sarah Hahn Shapiro, JD, for the Commission on Disability Access. Thank you. We have a motion by Vice Chair Grove. Can we please call the roll?

[Roll Call] 5 to 0\.

That item is approved 5 to 0. Next item for governor's appointments not required to appear is item two h, Robin Umberg, for the California Veterans Board. I'll entertain a motion.

So moved.

Thank you, Vice Chair Grove. Can we please call the roll?

[Roll Call] 5 to 0.

Alright. That item is approved. 5 to 0. Next item for governor's appointments not required to appear is item two Aye, Veronica Zurer for the California Veterans Board. Can I

Thank you so much?

Thank you. I have a motion by Vice Chair Grove. Can we please call the roll?

[Roll Call] 5 to 0.

Alright. That item is approved 5 to 0. Next item for governor's appointments not required to appear is item two g, sorry, two j. Daniel Curtin for the California Water Commission. Can I please get a motion for that?

I think we should talk about this one, but no. So moved. I'm just teasing you.

Alright. That one. Thank you. We have a motion by Vice Chair Grove. Can we please call the roll?

[Roll Call] 5 to 0.

Alright. That is 5, 0. Next item for governor's appointments not required to appear is item two k, Phil Ginsberg, JD, for the State Park and Recreation Commission. Can I have a motion, please? I move.

Thank you, Senator Laird. Can we please call the roll?

[Roll Call] 3 to 2.

Alright. The last item for governor's appointments not required to appear is item two l. Francesca Veeder for the State Park and Recreation Commission. Can I please have a motion for that? Thank you, Senator Laird, for the motion.

Can we please call the roll?

[Roll Call] 3 to 2.

Alright. That item is approved, three to two. Next item I'd like to take up is item three, reference of bills to committees. I'll entertain a motion.

So moved.

Thank you, Vice Chair Grove. Can we please call the roll?

[Roll Call] 5 to 0.

Thank you. We will now return to governor's appointees required to appear items one a through one c. The appointments the appointments of Jesse Melgar, Tom Epstein, Josh Joseph Williams, and members to the California as members to the California Community College Board of Governors, you are welcome to come forward. Thank you for joining us. You will each have one to two minutes for your introduction.

You're welcome to introduce anyone you may have in the room here with you today supporting you. And you once you get near your time, we will let you know. Great. We'll begin. Thank you.

Thank you. Well, thank you, Chair Limon, Vice Chair Grove, Members of the Senate Rules Committee. I'd also be remiss if I didn't acknowledge Secretary Contreras, who was my first chief of staff here in the capital. It's wonderful to see you. I'm deeply grateful to Governor Newsom for the appointment and the opportunity to be before you today.

I also want to thank Chancellor Christian, the Chancellor's Office, fellow Board Members, and my partner Angel who's with us today as well, and some friends and colleagues. I believe deeply in the promise of a higher education because I've seen firsthand how transformative it can be. As the first and only person in my family to graduate from college, I know a degree doesn't open only change the life of the graduate, but it helps entire families. For millions of Californians, community colleges are where that transformation takes shape.

They are the most accessible pathway to education, economic opportunity, and a better quality of life.

In my first few months on the Board of Governors, I've approached this responsibility with humility and a commitment to listen, learn, and engage with students, educators, and communities across our system. That has included visits to San Bernardino Valley College celebrating their centennial, touring the Riverside Community College District's innovative student housing project with UC Riverside, and celebrating College of the Desert students at their college core graduation. I was proud to serve for four years as a cal California volunteers commissioner where we helped launch that program.

The truth is that California community colleges remain one of our state's greatest engines of opportunity for millions, supporting veterans, foster youth, and working parents seeking a pathway forward. Yet we know that too many students are pursuing their dreams while lacking access to basic needs.

Today, nearly half of community college students are ex are experience food insecurity, more than half face housing insecurity, and one in five experiences homelessness. If we are serious about student success, transfer, degree completion, and workforce development, we must be equally serious about addressing these barriers including emerging technologies and student safety. If confirmed, I remain committed to ensuring California's community colleges continue to fulfill their historic promise as the state's most accessible accessible and transformative engine of opportunity. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Chair Limon, Vice Chair Grove, Members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear. I also wanna thank governor Newsom for reappointing me to the to the board. And this is, I'm up for my third term. I've been on the board for twelve years.

And I have to admit, I knew very little about the community colleges when I first joined, but it didn't take me long to become really passionate about it. I have as president and vice president of the board and have visited more than 50 colleges during my tenure. And during that time, I learned the significance of colleges to to communities throughout the state, particularly rural communities.

And it it has as it's been mentioned, it serves everyone from it, adults, foster youth, veterans, the the disabled, immigrants, prisoners, and high school students as well. And while I'm still no expert on the education, details, I leave that to the professionals.

But I do bring an outsider political and management experience plus a sense of urgency, to to try and break through what is often a very cumbersome process. I think our most important role during my tenure on the board has been the hiring of chancellors. And I think we've done an excellent job with, Eloy Oakley, Sonia Christian, and for Calbright, Fajita Menon. And why I wanted to be reappointed? Because I feel like the job is still not done.

Our priority is to make sure every single student achieves their educational goals as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, it takes too long now and too many people never finish the journey. So our role is to continually make the colleges student ready, meet students where they are. And I think with our vision 2030 of student success with equity, we're well on the road to doing that. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair Limon, Vice Chair Grove, Members of the committee, and the people of California. I'd also like to thank the governor for reappointing me to the board. I'm a beneficiary of the system. I attended college at Riverside Community College, Crafton Hills College, San Bernardino Valley College where I served as a student trustee. And I've been in an elected role at the San Bernardino Community College Board of Trustees for thirteen years.

I understand what students experience when they go through the system. I ran for the board because I wanted students to be able to experience the great things that I experienced, and I wanted to also be part of removing the barriers that they experience as a student. The amount of time that I spent as a student, I should have a PhD. All of the units that I took still never received an associate's degree.

I'm proud to say I have a master's degree in social impact today, but not for the great things that I spent, the time that I spent in the community colleges.

I wouldn't be sitting here with you today. And I wanna be able to continue that work. In the last six years on the board of governors, my colleagues have allowed me to work with them to champion title five regulation changes where we've been able to make it so that students get access to instructional materials first day of class. Similar to when you're in k 12, you get your books. Many of our students had to think about or whether they pay their rent or whether buying books.

And so today, colleges, because of our changes in title five regulations, are required to make sure that zero cost textbooks and instructional materials are available on day one. And I'd like to be able to continue that kinda work. As a locally elected trustee, I bring a unique perspective to the board of trustees. And when I'm there up to the board of governors, I'm thinking about how our conversations show up in my community and show up at the dais when I'm sitting as a trustee.

Also work in k 12, you know, my day job, so I get a chance to see what's coming into our system, the partnerships that we could be making, the ways that we can improve the system in order to to help the students that are coming into our district.

So reappointed, I'll continue to advocate for increased affordability for our students. Served twelve years on the California workforce development board. So workforce development and economic development is a passion. See education as a strategy to increase economic mobility for people in our communities and just love to continue to serve and thank you for the opportunity today.

Thank you, members. We'll start with vice chair growth.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Pro Tem. Thank you all three for being here. I have a couple of questions, for each of you and then just one for another one of you. The issue of fraud and, ghost students, financial aid fraud, those things, that the state auditor report, identified.

And now there's in 2026. And then Congress is advancing legislation to advance go student fraud. What's your plan on the board to make sure that we can eliminate as much as this fraud as possible to make sure that not only just the financial piece, but the students who are deprived of attending those classes because someone has signed up and used those resources that really doesn't exist, and it takes the place of a student that we need to serve. So what's your plan with that?

I can start with mister Melgar.

Thank you. Yeah. I think I think, you know, the goal for any institution should be that fraud is at zero. And I think there's some work to do to improve kind of the system and and where we're at. One one promising note, we asked for a recent data of staff in the last forty eight hours in preparation for this, committee hearing.

We understand that from the first quarter of twenty twenty five to the first quarter of this year, that we've seen about a 79% reduction in fraudulent applications. So happy to follow-up with you and share the latest data is there. So that's going from 600,000 to about a 127,000 applications.

So again, I think the goal needs to be zero but there has been improvement and I think it's gonna be an issue that we've talked about in the few meetings that I've been a part of so far in the last few months. It's something that we're gonna continue to track.

Thank you. Mister Epstein.

There we go. Yeah. It's hard to, do much more than add to what mister Malgar said. The, we've done, you know, since I've been there and this issue emerged a couple years ago, we have, focused very intently on it and have tried a number of different strategies and employed a variety of ways to verify identification. We've had some long discussions at our board of governors meeting and we we have adopted several different systems, at different levels, to to to address this.

And as the, the results seem to be that it's really working well. And I agree with mister Melgar that the the goal should be that's pretty hard in this day and age with, with the kind of, IT attacks that you can get. But, you know, I think we've been very aggressive at addressing it. And, and we're very pleased to see just now the fruits of those investments.

Thank you. Mister Williams?

I concur with my colleagues. I think the best that we can do is keep it on the agenda, keep monitoring the progress, and make sure that we're allocating resources to do better.

Thank you. So given the CCC significant investment in CTE or a career technical education, including strong workforce apprenticeships, and the funding that you get along with that, how can the board ensure that those dollars are aligned with what the community demand is or the demand in the regional area? Like, for instance, in for instance, in the Central Valley sectors, it's agricultural, manufacturing, logistics, health care. We desperately need nurses and nursing assistants. We're looking at a nursing hospital in Taft, things like that.

And water, energy, geothermal. Like, how do we make sure that those students have the opportunities for career technical assistance in those regions? But Los Angeles and my colleague from the Bay Area will be totally different. So how will you make sure that that's equally equity is provided and also that those those, those classes and that career path is available. Mister Williams, I can start with you.

Yeah. My experience as a local trustees, local districts decide what their environmental scans are gonna be and what courses they offer. I think the best that the board of governors can continue to do is to promote the jobs first strategic sectors and make sure that that data is available to districts and so that they know what the demands are. But do the grant making that we do, the grants that we give out for individual sector specific, we can do that.

I serve on a subcommittee that is responsible for the CTE funding with k 12 and with the community colleges.

So it's three board of education members and three BOG members. And, this is a conversation that we constantly press for. We've been given feedback on the master plan for career technical education. One of the objectives that I'm pressing for is that high school students that want to, that are in a pathway should get three hours of paid work experience by the time that they graduate and specifically related to the sectors that are available in their community.

So to answer your question again is just really making sure that the data is clear, provide technical assistance where we where we can, the grant making, and just support support our districts as they put their request forward to us.

Thank you. Mister Epstein?

Yeah. Over the years, I mean, there there are a variety pots of money that go toward career technical education from the Federal Government, state government, etcetera. And at the at the board level, what we've tried to do is work to establish regional committees that that evaluate the local needs. That includes business, community groups, colleges, and and worker and employers. And it it seems to be, you know, working reasonably well.

Obviously, the economy is changing a lot right now with with all this AI stuff and and we have, but we have focused, on health care as you mentioned. You know, we've one a bill that we've tried to have to to allow, community colleges to offer baccalaureates in nursing is one one way we think we could help address a nursing issue.

And, but we are devoting a lot of attention to it and we're working very closely with, with the communities on the ground to try and, make sure that the money that that that we, receive and dole out to the various regions is spent well and we monitor that very carefully.

Thank you. Mister Malgar?

Yeah. Not much more to add from what my colleagues mentioned other than that. In the few months I've been on the board, we've chatted with local about innovations that they're using to tackle the issue, particularly, College of the Desert comes to mind. There was a massive nursing shortage in in the region, the Coachella Valley, and they created a consortium of folks that included philanthropy, some local education leaders, the community college, of course, and then local hospitals.

And we're able to create a program in partnership with the system to produce and I forget the number, but it was hundreds of new nurses for the Coachella Valley, which goes a long way considering the population.

So I think that that's the type of innovation we should be looking for and and and where it works. Think about how we might scale it up.

Thank you. As an outgoing member, they do this video for an outgoing member dinner. And one of the questions they ask is, what's the funniest thing that ever happened to you in the legislature? So to you, mister Melgar, what's the funniest thing that ever happened to you when madam secretary was your teacher?

Well, we we had a bowling league that was a lot of fun. The staff bowling league and stuff. We had fun with the shirt designs. I learned from the best.

I look forward to hear confirming you guys.

Thank you.

Senator Laird? Okay. So we'll hop. Thank you.

That was a very artful response.

She's like looking right at me, you know.

Yeah. She doesn't have a vote.

Oh, yes, she does.

Yeah. She has five. You know, one thing I wanted to ask and and I appreciate meeting with you and I didn't get a chance to talk about it with you is that one of the developing things at community colleges has just been students struggling with basic needs. And you know when I was a community college trustee and it hasn't been for twenty five years, I never heard about a homeless student.

And now when I ask it's between 15% at the campuses in my district and the housing insecurity just goes exponentially above that.

And I always thought community colleges people live with their families or they live at places but that doesn't seem to be happening. And I know we did a billion dollars for housing at community colleges but it extends to food and other things. How do you think about this as as trustees and and sort of see if there's a way you can impact it from your level and maybe we'll rescue you this time and go get up from my left to right.

Yeah. Thank thank you for the question. I could give you a local example in my district and, you know, one of our vice chancellors is here. We partner with the county, CalFresh and making sure that students understand their eligibility and getting access to fresh fruits and vegetable vegetables. You know, we have different centers on our campuses where students can take advantage of, hot meals.

But partnering with our counties to make sure that students are accessing the resources and making sure that they do understand the eligibility and, job opportunities. If we can help our students get to work faster and so that they can, you know, have income in their pockets, you know, partnering with our workforce development departments, one of the things that I'm really interested in seeing is how we can work with America's job centers to help those students get access to employment and, even business opportunities.

So, again, we have a partnership with our county where students are being made aware of the CalFresh eligibility that they have, and that gets them access to hot meals, fruits and vegetables. And then we have, a basic needs center on campus. And so across the state, other campuses have similar initiatives.

And so I think scaling that across the state so that folks do know what they do have access into their community is one thing that we can continue to push.

Thank you.

It's a good question because we did a survey in 2025 and found of 77,000 students and two thirds needed basic needs assessment assessment assistance. But thanks to SB 271, which was passed a year or so ago, the the every campus has to have a basic needs coordinator who's helping, you know, students in all of these campuses find the the basic find the services they need for food and housing and so forth.

And they integrate with the Department of Social Services and the Beyond Barriers program to ensure that, that DSS programs are are effectively integrated. I also we've also been very active in trying to, develop new housing for, students and, at the moment, there are 17 campuses have received funding and five have completed 1,654 new beds. And there are 4,500 beds that will have been added once those investments are complete.

Obviously, that's not nearly the need. It doesn't satisfy the need but it's it's something that's new since I've been on the board just in the last few years that we've been able to achieve it. Obviously, there's a long way to go and, we're continuing to focus on it. And we do through the, through the legislation also, we evaluate every year how the basic needs coordinators are doing, and how students are being served to make sure that if there are problems that we can fix them.

Yeah. Just piggybacking on what my colleague said. I think I opened up with citing some some stats about about half of students within the system surveyed so that they're experiencing food insecurity. More than half, almost 60% are experiencing housing, insecurity, and about 20% are experiencing homelessness. So I think, making sure that our basic needs centers at each campus are actually providing the services that they can for students.

Another I think that housing's an emerging conversation for the community college system. We visited recently as part of a delegation that Chancellor Christian organized a an innovative model with UC Riverside and Riverside City College, whereby they, built a new housing, facility where half the students or so, don't quote me on the numbers there, are community college students who get to live and experience living within a University of California campus.

And so the idea there is that you're exposing them to the the campus culture, giving them an opportunity to like see that. And so I think I'd like to see more of that. I think it's, you know, several 100 students who are benefiting from that particular issue.

But when we look at like more urban areas where cost of living is a lot higher, I think exploring better options there for students particularly those with families might be of interest.

Thank you. And it I know that the one I advocated for that's being constructed at my former college is UC students living at the community college.

That's another example of the

Maybe they'll be socialized in other in the other direction. And one comment on that is is that it used to be and I I can't remember the number 11 or 12 campuses had housing before the state program and it was generally very rural campuses where people lived an hour or two away and they needed to live at the campus not to be driving all the time. And this is the first time that there's sort of an investment in housing right there for for people right there.

And I know there's a line of people that didn't get funded with the first stuff and that campuses still wanna do it. And I'm conscious that if the budget ever uprights we need to put more money in that to to take the next people that are in line.

The other thing I thought I would ask about is just there there's just been an issue across the system, not uniform but across the system in declining enrollment. So what do you do as trustees to try to affect that or deal with that? Either the impacts or try to have special innovations that boost enrollment. And maybe we'll start in the middle. Yeah.

Okay. You've been lucky. You've been getting to go second.

Right. I've been dodging it. It's been great. Party's over. The I think there's a lot of things we can do to increase enrollment and we've and we've been trying those.

I think first and foremost is dual enrollment. Trying to identify high school students and our goal is to make sure that every high school student is taking community college courses while they're still in high school. And we also have been improving the CCC apply portal, which has been a mess frankly over many years. And we've been we've been very impatient about it getting fixed. But it seems to be up and running now, at least as a pilot and and should make enrollment much simpler.

We know we're competing with for profit colleges that make it really really easy to enroll, and and that's something that we've been focused on. And then, we we, you know, we also have been marketing, perhaps not as effectively we should do, but to older, you know, well to young adults or older than typical students, where there's a huge need.

Obviously, Calbright College is one of our, ways to reach those those students, but we also, all of the other colleges are also focused on trying to do that. We wanna make it we can make it easier for students if we, give them credit for prior learning, through work in the in the military or in other jobs where they can get college credits, for having, the the experience that they've already that they've already received.

And and as as Joseph mentioned, we can provide zero textbook cost to make it easier for students to see their way through, you know, affording college.

And and finally, I think it's really important for us to continue to expand our online programs because there's a lot of students that simply can't, you know, leave their house for hours at a time, pay for childcare, commute, park, and and go to classes. We need to make it easier for them to access it online and and then make sure we surround them with the right services that they're missing because they're not on campus and and make sure that they stay engaged and complete their

studies. Thank you.

I concur with my I'm passionate about early college and middle college. You know, they save families a tremendous amount of money when they transfer Outwards to about $9,000 is what a family can save by getting access to college classes early. So that I think that's one thing that we should continue and try to really scale it and make sure that the quality of it is is significant.

Then the adult education consortiums, you know, I sit in a unique role because I work in k twelve, and so we just had a 125 families or individuals who got their GEDs. And so how do we set the partnerships up so that where they automatically become community college students?

And so there's a space where, you know, we can, you know, grow. And then we gotta do a better job at data, really understanding our data, looking at how we can partner with our cities to identify folks who have some college and getting them to completion and and work through partnerships in those kind of ways. But I really love early college and the, the dual enrollment programs. And I think there's a unique opportunity there for for both both organizations.

Yeah. I think my colleagues covered most of it. But one thing I'll just add, I'm I'm also a data person. I think, I read the the Vision 2030 report. In the intro, they talk about how there's like 6,800,000 Californians between the age of 25 and 54 who do not have a post secondary degree.

So just thinking about like how we're being creative, with our outreach, I think it's something we need to revisit especially as as the world is changing. And and and to the chancellor's office's credit and their staff's credit, we have seen an increase in enrollment since Covid. So I think the the good news is like enrollment is on the rise, maybe not where we need it to be, but there is a positive kind of trajectory.

Great. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I have to go present a bill, but I will be voting.

Thank you, Senator.

We're going to go with Senator Reyes or Senator Ochoa Bogh, whichever whoever wants to go.

So thank you. It was such a pleasure. I just I have to comment the fact that the Inland Empire is very well represented in this room today. I applaud that. I applaud that.

I'm very grateful to Heidi before me. It's been I had an opportunity to meet with mister Williams and mister Melgar. I wanna appreciate our conversations. Very, very grateful for the opportunity that you gave me to to meet with them. I'm sorry we did not get an opportunity to meet sir, for perhaps in the next round.

So I'm gonna just start off, at a high level question as to, giving your feedback, your your thoughts based on your professional experiences, and whether or not, there's a place for formal assessments, academic assessments of students. Is there a place for assessments? Standardized assessments, I should be specific. Standardized assessments.

I believe that that there is. So we we are going through a, era of, you know, looking at bias and testing, and, AB 705 was implemented to increase access.

Now, when you talk about using assessments to determine where students best need support and so that we can accelerate their learning and try to address some of their deficiencies, I think that that's appropriate because when we start talking about, guided pathways, guided pathways was designed to have multiple places where students can get into college, but then receive strong student support.

So assessments can help us really figure out where students need the most support in if it's whether it's tutoring, whether it could be mentorship, whether it could just be some type of work experience. So if it's done in that kind of way, just so that you could provide support for students, I would just hope that it wouldn't be done in a way that it decreases access.

Okay. Mister Epstein?

Yeah. I mean, I basically agree with what mister Williams said. You know, this whole AB 1705, 705 sequence of events, you know, when I first got to the board, I didn't realize how many students were shuttled into remedial classes from which they rarely emerge to attain a degree. And so I was very supportive of the the legislature passed that, that made it much, more, much easier for students to avoid have being placed in remedial classes.

And I think it's been a big success.

The data shows that a lot more students who had been put into remedial classes are are able to succeed when they're put into regular classes and surrounded by support. And, the data shows that that's been helpful. We've also had comments in our some of our recent Board Meetings where, some math professors and students, believe that students would benefit from having a pre calculus course, and because they aren't quite ready for for the for the regular calculus.

And, you know, I'm open minded about hearing, how that plays out. You know, we're we are doing an analysis of that and, we have, like, I think another nine months of evaluating before we did make a decision about whether or not, we should enable greater access to pre calculus courses.

And I think, you know, and with the idea I'm not sure if you mean an assessment in the same way that they do in k 12, but but, you know, our faculty has a has a lot of influence and and and deservedly so over over that kind of with the assessments. And so we we certainly work with them and and defer to their expertise on on how they feel about about those kind of things.

Yeah. I was wondering, Senator, if you could define, like, how you're thinking about assessment in the.

Standardize the test.

Standardize okay. Yeah.

yeah. I think that's it. So, full disclosure scenario I'm learning a lot more about. And I appreciate the background that your staff shared, after we chatted. So I think that's an area where I'm not I don't know that I fully understand how the system is tackling some of those questions at the moment, but I do think that, there are ways we can get at, solutions to, I think, some of the challenges that you've raised.

Okay. But

One of those I think is growing dual enrollment.

I think if we work with our k to 12 counterparts in a more meaningful, way, way, we might find opportunities for for students to get exposed to like college level courses earlier so that when the transition happens, it's more seamless than when they just go from a, you know, high school setup to jumping right into like a a college setup which can be a a pretty it could be a shock for some students depending on their background and exposure to higher education.

That'd be great. And I asked those questions because I just wanna, just highlight, for the record some of the, Mr. But, did not with Mr. Emstein. But Aye, I just wanted to highlight the article that came out, from the UC San Diego.

There was a study that this UC San Diego did in well, the article came out on 11/12/2025 in which it stated that the number of first year students at the University San Diego whose math skills fall below a middle school level had increased nearly 30 fold over the past five years according to the new report of the University Senate Administration Working Group on Admissions.

In twenty twenty five fall cohort, one in twelve students placed in math, below a middle school level despite having a solid math GPA. So, and just for the record, I believe you're not and correct me if I'm wrong, but the UC and the CSU eliminated the SAT and the ACT requirement in 2020 in the name of equity. And this is why I'm asking if there is a a place for standardized testing to ensure that we know where students are.

And I think that's what assessment should be.

It should be a form of information, letting us know where students are, what they've learned and not learned, so that we can literally place them in a classroom where they will have both the support and the material that they understand so they can build on that on that air on that on that on that they can build on that foundation. Sorry. I also want to note that it was also it also see.

It should be a form of information, letting us know where students are, what they've learned and not learned, so that we can literally place them in a classroom where they will have both the support and the material that they understand so they can build on that on that air on that on that on that they can build on that foundation. Sorry. I also want to note that it was also it also see.

I also wanted to note that there's been so having that in mind, I'm kind of curious. On the community college level, if this is happening at the UC CSU's level, have in your experience, have you seen the same impact community college level?

And, and I guess I should probably first ask, is there I know every student is, is able to enter the community college. Incoming students to ensure that they're placed in the right math, science, or English classes?

I mean, I'll take that since I've been here longest. The, you know, when I first came, we were doing assessments, for math and English. And, as I mentioned earlier, something in the neighborhood of 70% of students were being shuttled into remedial classes because their skills weren't considered high enough to take the four credit courses.

And the the problem with that is that the data show that most students who, you know, felt like they had, you know, passed something in in high school and then all of a sudden were put in remedial classes that they weren't earning credits for gave up and and rarely completed their studies. It was under 10%.

And and so that's when the legislature stepped in and passed AB 705 and then AB 175, which basically made it, those those assessment tests, not a standard part of the procedure. And the the goal was to take the students who didn't have, you know, top skills and surround them with support with the tutoring and and co requisite classes so they'd get extra they'd have extra units I mean, extra time with each class.

And, while not everybody succeeded, a significantly higher percentage succeeded, than those who had been put into remedial classes before. And so they they were able to proceed, and earn degrees at a much higher rate. And it also, of course, affected, minority students, more than than than others.

And so, that was that we consider that a success and that more more students are, completing their studies with equity. But, as I mentioned earlier, there are still some problems and and and we are evaluating because we've we've gotten a lot of push back particularly from math professors that that a lot of the students like you said at UCSD are concerned about the math skills.

And and so we we are looking into the whether or not we should there should be more flexibility about the the pre calculus courses before stem students start taking calculus. And we should have the results of that, I believe in about nine months.

Okay. And you're right about the professors. Right now, as of June 9, 2026, the numbers of faculty from the from the university, from UC system, you have about 1,400 professors right now that are sending on to a letter asking for, the assessments to come back in order to know where these students are. Because I think up until this point, we've been really focusing on the grades that the students have been receiving, but there's no uniformity in that.

So these students are coming in with a four point o, four point, you know, seven GPA, and they get to the to the university level, and the students are not performing.

They're not at the same rigor. So here's another question that I have for you, because obviously, the system has been successful in giving for the most part, has been successful in ensuring that our students who are coming in and that need that support are surrounded with that support that they need in order to be successful for the most part. We would agree.

What is it that we're missing at the K-twelve, or what observations have you made and you would recommend at the K-twelve level, that we still need to do in order for the students to be better prepared, as they come into, you know, the first step coming in at the community college. Because if our UC students are are are at this level of math, and these are the kids who have intentionally taken classes to prepare to enter the UC system.

I'm thinking about where our students are that are entering the community college because it's open to everyone.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I I I'm now I'm just talking from my day job experience. And, the focus and the push has been around family development, learning and development at home, and really setting the expectation that, you know, raising a bar on that.

And so what we're focused on is building the capacity at home for families to have an increased confidence to be able to support their students and understand how to seek out additional support when when needed, but then also building the capacity of the k twelve staff to understand what effective family and school partnerships look like. And, you know, there's a missing piece with that.

And so if you don't see families as assets or coeducators, then there's a disconnect because there's some communities that just believe, well, I bring you to the school and you're supposed to educate. And we can't afford to to do that like that anymore. It's gotta be the community's helping with the education. The family's helping with the education. And then because there's a lot on classroom teachers.

You know, they're managing behaviors. They're managing a lot of different things. And so the the the focus to the state, to the community schools, partnerships, and thank you all for the funding that has been put out for that work, is really to go back and start looking at how do we increase capacity in the homes, you know, developing, you know, parent workshops and educating parents. There's examples, you know, shout out to Rialto Unified School District.

It's a partnership with UCLA, USC, where we have family literacy initiatives where they're learning math, literacy and how to bring that into the home, reading literacy and how to bring that into the home.

So I think those are just examples that can be shared and scaled throughout the state. And, and I'm sure there's others, but that's the stuff that I'm involved in in in my work and the stuff that we're talking about in our statewide community of practice.

I have to say, I love what you just said because I absolutely agree. I think there's a there's a great need to ensure that we are partnering and ensuring that the parents are considered co educators of their of their students. And I'm just gonna put a shout out at in at at my school district, the UKFI unit UKFI Calimesa joint Unified School District. What we had there, early on was literally it was called an effective parenting class.

And it was through the adult school component in our district in which we, Aye, because I participated in the program, was the student.

And it was a preschool program where I attended with my children. It was open to any of the kids that the parent had. And in that classroom, the it was the the the activities were run by the parents with the students in there. And then once a week, they had parenting classes where they learned about positive discipline. They learned about, nutrition.

They learned about brain development, child development. So all of these things were. And what I loved about it is that your child wasn't in your lap doing the activities. So education was a family endeavor. It wasn't a child or a student, you know.

You're learning and I'm the parent. I know everything. But it was literally a teamwork of and I've been trying I tried my first couple of years here in the Senate trying to ensure that we had funding for that particular program because I think it's an excellent program to ensure that we we we have that partnership and that and that understanding in the family that it's a family endeavor. So I I love what you just said. Absolutely appreciate that.

I am concerned about where our students are because, as I mentioned to both of you, it was that when we look at the grades, and this is where I'm also concerned, the grades that we're assigning our students, where these students are coming out of our high schools with a four point o, 4.7 GPA, And then they get into the university, especially, you know, when they're out of state, and they're realizing that they're not where they think they are academically.

And the the impact that it has on their psyche and whether or not they're successful or, you know up to par to compete with the rest of the nation and worldwide right because you have students coming from all over the world and my my my point that I just want you to take away from here is that we can't lie to our students. We can't lie to our kids letting them think that they are doing better than they really, really are.

That is the biggest disservice that we can do to our students, is to, to basically, to lie to them about their, of where they are. We we really need to work on how we're assessing those students.

I think assessment is a positive thing. To me, assessments is literally an opportunity, a tool to see where what that student has mastered and where they still need help in. And it should guide school districts, our and our teachers to be able to do that. So we shouldn't be afraid. I really want to start talking about removing that negative connotation and that fear that we have for assessment.

And I just wanted to leave it at it was a pleasure and I will be supporting all of you today. So thank you for your, for, for being here today and for the, for your willingness to serve our kids, our students. I shouldn't say kids. It's students in general. Thank you.

Sununarias, did you have questions?

Yes. Thank you, madam chair. I wanna begin with our attorney, my fellow attorney. Although you are from UCLA as a Trojan, we I still support you. You said that you've been on the board for twelve years.

You came in as an outsider. You're no longer an outsider. You can no longer claim that. But I wanted to ask you about the bachelor of science programs. More and more we're hearing about community colleges wanting to offer, bachelor, bachelor, bachelor degrees, to students.

And you have a lot of push back from CSU, especially, but also from UCs. How do you manage that? And how do you propose certain programs without stepping on others toes?

Well, we've been trying to do that from the beginning. The legislature has passed several bills outlining, you know, what the program can be and the there's been a cooperative process with the CSUs much more so the with far fewer with the UCs. And, slowly but surely, the baccalaureate programs have been getting approved. But we have had some conflicts, particularly with CSU.

And, a lot of them seem to revolve around, you know, for, whether or not a program that's a 100 or 200 miles away is duplicative.

We believe knowing our student, the population, that most of our students can't travel that far to get a baccalaureate degree. And, they also many of them can't afford to even go to CSU even though it's, you know, obviously much less expensive than some other places. So so we feel that for place bound students, who are low income, the community college baccalaureate is a real opportunity that they need and deserve. And I know there's legislation kicking around right now.

My my personal belief, and I'm not speaking for the whole board here, is that we shouldn't have individual colleges going to the legislature and asking to authorize baccalaureate degrees just for their college.

I think there needs to be a global statewide solution that has a process that everybody buys into and that we can, with some certainty know, which programs are gonna be approved and which ones aren't. And that it, taken it it it it take into account the perspective of students, not so much the perspective of the institutions of the of the, you know, of the colleges and this and the CSU's and so forth. But look at what do students need, how do they get it.

And I think that if we do that, we will see that there's quite a population of students that go to community colleges that really need to go to tourist. If they wanna get a baccalaureate, a community college is their best avenue to get there.

The pushback the the greatest pushback I hear from the CSU's is we have a master plan. Community colleges do this. CSUs do this. And our UCs do do this. And we should just look at the entire master plan.

We do have some legislation coming through. Senator Cabaldon, Senator Perez. Today, we heard a bill from Assembly Member Fong about those students who already have bachelor's degree want to now be able to teach. And the the the problems that are associated with now being able to get your teaching credential after your baccalaureate.

But just trying to find a way to work with CSUs and the UCs to make sure that that if you can, provide a baccalaureate, the bachelor's degree to to then work, with with your with your local CSU or UC.

But the any additional comments from, mister Williams or mister Melgar?

Yeah. The I first, I I like your idea. So you can see. So, the chancellor, arranged the opportunity for us to tour the Far North schools. And it just gave me a new respect for Californians, the resiliency of resilience of the folks in the Far North.

So 80 miles when you're in a rural community is like and you don't have a hospital where you live, and you you had to deliver a baby, and you don't have the skills that are, you know, in abundance in your community, and then you wanna block folks not being able to get a degree. It's like, we gotta figure those kind of things out because it's not easy in certain communities.

But then when you talk about the Inlet Empire, we wanna work with the and I'm just saying as a system with the other units. Like, this is not about trying to compete with them. This is about you have programs that are impacted, and we have Californians that are not allowed to go into these programs because you just don't have room for them.

And we're talking about the economic mobility of people in our communities. Why should I have to wait to be able to move forward with a career opportunity because there's no capacity? And what we're ask, what we're trying to do is expand the capacity of the system. It's not about competing. And so there was a way to really I don't know what the word is, force.

I've been saying we maybe we need to go to the wine and cheese with the regents because we've never met with the regents. We don't have conversations with them. This is and so trying to figure that out together, like, how can we do this to create these partnerships in a way you don't feel like we're encroaching on what you're trying to do, but at the same time for our communities.

And I'm an elected official, so I have to represent and try to open access for, for our folks. And so that's it's not about competition.

We don't wanna play in their space, but we need the programs to open up so our students can go to that next step. And so you have a person that say, maybe I'm stuck in the LVN role. Well, there's a salary tied to that, but I wanna become a nurse. And so that's what we're trying to figure out. And so I'm we're all open to ideas.

You see that we're not doing something in the right kind of way, but we need the the the state of California to say to that big other powerful units, y'all gotta play nice in the sand and figure this out together.

That's my thought. And I would just add, Senator, I think so one, this has been the most fascinating policy conversation that I've been a part of over over the last few months on the board. Because I think to your point, the master plan was written in 1965, if I remember correctly from my student organizing days. And so the world was very different in 1965 than it is today.

And I think COVID was a shock to the system that changed how people now expect the world to operate when it comes to remote and online.

So that's that's kind of the first observation I've had. The second is the fact that 2,200 students, I think is the latest data have currently received a community college bat bachelor's degree. So I like to think about like who are we serving and if 2,200 students found that useful to them, then I think we should be working collaboratively with our system partners to figure out like, hey, how can we like it's clearly working for a lot of folks in the state.

How are we able to like continue to offer those, those options for students who the points my colleagues made are wanting to travel, you know, 60 miles or 80 miles or don't have the option to go live on a campus if they're taking care of their families at home.

And I heard anecdotally of an example, you know, with the of, college in the College of the Desert and some, you know, programs that they're trying to explore but they're being, blocked, I believe or at least challenged on the duplicative point by a system that's like up north.

And so it's like, well, our the College of the Desert students aren't gonna travel up north to get a bachelor's degree probably and so are we completely cutting them out of their opportunity or pathway or or are we like exploring other ways to make that possible for them? So it's I don't have the right answer yet. I think it's but it is a fascinating conversation. I don't think there's a right answer.

I do think that there's a way to get to, like, a collaborative solution for the students who wanna seek opportunities and different pathways for their own unique experiences.

Thank you. Thank you. I I also wanted to say, mister Epstein. You mentioned SB 271 on basic needs. I am proud to say that I was the author of that bill and student, the student aid commission, where the the the sponsors of the bill.

Very important bill and, we're seeing more and more come from that. Basic needs, oh, childcare resources, it's so important to provide those to the students. We want them to succeed If they don't know where to take care of their basic needs, housing, food, it's very difficult for them to succeed in whatever whatever it is they they choose to to go into. And now, my next question for, I wanna start with mister Williams. Great friend, a trustee, San Bernardino Community College District, great representative of the community.

You have done a magnificent job making sure that that the services that are provided are inclusive. You you make sure that you bring in the students that need the most need and I'd like the conversation regarding the tutoring and finding the students where they are and then making sure that that student is going to succeed.

I'm glad you're able to now take it to to the state level, and to bring, bring your voice having been a student and having, having used the the services of a community college and now knowing what was missing and making sure that that's included for for the for the other students is extremely important. I want to ask you about career passports. Something new.

Right? The governor said it's going to be a pilot project. In fact, my my team just brought this to me. California's career passport to connect qualified workers to to employment with or without a four year degree. I I know that all three of you provided, lots of in-depth information in your written responses.

But I I want to ask if you can elaborate on how you see the students, especially those who don't necessarily see themselves as traditional students. How they're benefiting from this career passport?

I I haven't read the the article yet. You shared it and I haven't read it completely yet.

I just read it before I started.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I haven't read it yet but Yeah.

So I haven't read it yet and I apologize. I haven't

read it. But just the the the the the the the this the the program, career passport.

Yes. Yes. So, you know, what our what our students being able to just open up access and, you know, I I like the idea of what our dual enrollment students making sure that they have.

I'd like to see every high school student leave with three hundred hours of pay work experience coming into our system, and then we can continue being able to provide access, whether it be through, you know, the work that we're doing through the the building and, trying to make sure that our students have access to some of these trades, through the billions of dollars that are happening throughout our bonds and the constructions.

Apprenticeship programs is something, I had a opportunity to serve on the California, youth apprenticeship, committee and, making sure that we have, apprenticeship opportunities for students where they're getting mentored.

Because it's not just about the training that they receive, it's also about the connections that they're getting with the employer so that they can have a relationship, develop that relationship, and then secure a actual employment opportunity. And so but I'll I'll beef myself up on this actual, passport and would love a opportunity to sit down with you and just give you a perspective of how I can see that specific initiative working in the communities.

Before I move on, the dual enrollment is something you've talked a lot about in This last hundredth anniversary You graduated a number of, dual enrollment students. And it's exciting to see that.

Yes.

To see the students also leave with with the the, the

The associates.

College credits Yeah. Yes. When they graduate from high school.

Yes. It's it's it's a tremendous saving on behalf of because when you think about it, you'd if you're getting two years in, now you're going to the next level as a junior.

Absolutely.

And that's just a cost saving. That's a car. It could be a down payment on a condo. It could be a lot of things for a family. Just so it's a it's a great option for folks.

Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm not an expert on the career passports, but I really like the concept.

It's a brand new program.

Yeah. I know. It's

brand new program, so I don't fault anybody for not knowing about it.

And I know it's underway and but I think it's really helpful to community college students because so many of our students have a lot of work experience, so they've been in the military.

And to be able to put that into an official document that it that that goes with them and that they can present to employers every step of the way, you know, it may be certificates, it may just be, you know, any kind of of work experience that gets registered can really help them in their careers. So I'm I'm all for it.

And and also the idea of the career passport, of course, is also is that once they get a job, it it it records how much money they're making. And and and that way, we can determine which elements of that background, which parts of their education journey have been helpful in increasing their income.

So I I I'm very high on it and look forward to its implementation. Wonderful. Thank you.

Yeah. Not much more to add other than I think it's a great idea. Just talking again about how the world is changing. If you, you know, have informal experience like apprenticeships, industry certification. If you're if you served in the military just like finding new ways for you to capture that experience as an opportunity for you to secure a job.

I think that's a brilliant idea.

Wonderful. And I'll start with with you, mister Menjivar. Another wonderful friend when we talk about the Inland Empire. Inland Empire may be big, but we know who the leaders in the Inland Empire are. Another great leader.

I appreciate all the work that you do and that you have done And making sure that in addition to to this, that the community receives funding through grants in a way that they have not in the past. So I appreciate you so much for that.

Thank you, Senator.

I wanted to talk about housing. Housing specifically on community college campuses. We know that we I chair the select committee on community colleges, the hub of the inland hub of the Inland Empire. The hub of community. See, everything is Inland Empire when we're talking up here.

But the hub of the community and we had a a hearing specifically on housing for community college, for at community colleges for our students. Some of those were in partnership with the local CSU or the local CS or UC. But housing for community college students, I wanted to ask what role should the board have? I'm having so many problems with my vision, but should in overseeing the development and implementation at community college regarding student housing projects.

Yeah. So I think I think I don't

Excuse me. You you can also brag or or brag about what's happening there at San Bernardino Valley College.

Sure. Well, I'll just say, Senator, I think, one, I think, you know, the cost of education is prohibited like housing is prohibitive to a lot of students. So when you calculate what that actually looks like, a lot of folks aren't able to afford where they live, which is why having local options is important.

I don't know that we have a direct role in, like, the local housing, discussion per se, but I think we can uplift examples like we did with the UC Riverside and Riverside City College example. And I'll I'll pass it to trustee Williams to talk about the great work that's happening I know in his district.

Yes. From from a Bob perspective, if we can have a dedicated funding source, I think it would be great. But, you know, so you know

We're trying. We're trying.

Yeah. That would that would be, like, wonderful. Because it it's not just student. It's opportunity to provide workforce housing for faculty. So in communities like Santa Monica that may have a hard time recruiting faculty, if you could provide a housing option as a part of their package, I think that that would be great.

And so we have a $250,000,000 project underway in San Bernardino that will provide, market rate housing. So there'll be some work first housing in the first phase, and then student housing in the, the second in the first phase and the student housing in the, the second phase. And, then there are also community convening spaces for nonprofits and the like, and it's really gonna change the landscape for San Bernardino Valley College, and then it's gonna have a economic impact for the city of San Bernardino specifically.

And in that area where the community where that where the project is is is located, the face lift is just gonna be incredible. There's a lot of what we call sticky space where folks can hang out and just, you know, be in, you know, peace.

And so we're super excited about the opportunity. We'll break ground on it at the beginning of this coming year, and then the project is scheduled to complete in 2029. And so just, you know, partnerships like that, I think, is is really incredible. And, you know, I'm I'm really interested and exciting to see what it will do for faculty that could potentially live in the space. And, you know, and I wonder if we can figure out how that could be part of their compensation package.

We haven't gotten that far yet, but, I think it could be a really good recruitment tool too.

I I it thank you. In response to earlier questions regarding assessment tests and and it's something that has come up on a number of occasions, with the state, school board. What was that the title? School Board Members. But mister Williams, it was something that you said I think is extremely important is that we found that many of those standardized tests did have a bias.

And the studies were clear and something needed to be done to correct that. And at some point, if assessing tests are are reinstated, there's a good there's a a a there's a place for them without a doubt, in trying to assess where the student is. But making sure that when we reintroduce this, that those studies that found the biases and the tests that were being given to our students are something that are dealt with and removed.

So that when we do an assessment test, it is not for the purpose of holding a student down. It's for the purpose of finding out where they are and then meeting the student where they are.

So that you help them with the tutoring and everything else that that you all have mentioned. Because that is in the end what we need to do is find our students, find where they are, and then help them to to succeed. Whether it's straight with work with workforce training, whether certificate programs, whether it's an AA, whether it's an AA with a transfer, a nursing program, whatever it is that you're finding the way to to to have them succeed.

Because when they succeed, it's beneficial to all of us. So thank you for that.

Now yield back to you, madam PT and acting governor.

Thank you. Thank you. It should

be noted, if I may say, that our madam PT today is the acting governor for the state of California with our governor and our lieutenant governor being out of state.

Thank you. Sign pills. I I signed four earlier today, but thank you. Just, I think a lot of my colleagues have raised a number of issues that I think are on our mind. So I I just wanna ask a general question.

And mostly coming from the world of having once worked at a community college and married to someone that's worked at a community college for over two decades. Some of the issues that have been raised or issues that have been raised for decades, in in terms of how we increase access, how we increase transfer rates, how we increase certificate and degree awards, you know, also issues related to just, you know, how we support the workforce, at the in the community college as well.

But from each of your perspectives, what are the top three priorities that you have, as trustees? Because the priorities of the trustees, of course, work in line with the chancellor's priorities as well, but also matter. The there are a number of issues that, our community colleges, the entire higher ed system, the entire education system faces.

And there's parallels, but there's also unique pieces to each of the community colleges that you all have. I represent four community colleges in the Senate District that I have, and they are not all the same. They they're definitely not. I mean, one is in, you know, a more rural agriculture part. I have one, you know, in a very my most urban part of the district.

And the student population is different. The, community, just the priorities are sometimes different, and that's okay. They meet the needs of the community there, which is why it's a community college, and I love just curious what your three priorities are and how they align with some of the things that we've talked about today.

I'm happy to kick us off. So I think, affordability, not again, I think tuition is is, is accessible, but I think other portions of, like, attending a college, like, housing, like we talked about today, I think emerging technologies, and artificial intelligence and how that's changing what, how jobs look today, how jobs are changing in real time, and then how we're preparing our students, with updated curriculum and relevant curriculum, I think is a big question that we talk every board meeting about last few that I've attended.

And I think supporting students once they're in to making sure that we help them complete or get to where they want to go, once they, once they enter the door. So it's either associates or helping them transfer. I think making sure that we support them once they enter the system.

Those would be my three.

I'm happy to I could almost just do a ditto on that. I I think as I said earlier in my opening remarks, I mean, helping our students complete their journey. Whatever they came to a community college for, we want to help them get there as soon as possible and move on to the next stage in their life whether that be transferring to another, to a four year university or, going into the job market. I think that's that's the most important thing. Secondly, AI is transforming everything.

Not just teaching, you know, our students about it but also how it impacts the operations day to day and and, you know, we talk about evaluating student performance. That's getting more and more challenging because there's so many ways to gain the system. And it's and, you know, we're so decentralized that a lot of these decisions on AI is are being made in the classroom, not at any kind of global level.

So, you you know, you could be a student and have four different professors who are each treating AI entirely differently and how it can be used in their classroom. And I think we really need to get our arms around that and and Chancellor Christian and and the and the board has has really tried to educate ourselves on this.

We've had a presentation about AI at every one of our Board Meetings for the last year. We have a a big, what we call our future summit which is all about how technology is transforming community colleges And I think it's really important to stay on top of that. It's so fast moving and it's it's really challenging.

And then the last part is is, you know, once our once our students complete their journey with us, tracking to see if what we provided them is actually effective in enhancing their income long term. You know, going to you don't go to college just for income, but a lot of our students that's their primary goal is to become more employable and to and to increase their income.

So we need to track that to career pass part is one way to do that and some of these, you know, workforce training programs are another. But, so to me, that that and and all of that means, we need to focus on what the students need and how to best serve that and not retreat into what's best for the institution of us. It's it's what is gonna be helpful to the many millions of students that we serve.

I like everything that they said, but and and there's so much that I would wanna do, but, you know, continue to promote education as a tool in economic development. And so for me, we do talk a lot about AI. But what I'm what I'm pressing for is that I I wanna get off of the consumer side of AI and just our students need to be the owners of it. They we need them to be the programmers of it.

We need them to have ownership in this AI conversation.

Because we talk a lot about how to keep them from cheating and, you know, all of the things, and that's important. We wanna continue to press for the ethical use of AI. But if we get behind in certain communities about how to use it as a tool and how you should be using it to be able to have a side hustle or whatever they need, I wanna move beyond, just students using it as a consumer. I get marketed by Kellogg, Columbia.

So many programs are promoting AI certificates to me.

I think community college could be a better valid and they're they're really expensive. We should be able to be a validator of what AI certificates are legit and which ones are actually gonna give you real good skills that will help you be able to participate in the economy at a in a way that makes sense. So I wanna press for that. You know, workforce development, I wanna see greater coordination with our workforce development boards in America's job centers.

You know, when I was on the state board, community college was missed mentioned in the state workforce plan 55 times.

And it was a point to where it almost sounded like you would be able to go into a job center and enroll for a community college class, but we're not there yet. And having counties put their employment specialists on our campuses and, you know, see those kind of things happen is really what I really wanna see greater coordination between those two systems. And then, the last thing is, of course, affordability.

I wanna continue to monitor the, the zero cost textbook initiatives, you know, anything related to dual enrollment because I think that that increases affordability and then the, the burden free instructional materials. I'm gonna stay hard on that and make sure that that implementation is is rolled out, in an effective type of way.

Great. Thank you. So with that, we are now going to open up, this, for any individuals who are here in support. We're gonna welcome members of the public. If you're here in support for any of the, appointees that are in front of us, please, this is your moment to come forward, and state your name and affiliation and support.

Hello. Good afternoon, madam chair and members. My name is Vincent Rosso. I serve as the director of government relations for the University of California Student Association. Just wanted to extend our congratulations and then our strong support to former UCSA alumni, former board chair, mister Melgar, who was nominated by the governor.

Congratulations. And and just really, you know, emphasize and and highlight all of his work and his legacy, and also extend our our our support to the reappointment of, mister Epstein and, mister Williams. Thank you.

Good afternoon, chair and vice chair. My name is Luis Jimenez. I'm here in my personal capacity as a proud Californian, but also a product of the community college system. I had the privilege of working with Jesse at California volunteers. I serve as the external and legislative affairs director.

Jesse was a nearly commissioner with us for over five years. Nearly five years. He was amazing. He helped us launch the College Corps program, which seeks to help students pay for school while also helping them pay for tuition and also making a difference in their community and also helping them find their next path.

And I think it's really, really important that Jesse continues his service because something that College Corps has taught us is that, especially at community colleges, students really need help with retention and staying in school and finding purpose, finding belonging, finding their opportunities and their next path.

And Jesse was super super instrumental. We actually have College Corps programs at all of your districts. So if you're ever interested in getting out there, I'd encourage you to have Jesse get you out there and check those out. But I would encourage you to support Jesse.

Thank you. Next.

Hi. How's it going? Chairs, madam chairs, all vice chairs. My name is Jorge Reyes Salinas. I'm the communications director for Equality California.

I'm here supporting our board of advisory member, Jesse Melgaard, really great candidate, and we're just very proud and excited to see the representation for LGBTQ plus people across the boards. Thank you.

Thank you. Alright. Seeing no one. Do we have anybody else? Yes.

This is the moment. Alright. Thank you. Okay. So good afternoon, madam chair

and members. On behalf of US Senator Alex Padilla, it is my pleasure to to support Jesse Melgar on his appointment to the board of governors of California Community Colleges. Jesse has dedicated his career to public service, community engagement, and expanding opportunities for Californians. Throughout his work, he has demonstrated a deep commitment to ensuring that individuals and families have access to tools and resources they need to succeed. His leadership, integrity, and passion for serving others make him exceptionally well qualified for this important role.

California's community colleges are among the most powerful engines of economic mobility in our state, opening doors to higher education, workforce development, and a lifelong learning for millions of students. At a time when access, affordability, and student successes are more important than ever, the Board of Governors will benefit greatly from Jesse's experience. I have had the privilege of working alongside Jesse and have seen firsthand his ability to build partnerships, navigate complex challenges, and advocate for diverse communities across California.

He understands the transformative impact that education can have on individuals, families, and entire communities. I am confident that Jesse will serve with distinction and help strengthen California's community college system for current and future generations of students.

Congratulations, Jesse, on this nomination. I look forward to seeing the positive impact of your service on behalf of California students and communities. Thank you.

Alright.

Good afternoon. My name is Frank Reyes, a newcomer to this area. I'm a college board of trustee for the San Bernardino Community College District, but we deal with a lot of different topics and issues that affect our students. I've been very fortunate to have been been there at the college for fifty years. So I'm very familiar with certain things that we need and certain things that we need to make sure that we provide to our students.

The community college system is the best system right now. Oh. So appreciate your support to these individuals and I can talk to each one of them and they've done a a great job in encouraging students continue their education. So I totally support that and I think they're gonna they're gonna bring in some additional ideas. I think the artificial intelligence is here to stay.

And and and, you know, I attended conferences. Actually, my wife and I attended a conference in Salamanca, Spain, and they talked about AI and they're moving forward and they're gonna continue to move in that direction. So I think that if we need good people that have vision, if you don't have a good vision, then you're not gonna be able to be very successful. And our students need that right now. And talking about jobs, the future workforce is there.

And if we don't provide that to the students in terms of the latest tools that they can use, it's going to be very difficult and I'm very proud to say that community colleges is a good stepping stone. I actually tell people they should all go to a community college before they go to a four year college because if you know how the systems work, if you have a two year, if you get all transferable units, you don't have to pay a lot of money.

You also have high school students that can take classes now at the community college. So you're you're getting it both from the high school and from the university. So, totally supportive of these individuals that are gonna be our visionaries.

So I totally support that. Thank you. Thank

you. So we did a little special exception. We let folks speak on the mic a little more than we usually do. But if there are any individuals here in opposition, this is the time to come forward. Alright.

Seeing then, we're gonna bring it back, to the dais members. We're gonna take these up one at a time. We are going to begin. I will entertain a motion for the appointment of Jesse Melgar as a member to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors.

I would I would I am honored to move the nomination of Jesse Melgar and ask that we send his nomination to the full Senate floor for confirmation.

Great. Thank you. We have a motion. We will call the roll.

Limon. Aye. Limon, aye. Grove. Aye.

Grove, aye. Laird. Aye. Laird, aye. Ochoa Bogue.

Aye. Ochoa Bogue, aye. Reyes. Aye. Reyes, aye.

520.

Alright. The appointment has been approved to move to the full Senate for confirmation. Next, I will entertain a motion for Tom Epstein, JD as member to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. I will entertain a motion.

I will be happy to do the motion.

Thank you, Senator Ochoa Bogue. Can we please call

the roll? Limon? Aye. Limon, aye. Grove?

Aye. Grove, aye. Laird? Aye. Laird, aye.

Ochoa Bogue? Aye. Ochoa Bogue, aye. Reyes? Aye.

Reyes, aye. Five to zero.

The appointment has been approved to move to the full Senate for confirmation. Next, we will have, I'll entertain a motion for Joseph Williams as a member to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors.

I would be honored to move the nomination of Joseph Williams, to the entire 4th Floor for, confirmation of his appointment.

Thank you so much. Senator Reyes, for that motion, can we please

call the roll? Limon. Aye. Limon, aye. Grove.

Aye. Grove, aye. Laird. Aye. Laird, aye.

Ochoa Bog. Aye. Ochoa Bog, aye. Reyes. Aye.

Reyes, aye. Five to zero.

Congratulations to the three of you. Thank you for being here.

Can we have a picture with them standing right here?

Maybe at the end, just yeah.

I gotta get it back. Congratulations. Yeah.

Okay. We have one we have one more. Yes, folks. We do. Yes.

So we will now return to governor's appointees required to appear item one d, the appointment of Mark Beckley as chief deputy director operations, Department of State Hospitals. Mister Beckley, welcome. And, you will have the opportunity to provide one to two minutes for your opening testimony to the committee. In your opening, you are welcome to introduce any guest that you may have with you here today.

Great. Thank you. Thank you so much, Chair Lamone and Vice Chair Grove. Thank you for considering my appointment as Chief Deputy Director for Operations, the Department of State Hospitals, and for the governor for appointing me. Joining me today in the audience are my my wife, Christie, and then my daughters, Emma and Samantha.

They provided me so much support throughout my life, especially in my state career. And I was really interested to hear the community college testimony because full enrollment, they're high school age, so maybe that's something they should consider. So thank you again for having me here today.

I consider myself very fortunate to have held positions of leadership in several different state of the term departments that align closely with my own personal values and principles, whether it was helping departments plan, for their budgets at the Department of State, Department of Finance, overseeing programs to help children obtain the financial services that they need at the Department of Child Support Services. Previously, the Department of State Hospitals in helping to operationally support state hospitals to provide effective treatment for patients.

And most recently, at the California Department of Aging to help oversee programs that assist older adults receive the supports and services that they need, as they age so that they can live in settings of their own choosing. As chief deputy director for operations at ESH, I oversee the supportive services functions of the department. This includes administrative services, legal, legislative, communications, technology, and human rights.

I have eleven years of experience directly overseeing most of these functions in my prior chief deputy appointments, and an additional six years overseeing administrative functions, such as budgets, human resources, facilities, accounting, and emergency services, and my deputy director of administrative services assignments

at

the departments of child support services and state hospitals. I really look forward to working with the DSH executive team and other DSH team members on a number of high priority projects, including those to improve clinical services, the recruitment and retention of state hospital workforce, the care and treatment of our patients, the safety of our patients and team members, and the maintenance and improvement of our facilities. I'm very excited to return to DSH in the capacity of chief deputy director for operations.

And I look forward to using my skills and experience in operations and administration to help the department further its mission to provide a defective treatment for our patients and the health and safety of our patients and team members. And thank you so much for considering my nomination today, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you have.

Thank you. Members, questions or comments? We're gonna start with Senator Laird.

Thank you, madam chair. Thank you for your service. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to to meet with you and the chaos that is going on right now in our process. I want to ask about a couple of things and one is is I represent Atascadero. Yes.

And and that state hospital, I know I visited a few times since I've been in the Senate and it has had a very high vacancy rate. And then there was an audit that was done

Yes.

That implied that the vacancy rate was 30 and I know there have been contract employees or not employees but contractors come in to try to fill the gaps. I just wondered what you're doing to try to lower the vacancy rate if if it's your hope to phase out people on contract in the hope you can fill the position. I just wondered how you're attacking that problem.

Yeah. Thank you so much for that question, Senator. And that's very much frequently a question that I receive. Even when I was deputy director for administrative services at state hospitals ten years ago, that was an ongoing challenge. How do you effectively recruit and retain especially essential clinical staff, nursing staff, hospital police officers?

And you know, there's lots of competition. I mean, you look at, you know, private sector hospitals, non profits, other state agencies. And I'd like to share with you some strategies that we've implemented that have actually been very effective. So I think the first and this really gives you an opportunity to lift up the work of our recruitment unit and of our hospital human resources staff who just do such a great job at recruiting and retaining of their staff.

So, one of the key strategies that we've employed, I'll say that there's kind of like tangible and intangible factors that we look at.

For the tangible, we find that state employment is attractive to people. It's just that, one and and I think we're competitive in areas of, to some extent, salary, especially health benefits, things like, you know, the state's defined pension plan. And there's several differentials that we've implemented over the years to try to help, like create pay equity between our staff and the staff of other communities. But the two key initiatives that we've really launched is one called rapid hiring events.

So part of the issue is people just don't know about us.

They don't know who we are, so we really have to inform them more about the work that we do. So we've worked with our communications team and our recruitment team to create flyers. And they do these flyers in combination with our clinical and nursing and hospital police officer staff. Truly, how do you sell the jobs in terms of what, you know, people who are looking for these positions would look for?

So I think we've done a really good job at kind of like promoting the jobs and really getting greater interest.

In fact, our hospital police officers, three years ago, we only received 290 applications. Just last year, we received over 4,000 applications for hospital police officer positions. So I think that just publicizing our jobs helps. We go to different conferences. We host career fairs just to get people attuned to the work that we do.

But I think rapid hiring is really, really important because it can take anywhere from two to three months to actually get hired on a job and who's gonna wait that long, especially if you've got a private sector organization that can hire you faster. So with rapid hiring, we basically host a virtual career fair. We walk somebody through the application process. How do you apply for a job? You know, holding mock interviews.

How do you write an effective statement of qualifications? After they walk that walk them through that process, they help them fill out applications on the spot. We then set up a, actual hiring fair, like, two to three weeks out from that date. And then we have candidates come and, actually interview for the jobs on-site with our staff, and we can have anywhere from, you know, 50 to over a 100 people at one time that we're actually interviewing for these positions.

We just did a rapid hiring event for psychiatric techs at, Patton State Hospital, And we're able to fill 65 of those positions, leaving only four vacancies.

And I'll just, you know, kind of like give you some examples of how effective these rapid hiring events have been. We have done them for psychologists, psychiatrists. We've seen anywhere from, 4% reduction in vacancy rate to 17%. So we think that these, these have been highly effective. We've also been doing a lot of, joint, partnerships with universities and colleges to have psychiatric fellows, psychologists residencies at our hospitals so that they can really understand and learn what we do.

Also, we have, like, a lot of great programs with Cuesta College, for instance, Coalinga College, Napa Valley College for psychiatric type programs. And we find that these, we get a lot of candidates through these programs, and we have conversion rates of like 50%. So we think rapid hiring, doing a lot of these joint ventures with colleges and universities have really been in I'm sorry. Just for second.

I don't know what a conversion rate is.

Oh, I'm sorry. That's if somebody is a like a psychiatric fellow with us and they decide to accept employment with us, that's what we consider a conversion rate. So we're converting them from, you know, non state employee to a state employee. Sorry

about that.

Oh, no. It sounded very religious.

Yeah. Sometimes our hiring experiences can be quite religious experiences especially when we get a lot of new hires in. But yes, we've been just, you know, having a lot of great success with those. Now I will say that, you know, Atascadero, Kalinga, those have been more challenging. You know, they're more remote locations.

We did hold some rapid hiring events. At Covalinga, we just recently hired 16 social workers at Atascadero. We made conditional officer offers to three social workers and three rehab therapists. So, I mean, I think that there's still work to do there. I think additional promotion and advertising, especially with the amenities of those communities can help.

But that's something as chief deputy director for operations that I'm really passionate about. I wanna see how we can reduce the vacancy rate and really increase permanent state civil service in those areas. And I'll just note on the use of contract staff. We only like only about 3% of our positions are filled with contract staff. The vast majority of our positions are held by permanent state sulfur service staff.

Okay. Thank you very much. I just that was very responsive. Thank you.

Thank you. Any additional questions? Alright. Seeing no additional questions. I and I don't know if other members were going to bring forward.

Anything you know, I asked the last panel just a question about their priorities, and I'm wondering if you can speak to your priorities, given the the ample needs of our state, and in this particular area. I know that over the the last few months, the issue of hospitals, health care, mental health, you know, access within an institution, outside of institution have been, part of the conversations for the legislature.

And I'm just curious if you could carry your priorities for the agency and also in light of a lot that we're seeing happening and also shifts in how we care.

Yes. Absolutely. Thank you so much for that question. And I'll just start by saying it's not my priorities. It's really the priorities of the hospital system.

Right? I really see my role as being supporting, in support of our programs, of our hospitals, of our community providers. In terms of the system priorities, and I've been in a lot of executive staff meetings, had a lot of conversations with our director, Stephanie Clendenin, about what the most pressing needs of our system are. Senator Loehrer talked about hiring and recruitment. Absolutely.

That will always be a high priority for us. We're gonna continue to hire as many skilled, staff as we can, reduce our vacancy rate, and hire more permanent state civil service staff. A second key priority, you talk about treatment. We just signed on June 1 a contract for a new, electronic health record provider, Netsmart. They're considered a leader in behavioral health, electronic health record providers.

We're really excited about that because what the EHR will do for us is it'll get us out of the paperwork business. It will allow real time access to patient records, allow us to share records, and really we think through that process, just provide better care and treatment for our, for our patients. The other thing that the HR system will also let us do is really mine that data. What are some best practices that we have? What where do we see successful outcomes?

And how can we improve services to our patients by looking at the data. Right? Just leading with that evidence based practice data. And then another priority would be our aging facilities infrastructure. As you're aware, we've got very, you know, old facilities.

NAPA was established a hundred and fifty years ago. And, you know, we've got hospitals that are sold to seventy years. So really looking at the hospitals, making sure that they're maintained and upgraded because infrastructure isn't just about keeping the lights on. Right? It's not just about keeping the hospitals open.

It's also very, important for the effective treatment of our patients. Because if you don't have an operational HVAC system, if they're more worried about their physical factors and needs than they're about their behavioral health needs, then we can't treat them as effectively. And then there's things like just health and safety needs. So we look and replace the fire alarm systems, put in anti ligature sort of modifications for our facilities to make sure that they're safe while they're in treatment with us.

Another key priority would be, just working with our community providers and keeping those community providers active, well funded, engaged with us.

I'm talking about like our conditional release providers. Providers that serve incompetent to stand trial defendants. So really just supporting our programs to make sure that those contracts stay in place and that the needs of our community providers are met. Because they're just as essential to the current treatment of our patients as our hospitals are as well. So those are some key parties I would I would highlight.

Yes. Senator Reyes.

Thank you. I I wanted to to ask about the coordination with the law. The office of law enforcement supports. In our community, we have Penn State Hospital in the Inland Empire. And in the most recent reporting period, Penn State Hospital had the second most deaths.

My question is, since you oversee human resources at DSH's legal division, now how how and when do you coordinate with o l e s to determine if there are troubling trends at a particular hospital?

Yes. Thank you for that question, Senator. So we absolutely work very closely with OALAS. So we do report, patient deaths. And there's kind of two categories of patient deaths, you know, unexpected and unexpected.

So we do have an aging, you know, patient population as they age. You know, they're gonna be more prone to chronic conditions and sometimes they'll pass away naturally. Right? And then you've got unexpected death. So something might happen.

And it could be from natural causes, you know, once we do, our investigation or it could be due to other other reasons. And so all of that other reasons. And so all of those do get, looked at and investigated. So when we have an unexpected passing. So we do have an office of special investigations that would, you know, conduct investigation, kind of look into those circum the circumstances around that death, see if there's anything that, causes or, you know, creates concerns.

All of these deaths also get reported out to our office of law enforcement services. They also take a look at these. And, you know, I I think that when we're looking at those, things that we're really concerned in looking at are things like were contraband substance substances brought into the hospital. Could that have contributed to a death?

Is there some sort of, like, patient injury that we weren't aware of that wasn't, you know, treated and, you know, that would also be looked at as part of an investigation.

So I guess to answer your question, yes. We work very closely with our office of law enforcement services and if if there's anything that's cause for concern, those who get investigated.

And my final question in this in this area is what is OLEs what is their data tell you about how safety precautions are working at DSH?

Yes. So, and all this preface by saying, as chief deputy director for operations, I don't directly oversee our hospital police force. That's overseen by our hospital operations chief, Brandon Price. But I will share with you what I what I know, and then we'd be happy to share additional information afterwards. But in terms of the data, so the OLES does prepare reports on data investigations that we've reported to them.

So it's it's a list of things that includes things like, you know, staff on staff assaults or staff on patient or patient on staff assaults, use of force, unexpected deaths. So there's a whole sort of like list of data and reports that they do on us as part of their oversight responsibility. And if there's any clarifications or misrepresentations, you know, we review the work report with them. But, yeah, we work very closely to publish that data to make sure that is publicly

transparent. Wonderful. Thank you. Sure. Thank you.

Madam Petit. Thank you. Thank you. And I think now we're at the part where we will welcome any members of the public. If you are here to speak in support of the appointee, please come forward, state your name and your position.

No one has to, but Alright. Seeing no one, if there's here anyone in opposition, this is your moment to come forward. Alright. So we will bring it back to the dais members. I am we'll take a motion.

Thank you. We have, a motion made, by Senator Laird. Can we please call the roll?

Limon? Aye. Limon, aye. Grove? Laird?

Aye.

Laird, aye. Ochoa Bog? Aye. Ochoa Bog, aye. Reyes?

Aye. Reyes, aye. Four votes.

Alright. That is four zero. We'll leave that open for absent members. Thank you so much for participating. We are going to leave this open for absent members, but this does, to to add on to the vote, but this does conclude our hearing.

But we will recess until we have the absent member come back. Alright. So we are opening back up our motions, for members to add on. We have, the, motion so we sorry. We have a motion.

A motion was made by Senator Laird for the appointment of Mark Beckley, Chief Deputy Director, Operations Department of State Hospitals. Can we please call the roll?

Grove? Aye.

Grove, aye. 5 to zero.

Alright. That, that appointment has been approved to move to the full senate for for confirmation with five zero vote. With that, this concludes our, hearing.