Senate Floor

Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

A quorum is present. Would the members and our guests be on the rail and in the gallery, please rise. We will be led in prayer this morning by our guest chaplain, reverend Jason Benzie, after which, please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance to the flag.

Let us pray. God of all nations and peoples, this day we remember you as the God of freedom and truth. On the Juneteenth holiday, inspire us by history's call to use our freedoms to bring racial justice and end slavery, human bondage, and oppression. Hasten peace. Heal our hate. Help us forgive and renew faith within us. Namaste. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Members and guests, please join me in the pledge of allegiance. [Pledge of Allegiance]

And members, we are going to move to privileges of the floor at this time for guest introduction. Senator doctor Weber Pierson, when you are ready from the majority leader's desk, you may introduce your guests that are here with you today.

Mister president and members, it is my honor on behalf of the California Legislative Black Caucus to recognize an extraordinary Californian, an American hero, and a pioneer in space exploration, captain Victor j Glover Junior. A native of Pomona, California, captain Glover's story reflects the very best of our state and our nation. His journey from California to the stars is a testament to perseverance, service, leadership, and excellence.

Captain Glover earned his engineering degree from California Polytech State University in San Luis Obispo, where he served and excelled not only as a student athlete, but also as a dedicated community servant. It was at Polytech where he joined the Divine Nine and became a member of Phi Beta Sigma for tour fraternity incorporated.

He would then go on to serve our nation as a United States Navy officer, naval, aviator, and test pilot, flying more than 40 different aircrafts, accumulating over 4,000 flight hours, completing more than 400 carrier landings, and serving on 24 combat missions. He also got three master's degree, a master's of science in flight engineering, a master's of science in systems engineering, and a master's of military operational art and science.

In 2013, while serving as a legislative fellow in the United States Senate, captain Glover was selected by NASA as a member of its astronaut corps. He completed astronaut training and quickly became one of the agency's most respected leaders. In 2020, captain Glover made history as the pilot of Crew-one, the first operational mission of SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

During that mission, he became the first black astronaut to serve on a long duration mission aboard the International Space Station. Over the course of a hundred and sixty eight days in space, he conducted scientific research, completed four spacewalks, and inspired countless of young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Yet captain Glover's contributions to exploration did not stop there.

Just this year, we all saw as he served as a pilot of NASA's historic Artemis two mission, the first crew mission to travel to the vicinity of the moon in more than fifty years.

Alongside his fellow crew members, captain Glover helped usher humanity into a new era of space exploration, traveling more than 252,000 miles from Earth, the farthest that any human has ever traveled from Earth before, and successfully completed nearly a ten day lunar mission before splashing down safely off the coast of my hometown in San Diego.

Through his two space missions, Captain Glover has spent a total of a hundred and seventy eight days in space and has become a symbol of excellence, courage, and possibility. Throughout his remarkable career, he has remained committed to service, family, education, and mentorship. As a husband, a father of four, a military officer, an engineer, an astronaut, and a public service, he embodies the values that inspire future generations to dream bigger and reach higher.

Members, please join me in welcoming and honoring captain Victor j Glover junior, a distinguished United States Navy captain, and NASA astronaut for his extraordinary service to our nation, his historic achievements in space exploration, and the pride that he continues to bring to California and the nation.

And we are also blessed to have his beautiful wife, Deanna Glover, here and two of his children, Maya and Joya, who are both students at Cal Poly State Tech, following in their parents' footsteps, one majoring in architecture and the other majoring in engineering.

Please welcome this extraordinary astronaut and family to the Senate floor.

And Senator doctor Weber Pearson, while you're with your guest and taking pictures, you have a colleague that would also like to make some comments. Senator Rubio, you are recognized for your comments.

Thank you, mister president. And ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, today is my honor to recognize Victor Glover, a son of Pomona in my district. He's a trailblazer and an inspiration to countless of our young people across not just my district, but across the nation. For the children growing up in Pomona and communities like it, seeing someone who walked the same streets, went to the same schools, and faced many of the same challenges reached such a big milestone.

He reached for the star, and that sets the pathway for rest of our students to follow.

That just goes to show that it doesn't matter where you live, that everything is possible. A man who broke a lot of barriers, a man of color who ventured into aviation, science, space, exploration, Victor Glover represents what is possible when talent, determination, education, and opportunity all come together. His journey reminds young people that they belong in classrooms, laboratories, boardrooms, and even among the stars. His success is not just a personal achievement for him, but for our entire state of California and our nation.

And we wanna encourage students to pursue STEM fields and believe in what they set out to do, and I hope that this continues to inspire other students.

With that, I also respectfully ask that we honor him today. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator. Senators, if you would like to gather in the back for a group picture, please do so at this time.

And senators, if you will please line up along the back there so that we can get a photograph.

And senators, we do have a full schedule and wanna get you out of here on time.

There are some other time sensitive measures we have to vote on.

Senators, if we can make it back to our desk, please make your way back to your desk so that we can continue the business of the day.

Senators, we are going to move on without objection. We will move to Senate third reading file to take up file item 64, SCR 183. Senators, we are moving on to file item 64, SCR 183 by Senator doctor Weber Pearson. Senator Doctor Weber Pierson, you are recognized- or secretary, please read.

Senator doctor Weber Pearson, you are recognized or secretary, please read.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 183 by Senator Weber Pierson relative to Juneteenth.

Senator doctor Weber Pierson, you are recognized from the majority leader's desk.

Thank you, mister president. Senators, today I rise to present SCR 183, Juneteenth, a day that marks a long one of the most significant moments in black history and one of the longest delayed fulfillments of freedom's promise in American history. On January 1st, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring enslaved people in Confederate states to be free. Yet for many black families, freedom did not arrive when it was proclaimed. It was arrived when it was enforced.

More than two years later on June 19th, 1865, union major general Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced that enslaved people were free. For approximately 250,000 black people still being held in bondage in Texas, freedom did not come through a document. It came through the arrival of soldiers carrying news that should have reached them years before. Juneteenth commemorates the end of an atrocity of American chattel slavery.

One of the most beau- brutal systems in our nation's history and a branch of the Transatlantic slave trade where the UN has finally declared it the greatest crime against humanity.

For generations, black families were bought and sold, separated from loved ones, and denied control of their lives. Juneteenth commemorates the end of the atrocity of American chattel slavery as it was based on race and forced through generations, keeping black Americans into bondage for hundreds of years. Black Americans had no ownership of their labor or the fruits of their work, and millions were denied their humanity by being treated as property rather than people.

But as we all know, the end of slavery did not mark the end of the struggle. Government sanctioned discrimination, segregation, and other barriers persisted long after slavery ended.

Right here in this great state of California, countless enslaved people remained in bondage because lawmakers at the time chose not to enforce antislavery laws. Juneteenth reminds us that freedom is not something that we should ever take for granted. There were generations of black Americans who lived and died without experiencing rights and opportunities that many of us now consider fundamental. Black Americans have helped shape this nation for centuries.

Despite enduring slavery, segregation, and discrimination, They have continued to contribute, to lead, and to help move this nation and state forward, and their impact can be found in every chapter of American story.

As we recognize Juneteenth in 2026, we honor those who endured slavery, those who fought for emancipation and civil rights, and those who continue to work to create a more just and equitable future for all. I respectfully ask for an aye vote on SCR 183.

Thank you. Senator Padilla, you are recognized.

Thank you very much, mister president and colleagues. I rise on behalf of the Latino Legislative Caucus and the LGBTQ Caucus in strong support of SCR 183, marking Juneteenth, which has been alternatively known as freedom day, emancipation day loosely, and is symbolic of what is considered the date at which many enslaved persons in this country, black Americans brought here against their will, trapped in a system of oppression and exploitation, learned two and a half years more, sometimes more, after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Today, we can talk about freedom, but we should use the term very loosely because once the paper document was signed and the legal transition occurred, the reality was very different. That continued for too long and in some ways continues to this day. The abolition of- of slavery, however, did not bring equality.

Happened eighty nine years after the independence of our country. And yet it would still be another century beyond that before the civil rights movement would lift the nation's consciousness a little more and gain a little more movement in the right direction. Understanding our past, acknowledging those who have suffered and given and enlightened.

Who are really our heroes in a diverse nation, in a diverse state like California is something that we should never allow any resident of this state to ever forget and to continue to learn from throughout their lives. As we celebrate Juneteenth, we ask all Californians to honor and reflect on the significant achievements and impact that black Americans have played in the evolution of success of this nation.

And it must also remind us that the fight never ends, and we all have a moral and community obligation to be part of it until we have truly achieved justice for all our communities. We should note on this day as well the many important contributions, some modeled wonderfully on the floor today, of the contributions and influence that black Americans have had on our society and our culture.

We all know very well the amazing contributions to the arts, fashion, to music, to technology and innovation, for example example. Frederick McKinley Jones, in the early twentieth century, who was a pioneer in industrial technology that allowed people to do something as simple and necessary as preserve their food in a refrigerator. In 1991, he became the first black American to receive the National Medal of Technology.

Or the impact of Mark Dean, who earned a doctorate at Stanford University, helped invent IBM's original PC and the PC color monitor. There are countless examples that we can all look to and provide leaders about leaders and pioneers that have impacted and continue to influence our lives. But I challenge myself and all of us together with you to take the time to remember, to research, to learn, to listen, to think about the stories yet to be told that we can help unfold.

I wanna thank again my esteemed fellow colleague from San Diego for bringing the resolution and thank the Legislative Black Caucus for their continuing leadership in this important work. And I respectfully request an aye vote.

Senator Smallwood Cuevas, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister president. And I stand in strong support of SCR 1, and I speak today on behalf of the California Legislative Women's Caucus. This holiday is about remembering what our ancestors taught us, the ancestors that brought this holiday to fruition. And that is we can't just survive history. We have to change it.

And in so many ways, it's our turn. So many from across the nation, Juneteenth holds a deep meaning for black Americans. It marks the true end of chattel slavery, and it stands as the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of emancipation in The United States. But Juneteenth is more than a commemoration. It is a call to action.

It's recognizing racial violence in America and to resist through collective action, policy, and truth telling. Scratch the surface of any modern injustice and you will find the scars of slavery underneath. From discriminatory housing practices to occupational segregation to educational inequities, black Americans continue to face the consequences of centuries of disinvestment. On the heels of nationwide protests, I am reminded of the resistance of our ancestors, that many in the memory fuels our resistance, and it lives in our culture, activism, and presence.

And yes, we have to stay angry.

This community of black Californians remains angry in the honor of our ancestors because we understand the horrors of racism, the horrors of fascism, the horrors of brutality, and we know very well what it means to have racial terror rain down on our lives. Generation after generation, from Harriet Tubman to Angela Davis to Patrice Cullors, our ancestors were denied dignity, but we stood up for freedom. And freedom, we understood, was not free.

So as we celebrate today, this country is sustained in no small part by the work of black Americans who have tirelessly stood up for justice and served as the moral compass of a nation and continues to do so today. Juneteenth calls on us to remember, to resist, and to rise.

In California, we know we are ready. Now is the time to honor this history with action, and I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Senator. Senator Valladares, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister president, members. I rise, in strong support of this resolution as the cochair of our Hispanic caucus. And I rise to celebrate Juneteenth through the lens of faith. On June 19 in '9 in 1865, enslaved men and women in Galveston, Texas finally heard the words that changed everything. You are free.

For those of us who hold a Christian faith, that moment carries profound weight. Scripture tells us that God created every human being in his own image, every person without exception. And when that truth is violated, it is not just a crime against humanity, it's an offense against God who made them. This nation was founded on a declaration that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with a with certain unalienable rights.

Juneteenth in the Juneteenth is the day America took a hard, necessary step toward actually becoming what it always claimed to be.

Freedom came through proclamation, through a word being spoken and received. Similarly, as a Christian, gospel is a proclamation of freedom from bondage and Juneteenth is a proclamation of freedom. The work of freedom is never finished in a single moment. Each generation must recommit to dignity of every person made in God's image. And that is the promise of America at its best.

And it is a promise worth keeping, which is why this resolution, this day, is so vitally important. I strongly urge an aye vote.

Senator Becker, you are recognized.

Thank you, mister president. I rise as vice chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus in support of SCR 183. I thank my colleague from San Diego for bringing this forward. I look forward to many celebrations in my district that'll be happening. I was actually at a Juneteenth celebration, I met Clarence B Jones, who I had the chance to adjourn the Senate in his memory as one of Martin Luther King's key advisors.

I met him at a Juneteenth celebration. I look forward to the Dominique Hoskins Black History Museum and Learning Center in my district. I always has a great Juneteenth celebration. And Juneteenth commemorates the final emancipation of enslaved African Americans and stands for one of the most important milestones in this nation's pursuit of freedom and equality. It's a reminder that freedom has too often been denied and fought for generation after generation.

Today, as some work to manipulate history, challenge diversity, and erase difficult chapters from our past, Juneteenth matters more than ever. Preserving the historic chapters of slavery, segregation, and the struggle for civil rights is crucial to understanding our past so we can build a better future and not be condemned to repeat it. The Jewish community understands the importance of memory.

Our traditions teach us that remembering injustice is essential to preventing it from happening again, and then we have a responsibility to act when we see discrimination, exclusion, or hatred directed at others. It's that commitment that has long united the black and Jewish communities.

Juneteenth also reflects the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam, the responsibility to repair the world. We achieved this goal by honoring black history, celebrating black excellence, and supporting our black communities, especially in times of difficulty.

In solidarity with our communities and the California Legislative Black Caucus, the Jewish Caucus proudly celebrates Juneteenth and the enduring legacy of those who fought to bend the arc of the moral university of the moral universe towards justice and freedom for all Americans, I respectfully ask for an aye vote on SCR 183.

Seeing no further discussion, Senator doctor Barbara Pearson, would you like to close?

Yes. Thank you, mister president. Wanna thank all of my colleagues, representing the different diversity caucuses, for standing up in support of SCR 183. As was stated, there will be many, many Juneteenth celebrations this weekend in all of your districts, and I encourage all of you to attend. We had an amazing Juneteenth celebration concert last night right outside here on the capitol.

And as you go there and you have fun and food and fellowship, also remember the sacrifices that people made, not only to get out of slavery, but also the sacrifices that were made so that we could learn what happened and that we can celebrate Juneteenth.

And as we continue to fight at this time to ensure that America lives up to its promise to all Americans and that we are not rolling back a time where we're not able to celebrate the diversity in this country, that we're not able to learn about the true history of this country. I'm hoping that the celebrations this weekend reignite your soul to continue to fight so that we never go back.

We never go back to a time where some have and some don't, some belong and others don't. And with that, I respectfully ask for an aye vote on SCR 183.

Thank you, Senator. Secretary, please call Roll.

Alan. Ronald Gill. Archuleta. Alright. Arreguin.

Alright. Ashby. Becker. Alright. Blake Spear.

Alright. Caballero. Alright. Cervantes. Alright.

Choi. Alright. Cortezi. I Dali, I Durazo, I Gonzales, I Grayson, I Grove, I Hortado, I Jones, I Laird, I Lemon, I Maguire, McNerney. Menjivar.

Aye, Nilo. Aye, Ochoa Bog. Aye, Padilla. Aye, Perez. Aye, Reyes.

I Richardson. I Rubio. I Ciardo. I Smallwood Cuevas. I Stern.

I Strickland. I Humbert. I Volodares. I Wahab.

Aye.

Aye. McLernie? Aye.

Secretary, please call absent members.

Allen? Aye. Ayes. Ashby.

Aye, 39. No zero. The resolution passes.

Members without objection, we will now move to unfinished business to take up the following items. File item 47, Senate bill 110. Secretary, please read.

Senate bill 110 by Senator Laird, inaccurate into the state budget and making an appropriation, therefore, to take effect immediately, budget bill.

Senator Laird, you are recognized.

Thank you, madam president. SB 110 is a budget bill junior. It makes technical amendments to the budget act of 2026 to identify budget related legislation pursuant to proposition 25 of 2010. I ask for an aye vote.

Thank you. Senator Nilo, you are recognized.

Madam president, these amendments are to a bill that is unacceptable in the first place and still is. I urge a no vote.

Thank you. Seeing no further discussion or debate, secretary, please call the roll. Senator Laird, would would you like to close?

Respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Secretary, please call the roll.

Allen. Aye, Alvarado-Gil. No. Archuleta. Aye, Adeguin.

Aye, Ashby, Becker. Aye, Blake Spear. Aye, Cabaldon. Aye, Caballero. Aye, Cervantes.

Aye, Choi. No Cortesi. Aye, Dali. No Durazo. Aye, Gonzales.

Aye, Grayson. Aye, Grove. No, Hurtado. Aye, Jones. No, Laird.

Aye, Limon. Aye, McGuire. Aye, McNerney. Aye, Menjivar. Aye, Nilo.

No. No. Padilla. Aye, Perez. Reyes.

Aye, Richardson. Aye, Rubio. Aye, Ciardo. No. Smallwood Cuevas.

Aye, Stern. Aye, Strickland. No. Umberg. Aye.

Aye, Volodares. No. Wahab. Aye. Aye, Weber Pearson.

Aye, Weiner. Aye. Perez, aye.

Ayes, 29. Nos, 10. The assembly amendments are concurred in. We will now move to file item 48, Senate bill 122. Secretary, please read.

Senate bill 122 by the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review and Equinix to Taxation and making an appropriation, therefore, to take it back immediately, bill related to the budget.

Senator Laird, you are recognized.

Thank you very much, madam president. Senate bill 122 is a budget trailer bill related to revenues. This bill extends the sales and use taxes to the sale of electronically delivered prewritten software commencing 01/01/2027. Today, prewritten software is only taxed when it arrives on a physical disk, which is an outdated distinction in our sales tax law. This bill also extends the current temporary business tax credit cap for three additional years and further establishes a permanent business tax credit limitation commencing with the 2030 tax year.

A permanent credit limitation will ensure that the largest profitable corporations in California pay a reasonable minimum level of tax rather than offsetting all their tax liability with tax credits. This bill establishes a 100% tax on settlement fund payments received by taxpayers during the taxable years 2026 through 2029 from the anti weaponization fund if it's established by the Federal Department of Justice.

This bill reduces the annual minimum franchise tax for limited liability companies, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships from $800 to $400 for the first year of operation during the 2027 through 2029 tax years. And members, these revenue changes were assumed in building our 2026 budget, which was passed, in AB 109 on Monday, and together with the MCO tax in SB 125, represent an agreement on revenue changes with the assembly and the administration. These bills have been passed by the assembly already.

While the package is not our first choice for new revenues, I'm proud that the Senate led the way for our assembly and administration colleagues to explore revenue options as part of a balanced approach in meeting a final deal. The general fund generated by these changes will allow the state to prevent some of the most devastating reductions to health care and social services and delay the implementation of others.

And it will also make continued investments in education, childcare, affordable housing, homelessness reduction, and many other programs that are important to California's. With that, I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Senator Nilo. You are recognized.

Thank you, madam president. I'm going to speak on both of the tax bills, the one also the one that my good friend from Santa Cruz will be presenting in a moment because we all know what is in both of these bills in any way. First of all, we usually have a budget deficit because economic factors cause tax revenues to fall off, creating a mismatch between revenues and expenditures.

We know that we have a highly unusual, structural deficit because we have, expenditures that are increasing, not just static, but increasing along with revenues that continue to increase, but not as much as expenditures. That is our highly unusual structural deficit.

So go ahead and tax, software development, which is essentially taxing labor that develops a product. And so while we're at it, maybe we could consider taxing, the labor on a major air conditioner repair because once that done it is done, it creates a new product. Or tax labor on a a replaced roof because that creates a product which includes the labor value. I probably shouldn't pass out any ideas, but I suspect perhaps others are thinking of this already.

And also, go ahead and limit research and development credits.

As an economy that is fundamentally an innovative economy that depends upon research and development. And, by the way, it was mentioned in budget committee yesterday, that we ought not to be too concerned because that's part of their business model. Yes. It is. But, they can go to other states that allow more credit or other companies that might think about moving into California won't be so inclined, innovative companies, with the re with the, restriction on research and development credits.

So, by all means, go ahead and and go ahead and violate the spirit of proposition 35, speaking now about the next bill, SB 125, and implement an MCO tax that will actually end up increasing costs of health care for just about everybody. My office received a contact from Sutter Health this morning. And just for Sutter Health, just that one health care organization in the state, The software tax will increase their costs by $23,000,000 for medical records and e subscription.

The MCO tax will increase their costs by 12,000,000 for a total of 35,000,000 by virtue of these tax proposals. Just Sutter Health.

Employment in our state. And by the way, employment in California is among the weakest in the country. In spite of those increasing revenues, which are very narrowly focused to the innovation economy, artificial intelligence mostly. And go ahead and continue to ignore a crucial look at those increasing expenditures and why they're increasing more than increasing revenues. And with a critical look, perhaps see where we can bring that into balance without raising taxes, which will do damage on our economy.

That these measures are going to pass today unless I've convinced enough of you not to support them. But I'm realistic. It will be a huge mistake. I urge a no vote.

Thank you. Senator Choi, you are recognized.

Thank you, madam and colleagues. I rise in strong opposition to AB 122. You heard it. While Californians are demanding relief from rising costs, the One of the hardest hit sectors will be health care providers and hospitals that rely on specialized software every day for patient records, diagnostics billing, scheduling, compliance, and care coordination. This proposal comes at a time when many California hospitals are already facing significant financial challenges.

The legislature has committed billions of dollars to help keep distressed hospitals open and maintain access to care. Yet this bill turns around and imposes new taxes on the very technology those hospitals need to serve patients, increasing operating costs and undermining those investments.

One one thing in this bill that I would consider that is good, and I'm glad that the legislature is embracing governor's proposal to reduce corporate taxes, LLC taxes, from $800 to $4,400 You may remember some of you in my committee that was proposed by me, by by my, bill to cut originally $800 to, $80.

And then upon the recommendation of the, tax and the revenue, committee, committee's, chairperson's suggestion, I took the amendment to, make the changes to $600 I thought that there was a from $800 to $600 so it would be better than nothing being rejected. Even though my acceptance of that amendment suggestion, the bill was finally killed in the committee.

But luckily, governor embraced my idea just like he did, no taxation on the insurance of, settlements for fire wildfire victims last year. That was also my, bill and which was killed, and the governor took up on the same idea implemented, which is nice because a good idea is a a prompt governor or opposite side to take up the ideas implemented even though they are unwilling you are unwilling to give the credit to the Republican bills.

If we if we are serious about protecting access to health care, we should not be making it more expensive for providers to deliver that care for speaking of our hospital cost, health care cost, and difficulties that our hospitals are right now facing. For these reasons, if you are reasonable people, you will understand the points that we are making. I respect the urge you no vote.

Thank you. Senator Strickland, you are recognized.

Thank you, madam president, members. I rise in opposition to SB 122. Like my budget lead, I'm gonna talk on the next two bills so we can get through the process. But members, the majority and the governor have an addiction to spending. You do have an addiction to spending.

You do that very well at a time when we have historic levels of revenue, a time when we have historic levels of revenue. And the reason why so much revenue has come in to the state of California is because we rely on our budget on a lot of capital gains. And we have historic capital gains incoming in terms of revenue because the AI boom. Not only did you spend that revenue, historic revenue, that can't sustain itself boom forward, that's why we'll have a structural deficit.

Not only did you do that, and at a time when both Democrats and Republicans both said that the number one issue facing California today is the affordability crisis.

Well, members, by passing this bill and the one at next after this, you're actually increasing the cost and affordability for hardworking California families. They're going to pay more in health care. They're going to pay more now on software. And you didn't need to do this because, again, we have historic revenues. But not only do you spend to that historic revenue, now we're seeing one of the largest tax increases in California history right before us today.

And again, we're setting a a pace here that you can't sustain. We are gonna have major structural deficit moving forward, whoever the next governor of California is, at a time when people are living paycheck to paycheck, we're now raising their taxes dramatically and they're paying more because of these decisions here in the legislature. I would say don't don't look at the rhetoric, look at the record. The rhetoric says you care about the affordability crisis, but your record shows that you really don't.

And so when you look at Newsom and since he's come in, for every $0.63 that has come into California, the legislature and him has spent $0.77 Now that doesn't sound like a lot when we talk about cents.

When we talk about billions of dollars, that is a lot. And don't forget whose money this is. This is your constituents, my constituents. It's the people's money, and we didn't need to raise taxes on hardworking California families. We should have made tough decisions just like every family has to do in their family kitchen table.

They make the tough decisions on their kitchen table. What we do is we just keep spending, borrowing, and leave it to another another governor and another legislature to fix what we should be doing here today. And for those reasons, I ask for your no vote on SB 122.

Thank you. Senator Grove, you are recognized.

Madam president, I too join my colleagues in asking you imploring you to vote no on SB 122. This budget, bill includes tax revenues or tax increases approving expansion on the state sales and pre written software, and software services. It's a tax on services which we haven't had in a long time.

And I know we're gonna say things like, when a disc came in the mail and you paid the taxes and the delivery fees, and this is downloading and it should be a part of the cost to generate revenue for the state of California. Colleagues, this is about the college student.

We just had a a hearing where college students didn't have the affordability to and they have food insecurity issues, and they can't pay for their college funds, and this is every time they download a software to help them with their college and their education, this is gonna cost them money. It's about our financially distressed hospitals. We allocated 300,000,000.

This budget allocates not this one, but the one that will take in a few days, so the Democrat budget allocates $300,000,000 for the financially distressed hospitals.

Just in May, we had to do

an emergency hospital loan for to be able to keep hospitals open. We're gonna have a health crisis in our communities and in this state, and we're on the brink of that because our hospitals can't stay open. And yet, you heard my colleague, the vice chair of budget, talk about just Sutter Health alone was $35,000,000. I have three financially distressed hospitals in my district. One was on the verge of closure before we instituted the financially distressed loan program, which they're in the process of paying back.

That hospital will will responsible on on just maintaining records to make sure that records of patients are taken care of with the download and services that they have to have from their software providers would cost them over $40,000,000. We gave them a $5,500,000 loan to survive, and now we're gonna shackle them with $40,000,000 in tax increases. Remember, colleagues, that this is not just businesses that will pay this. Businesses are struggling.

When you look at the the tax increases, especially with the MCO tax, which I'll address now and not at at a when the MCO tax comes up, but the MCO tax, that increased benefit benefit payments for the the employee and the employer.

So if you have a $800 a month bill for your your Blue Cross Blue Shield plan or or whatever plan you have, those are usually split split sixty forty with the employer and the employee or fifty fifty and sometimes eighty twenty. That increase will go to hardworking Californians and reduce their paychecks because they'll have an increase in cost.

The last MCO cost, tax that we passed that was agreed upon when the governor swept the money and put it in the general fund, and it was supposed to go to the providers that take care of the people that we serve, that one increased the cost about $500 per policy depending on on average. If you were an older Californian or you had kids or you had larger family coverage, then it went up to almost $900 per, family.

And then this is gonna increase it and double it even more.

So not only will Californians we talk about affordability, you talk about affordability in housing, you talk about affordability in fuel cost, you talk about affordability in everything that's affecting this state. This morning, I drove down 12th Street, which I share with you off, and I met a lady. Her name was Edwina. She looked like she was probably 80 years old, a black female. She was on the streets carrying a suitcase, and she said that she got kicked out of her apartment.

Affordability is a real problem in this state, and imposing the largest tax increase that we've had in decades is completely ridiculous when our the people we serve are crying out for affordability.

And funding with taxpayer dollars, financially distressed hospitals to make sure that they survive, so they can treat the people that we represent, and then requiring them to pay multimillions of dollars of software tax that increase their cost that's not refundable, or not any way they could recoup those resources, because the medical reimbursement rates are so stymied and low, they'll never be able to afford this. Respectfully ask for a no vote.

Thank you, Senator Cabaldon. You are recognized.

Thank you, madam president. It seems like it was just four days ago when we took up the budget bill itself, and on the other side of the aisle, there were two complaints, two major complaints about the budget. Number one, that it wasn't financially sustainable. We had more revenue coming in, but it was short term, and we have a structural deficit that needs to be addressed. And number two, that we're not spending enough.

If you look back at the tape from Monday's budget debate, you will note that over $1,000,000,000 of additional spending was called for by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, whether whether for distressed hospitals, for rural community health, prop 36, over $1,000,000,000 In fact, it turns out it's just the same amount as one of these tax measures that's before us today. So what we heard earlier in the week was we need to be spending more money, and we don't have enough money.

That's exactly what this bill is. This is about responsibly budgeting for the for the future of California. We cannot live just on day to day stock market, gains in by the by the AI companies.

We have to have a stable tax system in this state in order to meet exactly the needs that that members on both sides have identified this past week. The research and development tax credit is an important feature of California, and in its existence is one of the reasons why California has been such an economic powerhouse. But when the research and development tax credit was created, California was a very different place and our economy was a very different economy.

We thought, our predecessors thought, that by the state incentivizing the the growth and the development of a very, very embryonic biotechnology and life sciences sector, that encouraging, at the time, encouraging investment in research and innovation in the agriculture sector that we could we could lead the world. The great news is we were right and that we have succeeded.

But today, the research and development world is quite different. Anthropic, Google, Nvidia, These are companies whose core business model is research and development. And by the way, all of these companies have more annual revenues than the entire state government of California. Each one of those companies annual revenues is almost double the entire annual general fund revenues for the state of California.

So why are the people of California needing to take our tax dollars to subsidize those companies doing research and development, which is the core of their business.

If we ended all research and development in, incentives today, do we think that Anthropic and OpenAI would stop developing new models? Do we think maybe Meta would not lay off tens of thousands of workers in order to do research on how to convert their work into AI models? No. They're doing that because that is their business, And it is not right for us to ask barbers and farmers and teachers, work everyday working people in California to subsidize that to that extent.

This bill does not in any way repeal the research and development credit though.

All it says is that no matter what your tax credits are, every Californian, whether it's a person or a company, has to pay something in taxes. And the 20 the 20 giant companies in California that paid zero taxes, zero corporate taxes, and the 80 that pay almost nothing, under this legislation, they would have to pay the grand total in the long term of up to 30% of their actual tax liability, while all the rest of us pay pretty much 100% of our tax liability.

It isn't right. It is not right that a farmer or a farm worker in my district is paying more in income taxes than Google is paying in income, in in income and corporate taxes. That's just not fair.

That does not even close to fair. This bill seeks to make that somewhat right, to bring some fairness, some equity, get rid of the absurdity in our tax credit system that allows the very wealthiest companies on the planet, wealthier than the government of California, to be able to evade any taxation whatsoever in our corporate system. I urge an aye vote.

Thank you, Senator Valladares. You are recognized.

Thank you, madam chair. I rise in strong opposition to SB 122. Californians are already carrying the heaviest cost of living burden in the nation. Housing, energy, insurance, childcare, gas. They're making impossible choices every single month.

And today, this legislature's answer is to add more taxes. And this time on the digital tools that people use to earn a living. That's not leadership from my perspective, that's surrender. This expands California's sales tax to software subscriptions and digital services, the very tools that small businesses depend on to survive. Payroll software, inventory systems, construction management tools, healthcare platforms.

For millions of Californians, this isn't abstract. This impacts real people, real businesses. And this is a difference, this tax could be the difference between making payroll and missing it. And let's be direct about what happens next. Businesses don't absorb new taxes.

They get passed on to us through higher prices, through higher fees, through fewer hires, through delayed investment, and ultimately through closed doors. The people who pay the price are always the same people. Always the same people, working families who can least afford it. The restaurant owner trying to make payroll, the contractor trying to win a bid, the doctor trying to keep their lights on, the nonprofit stretching every single donated dollar, the startup that might have been the next great California company if we let it grow.

But colleagues, this budget spends $355,000,000,000 And it seems ironic to me that we're told every year that there's never enough revenue.

And every year, government gets bigger while affordability gets worse. And let me say this plainly. What the data shows, what Californians already know, the problem is not that Californians are under taxed. The problem is that Sacramento won't stop spending. Every new tax makes this state a little less livable, a little less competitive, a little more hostile to the entrepreneurs and to families that we all claim to serve.

People are not leaving California because they love the weather somewhere else. They're leaving because they can't afford to stay. And now, now we want to tax the very tools they're using to try and stay. Madam President, colleagues, they say that two things are certain in life, death and taxes. However, Californians are being taxed to death.

I strongly urge a no vote.

Thank you. Senator Wiener, you are recognized.

Thank you, madam president. I rise in support of SB 122. We need to be clear that no one likes paying taxes. I maybe there are a few random people on in this on planet Earth who like paying taxes, but I think, very few people do. But taxes are essential for having, the most basic government services.

And I think when we look at the big picture about what's happening now is we have a federal administration, with its lapdog majority in Congress, that have completely or attempting to gut basic government services like health care, like food assistance. And they're doing it on the backs of people who can't afford it in order to give tax cuts to corporations and to the wealthiest, including extending or making permanent a 40% corporate tax cut that was enacted in 2017 and renewed last year.

And so I don't think these, proposals are unreasonable. We are now having to deal with the fallout of the big horrible bill in terms of health care cuts and so many other cuts to transportation, Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera. Basic needs of Californians that Donald Trump and his cronies have been cutting, and we need to do what we can, to to help people and to not let, for example, our health care system, collapse.

And I wanna also just focus specifically on the software, the extension of sales tax to software. And I understand there are folks who are concerned about it and don't like that, and I respect it. But I think we have to also look at the changes in our economy that are making the sales tax less and less relevant. We are transitioning from a very physical economy to a very digital economy.

And if you only apply sales tax to physical and not digital, you can see where that's going in terms of shrinking pool of resources for basic services.

And so in the past, for example, in the health care industry, because I know we've we've all heard from folks in the health care industry, medical records were all physical on paper and folders, copy machines, typewriters, pens, all the physical things you had to purchase to keep health care records, all subject to sales tax. And now that it's digital, none of it's subject to sales tax. So I think this is a reasonable a reasonable approach.

And, and I also just wanna note that this isn't just about the state budget. This will generate about a billion dollars a year for local governments.

And we know that local sales taxes tend to be used for things like public safety and transportation and other essential local government services. And so this will help our local communities at a time when they are under incredible stress because in significant part of the actions of the Federal Government. I ask for an aye vote.

Thank you. Seeing no further discussion or debate, Senator Laird, would you like to close?

Thank you very much, madam president. I appreciate the discussion from all my colleagues on this. And and let me just make a few points. Because on the whole notion of prewritten software, which is only taxed on a physical disk. Most of us don't get prewritten software on a physical disk anymore.

The whole world is past that, but our tax code hasn't. And this brings us up to where it is. And the argument is is we should protect that anachronism. No. The tax code should move to where we actually are.

I appreciate the discussion on the minimum level of tax because that's also an issue with this bill. The long term proposal and suggestion is that all large profitable corporations pay at least some reasonable minimum level of state taxes. My colleague from YOLO was exactly right. Large corporations should not pay less than farm workers, than working people across California.

You talk about affordability, and that burden gets moved to the lower people on the tax schedule if we do not enact something with fairness, which is in this bill.

And part of the speeches were relitigating the budget that we approved on, Monday. And let's be clear, a lot of what we are considering today would not be considered if it were not for the federal cuts that are cutting across this country and across this state. And hospitals is the perfect example, because hospitals were cut with the disadvantaged money, the dish money. Hospitals have been cut for the COF money, the quality assurance money.

Hospitals have been cut because there could be as many as a million and a half people in California that lose their medical care due to those federal cuts.

What we are doing is we are having to triage against those cuts. That's what it did in the budget, and the bills we're considering this morning allow us to do that. So together, we are actually, with these bills, affecting the structural deficit. That was brought up.

It's we're being so responsible in the sense that with $36,000,000,000 of reserves and with taking the majority of the excess revenue we have this year and moving it to balance the budget in the year after next and make targeted cuts and targeted revenue increase.

And that's why what's in front of us allows for a balanced budget over two years, $36,000,000,000 of reserves cutting the structural deficit almost in half. That is responsible budgeting. This is part of it. I respectfully ask for an item.

Thank you. Secretary, please call the roll.

Allen. Hi. Alvarado-Gil. No. Archuleta.

Hi. Allequin. Hi. Ashby Becker. Hi.

Blake Spear. Cabaldon. Aye. Caballero. Aye.

Cervantes. Aye. Choi. No. Cortezi.

Aye. No. Durazo. Aye. Gonzalez.

Aye. Grayson. Aye. Grove. Portado.

Jones. No, Laird. Aye, Limon. Aye, McGuire. Aye, McNearney.

Aye, Menjivar. Aye, Nilo. No, Ochoa Bog. No, Padilla. Aye, Perez.

Aye, Reyes. Aye, Richardson. Aye, Rubio. Aye, Ciardo. No, Smallwood Cuevas.

Aye, Stern. Aye, Strickland? No, Humbert? Aye, Boladeras? No, Wahab?

Aye, Weber Pearson? Aye, Weiner? Aye.

Aye, 27. Call the absent members. Secretary.

Ashby, Blake Spear, Grove, Hurtado.

Eyes 27. Nose nine. I I didn't know. Eyes 27, nos nine. That measure passes.

We will now move to file item 49, Senate bill 125. Secretary, please call. Secretary, please read.

Senate bill 125 by the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review and act relating to Medi Cal and making an appropriation, therefore, to take effect immediately bill related to the budget.

Senator Laird, you are recognized.

Thank you very much, madam president. Senate bill 125 is a budget trailer bill that imposes a tax on managed care organizations. This bill specifically replaces our long standing and voter approved MCO tax, which was wiped out by house Resolution 1 with a new federally compliant MCO tax that assesses a uniform tax on Medi Cal managed care plans and commercial health care plans licensed by the Department of Managed Health Care.

In order to comply with the new federal rules under HR 1, this bill imposes an $8.85, cent per month charge per health care plan enrollee. The charge is on the health plan, but it's possible for cost to be passed along to consumers in the form of higher premiums.

All proceeds from this bill cover Medi Cal costs, which results in general fund savings of $575,000,000 in the budget year and 2,300,000,000 when fully implemented. It helps stabilize the finances of the Medi Cal program and reduces the need for additional budgetary reductions.

Members, the MCO tax was assumed in building our 2026 budget, which was passed in AB 109 on Monday, and together with the revenues in Senate bill 122, which were just passed, represented an agreement on revenue changes with the assembly and the administration. We understand that some of the potential impacts on health care premiums from the new MCO tax, but let's be clear. This bill is only needed because the federal administration wiped out California's prior MCO tax for the protected premiums.

The best way to protect, those premiums is for the Federal Government to reverse course and allow our prior MCO structure to remain. Without an MCO tax, we would be forced to take additional painful cuts to our health and social safety net systems. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you. Seeing no further discussion or debate, secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Secretary, call the absent members.

Ashby, Blake Spear, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Limon? Aye. Aye. Weber Pearson. Weber Pearson, aye. Yeah. Johnson, no.

Eyes, 27. Nose, nine. That measure passes. Members without objection.

Members without objection, we will now move to Senate third reading to take up file item 59, Senate Resolution 114 by Senator Niello. After adoption of the resolution, we will return to privileges of the floor so that the Senator may introduce his guest. File item 59, Senate Resolution 114. Secretary, please read.

Senate Resolution 114 by Senator Niello, relative to advancement via Individual Determination Week.

Senator Niello, you are recognized at the Majority Leader's desk.

Thank you very much, Madam President. I am presenting SR 114. It relates to Advancement Via Individual Determination, otherwise known as AVID, the AVID program, and we would be recognizing June 15th to June 21st as AVID Week in the State of California. Now, AVID was founded in San Diego in 1980 with a mission of closing the opportunity gap by preparing all students for college and career readiness and success in a global society.

AVID has grown from a single classroom then to now serving over 400,000 students in 2,000 schools in California. AVID has demonstrated forty-five years of closing achievement and opportunity gaps. Every place where AVID operates, there is no achievement gap. None. And it does that for the same priority students group—groups—identified in the in California's local control fin—funding formula.

90% of AVID graduates in California complete UC, CSU, requirements, compared to 52% statewide. 90 versus 52. 80% of AVID graduates enroll in post-secondary education, compared to 62% statewide. 80% versus 62%. The AVID system helps students think critically, collaborate, set high expectations. I can't emphasize that enough.

Set high expectations to tackle future challenges and develop skills in alignment with local portraits of a graduate. Over 37,000 California educators are trained with AVID strategies, and AVID trained teachers have a higher rate of retention. We're having a hard time retending teachers, ret, retending teachers, but not AVID trained teachers. AVID has a direct impact on career relevant outcomes, such as durable skill development, early career readiness, major, major selection, and post-secondary persistence.

AVID's multilingual research and asset-based instruction—instructional—opportunities, including AVID Excel, AVID Emerge, they support English learner learners and multilingual students, in alignment with California's goal of 75% bilingual proficiency by 2040.

The value of AVID should be recognized as a powerful tool for ensuring that California's students develop the schools and beliefs they need to excel in a rapidly evolving world. I commend AVID's 45-year contribution to California education and its impact on student achievement, educator effectiveness, and college and career readiness across the state, affirm the value of including AVID as a partner in statewide post-secondary readiness initiatives, and encourage California school districts to consider AVID's proven strategies to advance their educational goals.

I would even go so far as to speculate, and I don't think this is a speculation, that if we had AVID in every school of the state of California, we would not have subpar achievement versus the rest of the country. So, please join me in supporting SR 114, which declares June 15th to June 21st, '26, as AVID week in California.

I ask for an aye vote.

Thank you. Senator Choi, you are recognized.

Thank you, madam, and colleagues, I rise in a strong support of SE—SR 114—and thank you, Senator from Fair Works, Works, for bringing forward this resolution. As a former educator, I appreciate the programs that help students build the skills and the confidence needed to success—for success in college and their careers. AVID is making a difference in Orange County through programs at the Orange High School, Kramer Middle School, Valencia High School, and the Columbus Husson Middle School.

I'm so proud to coauthor this resolution and respectively ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. Seeing no further discussion or debate. Senator, would you like to close?

Yes. I would very much appreciate an aye vote for AVID week, June 15th through June 21th. Thank you.

Thank you. Senators, this is unanimous for—this, this is eligible for unanimous roll call. Seeing no objection, ayes, 38. Noes, zero. That measure passes.

Senator Niello, you are recognized for introduction of your guest.

Thank you, very much. I do have, joining me today on the floor and in the gallery, avid Board Members, avid staff, teachers, parents, and most importantly, avid students. Would those in the gallery please stand up? Welcome to the California State Senate. And behind me are a number of students, and you'll notice that one individual conspicuously looks not like a student.

Those of us in the local area will know that that is Dave Gordon, who has had a long and distinguished career in education. He was superintendent of the Elk Grove District. And now for the last, fifteen years. Twenty one. Twenty one years at the county board at the county office of education.

I you know, time flies. I lose track. I've known, Dave for a few decades as a close friend and adviser. He is the one that introduced Avid to me back when I was in the assembly, which is why I am so passionate about it. He has, unfortunately, announced his retirement, which won't happen for a year, so we're glad for that.

But a very distinguished career, AVID board member and passionate advocate for for AVID, Dave Gordon, as well as accompanied students behind me here.

Thank you, and welcome to the Senate. I remember the AVID programs when I was in school in San Diego, and they did an amazing job.

Senators, we are now gonna go back to privileges of the floor. If we can all give a very happy birthday to our very own Senator McNerney. Today is his birthday.

I also wanna recognize two young men who are joining us today at my desk. My two sons, Kadir, who just was promoted from eighth grade, and Jalil, who will be going to the seventh grade next year. Senator Perez, you are recognized for your introduction of your guest.

Thank you, madam president. Today we recognize and celebrate the remarkable career of Michael "Mike" Fine whose dedication to public education and commitment to serving students, families, and local educational agencies have left a lasting impact throughout California. Throughout his career, Mike has devoted himself to strengthening public education through principled leadership, sound fiscal stewardship, and an unwavering commitment to ensuring that educational agencies have the tools and resources necessary to support student success.

His work consistently reflected the belief that students should drive how local education agencies plan for and utilize their resources. Signaling his commitment to public education, Mike made an intentional transition early in his career from private industry finance and combined his financial expertise with the belief that all children should have access to the resources they need to excel both inside and outside the classroom.

Prior to joining the fiscal crisis and management assistant team or FCMAT, he distinguished himself in his hometown of Riverside as deputy superintendent and interim superintendent of the Riverside Unified School District, bringing invaluable firsthand experience and personal connection to his work on behalf of public school students and their families. Mike joined the FCMAT team in 2015 as chief administrative officer. In 2017, he was named chief executive officer.

A role he holds to this day and entrusted with leading the organization's efforts to provide independent fiscal and management oversight, support, and technical assistance to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools throughout the state. As he brings his distinguished career to a close, Mike deserves the highest commendations for guiding the development of FCMAT into the influential organization it is today.

Under his leadership, FCMAT has furthered its mission of helping educational agencies maintain fiscally sound, legally compliant, and effective operations that support quality instruction and student achievement. His tenure has been marked by expert analysis, oversight of state appointed fiscal crisis districts, and thoughtful guidance through some of the most complex financial and operational challenges facing public education. Over the years, Mike has worked diligently to ensure that every leadership decision was grounded in prudent fiscal principles. A commitment to transparency and a focus on the best interest of students.

His willingness to confront difficult challenges, find practical solutions, and provide steady leadership has earned him the sincere admiration and respect of colleagues, educational leaders, and communities throughout the state.

As Mike enters retirement, we extend our deepest gratitude for his years of dedicated and exemplary service to the education of students throughout California and for his leadership and helping educational agencies build effective and sustainable organizational operations.

And I just wanna add on a personal note, some of you remember last year, I worked on a piece of legislation, SB 848, really focused on protecting our students in k through 12 institutions and ensuring that there are protections in the case that there is sexual assault against a student by a school employee or staff member. That bill was based off of a FCMAT report that Mike Fine created and produced.

Our students, our children, and K through 12 institutions will be safer because of Mike Fine's work. On behalf of all of those whose lives and institutions have been strengthened by Mike's work, we thank you Mike for your extraordinary contributions and wish you all the richness, fulfillment, and rewards of an active and productive retirement.

Your legacy of service, integrity, and commitment to public education will continue to benefit students and schools for years to come. Mike is joined today by his wife Kevin Fine, his daughter Amanda Fine, son-in-law Matt Vanderkreek, his sons Brandon Fine and Leah Fine, and his five month old granddaughter Peyton Fine. Also joining us from the gallery are longtime friends and colleagues of Mike Fine.

Thank you. Senator Laird, you are recognized.

Thank you, madam president. I served as chair of the education budget subcommittee for five years, and one of the staples in our process was Mike Fine reporting every year on the fiscal stability of school districts across California. And he did it in a way that we could trust him, we knew it was real, and we knew somebody was on it. And right now, there's a little shift in who is is troubled fiscally in school districts.

It has been the large urban districts, and it's starting to shift to the very smaller rural districts who don't have sort of the tax base to carry themselves.

And it was Mike's work that sort of identified this trend and spoke to it real specifically in front of the budget subcommittee. And on the very issue, that my colleague from Southern California just mentioned, he got out there at the request of all of us and the subcommittee on a report for the fiscal stability based on those old claims. And some people went after him, and it was richly undeserved because he was doing what he did best.

Look at a difficult, thorny problem, analyze it, give us practical solutions, and help walk us through it. So I know his retirement is richly deserved, but I just wanna say we will miss him greatly, and he's been an outstanding public servant.

Thank you, Senator. And thank you for your service, and welcome to the Senate floor. We are still at privileges of the floor. Senator Allen, you are recognized for recognition of your guest at the majority leader's desk.

Well, thank you so much, madam president. I appreciate it. I have the privilege now of introducing a really inspiring group of young leaders who represent the 2026 class of Cause Leadership Academy internship. So every year, the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment, cause, selects a a small handful of young adults who are passionate about public policy and engaged in civic leadership, particularly, from the Asian Pacific Islander communities.

And some of, some of these folks who are coming up may look familiar to you, because they've been placed in a host office, serving in the offices of LA County Supervisors and US senators and congressmen, the attorney general, and and right here in the assembly and Senate.

I'm actually lucky enough to have Sophia Pu, who's here as an intern in my own district office, who's, been helping me see firsthand the impressive leadership that this program instills. It's a program that, I've known for quite some time. My Deputy Chief of Staff, Sam Lou, has been very involved with COS for quite some time. So this week, the CLA Capital Summit kicks off a nine week full time internship, during which these wonderful and talented young people will get hands on experience in their host offices.

They'll be meeting with elected leaders, learning about the legislative process, and even running a mock campaign, which sounds very stressful.

These 12 interns are joining the CLA's program, The program's 30 legacy of public policy leadership and service in the API community made possible by the wonderful CAUSE staff, some good friends Rachel Nguyen, Stephanie Auro, Andrea Mack, executive director, great the wonderful Nancy Yap. They are all here today. So I just wanna thank you members. I wanna just take a a moment to to wish a very, very warm Senate welcome to this extraordinary 2026 class of the Cause Leadership Academy internship here on the Senate floor.

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Thank you, and welcome to the Senate floor. We are still at privileges of the floor. And we will move on to our next introduction. Senator Arreguin, you are recognized for your introduction at the majority leader's desk.

Well, thank you, madam president. I rise to recognize some distinguished guests who played instrumental roles in the success of the zero textbook cost or ZTC program. This program reduces higher education costs by giving community colleges the ability to replace expensive textbooks with free open educational resources. As the Senator representing a diverse district, which is home to five community colleges that combined enroll over 37,000 students annually. Often first generation low income students.

I recognize the important role community colleges play in uplifting students and opening doors for new opportunities. 2,200,000 Californians are currently enrolled in our community colleges, with 79% surveyed reporting concern over the ability to cover the cost of course materials. The ZTC program helps students save millions of dollars and thereby removing barriers to higher education. With us today are a number of distinguished guests, and I'll say their names and titles. Kalyn Nagle, senior manager at Michelson twenty millimeters foundation.

Lisa Petreides, trustee at the San Mateo Community College District. Andy Aitken Pogue, faculty at Konsoombe River College. James Todd, the vice chancellor of academic affairs at the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office. Angel Benua, student Senator at Sacramento City College. Jessica Fagan, the dean of academic affairs at the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office.

Marissa Martinez, senior coordinator at Michelson twenty m m foundation. Michelle Pilati, academic Senate for community colleges. Ginny Dang, a student at Consumus College. Chad Funk, the ZTC program manager at the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office. Erin McVean, vice chancellor of educational services and planning at the San Mateo Community College District.

And lastly, Nia Bratton, the public affairs manager at the Michaelson Center for Public Policy. Colleagues, please join me in welcoming these incredible individuals in recognition of their accomplishments in advancing access to education at our community colleges throughout the state of California.

Congratulations, and welcome to the Senate floor. Senators, before we move on, I have been informed that we have another birthday on the floor today. Our very own sergeant Sydney Newman, Birthday is today. Happy birthday. We will now move to messages from the governor.

They will be deemed read. Messages from the assembly will be deemed read. Reports of committees will be deemed read and amendments adopted. We are now at motions, resolutions, and notices. Senator Valladares, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. I wish to remove the following bill for at the request of the author from the consent calendar and place it on the third reading file, file item 133, SCR 155.

Thank you. The desk will note. Senator Reyes, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise to request that file item 126, AB 1817 be pulled off the consent calendar at the request of the author.

Thank you. The desk will note. Senator Richardson, you are recognized.

Good morning, Members. I move the adoption of the authors and the floor amendments that cross the desk on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 19th, 20th, and 21st as approved by leadership. Author's amendments will be adopted, published, and the bills returned to the committee. Floor amendments will be adopted, published, and ordered for second reading.

Thank you. Senator Valladares, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise in opposition. I'm requesting a no vote and a roll call.

Thank you. Senators, Senator Valladares is requesting a no vote. Senator Richardson is requesting an aye. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Secretary, please call the absent Members.

[Roll Call]

Ayes 28, noes 7. The motion carries. We are now at consideration of daily file. We will go to second reading file, items one through 39. Secretary, please read.

[Second Reading]

Will be deemed read. We will now move to Senate third reading, file item 61 SJR 14. Secretary, please read.

Senate joint resolution 14 by Senator Cabaldon relative to military and veterans.

Senator Cabaldon, you are recognized.

Thank you, madam president. More than 73,000 women answered the country's call during World War two, serving as army and Navy nurses in combat zones, aboard hospital ships, in prisoner of war camps, and on medical evacuation aircraft. Of the 73,000, only five are believed to still be living, and the window to honor them while they can still receive that recognition is closing. These nurses serve closer to combat than in any prior conflict, under fire, all while continuing to care for wounded troops.

Their work directly reduced battlefield mortality and drove lasting advances in military medicine and in trauma care.

Despite serving as commissioned officers, they were for years denied annual pay, full full military status, and veterans benefits. The congressional gold medal has already been used to correct similar oversights, including the Tuskegee Airmen, Navajo code code talkers, women air force service pilots, and the six triple eight central postal directory battalion have all been honored, and these nurses belong in this category. SAR fourteen urges California's congressional delegation to join in federal legislation that would award that medal to these nurses.

With that, I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you. Seeing no further discussion or debate, senators, this is eligible for unanimous roll call. Seeing no objection, ayes 36, nos zero. The resolution passes. We will now move to file item 69.

We will now move to file item 69, SCR 187. Secretary, please read.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 187 by Senator Ochoa Bogh relative to Father's

Day. Senator Ochoa Bog, you are recognized.

Good morning, and thank you, madam president. Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, I am extremely pleased to present SCR 187, which recognizes June 21 as Father's Day in California. This is the day we gather to honor the fathers and the father figures who play an essential role in the lives of children, families, and communities throughout the state. It is also time to honor those who have lost their fathers and those who have taken on the fatherhood role.

To credit one our one of our nation's leaders, President Barack Obama, describes fathers as teachers, coaches, mentors, and role models.

Through their guidance, encouragement, and support, fathers help shape the values and character of the next generation. Research consistently validates the positive benefits children receive when fathers are actively engaged in their lives. Paternal involvement has been associated with stronger educational outcomes, improved well-being, healthier relationships, and greater social development. Strong families are the foundation of strong communities, and the impact of engaged fathers extends far beyond childhood. Fathers help instill confidence, responsibility, resilience, and a sense of purpose that can influence their children's success and well-being throughout their lives.

Decades of social science research has found that children with present fathers are less likely to experience incarceration, poverty and social disconnection. A father gives us more than his last name, he helps shape who we become. From teaching you how to ride a bike to cheering you on from the sidelines at your favorite games, his presence leaves a lasting impact. Fathers teach us to stand up for what is right, to recognize what is wrong, and to face life's challenges with courage and selflessness.

This resolution also recognizes the importance important contributions of father figures, including grandfathers, stepfathers, adoptive fathers, coaches, mentors, and others who provide care, stability, and guidance to children and youth.

To the fathers who are currently present who are not currently present in their children's lives, whether because of fear, feelings of unworthiness, or difficult life circumstances, I want you to know that it's never too late to do what is right. It is never too late to reach out and begin rebuilding those relationships. Your present matters more than you may realize, and even a small step toward reconciliation can make a lasting difference.

It is never too late to be the father your children need you to be, and that there are resources available to support you to become the father you were meant to be. So today, we honor the commitment, sacrifice, and lasting contributions of fathers to California's families and communities.

Please join me in honoring the men who have helped shape us into the people we are today. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you. Seeing no further discussion or debate, senators, this is also eligible for unanimous roll call. Seeing no objection, ayes, 36, no zero. That resolution is adopted. Senators, we will now move to the consent calendar.

We have two, our regular Consent Calendar Second Day and Special Consent Calendar Number 28. Is there any member who wishes to remove an item from the Consent Calendar? Seeing none, secretary, please read the items for both Consent Calendars.

Senate Bill 2323, 1597, 2155, 2199, 2148, 1658, 1834, 1571, 1614, 1625, 1733, 1920, 2056, 2085. Assembly Concurrent Resolution 126, 137, 142, 169. Senate Concurrent Resolution 112, 173. Senate Resolution 117. Assembly Concurrent Resolution 185, 197, 202, 205, 209.

Thank you. Secretary, please call the roll on File Item 124: AB 2323.

[Roll call].

Secretary--

[Roll call].

--please call the absent members.

[Roll call].

Ayes: 36, noes-- ayes: 36; noes: zero on File Item 124. Ayes: 36; noes: zero on the rest of both Consent Calendars. And at this time, if there's no other business, Pro Tem Limón, the desk is clear.

Thank you, members. I wanna thank all the members for their contributions today, in particular as we celebrated 161 years of Juneteenth, marking over a century of slavery in our country. We honor the Thirteenth Amendment and the abolishment of slavery. I wanna appreciate the author, the caucus, and all the members for the outstanding contributions for Black Californians here in our state of California.

There's still a lot of work to do to restore, preserve freedom, and to prevent anyone's independence from ever being taken of them. Thank you. Our next floor session is scheduled for Monday, June 22nd at 2:00 p.m.

Thank you. The Senate will be in recess until all legislative business has been received. We will reconvene Monday 22, 2026 at 2:00 p.m.