Assembly Floor

Assembly is now in session. Assemblymember Michelle Rodriguez notices absence of a quorum. The sergeant in arms will prepare the chamber and bring in the absent members. The clerk will call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Members, a quorum is present. Please return to your desks so we can get started.

Members, a quorum is present. Please return to your desks so we can get started.

We ask that our guests and visitors in the rear of the chamber and in the gallery to please stand for today's prayer. Reverend Osho will offer today's prayer.

Please join me in a moment of reflection. I recall being about 10 years old when I was given my first key. It was our house key, but not the front door. It was to the garage entrance. I was instructed do not lose this.

I didn't realize it at the time, but that first key was a symbol of my parents growing trust in my ability to be responsible. I wore it carefully around my neck on a chain. As I grew older, more keys became mine to hold. Before retiring, I had an almost unmanageable ring of temple keys, a separate set of home and car keys, and sets of keys to the homes of our parents, siblings, and even a widowed uncle.

Each key represented a trust and a responsibility that was given and accepted.

Being a member of this Assembly is a responsibility so profound. One must swear an oath to receive it. It is a rare opportunity to be elected to serve, and it is one of life's most trusted keys to bear. In the three terms we have served as the chaplains, we have proudly watched our members in action and with some sadness seen the changing of the guards.

But as Patty and I feel, you have been a part of our California state Assembly is an honor that does not diminish with time.

Our members are chosen by the people to serve, and they will forever wear an invisible key around their neck, a key that shines with the honor of an oath being fulfilled, an honor that will always be theirs. Wherever life may take us, let us try as a Roman emperor and philosopher, Marcus Aurelius encouraged. Let us try to fulfill our purpose with humility and gratitude and leave behind a life worth remembering. Let us try to live with kindness and gratitude beyond words.

We ask our guests and visitors to remain standing and join us in the flag salute. Assembly member Erwin will lead us in the pledge.

Please join me as we pledge allegiance to the flag of our great nation.

I pledge allegiance.

I pledge allegiance.

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

Assembly chamber, sacrament on Thursday, 05/07/2026, the Assembly bed at 9am. The honorable Joshua Wentzall, speaker pro tempore, the Assembly executive

leader Ayia Curry and Assembly member Lackey, seconds at the reading of the previous day's journal be dispensed with. Presentations and petitions, there are none. Introduction and reference of bills will be deferred. Reports of committees will be deemed read and amendments deemed adopted. Messages from the governor, there are none.

Messages from the Senate, there are none. Moving to motions and resolutions, the absences of the day are as follows for personal business Assembly member, Justin Gonzalez. Madam majority leader, you are recognized for your procedural motions.

Good morning, madam speaker. I request unanimous consent to suspend Assembly rule one one eight a to allow speaker Rivas to have guests on the floor and at member's desk to allow Assembly member Harabedian to have guests at his seated at his desk as well.

Without objection, that shall be the order.

At the request of the author, I am giving a one day notice to remove item ADash7SB259 Wahab from the inactive file.

The clerk will note. Members, today we honor our colleagues whose tenure with the Assembly is ending. We will proceed in order of years of service in the Assembly until all departing members have been honored. Before we begin the tributes, democratic caucus Chair, Zuhr, will deliver opening remarks from the majority leader's desk. Assemblymember's Buhr, you are recognized.

Thank you, madam speaker. Today, I rise to recognize and thank our departing colleagues who we've had the honor and privilege of getting to know not only as legislators, but as friends. Serving this institution is an extraordinary honor, but I don't think any of us would call it easy. Each of us comes here representing hundreds of thousands of Californians who have entrusted us with their hopes, their dreams, their concerns, and the very real challenges they face every day.

The rising cost of living, finding an affordable place to call home, accessing health care, supporting their families, making sure their children receive a quality education, protecting their rights and freedoms, and building a better future for the next generation.

We represent districts that are from very diff that are very different from one another. We come from very different communities, different backgrounds, different lived experiences, reflecting the extraordinary and beautiful diversity of the state that we have the privilege to serve. And we bring those experiences with us to this chamber. We may approach the challenges facing California from different perspectives, but we certainly don't always arrive at the same answers.

But I have no doubt that every one of our departing colleagues has spent countless hours fighting to make sure the voices of their districts are heard and advocating for the people that they were elected to serve.

That is something that each of you should be incredibly proud of, and I think that commitment is particularly important right now. We are living through a time of profound challenges when division too often overshadows what unites us, when hate is increasingly directed towards members of our communities, and when it can be easy to lose sight of how much we as Californians share in common.

Serving here gives us both the privilege and the responsibility to push against that, to listen, to lead, and to leave our communities a little better than what than what we found them. And when you look back at your time in this institution, I hope that it is that is what you remember. Remember the ways, large and small, that you made life better for the people that you represented, Because none of us will be leaving this building having solved every problem.

There will always be another constituent that needs our help, another challenge waiting to be addressed, another bill we wish we had gotten across the finish line, another issue where progress didn't come quickly enough for the people that we serve. But that doesn't diminish what we accomplish here. This work matters. It matters to our constituents. It matters to our communities, and it matters to the families whose lives are different today because of something that you did in this building.

I often think of the words of of Edward Everett Hale, an author, an abolitionist, and a former chaplain of the United States Senate. May I quote madam speaker? I am I am only one, but I still am but I still am one. I cannot do everything, but I can still do something. I think those words are especially fitting today for our departing colleagues.

Because while your time in this chamber may be coming to an end, your ability to do something is not. Each of you leaves leaves here with the experiences you've gained, the relationships you've built, and the knowledge that you've already made a difference in the lives of the people that you served. There may be things you hope to accomplish here that remain unfinished, but we all know that your journey and your opportunity to serve and to lead and to make a difference is far from over.

Whatever comes next, I know you will carry with you the same commitment you brought to you to this chamber in the first place. The belief that each of us has the ability and the responsibility to do something that makes our communities better.

So on behalf of your constituents at the constituents that you have served, of your staffs who have been a critical part of your journey, and of all of your colleagues who have had the privilege of serving alongside you, Deep thank you for your extraordinary contributions to this institution and to the people of the state of California. Unfortunately, this isn't a goodbye quite yet. I look forward to spending these final two weeks together and after that to seeing what each of you does next. Thank you.

We are excited to celebrate all of you and wanna be sure to give everyone adequate time. So for each honoree, we will hear remarks from two previously designated members, followed by remarks from the honoree themselves. Members, as a reminder, please keep your remarks to two minutes each. We will begin today's ceremony by honoring our colleague, Assembly member Stan Ellis. Assemblywoman Macedo, you're recognized.

I don't really wanna do this because I don't want you

to go. And I have been nice and begged you to stay. I've been mean and said choice words to try to get you to stay. But I think the people behind you all know that you are leaving us to do such big things. Because I truly do believe you're gonna save the world.

You're gonna save so many lives doing what you're doing. And I'm gonna miss you. But I believe everybody comes into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. And sometimes it's all free. So the reason I met Stan was actually not as a candidate, not as a colleague.

I met him at the RNC in Milwaukee. And Shannon Grove came and grabbed me and goes, you've gotta meet Stan Ellis. He loves water and is so smart. And so came into a restaurant in Milwaukee and ambushed Stan and said, hi, I'm Ali Macedo. I hear you know a lot about water.

That's an understatement. He was pure genius, and we just completely connected over our passion, for water, and he spoke science. I'm like, wow, this guy is really smart. And he tried to convince me he was just a dumb pig farmer. And I know he's told many of you that.

So we towards the end of the conversation, I said, well, what do you like to do for fun, Stan? He goes, well, I have a band. I like to perform and I sing. Said, alright. I gotta know.

What's your go to song? And this is when I knew that we were gonna be really good friends because he said, it's a song, there's no way you know it's an old Leroy Van Dyke song. And I said, is it the auctioneer? And our eyes met that we would both know this very obscure song known as The Auctioneer. And we sang it together.

Shannon Grove has that video, and I think we knew the rest was fate. A few months later, we find out Vince Fong was running for Congress, and that seat was opening up. And Shannon Grove calls me and says, hey, remember Stan Ellis? I go, yeah. I remember Stan.

She goes, he's gonna run for Vince's seat. I said, I'm behind him a 100%. So I drove to Bakersfield, and I sat in his office. And the same question we all get asked when we're candidates stand, why do you want to do this? He goes, Ali, I'm gonna go up there.

I'm gonna speak science, and I'm gonna change people's minds. And I warned you that you would get frustrated at times. But he came up here anyway and became my seatmate and a lot of entertainment for me through the sessions that calculated down to the minute how much it cost us when he felt like we weren't getting work done here on the floor, And I'm sure he reminded you guys of that too.

The reason we met was because there would be a season that we would serve together. But now, Stan, we're friends for a lifetime.

And the impact that you left on this place is profound. And the impact that you will have on the world is profound. And the support system behind you, I know is so proud of you. I'm proud to call you friend. And you're not leaving us.

We will call you. We will ask you to come join us and bring that beautiful science brain that you use really big words that we don't understand, but we appreciate it when you do. And so with that, Stan, thank you. Although your time here was short, it was profound. God bless you in everything you're doing, and truly, I believe you're gonna change the world.

Thank you.

Thank you, Assemblymember, for those remarks. Assemblymember Ellis, you are recognized.

Thank you, Ali. And an honor. As Rick said, it is an honor to serve a half a million constituents. That's our job. There's no greater honor than serving God.

God is our light, and God is everything. And he guides us, and I hope that he continues to guide us in a faithful manner. I would like to take the time to thank my staff, Christina Nelson, my chief of staff, Matt Julian, and Emily Randall. They've done an amazing job. They've held me up.

My family here today, my girlfriend Spring, my granddaughter Hallie, Travis and Amber, my son and his wife, they came up to support me today. Like to thank our pro tem speaker as well for doing keeping us organized. One thing that we've all been protected and it's kinda subtle is our Assembly services and all you folks up there that do all this work. And you don't get much acknowledgment throughout the year, but could we give them a round of applause? Meet you and work with you.

Thank you.

Next, we will recognize Assembly member Damon Connolly. Assembly member Rogers, you are recognized for your remarks.

Thank you, madam speaker. Colleagues, it is with excitement today that I get to tell you that we are losing Damon Connolly. We think we'll be sending him over to the Senate. We feel pretty good about that. But I'll tell you, I've been trying to get rid of Damon for a really long time.

So I first started working with Damon when he was on the San Rafael City Council. And remember meeting him working on local campaigns and thinking to myself, man, this dude makes everybody look so bad. He rides his bike places. He does all the things that people say that you should. He's smart.

He's like a surfer bro who figured out how to talk about the law. That shouldn't happen. He was a deputy attorney general with an impressive record before he decided to get into his local public service. And Damon's always there for for for people. I knew him as he decided he was gonna take on an incumbent for the board of supervisors, something that many people said was a really terrible idea.

No incumbent had lost in decades in Marin County. He won by 40 points, I think, ultimately in that race. And I had a chance then to get elected to the city council in Santa Rosa and serve with him on regional boards. And at a time when the smart train needed champions, they had Damon. He is one of the people who is most responsible for seeing the success of a commuter rail and doing big things that mattered for people, everyone.

I was really excited to be working with him in that role, and then he decided he was gonna run for the State Assembly. Worked with him on that. He gets up here, and that was one of the draws for me to come up here, is to see the good work that he was doing helping to represent people and fight for everyday people. Then I get up here and I figured out he was still gonna make everybody look bad.

And so now with the Senate seat opening up, we finally get rid of him from the green carpet, and we get to send him over to the Senate.

But he and I have had an opportunity, especially over the last two years, to travel Northern California together as he was campaigning and as I was learning my new district. We almost drowned crossing the Klamath River. If you look at Damon and and think I can swim just as well as he can, you're wrong. That was a struggle, and there were a lot of people who are really nervous.

They were about to lose two legislators down the river as we are swimming back and forth across it.

I've seen him climb mountains, get lost in the redwood trees, and all along the way, he hasn't lost sight of the people that he represents. And if you look at the bills that he pushes, they're bills that are actually trying to make lives better here in California. I we can talk about them, but I don't think that that's really the most important thing about Damon. I think it's his his accessibility. I think it's his love for his family.

I think it's the way that he shows up for communities, and I'll be really excited to have him as a partner over on the Senate side. Thank you, Damon.

Assemblymember McKenna, you are recognized for your remarks.

Yes. Miss speaker and members, today, I rise to honor my colleague and friend, Assembly member, Damon Connolly. Damon came to this legislature with progressive values, and he has never been afraid to stand on those values, whether he's fighting for working families, protecting our environment, addressing climate change, strengthening our communities, or standing with organized labor. Damon understands that public service is about using your position to make people's lives better. He has been a strong partner to labor because he understands something fundamental.

When working people have a voice, California is stronger. He respects the dignity of work, the right to organize, and the importance of making sure that people keep California moving, that people who keep California moving can afford to live and raise their families here. His legislative work reflects those values. He is championing environmental protections and climate action, housing and affordability, consumer protections, public safety, that put people and communities first. But I also wanna say something about Damon personally.

Damon is not afraid to say black. As a black woman in the legislature, I appreciate that. When we're talking about black communities, black workers, black families, or racial disparities, Damon doesn't dance around it. He understands that you cannot address inequity if you're afraid to name the people experiencing it. And members, if you have ever served on a committee with Damon, you also know something else about him.

Damon does not have a poker face. You never have to worry what Damon is thinking. If he likes your bills, you know it. If he has concerns about your bills, you definitely know it. Sometimes you know what Damon thinks about your bill before he even turns his mic on.

And I appreciate that because you get what you see. Right? Damon's gonna he can't keep his face straight, you guys. I experienced it personally. But I appreciate him because you get what you see.

He's thoughtful, passionate, authentic, and willing to stand up for what he believes in. Damon, thank you for your friendship. Thank you for standing with labor. Thank you for your progressive leadership. Thank you for being an ally to black Californians and communities that often have to fight to be seen and heard.

And thank you for bringing your whole self to this institution even when your face tells us exactly how the committee hearing is going. It has been an honor to serve with you, my friend, and I wish you all the luck, and I look forward to working with you in the Senate. Stand with me in honoring my dear friend, Damon Connolly. Thank you.

Thank you, members, for your remarks. Assembly member Connolly, you're recognized.

Thank you, madam speaker. Good morning, everyone. I wanna thank my long time friend from Santa Rosa and my amazing friend, from Inglewood for those kind remarks. It really means a lot. And although hopefully I'm just going across the hall, we'll find a little bit of wood here, I'm really gonna miss working side by side with you both.

And of course, I'll be I'll miss being stuck on the floor with all my colleagues here today. It's been a a thrill to work with you. So entering my final weeks in the Assembly, I've been reflecting on how important our relationships are. As some of you may remember, when I was elected in 2022, it was following a hard fought race with an exceptional opponent, someone who I am proud to call a very good friend, now.

But at the time, 40 of my soon to be colleagues in the 120 person legislature had endorsed that opponent.

So let's just say I was uncertain about the reception I would receive once I get up here in Sacramento. But that apprehension disappeared almost immediately after I arrived at our first caucus within a week of getting elected. Everyone welcomed me right away, and I also appreciated the instant bond, with the class of 2022, my fellow members of that class. You all welcomed me without reservation.

As the members of this body and cutting across party lines, we began to work together, serving on committees, partnering on bills, and finding common ground on issues across all of our districts.

We took trips overseas, met each other's families, and bonded together through the gauntlet of the legislative softball game. A select few of us even managed to break an ankle to prove it, But still went four for five. Right? What these four years have reinforced for me is that most the most valuable currency we have as legislators is our relationships. Not only with our constituents, but with each other.

In conversations I have, people sometimes assume that since we're a huge Democratic super majority, we disagree on everything. It won't come as a shock to my colleagues, but that is far from reality. In this line of work, we inevitably come into conflict with one another, usually over legislation, but sometimes our personalities just clash. It's unavoidable, many would say, when you have 80 people working deck together, let alone 80 politicians.

Working through that conflict, moving forward, and doing so with respect and without ill will, these are the simple principles that allow us to be successful as legislators and colleagues.

I wanna thank all of you for welcoming me in 2022 and working me with me all the way through 2026. The relationships I have been able to develop in the Assembly have become essential to my ability to serve the North Bay and it is something I will take forever with me as I move on. I wanna thank speaker Rivitz who has been an amazing friend and really a privilege, to serve, with you.

While you are all important, I think you'll agree none of this is remotely possible without our, the support of our families. And I wanna recognize, my wife, Dawn, who's here with us today, my daughter, Brett, my other daughter, Darren, who's been, along this journey for about twenty five years now of public service, for their continued support.

I know this has not been easy. In fact, it's been pretty crazy. But I wanna know you to know that I love you dearly and really appreciate you enabling me to do this. So thank you for being here today. Last but not least, I wanna thank my entire staff who are all here with me today.

Amazing. My district team, Melissa, Johanna, and Yesenia. My capital team, Christina, Michael, Isabella, Cameron, Lindy, and Aaron. And the incredible ESTM committee staff, Josh, Shannon, Margaret, and Naomi. Thank you so much.

Yeah. Let's give it up. We can't do this job alone. We depend on our colleagues, our family, and our staff. And again, I just wanna thank everyone so much.

Thank you to you all.

Next, we will recognize Assemblymember, Erwin. Assemblymember Pacheco, you're recognized for your remarks. Assembly member Petrie-Norris, you are recognized for your remarks.

Well, thank you, madam speaker. Members, it is such an honor to have this opportunity to say a few words in tribute to our incredible colleague, my seatmate, and very dear friend, Jacqui Irwin. I will always remember the first moment that I knew Jackie and I were going to be very good friends. We were at the Democratic Convention in February 2019, And so I think I had been in office for, like, a little over a month.

And Jacqui and I were talking politics and policy, and at some point, something I said Jacqui just stopped.

She went, you're a spreadsheet Democrat. I'm a spreadsheet Democrat. And with that, a enduring friendship and a small but occasionally mighty little club was formed. As a side note, members, the spreadsheet Democrats are always accepting applications. And, really and truly, I think everyone knows that Jacqui has brought, the mind and heart of an engineer to the work that we do as policy makers.

She is thoughtful. She is principled. Jacqui digs in to solve problems and to get results. I think most everyone is familiar with Jacqui's implementation of her legislation chart, which is kind of become a legend as well as an inspiration for many members as they join our body.

If you have not seen it, y'all need to go visit Jacqui's office before she leaves because she's got a giant chart with every bill she's ever passed where she and her team every year track the implementation of each and every bill that she has passed.

And that speaks to who Jacqui is, because she is not somebody who's here for the thrill of the the press conference or the dopamine hit of a viral social media post. She's here to do the work, and she's here to get results.

And, my friend, look at everything that you have accomplished from your work on gun violence prevention to cybersecurity and technology policy to the work that you did alongside governor Newsom to pass proposition one in 2024, to the work that we were able to do together last year to reauthorize California's landmark cap and trade, now cap and invest program. One of my favorite, I guess, kind of pieces of of life advice is a Ruth Bader Ginsburg quote, which is, whatever you choose to do, leave tracks.

Leave tracks. Leave a mark, and also leave a path where others can follow. And, Jackie, you have left incredible, incredible tracks. And the last thing I wanna say is, and Damon, you mentioned this already, we all know that the work we do here in this building isn't just about good policy. It's also about strong relationships. And Jacqui is one of the most warm, most generous, most welcoming people that I have met in this world.

I think everybody knows that Jacqui is the Chair. In addition to chairing the tech caucus, and as I said, her important role in spreadsheet Democrat, she's also the Chair of the Orange Theory caucus. I think every member on this floor has been invited by Jacqui to an orange theory, to a Pilates class, to the walks around the park, to paddle boarding on the river.

And I actually most mornings most mornings when we're here in Sacramento, I wake up to a photo of Jacqui and Patrick and Haribo and Pacheco and sometimes Lisa, Sade, Isaac, Chris Ward, Al, Alex, Jose, so many people. In these photos, the reason I wake up to them is because the Orangetheory caucus meets at 6AM, so I am unfortunately only rarely able to attend. But, Jacqui, I think, you know, I'm gonna miss you so so much.

And I think that we all can take incredible comfort from the from the fact that you are gonna continue to work for California.

You are gonna continue to work for all of us, continue to fight for all of us. And so while we are so sad to leave you to see you leave this green carpet, we're also so excited to see everything that you are going to accomplish and everything that you are gonna deliver for our great state and for our great country. So we respect you immensely. We love you with all of our heart. Please give it up for the incredible Jacqui Irwin.

Major leader, Aguiar-Curry, you are recognized for your remarks.

Hey, Jacqui. I got the Kleenex box right here. Madam speaker, I rise today to recognize our colleague, Assembly member, Jacqui Irwin. Today, we recognize a friend, a good friend, a terrific public servant. As she prepares to leave the Assembly and begin her next chapter in public service.

Are you crazy or what? You're brought to this place exactly what you'd expect from an engineer. Always look for a solution and the facts. But what makes you such a good legislator is that you pair that sharp analytical mind with a real commitment to people. And I say that because I remember the phone calls we had during the shooting in your in your district, and how devastating that was.

And we all tried not to cry about it, but we knew we had to stand up for the people and have a strong backbone, and you did that. And then you got hit again with the fires, and you kept your community together, and you never forgot about where you came from, and the heart and soul that you felt for every single one of your constituents that during that time.

From your days of being with the the Thousand Oaks City Council and as mayor, to years of representing Ventura County here in the Assembly, Jacqui always remembered what public start that public service starts here at home. In our neighborhoods, in our schools, our businesses, in our communities. Here in Sacramento, you've taken on some pretty complicated issues.

I'll never forget going to Washington DC, I think it was, and you were doing a speech about cybersecurity and privacy and technology. And I thought, I had no idea that you were doing this outside of the Assembly for the Assembly. And I was honored to see my friend up there telling the world about how we need to really keep our eyes on these things. And you did it.

And you continue to do that until just recently when I saw you in Chicago, when you were talking about cybersecurity and AI.

Who else in this room had the backbone than you did from the very, very beginning? Yeah. And had the backbone than you did from the very, very beginning? You did it. And I'm so proud of the stuff you've done, and I can't wait that you're bringing this on to, Congress.

But with all the technology you knew about, you already brought up about orange theory. I had no freaking idea what she was talking about is if I wanted to go to orange theory at 06:00 in the morning. I thought, what the hell are you what are you doing, girlfriend? And I find out it's an exercise class. That was easy.

No. I will not be joining you. But it I was always admired that you guys would get all these people together to sweat and perspire and talk about what else is going on and probably all the gossip happened at orange theory. But you always approached all the work here with thoughtfulness and care. You also under understand something that's pretty important in public life.

You can disagree without being disagreeable. She's always listened. She's built relationships. Those of you know her, you know, she's a tough foe. And a lot of times I go, oh, God.

Here we go. Another no. But that's okay. We're still friends. Your call it qualities have served California well.

I know you're going to serve our country well too. So now, those of us here in Sacramento may have mixed feelings about you going to Jack to Washington, Jackie. But our loss is definitely their gain and our gain. You're taking on the experience of local government, the perspective of a state legislator, a firsthand understanding of the challenges of facing our California communities, and that's a really powerful combination. But you're also taking something that doesn't show up on a resume or a committee assignment.

It's the respect and friendship of the people who have had the privilege of working with you alongside you. I wanna thank you For your service. Because many people won't do the same thing you do. Thank you to your family. For all the long days, the flights, the late nights, the travel, the campaigns, come with this hoarder.

Congratulations on the new grandbaby. We've all been waiting for that. We're so excited to see him grow, but we'll see him from the halls of Congress and not by in the in the halls here. To your staff. Depend upon them being near by.

Thank you for helping turning Jacqui's commitment staff into results for the people of Ventura County. But we're grateful for the work you've done and proud of what you've accomplished here. And while we're sorry to see you leave, we're glad you're not leaving public service. You know, Washington is getting a good one everyone. Keep an eye on her shes gonna show up in your Instagram feed.

And then call her. I'm sure you have her phone number to tell her congratulations on a job well done. So congratulations Congresswoman Irwin. We wish you every success, and we look forward to seeing all that you accomplish next. I love you. Congratulations, and thank you.

Thank you members for your remarks. Assemblymember Irwin, you are recognized.

Well, thank you so much, dear friends, and hopefully, I can get through this. It has been truly the honor of a lifetime to have been elected by my constituents to represent them here in in Sacramento. Whenever I walk outside and see the capitol, especially as the sun is going down, I can't imagine that I actually work here, that I have this opportunity, that we all have this opportunity.

And it's incredible to me as the child of immigrants that I am right here, but so many of you have stories just like that. We have couple of members that went through the foster system and beat tremendous odds that they didn't end up in jail, but they ended up on the floor here.

And so many of you that had parents or grandparents who were farm workers, and then those of you that had family members that were that are homeless or mentally ill and have dealt with those family struggles. Each of you brings a unique perspective and those perspectives are what drive us to serve. And as we said before, I'm grateful for all the friendships that I've built throughout the year. Those friendships are what get us through and make us better legislators.

And, yes, I I would prefer to be at Orangetheory or walking through the cemetery or along the river or at Pilates, as opposed to on the floor.

But those are the best times. Those are the times we really get to talk. I coffee after Pilates was the highlight of my week. And together, as a body, over the last twelve years, we have really accomplished a lot a lot of policy that is leading in this country, whether you're talking about with cybersecurity or raising the minimum wage to the highest minimum wage in the country or passing policy that increased health care coverage to over 93% of Californians, reauthorizing cap and trade.

And often we don't realize universal preschool, which means that parents who are often spending a mortgage payment on childcare are able to have a year less payment for that childcare.

But none of this is possible without our staff, and and I always brag that I think I have the best staff in the capital. My district director has been my my chief of staff has been with me from the beginning. Many members have been here for a very long time. I've always had incredible ledge directors. I couldn't do any of this without you.

You are smart and driven and really truly loyal. And then I do tell legislators that actually is important as it is to pass legislation. Your district office is equally important because that's where you're really reaching your constituents. And just a few statistics during COVID, my district office made sure that over 3,000 people got their checks. And this year alone, they've already recovered $1,300,000 for our constituents.

That's the type of thing that matters. Although it does beg the question, why do they have to recover money from the government? I also, from the beginning, wanted to make sure that we are we were a mentoring office. And and last night, we had a lot of our former staff members come together. It turns out my fellow has told me that we have had the second most fellows the entire history of the Assembly.

And we've had a lot of interns in the district office, and they have gone to do great things. A couple of them are working in the executive branch. We have a couple that have become chiefs of staff. We have we have members that are, committee consultants. We have public defenders.

We have a lot of folks that went to law school and some really good lobbyists. I know they're not all really good, but all my staff that has gone into the lobbying corps, they're all really good. And I think it's so important that each of us remember this is how we touch the future, that these young people are really the future. And it's very cliche, but I hope each and every one of you remembers the influence that you can have on the younger generation.

I wanna thank my my family, my my friends, and folks from back home.

I am so grateful to have people that are there to give me advice and and support me. And remind me every single day that in the district, politics matters much less than working together to make life better for the people that we represent. And then as has been mentioned by others that are leaving our family, truly, they make the biggest sacrifice. My husband is my rock.

When we are up here four days a week, a lot of things fall through the cracks and you you catch all of them.

He he has has been incredibly incredibly supportive. All the way up to every Sunday night, we say we're gonna cook dinner for my parents, and John's in charge. Whether I am there or not, he makes sure that my parents are over for a meal. And my three children, twelve years is a very long time to miss milestones or to be there at the last moment for milestones. In those years, we've had one graduate, undergraduate, undergraduate, three graduate degrees, three weddings, one divorce, and my first grandchild.

And my daughter, Catherine, is here today. She's the only one in the family that has not was not able to join me for swearing in. So in spite of the fact that she has a four month old baby at home four week old baby at home, she is here. The baby is at home with the the husband. And since she missed all the swearing ins, she is here for my swearing out.

Finally, in these difficult times, a lot of people are worried about affordability, the future, and their kids' future, and many don't believe that government is working for them. We need to make sure that all of us hold ourselves accountable and that we hold government accountable all the way from the state level down to the local level. We need to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. We need to make sure that we are improving lives especially of our most vulnerable.

All of you are gonna be facing huge challenges in the next few years.

Be thoughtful as you go through your decision making process. My parents immigrated to this country and settled in California because they believed that this was land of opportunity. And we all need to work together to make sure that that opportunity continues to be there for future generations. Thank you and I will be watching all of you from afar.

Thank you, members. Please return to your desk so that we may continue with the ceremony. Up next, we will recognize Assemblymember Banes. Assemblymember Carrillo, you are recognized for your remarks.

Thank you, madam speaker. It is an honor today for me to take a moment to recognize her colleague and friend, Assembly member doctor Jasmine Baines, as she prepares to lead the California State Assembly. Serving this in this institution is a tremendous responsibility, and Assembly member Bains has approached the responsibility with dedication, thoughtfulness, and a genuine commitment to the people she represents. But in our time serving together, I've had the opportunity to see firsthand the passion and care she brings to this work.

She has been a strong advocate for her constituents and a valued colleague here in the capital.

For Latino communities, I will tell you, she's one of our strongest allies both in Sacramento legislative legislatively and in her district as a physician serving the health care needs of an under invested district. She knows firsthand why it matters so much that we invest in the health care today to keep our future generations and families healthy.

It is why she has led so strongly for Kern County to get its own UC School of Medicine in order to meet the generational health and needs of her district where it is growing the fastest. And it is why she has fought so hard to secure millions in public city funding to build new police and fire stations, giving her district the best chance to keep going while also keeping families safe.

Bringing a permanent Mexican consulate to Kern County is one of your goals, and we will continue to make that a reality.

I am grateful for the opportunity of serve alongside Assemblymember Bains, where we're saying goodbye to a colleague. I know this is not the end for service or her impact. She has continually been on the front lines serving as an emergency physician during numerous natural disasters, both in California and abroad. Thank you for that. And she continues to serve the health and needs of our district as a physician, keeping families healthy, and giving her real time insights into the state of California's health care.

Assembly member Bains, on behalf of myself, and our Assembly colleagues, thank you for your partnership, your friendship, and your service to California. I wish you and your family nothing but continued success in whatever comes next. You will be certainly missing in the capital, but I know the best is still to come ahead of you. And it's been mentioned how relationships matter in the world that we do.

And part of that is knowing each other, knowing what brings you to the capital, what your priorities are, but also what things we find you like to do.

So for me, as you know, I'm a bit of a soccer fan. So when I invite you to go to Guadalajara to watch a soccer match, I remember you shared with me that your district director warned you not to not to wear the Club America jersey because that's the opponent team to Chivas. Maybe in a Chivas family, being in Guadalajara watching Chivas America, can't you imagine doctor Baines wearing an America jersey? That would not have been good. But I made a Chivas fan out of you.

Your sister and your mom, all of you wore the Chivas jersey. And it was a lot of fun, and I think that that's one of the moments that you and I really connected. And what again, not what brings you to Sacramento, what brings you to the the word that you wanna do for your community. But again, getting to know each other and the fun things that we like to do also, which is part of making those good relationships.

So I'm proud to say that I made you a chief as well.

Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for being here working for an underserved community, just like a lot of us do represent. And I know that you will continue to work for them, and you will continue to make us proud. Thank you. It's been an honor it's been an honor serving with you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Assemblymember. Assemblymember Bryan, you're recognized.

Thank you. Thank you, madam speaker and colleagues. I rise to also recognize our colleague from Bakersfield. And it's fitting. Yesterday, I had to go to an urgent care.

And today, doctor Bains is asking me to make sure I can move my fingers and making sure that they treated me right. I think that's the way she looked out for all of us and her community. Jasmeet is the first Sikh American to ever serve in this body. It's pretty wild to be in 2026 and still have firsts. And I think this body is better having had your representation.

Also, the first South Asian American woman to serve in this body and blaze a trail that others have begun to walk down. I think that is something that shouldn't be lost on us, that we have firsts still in this body, and we need to recognize them while they're here and appreciate their service and dedication. You represented something different, not just by representation, but because you were fearless. I mean, literally from day one, absolutely fearless. And I love that about you.

You were not afraid to say what you believed. There was no amount of political pressure that could get you to change your mind about something that you thought was fundamentally right or fundamentally wrong. And you always drew from your lived experience, not just legislating. In fact, I think in in many instances, this was thought of as your side job after the direct service you were providing to people in need and their health care on a weekly basis working in the clinic.

I also remember the way you stepped up for Los Angeles and other regions when the wildfire disasters struck.

And many of us were trying to figure out how to provide mutual aid. You were providing direct services for families who needed them. When fentanyl ran through the state and we all weren't sure what to do, you helped establish the state's task force to decide on multidisciplinary approaches to make sure that we treated it like the public health crisis that it was. Your commitment to care has also had a real impact in your district as you know.

Because Kern needs a medical school, and that medical school needs an endowment.

And it is many steps closer because of your work. Similar to our colleague from Palmdale, I too have gotten to experience what doctor Bains is like in Mexico. And you don't really know Jasmeet Bains until it's three in the morning and you're getting tacos with her. That's when you really get to see who this incredible woman is.

And it's in those moments where we got to bond over our shared humanity and the things that make us people, the things that this work so often tries to separate from us.

And for that, I will always be grateful to you for those memories and many more that I'm sure we will have. This body will miss you. I get the feeling that it won't be the last time we see you in Sacramento. Certainly won't be the last time you make an impact in California. I have no doubt you will continue to do that in your community.

Colleagues, please join me in celebrating doctor Jasmeet Bains.

Thank you, members, for your remarks. Assemblymember Baines, you're recognized.

Oh, man. So much to say. So many stories. It's been a very short 12, No. I'm just kidding.

You know, first, I'm gonna start with thank you. Thank you to my colleagues for those wonderful words, and please take care of your arm, Isaac. Thank you to my staff, both my Sacramento and my district staff in Bakersfield. Thank you to speaker Rivas for your leadership on not just this institution, but in California at a very rare moment that we are experiencing. Thank you to all of my colleagues for allowing me to bring my experiences to the floor.

Thank you to my mom and dad for making this possible. Thank you to my siblings and my nephew who just entered in January, who now I actually get some time to hang out with. But my heart is full of a lot of gratitude. Growing up in Delano, I never ever thought that this would be a day that would be possible for me. I don't have anybody in my family that was involved in politics.

The word politics didn't really exist. If you had asked me fifteen years ago who the governor was, I probably couldn't name them. And now here I am on this floor, and it's really your immigrant American dream. A kid from Delano was able to enter the Assembly floor. Not gone yet.

I'm still around. I'm still doing the work that my community needs. And I think, you know, throughout the years, when I first graduated residency, I had done a lot of global health work out in Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Ecuador. And I turned to my dad and I said, dad, I think that's my calling. I wanna do global health work.

There's a clinic in Ecuador that could use my help, and I wanna go down there. And he said, well, Jasmeet, before you start, you know, venturing out, how about you take a look at the problems of health care in your own backyard first? And I'm like, dad, this is America. This is the best country in the world. There's it's not gonna be that bad.

They'll be fine. It's it's, other places that need my services right now. He said one thing at that time. He said, you know, sometimes we neglect our own backyard trying to take care of other people's backyards, and we forget the problems that are existing in our own communities. So I took my dad on that challenge and I went to Taft, and I was the only physician at the FQHC Omni Family Health with no hospital.

The nearest hospital was about an hour away. And the health care disparities that I experienced in this little town of Taft, I will never forget because it forged my experiences. It forged a new way of thinking for me. You see, a lot of times industries get demonized for good and bad. But the transition that happens, what we don't realize is the communities that get sacrificed.

If the transition does not happen taking accountability of those communities. See, as a physician, I was never trained to sacrifice communities. I was never trained to sacrifice one thing for the other, and it actually reminds me of a story during COVID. Biting on the front lines of COVID, we were at I was the medical director at the portable search hospital. We had built a hospital in the middle of a parking lot, and I was there for a couple of weeks.

And California almost ran out of oxygen. That's the reality. And we were told across the state, every hospital, every research hospital was told to start thinking about who we wanna ration for oxygen. And I remember going, I was never trained to sacrifice. I was never trained.

I was trained in America. I was trained in a country that has all the resources. We haven't been trained to know what it means to sacrifice oxygen for one or the other. That's not part of our duty or our oath or training. And a lot of times, especially on this floor and other floors, there's a lot of finger pointing that starts.

Well, as physicians, we're not trained to finger point because the buck stops at us. If there's a life that is lost, if there is something that goes bad or wrong during surgery, that buck stops at us. We weren't trained to pick up the finger and point it at someone else. We were trained to fix the problem.

And there's been so many situations in my life and my experiences that I brought to this floor, and I could write a whole book right now in front of everyone of all the stories that I've experienced.

But one of the biggest milestones I did wanna share with everyone, and this is a milestone that I don't think very many people know that we accomplished together as an Assembly body. When it the Kern County Fentanyl Task Force was created, it was about the collaboration of law enforcement and strengthening health care services for people that suffer with addiction. And I had a mission to create an inpatient detox program for Medicaid patients because those are patients that oftentimes don't get access.

Well, earlier this year, we had, a review of the task force. And there was a statistic that was given out, which is when they first told me this number, I kind of was like, that cannot be true.

There was a retention rate for the inpatient detox program that I created. Ninety one percent. Ninety one percent of people that entered that inpatient detox were successfully detoxed. And these are random substances. And this is unheard of in the addiction world.

I asked them to redo the numbers again. I said, this cannot be real. Please go plug the numbers in again. But it was real. And the reality is it's about getting care to the people that need it.

Oftentimes, there's a lot of money that floats through this building. Oftentimes, there's a lot of different resources, but those resources aren't speaking to each other and the people that truly need it get left off the table. But when you create programs to specifically target the people that need it, You create amazing, amazing work like the ninety one percent retention rate for inpatient detox. That's just the start. There's much, much more work to do.

I look forward to continuing my work as a physician. I look forward to keeping in contact with everyone here. Rural medicine, rural areas are just a little bit different. So my biggest thing to everyone is just take a second and think what the impact would be to a rural area. And I'll leave with this.

I have seen throughout the years less and less women wanting to run for office. And there's less and less women on this floor. I really, when I go back to Delano now, the negativity that I hear when I first ran, it was, oh my god, doctor Bains, we wanna run for office. Now I'm hearing little girls hesitate because of the ugliness of politics. So I'll leave you guys with the challenge as I've left oftentimes.

Reach out to a little girl. Tell her the good part about politics. Tell her about the accomplishments that you're able to make. Tell her about the positivity and politics because I really worry that we're gonna lose our little girls because of a constant demonization of women politicians in the media. Every woman should be respected for her experiences.

Every woman should be respected for what she brings to the table. And I wanna end with the big thank you to every woman legislator on this floor because I know it's not easy. Keep going because there's a bunch of little girls looking up to you, and we'll be on this floor soon. So thank you everyone. Thank you so much.

Up next, we will recognize Assemblymember Soria. Assemblymember Pacheco, you are recognized for your remarks.

Thank you, Madam speaker and members. I have the privilege today of saying a few words about my dear friend, Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria. Esme and I were sworn in almost four years ago. Since then, I have gotten to know her not only as a colleague, but as one of the most trustworthy people in the legislature. Represents in Central Valley.

Whether she's advocating for safe housing for farm workers, clean drinking water for rural communities, affordable irrigation for farmers, or better access to health care and higher education in the Valley. Esme has made sure that the needs of her constituents are heard in this building.

And all of us who have worked alongside her know that Esme does not just drive for the Valley. She makes the rest of us pay attention to it. When her district needs needed her the most, she has delivered.

When Madera Community Hospital closed, she immediately fought for resources to reopen it and protect other struggling hospitals across California.

When devastating flooding hit Planada, she helped secure 20,000,000 to help that community recover. And as Chair of the Agriculture Committee, she has made sure this legislature understands what policy decisions mean for farmers, farm workers, and rural communities back home. Esme as persistent. She knows her district. Once she decides that something matters in her community, she does not let it go until it gets resolved.

This is a legislature we all know. But I have also gone to know her as a close friend. We even spent some time as roommates, which I don't think all of you know about. But I also have gone to know her oh, sorry. I probably should have stayed with her longer, except for one thing.

She only had one restroom at the time. And anyone who knows her knows that she comes into this building every day looking impeccable. Clothes, makeup, hair, the whole package. In fact, I wore a dress today, did my hair, and I'm wearing heels today, All in honor of Esme. I realized pretty quickly that one bathroom was probably not going to sustain both a household and a friendship.

So I moved into my own apartment. And this the friendship survived. Most mornings before we get here looking presentable, you can find us sweating away at Orange Theory together. As far as I'm aware, our workout group has never included a State Senator or at least one that was consistently going. So Esme, congratulations on becoming the first.

Somehow our coach, they're frequently confused us as each other. I don't know if you remember, which is impressive because I'm somewhat tall and Esme is not. And in Orange Theory, there are no heels involved, and let's hope it stays that way. And though she may be small, she has no problems bossing me around. In fact, I have to say, there are times where she makes me stay up way past my bedtime.

So I thank you for that. I suppose that same persistence has served her well as a legislator, and I have learned that saying no to Esme is mostly a waste of time. Over the last four years, we have traveled together, celebrated together, and supported each other through some of life's harder moments. And when I lost my miniature schnauzer, Mister Belvedere, Esme was there for me in any way only another miniature schnauzer dog mom could be.

So I wanna thank you and Buddy for helping me through that very, very difficult time.

And that is Esme. She shows up for people. She does it for her constituents. She does it for her colleagues, and she certainly does it for her friends. Esme, I am so proud of what you have accomplished in this house.

And I know that you will bring the same determination to the Senate. While I am going to miss having you here with me on the green carpet, I am grateful that you are only moving across the building. I'll be cheering you from this house and probably from your actual house as well. So congratulations, Senator Soria. Please don't abandon our workout class and don't abandon me.

Thank you.

Thank you, Assemblymember. Speaker Rivas, you are recognized for your remarks.

Thank you, Madam Speaker Pro Tem and colleagues for the past four years. Our colleague from Fresno has been one of the most relentless champions that the Central Valley could ever ask for. You know, she came to this Assembly knowing exactly who she was here to fight for, and she has never lost sight of them. Farm workers, families, small businesses, the rural parts of our state.

You know, people who work hard, who contribute enormously to California, and who too often have to fight just to be seen and heard in this capital.

So Esmeralda made sure that they were heard. As as Chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee, she brought the voice of the valley directly into her work. The farmers who feed the state, and nation, the workers who make that industry possible, and, of course, the communities whose futures depend on it. But her advocacy, her advocacy never stopped at the committee room door. As was mentioned from our colleague, anyone who has worked with, Esme knows that she is persistent.

She calls, and she follows up. And she calls again. And she pushes. And then she calls again. And then she pushes some more.

Because for Esmeralda, this work has never been about Sacramento. It's always been about home. And I've had the unique view of that commitment because for these past four years, Esmeralda has been a seat mate. And, you know, we've worked well together. We've always worked well together.

We've shared plenty of laughs. We've created a lot of memories. Except I'm not gonna put you on blast like some of our other colleagues that put our colleagues on blast. And so, yes, I'm going to miss looking over and seeing my friend right next to me, but I'm certainly more excited about where she is going because the Central Valley, it needs that that same relentless voice in the California State Senate.

They need someone who in the upper chamber who's gonna keep showing up, keep pushing, keep reminding all of us that California's future cannot be written without the people and the communities of the Central Valley.

And so I will miss my seatmate tremendously, but I could not be prouder of my friend. And I can't wait to see what she does next. So thank you, Madam Speaker Pro Tem.

Assemblymember Soria, you're recognized for your remarks.

Thank you, Mister speaker. And to my colleague from Downey, thank you for your kind words. Members, four years ago, I walked onto this floor for the first time incredibly grateful. Today, I stand here with an even deeper sense of gratitude. It's been the honor of my life to represent the hardworking people of Assembly District 27 in the people's house.

So to the voters who trusted with, trusted me with this responsibility, thank you. My first term certainly tested me. You guys heard a little bit about it. A hospital in my district closed right before getting sworn in. Communities flooded. Family lost homes. They lost jobs. Access to health care. But during those difficult moments, I learned something about this institution. I wasn't alone.

My community wasn't alone. All of you on this floor understood that even if Madera, Merced, or Fresno weren't in your district, the people who lived there still mattered. Speaker, I wanna especially thank you. Thank you for your support, for treating me like family, for trusting me to Chair the agriculture committee, and perhaps more most importantly, for surviving having me as your seatmate.

I want to acknowledge that even before becoming speaker, you and your team were among the first to recognize that we had to do something when Madera Community Hospital closed.

Because of that partnership, we helped reopen that hospital. We put more than 700 people back to work, and we restored access to health care to more than a 160,000 people in Madera County and the surrounding communities. We also worked together when floods devastated our districts and farmworker families lost nearly everything.

And recently, we ensured our regions received our fair share of resources to protect our immigrant families, just to highlight a few of the things that we worked together. Thank you for your leadership, But most importantly, thank you for your friendship.

And don't worry, whenever I end up, I promise you, I'm gonna come and find you and bug you. To my colleague from Downey, my sister from another mother, thank you for your kindness, your friendship, and always having my back and the Central Valley's back. And thank you for motivating me to be part of the Orange Theory Caucus. Have you guys all heard? Even though there were mornings I didn't make it, like, this morning, but I have an excuse.

I played hard last night, and we won. Go NorCal. I wanna give a shout out to my colleague from Irvine and Orinda. I don't know where they're at, but thank you for reminding me, especially in my first term, that my most important responsibility was always to the people who sent me here. And let's just say there were a few closed calls at end of session when, you know, they wanted to make sure I didn't press that green button.

Behind the debates, the legislation, and the drama, to my colleagues from the 2022 class, you all know what I'm talking about when we first got here. I found friendships here, and I'm really grateful for all of you. Some of you challenged me. Many of you guys encouraged me. Some of you helped me get something across the finish line for my district.

And some of you became people that I genuinely love. Whether we all agreed all the time or maybe half of the time, I hope you always know where I stood. And I hope you knew that when I gave you my word, I meant it. To team Soria, Roy, Gilbert, Arturo, Joanna, Ben, Brody, Maria, Oneida, Alex, Alondra, Kylie, Diego, thank you. Thank you for all of your work.

To every staff member and every intern who has ever been part of our team, be proud of what our team accomplished. District 27 is a little better today because of the work we did together through legislation, during budget, and sometimes just simply answering the phone in our office or handing a backpack or a turkey. Thank you to all the speaker staff, the committee staff, and all those who helped us be successful in our time here. I know that I did not do the work alone.

And finally, but most importantly, to my husband, Mister Terrence Frazier, thank you for being my rock.

I agree with, our colleague, Miss Irwin. We can't do it without family. I love you, Terrence, and I could not have done these four years without you, and I can't do the next eight years without you either. So again, thank you for your own wavering support. It has really given me the ability to be the leader that my district needed me to be, and needs me to be.

To the Frasier and the Soria family, you've put up with me being gone a lot. Thank you. I wanna thank Maddie, my stepdaughter, who also made the drive to be here this morning. Thank you for the late nights, the missed dinners, the endless events, the phone calls, texts that somehow always really come when we're sitting at dinner.

And for understanding that public service doesn't always fit into a neat schedule. Members, while this is not a goodbye forever, since I hope to see you from the other side of the capital, I do not want to leave this Assembly without telling you how incredibly grateful I am that our paths crossed.

And before I leave this floor, I have one last task. As you continue doing the work representing nearly 40,000,000 Californians, please don't forget about the Central Valley. Don't forget about the small towns. Don't forget about our rural hospitals.

Don't forget about our farmers and our farm workers. The Central Valley doesn't always have the loudest voice in the building, except for this one. But it's essential that the it is essential for the future of this state. It is a region that feeds California, feeds the country, and helps feed the world. So keep fighting for California, all of California.

Thank you for your friendship, and thank you for giving this daughter of farm workers from the Central Valley the privilege of serving alongside you in the People's House, and doing some great work together to help working families across the state. It has been the greatest honors of my life to work with all of you. Thank you, members, and hopefully, I will see you all across the hall. Thank you again.

Thank you, members. We will continue with our ceremony. Next, we will recognize Assemblymember Valencia. Assemblymember Ramos, you are recognized for your remarks.

Well, thank you, Madam speaker. Today I rise to recognize my friend, Avelino Valencia. He has led a life of humble beginnings. A childhood where his parents, Avelino and Livyad, Mister and Mrs. Valencia, ran a small business. And he's seen firsthand the true struggles of running a business.

But he also seen how to succeed and be a voice for the community. Avelino is proud of his Mexican roots of the tribe that he's from called the Purépecha. And it's quick to say that they never suffered a defeat. It also shows his culture and upbringing to stand for rights of those who need a voice. He has succeeded where others have failed.

Taking issue with the norm of society and pushed back to gain athletic achievements, but also education achievements. It's true that Avelino played football in a NCAA division 1. And also played and tried out in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. But my friend also attained great education in his own rights. An attainment of a master's degree from John Hopkins University.

Yes. He's standing right here before us as a smart and educated jock. It has been a pleasure getting to know Avelino and his sweetheart of high school, Monica. A true pillar of their communities. Doctor Valencia oversees education at institutions in the Anaheim School District, giving hope through education to our youth.

Avelino has worked on several bills here on this Assembly floor and in the State of California. He has a priority bill currently to ensure that the name Anaheim stays with the angels. He also moved forward on cryptocurrency, making sure that holding cryptocurrency was something that was introduced to each and every one of us, as well as successfully running tribal bills. These areas and issues show his fortitude as well as his virtue to tackle and succeed on issues that he feels are justified.

He's also been a strong supporter of Native American issues with missing and murdered indigenous persons, housing, and participated in the first Native American Day parade here at the capitol.

He's also presided over this chamber during the Native American Legislative Caucus events and has walked and sang traditional songs with California's first people at many events. His true character continues to move forward. I had the opportunity to visit Mexico with Avelino where we went and visited cultural sites, cultural sites of pyramids of the sun and the moon, where we sang traditional songs there. And we walked up steps to where the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, where we made an offering and offered a prayer.

These actions show the true virtue of a man that in time of life perils that he turns to God for guidance.

My friend, Avelino Valencia, you will be missed in the State Assembly as you make your charted course to the Senate. Thank you, my friend.

Thank you, Assemblymember Ramos, for your remarks. Assemblymember Valencia, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam speaker. One of the Assemblymembers. My path is a bit different than some of our colleagues here on the floor today that are concluding their service in the State Legislature. I potentially have an opportunity to continue to serve California and the Greater Orange County area in the other house, our Senate counterpart.

And because of that, it took me a second until it actually dawned on me because of a question that my mother asked me a couple of weeks ago when we were having dinner.

You know, very innocently, she goes, Mijo, so everything is going very well. But what were to happen if for some reason things don't pan out how you'd like them to this November? And in a very stark realization, it hit me. Wow. This is, this is the end of my service on this Assembly Floor.

And what I've learned has been one of the most impactful lessons of my life. There isn't an institution that I'm aware of that not only has the diversity, but the creativity, the commitment, and the drive to not only move each respective district forward, but the state, the nation, and truly the globe.

And some of the lessons that I've learned, and I don't mean to leave anybody out, but just as examples, our colleague from Menlo Park, I learned his passion and his drive when it comes to issues, that he cares about. To my colleague from Whittier, what it means to be a state person, to show discipline and respect and decorum in this incredible chamber. To my colleague from San Luis Obispo, show compassion and grace when providing service to others, especially when attacks are being presented.

To my Assembly seatmate, my brother, Mister Ramos, your strength and wisdom has been a beacon that I have had the good fortune of being able to follow, and thank you for that. Our Speaker Rivas, his friendship and trust, that does not come easy in this world today. And the character and value of that individual needs to be commended. So thank you for all that you do. Now my mantra has always been a team player.

I come from an athletic background. I was raised in the structure of a small business, and that all takes coordination, strategy, planning, leadership, and that's exactly why I wear this pin on my lapel. I've never actually worn my Assemblymember pin since the day I got elected. I've I've chosen to wear this pin because it's a gentle reminder every day that we're all part of a bigger system. We're a coalition that binds together to accomplish greater things than ourselves.

The pin, it says it takes teamwork, and that's so emblematic of what it takes to get things done, especially in government. You can be a little gear, you can be a big gear, but we all need to coexist, function in order to achieve whatever it is that that engine is pointed at.

One of the, one of the quotes and concepts that I have used, as my North Star and and my focus when it comes to how I evaluate policy and how I vote on policy has been to plant trees of which shade we may never enjoy the shade of. And that to me says so much about what it takes to, at times, sacrifice what's in front of you or in the best interest of you for the next generation and others.

And that can be interpreted in many ways.

We all have different definitions based on life experience, background, creed. But if we all hone in on a concept like that, at the end of the day, the outcome is gonna be in a better place. When I was playing football, one of my biggest mentors and and incredible coach, Mister Gene Murphy at Fullerton, used to blab out all sorts of things in Latin all the time. I had no idea what he was saying half the time.

He would just say, Avelino, your name is Latin, so you should read up on these things and I would just dismiss it and just say, what what are you talking about, Coach Murphy?

I'm here to play football. But he would always say one thing, sumum bonum. And when I actually took the time to look into what that means, it translates to the pursuit of the greatest good. That has been my hope and goal as a legislator, and I've been so proud to see that be manifested on this Assembly floor through the actions and decisions of all of us.

Despite the disagreement, despite the differences, I am grateful for the unity that we have each and every Monday and Thursday, and that's what binds us together like glue.

So in a long winded way, I'd like to say that my support of all of you in whatever capacity that has come, whether little or small, will continue as I move on to my next chapter in public service or in life. Colleagues, thank you so much for everything that you have all provided to me.

It truly has made an impact in who I am as a person, and I hope to continue to do the work alongside all of you and to ensure that what we leave today blossoms tomorrow. The best is yet to come, colleagues. Thank you all, and God bless.

As we continue with our ceremony, the next Assemblymember that we will recognize is Assemblymember Dixon. Assemblymember Davies, you are recognized for your remarks.

Thank you, Madam speaker. Well, I was gonna start out with this incredible story about a key, but the Reverend jumped to me before I could go there. So with permission to quote and speaker.

Without objection.

These are words from one of the most incredible author and writer, Doctor Seuss. Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. And keep that in mind. It has been such a pleasure because Diane and I, we knew each other around 2012 when we were serving on different City Councils and Mayor. And we jumped on League of City and a lot of other groups, but I never really had the opportunity to get to know her. And one thing you have to know is Diane loves to laugh.

And I love to make her laugh, so I'm not sure which is more fun. But she has been so incredible, and I've never met somebody so bold. So if you ever want something done or said, just tell her, Diane, you should go do that. And she just does it, and then you stand behind the door as she's doing it. And the courage that you've taken to be here and then as you move on for Supervisor is amazing because I know you're not doing it for yourself.

I know that you have done what you've needed to do on this floor, and now the county needs you in Orange County. And for those of you that may not always get this told, but as a Republican, as you go through, you'll have questions like, why do you wanna go up there? You know, if there's a super majority, you can't get anything done. And my answer is, yes, you can if you work hard enough. And Diane is someone that has done that.

But you have to work hard enough on relationships, and that's how it's done. And she's already had 21 bills signed into law with probably five more coming down the line. She has worked with foster care, human trafficking, HOAs, God love them, substance abuse treatments, ebikes, domestic violence, coastal erosion, and putting an end to body brokering. These are just some of the things when it comes to public safety.

And all the different committees that you have sat in, this woman does her homework more than anyone I know.

And she has a strict, strict routine unlike myself. I am a sleeper as well. I don't know if you know this, but she gets up every single day at five in the morning and runs. And I don't know what's more crazy, that or you running around the Capitol in the dark in Sacramento. So this woman then gets ready, goes to her office, opens up the Washington Post or one of your other incredible newspapers because she still reads the newspaper.

And then she starts texting us tons of stories, which are very interesting, new ideas, but she never stops. And I can tell you like, it is a friendship that honestly I've never had. And then Kate, the basically, the three of us, and they're always like, what are you gonna do without her? And we're you're irreplaceable. So we're probably gonna have to have Phil step in, you know, where you're at.

But I just, I just wanna tell you what a privilege and an honor it has been to work with you. And I just it's really hard for me because, again, we all need each other up here. You know, the best part of the day is when you sit down with one another and you talk about what went on, how we can make things better, you know, what made it up us upset. But at the end, we usually end up laughing and hugging.

And that's really what it's all about.

And you have really made this place very special, and I want you to know that. And there's there's one thing I do have to come clean on. Alright. I'm not proud of it. But for the past four years, you've probably noticed that you can't close your desk and that there are two of everything in there, and my desk is clean, it was Phil.

Just so you know, and Phil isn't here anymore. But if you look at his desk, it's very up to no. Actually, it was me. And I just couldn't resist because you keep pushing the thing down, and every time you turn around, I throw something else in it. So that's been four years of just enjoying that and watch you going, wow, I've got two of everything.

I'm like, yeah. I know. But you know what? That's what just made it fun because you just you know, your laughter is contagious and I really wanna finish up with a prayer. And this prayer really could be for all of those that are leaving.

Dear God, thank you for the time we shared with our colleague. Bless their new path with peace, guidance, and success. Go before them into the next chapter. Keep them safe and let the work of their hands continue to bear good fruit. Amen. Many blessings.

Assemblymember Lowenthal, you are recognized for your remarks.

Well, thank you madam speaker. Thank you members. And what a joy it is to stand for my friend, Diane Dixon. And it is very fitting that Diane Dixon asked for somebody across the aisle to speak for her because Diane Dixon will work with anybody and everybody in this capacity and understands that it's only about delivering for the district, for the people of California, no matter how that gets done. I wanna say a few things about Diane.

She, of course, is m]Madam Newport Beach. She was elected to the City Council in 2014, two terms as Mayor, spent 40 years in the private sector as a business executive, and has had the most bills signed by any Republican into law into 2020-2025. In fact, throughout her four years in legislature, Assemblymember Dixon has had 19 bills and counting successfully signed into law.

One piece of legislation Miss Dixon is particularly proud of is AB 349, which would help teen moms in the foster child system, help them support them by ensuring certain funds they receive to support their infants are indexed to inflation. Let's stop and think about that for a second.

She ran this bill three years in a row, and it was finally signed into law by the Governor this past year. Champion for California's coastline, protecting the environment for future generations. Sound like a Democrat to me. Spearheading the San Gabriel River working group to help stop more than 400 tons of trash from entering the Pacific Ocean each year, champion for ebike safety throughout the State of California.

In the 2023-2024 legislative session, her bill 1774 was signed into law, which would prohibit a person from selling a product or a device that can modify the speed capacity of an electric electric bike so that it no longer meets the definition of an electric bicycle.

You know, I'm actually gonna have to stop here Diane, because I can just go on and on and on. I do wanna say though how critical it was, and I think I can speak for the Chair of our Privacy Committee, Chair Bauer Kahan, on the partnership that you had with all the members as the Vice Chair, setting the culture of that committee, which is truly the only committee that in my experience where people walk in with a total and complete open mind.

And you have taught us Diane to do the right thing at every single opportunity. When I think of when I think of Diane Dixon, the first thing that comes to mind is her wrestling with the microphone when she gets up to speak. And I have to say, most of the time the microphone won.

But actually, what I think of more than anything else when I think of Miss Dixon is how she is a complete outlier in politics in 2026. At a time where elected officials are rewarded for being divisive, for disregarding what the other side has to say, for in some cases being curt and short, that's something that is nowhere near Miss Dixon's playbook. She is the kindest, nicest, most thoughtful person that I've ever come across in this business.

It has been not just a joy to serve with you, but I've learned so much from you and all of us have the way that you conduct yourself. And, Mister Gonzales isn't here right now, but you've whipped all of us on the floor a lot better than our majority whip has as well.

And we thank you for that. Grateful for the four years that we've spent together. I'm so excited for your future on endeavors, and we will miss you terribly, truly. Thank you for your service, Miss Dixon.

Thank you members for those remarks. Assemblymember Dixon, you are recognized for your remarks.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, my dear friends from Orange County and from neighboring Orange County in Long Beach. Thank you, Josh and Lori. It has been a pleasure of a lifetime. It's such an honor as everyone speaks about the honor of serving in this great building and doing the people's work.

And responding to people, I yes, indeed. I worked in business for a large corporation, global corporation, traveled the world, and for many years. And it makes me so happy just to travel to Sacramento every week. I don't have to get on a big plane for 15 hours and go to China or Europe. I could serve the people for California because that is this is was my goal.

I've had a lot of goals in life. I do run every morning, and people say, do I do marathons? No. It's the one thing I do that I don't have to have a goal. I could just go and clear my mind and get my mindset for the day.

But serving the people, it's not like I wasn't intending to really go any further. I really thought I would be here for the complete term. And there was another calling that takes me back to Orange County. My husband would say it would be the dogs that I'm really going home for to be with our golden retrievers. But I have enjoyed my working across the aisle.

I mean, as a super minority member, we need to work across the aisle. When you strategize, how do you get things done? It requires working together and working with colleagues who share the same goals and in developing those relationships. And I'm so honored for the relationships I have built. Everyone who has voted for any of my bills, I'm so grateful.

And and working with the Chair of the Health Committee on this such important in in Orange County and other communities, but the, drug addiction, substance abuse issues are so serious in Orange County. And I couldn't have accomplished what I had without the Chair of the Health Committee, and for which I'm very grateful. And the Chair of the Transportation Committee on my ebikes. You all worked with me so I could serve my constituents.

The 500,000 constituents in Orange County, we communicate with all of them bipartisan.

It doesn't matter what political parties our constituents belong to because we are representing all of them. And last year, we served 25,000 constituent requests. I always like to say, I'm from the government. I'm here to help. That's an unusual phrase.

People aren't used to that. I don't wanna solve their problems. What else am I gonna do? This is what I wanna do. And I have a great staff that makes me look good here in the capital.

And my capital staff, Aaron and Bennett and Danley, they are amazing. And in the district, Cooper and Janelle and Ben, they're listening and watching. I was so grateful. You make me look so good. And I'm so grateful.

People tell me all the time, whether it's my capital staff or my district staff, oh, your staff did this. Aaron did this. Cooper did this. And they're all all the constituents know my staff. It just makes me so proud.

And then I have can't forget Hannah, who was my Chief of Staff for the first two years. She's still here in the building. And she's a terrific friend. And it's been wonderful working with her. And I've learned so much.

My first staff in the first four years, I didn't, I'd served on we've served on city councils, but it's very different than the legislature in the processes and procedures. So having a great staff and to get things done really made a difference. I have to give also thanks. I hope my husband is listening. He couldn't make it up here.

He's helping fighting crime in Orange County. He's in the works with Todd Spitzer in the DA's Office. And as a lawyer I'm not a lawyer. I served on the Judiciary Committee and Assemblyman, Kalra was always a great partner to work with. We didn't always agree on legislation, but we certainly work together well.

And I honor that. My husband was always helpful to me on the judiciary on the laws and such. And my husband's been a prosecutor, not a civil lawyer. And so he said, I haven't looked at this since law school. Let me think about it.

But it was a great help to me. So I could be knowledgeable of how I look as a law. I feel like I've been through law school the last four years, learning about the law, all kinds of the law that the Judiciary Committee works through. But one thing I'm really proud of because Senator Umberg and I really worked together on helping solve a significant issue with the state bar.

But we couldn't solve it because the judiciary the state bar is managed by a third branch, a Judiciary Branch.

But we as legislators could say, State California State Bar and your examination needs to get fixed because there's a big fiasco in 2025 when they outsourced and and commute computerized the bar exam and ended up with severe serious lawsuits, $600,000,000 in lawsuits to the state bar because the law exam was not administered correctly.

So Senator Umberg and our respective committees, he's Chair of Judiciary, worked together on the bill to strongly encourage the Chief Justice to go back go to a national standard on the bar exam. And that is happening.

And thanks to both of us working together, and we couldn't tell the Chief Justice. We had to be respectful of the jurisdictional lines.

But they realized they had a problem, and they are moving forward implementing it on their own. We couldn't specify, but we could encourage. And I couldn't done that without Senator Umberg. And it helps one thing being from Southern California and flying up here on an airplane. We all work together.

The Orange County delegation, there's Sharon and Lori and why my mind's going back. Kate, my dear Frankie. All of it. Phil and Greg sometimes. Somewhere else.

All of us from Orange County. And over here on this side, they are Avelino. We're all together, Connie. We're all together on the flight. We wait in the morning at the gate, and we fly together.

And then we're waiting in Sacramento, the airport. We fly home. We talk a lot. We discuss issues, and personal issues and legislative issues. And it's been a very good cohesive building, cohesion building opportunity.

So I want to just thank everyone for helping to make my legislative career in my term successful. I feel I've accomplished a little bit and did something as was said earlier. And I want to just thank everyone for being such a good friend and helping me along the way. I want to thank the staff, the staff here, the policy staff, the sergeants who drove me every day. I never drove my legislator car.

I always had a driver because I was always nearby. But, so many people behind the scenes help keep this legislate this capital and the legislature running so smoothly. We do think we could save more time. Mister Ellis, you and I, Stan, you and I think we could run the time more efficiently. That's what he that's what we both agree from our business experience.

But anyway, I am honored to serve all with all of you. I will hopefully be still serving the people of Orange County. That's what I intend to do. My service is not done yet. And I am grateful to all the friends and colleagues and support I've had in the Assembly of the State of California.

I can't believe I'm not crying because it's very emotional. So thank you all and best of luck to all of you. Thank you.

Okay, members. It is time to recognize the man in the most brilliant suit I think I've ever seen, Assemblymember Tom Lackey. Not not just so quick, Mister Lackey, and hear from a few of your colleagues first. Thank you, members. Assemblymember Brian, you are recognized at your desk to speak on the departure of Mister Lackey.

Thank you, Mister speaker and colleagues. I feel incredibly honored to get to say some remarks about my friend, Tom Lackey. Also fitting that he would wear this suit today. If you're thinking Tom wore this suit because he is the greatest patriot to ever come out of Palmdale, you'd be right.

Some of you might be thinking he's wearing this suit because it's the same suit that Afroman wore when he beat the cops at trial, you would also be right. That is the complexity that is Tom Lackey. He's not a one dimensional man. He's not a simple man, but he's an incredibly honest man.

I had the privilege of serving on the Public Safety Committee for two years with Mister Lackey. And those of you that know us both well would probably believe those were a contentious two years, but they weren't. They were years where we got to learn each other and share life experience and then look at policy differently now having known each other.

I can tell you there are major things that have changed in California that would not have changed if not for my friendship with Tom Lackey and his compassion and sincerity to looking at policy. A couple of piece of legislation that come to mind is a bill called Wakisha's Law.

It's the first law named after a black woman in California's history. Wakisha Wilson lost her life in a LAPD holding cell, and her family was never notified. So we wrote a law to make sure that if you die in custody that the family has to know within 24 hours you have a duty to tell them. People thought that bill would be contentious, and then it went to the first committee. And Tom put his stamp on it.

And all of a sudden, it became bipartisan and unanimous. After the wildfires raged in Los Angeles and around our state, many of us said we should raise the wages of incarcerated firefighters. People told me I was out of my mind. You are never gonna get the legislature to invest in incarcerated people during a budget deficit. It's just not gonna happen.

I showed up to public safety that day, and the Vice Chair of the Public Safety Committee told me, you know, I don't know if you've got Lackey. The Republican recommendation for the day was not to support it. And Tom heard everybody who came to committee and spoke on why this was right and fair and just and good for public safety and good for restitution and good for California. And when it came time for Mister Lackey to vote, he said okay.

And what he knew at the time and what I knew at the time was Tom Lackey's okay just meant this bill is bipartisan and will go unanimously off this floor and really make a difference in its potential to change the life of incarcerated firefighters in California.

That doesn't happen without Tom Lackey. I've got five or six more of these examples through the years. I had one we had one moment on the floor where we had a colleague who's no longer with us who was referencing, that there is no such thing as a child prostitute, which was a tagline of a bill ten years ago that decriminalized charging young girls under the age of 18 as prostitutes because you're not old enough to consent.

And as this colleague who was saying this was using that tagline from ten years ago, I looked up that bill, and that particular colleague didn't vote for that bill ten years ago. You know which Republican did?

Tom Lackey. Because his entire service in the legislature has been marked by those examples of him disagreeing with his own caucus at times, disagreeing with the other caucus at times, disagreeing with himself at times to come up with what he believes is the most honest decision that he can make. We work in a business where it's increasingly comfortable to lie right to people's face. That is not Tom Lackey. If he's there, you can take it to the bank.

And if he's not, you've probably got a little bit more work to do. I will miss my friend from Palmdale. I will miss you greatly. I think this entire body will miss you greatly. California is better because of your service.

California is safer because of your service, and you have made this body a better place. Colleagues, please join me in celebrating our friend, Tom Lackey.

Assemblymember Pellerin, you are recognized.

Thank you, speaker and colleagues. There are those rare people in life who remind you that public service can still be about character, decency, and doing the right thing. For me, Tom Lackey is one of those people. And Tom, I want you to know how deeply honored I am that you asked me to speak about you today. That means more to me than you'll ever know.

And it is so wonderful to meet your lovely wife, Linda, as well. Tom served as my Vice Chair on the Assembly Elections Committee. And as you all know, Tom is Republican, I'm a Democrat. And there are plenty of things that we do not agree on, but there has always been mutual respect for each other's views and many times where we agreed. Tom, you are one of the first members I had a meet and greet with when I was a freshman.

I admired your compassion, your authenticity, your 28 years of service as an officer with the CHP, your time serving your community as a School Board Trustee and Council Member. You gave me a challenge coin that I'm carrying in my pocket today. I can absolutely say without a doubt, a 110%, I adore this man. Because beneath the party labels, Tom Lavkey is exactly the kind of person you hope to serve alongside. Thoughtful, genuine, funny, faithful, and above all, a man of integrity.

And a man with great value, a great sense of style. I love the suit today. And in this building, we throw around the word honorable quite a bit. Tom has truly earned that title. Tom came from a town of about 3,000 people and ultimately found himself representing nearly half a million.

But he never forgot where he came from or who sent him here. In fact, when I asked Tom what advice he would give to others in public service, it was simple. Be who you are, and never forget who sent you here to serve them. That is Tom Lackey. He doesn't change who he is depending on the room he's in.

He doesn't check which way the political winds are blowing before deciding what he believes. And while we certainly haven't always voted the same way, I have always known where Tom was coming from, and I've always trusted that it came from a sincere place. If you know Tom, you know about the bracelets. He wears a gold link bracelet as a reminder of his commitment to faith and to his family. He wears a blue line bracelet honoring his years in law enforcement.

And he wears another bracelet to remind himself to stay balanced. Faith, family, service, balance. Things Tom wears on his wrist. They are the way he lives his life. Although, I do have to question that commitment to balance because this man also loves EDM music.

Yes, EDM. And then there are the bananas. Tom hates bananas. And I don't mean he mildly dislikes them. Apparently, his feelings about bananas are strong enough to influence California public policy.

Because when I carried legislation to make the banana slug, California's Official State Slug, there was one no vote. One, Tom Lackey. Now Tom, I have forgiven you mostly. But I want the record to reflect that after all of our bipartisan work together, when California's banana slug needed you the most, you abandoned us. And yet, that story is also part of what I love about Tom Lackey.

He is unapologetically himself. Tom, as you prepare for this next chapter and as your family prepares for the wonderful milestone of your daughter's wedding, I hope you know what an impact you have made on many of us. You have shown us that people can disagree without being disagreeable. That friendship crosses party lines. That kindness isn't weakness.

And that integrity always matters. You have reminded me that our politics don't have to define our relationships and that sometimes that person sitting across the aisle can become one of the people you cherish most. I will miss having you as my colleague in this esteemed institution. I will miss your humor, your perspective, and yes, even your no votes. Tom, please stay exactly who you are.

Keep your faith. Keep your family close. Keep serving others. Keep those bracelets on your wrist to remind you what matters. Keep listening to EDM.

And for goodness sake, Tom, eat a banana. I love you, my friend. It has been truly a great honor to serve with you. Thank you.

First of all, let me begin by saying, when you're a targeted member, you pray for this day. Do you know when you're going to be out of here? There might be some people in here that might be understand that a little too closely. But I'm telling you, I'm likely to emotionally stumble, and I'm sorry about that. I wish I could help it because I hate it.

Told you. I wanna thank my friend from Los Angeles, my friend for Santa Cruz for those very, very kind and warm remarks. I'm going to announce the reason for this crazy outfit that I'm wearing right here. A guy named Joseph Foreman. He's from Palmdale.

His name is Afroman. I'm not a big rap guy. EDM is not rap. But I will tell you something very powerful was expressed by this this young man, and I have a bill that addresses what I call the Lemon Pound Cake Bill. There's a lot of symbolism in life, and I'm telling you the symbolism that that lemon pound cake song that was written by Afroman that law enforcement sued him over sends a loud message.

It sends a message that we can also have fun with serious topics. We don't always have to be angry. We don't always have to be mean spirited in disagreement. But one thing I'm very thankful for that Afroman this is a replica of the very suit he wore when he testified in this trial against these law enforcement individuals who robbed him of what he deserved. And so that's one of the reasons why I wear this today against the advice of many, because I think it speaks loudly.

It speaks loudly to a truth that I think is easy to overlook. And I'm very, very thankful for so many influencers in my life.

Sorry.

But my maker. I'm so thankful to know that there is a God who loves me. I've been taught it since I was a child.

What a gift that is. What a gift that is to set your life in the right chart. So many people are not gifted with that understanding. We need to help them. I have family that I didn't know how lucky I was. For that, I'm ashamed. But I had a father who was a dentist, a self made man who started smoking at eight years old to curb his hunger. It destroyed his life. He suffered a very ugly death.

But I had a father who invested in me, and he was the father he never had. I had a mother who sacrificed her gifts to be a full time mother. And I have siblings who were just siblings, but I love them to death. Also, a part of my family is something that I hope you get to enjoy. It's staff.

Whether you include them as family is up to you. But I'm telling you, I have been extremely fortunate for 12 long years. When you think about twelve years, think about it. That's your entire schooling prior to college. When I first got here, there were people enrolling in kindergarten.

Now they're graduating from high school or graduated from high school. That's a pretty significant slot of time. And I'm very, very thankful for so so many things. And I, my staff is standing in the back there. They all know if they don't know, I love you very much.

Very, very thankful for all of you. And there's one in particular that was not only my Chief of Staff, but my roommate. He put up with me for 8 years, man. And I will tell you, we suffered through some very big life challenges that weren't political. Those kinds of friendships are so powerful and they will continue.

I want you to know something that I've learned in this body is that goodness is not partisan. That goes to you and to you. It's real. You gotta find goodness, man. Search for it.

And sometimes here's, here's the reality. The only reason I'm not that great at figuring that out on my own, I was forced to because I was a targeted member. If I wanted to stay in this body, I had to figure out that the majority of the people I represented thinking thought differently than me. So I need to figure out where's the common ground? Where's the areas that I can help people know that they can trust me?

Trust is only earned, folks. And when you betray that trust, it's very almost difficult, almost impossible to get back. Here's my other I wasn't gonna say much negative, but I am gonna say this. I hate partial truths. And let me give you an example.

You could say, Mister Lackey it's reported that Mister Lackey, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints slash Mormon brings two wives to the Assembly floor. Guess what? Without distinction, that's true. My ex wife is here. She's right up there waving.

And my current wife, Linda, is also here. I love them both dearly. They're very different people. I better not be labor that point. But as I shift gears, there's another very important thing that I would like to share with this body, and that is the most sacred experience that I enjoyed on this floor.

And it was over a super contentious topic. And that topic has been called several things, right to life, medical aid, and dying. And here's what made us so powerfully memorable, and I will never ever forget it. A fact is I remember it like it was last week. We talked about the merits of this bill and the other side of that bill.

And the people who spoke, spoke with such compassion on both supporting the bill and opposing the bill. And this bill for the first time and probably the only time I can ever remember was silent. No side discussions. No walking back and forth. It was like a sacred ground for an hour.

And I will tell you, colleagues, I didn't know which way I was gonna vote for that hour. It was so moving, and it was what I wish we can emulate more often as respect for the importance of the bill, both support and opposition, because that is something that just gets lost. And it's easy to get lost. But I saw that it couldn't happen and it did happen. And the author of that bill happens to be sitting right here, Susan Eggman.

And she knows how I appreciate her for a number of reasons. And I thank you for your example in helping me understand LGBTQ realities. Sometimes we stereotype folks because of our life experiences, and I would tell you that it's dangerous. It's dangerous and it's also very easy to do. Try to push back if you can.

Be aware that those circumstances may be misleading. I wanna be remembered by someone who enjoys listening because I do. And I got to make money off of the fact that I get to observe people. What a great career that is in serving people and and doing what you think is going to prevent tragedy. I'm hoping that the legislation that we consider here does not add to tragedy, but prevents it.

I'm just about ready to close. And I want you to say that or understand this about me, that I really hope that some of the work that I've been able to do helps prevent victims. I've dealt so many in so many circumstances with victims. It's heartbreaking because especially if that was preventable. I was taught a very important principle as a highway patrolman that if it's predictable, it's preventable.

That is a very valuable phrase, folks, and I hope that you will take the time to think outside of your comfort zone when addressing issues that may prevent victimology. Another thing that's a little bit of a frustration for me is that people think that because you're old, which I am, that your thoughts and your experiences are outdated. To some extent, you might be right. But let me tell you this too. Experience is the best teacher, if you let it be.

Learn from history. Another old guy clapping for me over there. I appreciate it. And we all want change that's helpful, but change is not always the answer on certain fronts. And the kind of change is what we need.

And we need each other. We do need each other. I had a life experience that was very guarded. I lived in the town of Three Thousand in the middle of nowhere, a little borax mining town where my dad had a dental practice. I had very limited life experiences.

I never had an African American in my school, and so I had a very limited view. And so guess what? As I progressed in life, I moved out, and I had all these other experiences that helped shape my understanding. And I need people who have that different life experience to share with me so that I can become better. I bid you all farewell.

But know that my heart will always be with you. Whether you're a Democrat or Republican, figure it out. 40,000,000 people expect that. We're not doing our best. We are not doing our best.

All I can ask for is that you do that and know that I was very proud to join you in that quest. Thank you very much.

Okay. Members, we only have 22 more member tributes to go.

22, maybe 21.

Alright, members. It is time to recognize and acknowledge Doctor Arambula.

And we first ask Assemblymember Ramos to speak. Assemblymember, you are recognized.

Well, thank you, Mister speaker. Doctor Arambalo was born in Delano, seeing firsthand the farm worker movement. His parents instilled in him the passion to raise the voices of his people. Through hard work and public service, his parents, Juan, a former Assembly member and his mother Amy, a lawyer, also pillars of the community instilled in him his virtues. This upbringing has paved the way for Joaquin to be a voice for writing issues against oppressed people, a people that need a voice.

Like his work on AB 1830, which bought brought protections to the Latino community with the inclusion of health care, with the added ingredient of folic acid in Masa. This is important because while the Federal Government moved to add folic acid to enrich cereal, the government never even addressed high birth defects in Masa, in the Latino community. This quality in doctor Arambula led to his chairmanship of sub sub one to fight for health inclusion of dollars to fight for the underserved in the state of California.

Doctor Arambola visited my Indian reservation, San Manuel, with his daughter where we shared a homemade meal of bean Tostadas. Doctor Arambala has taken the time to learn of the great disparities when it comes to health care for California's first people.

Where we worked on sub one to implement ongoing funding for health care funding in the state of California. Doctor Arambula has shown the traits of standing for those who need a voice, following his family's legacy of public service. His time in the Assembly may be coming to an end, but his commitment to the people of his community continues to be a driving force in his future. My friend, you have made a lasting impact in the state of California.

Impacts that will continue to serve the people in the state of California.

I stand here wishing you good luck, and thank you for all that you've done for the people in the state of California.

Assembly member Wilson, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mister speaker. Members, today, I rise to recognize our colleague, Assembly member, doctor Joaquin Arambula, and to thank him for his years of service to the people of the Central Valley and the state of California. I have to tell you, it is a little surreal for me to be standing here today, because I have known Joaquin longer than anyone else on this floor. We actually went to junior high and high school together at Edison Computac in Fresno, California, home of the Tigers.

So I knew Joaquin long before he was Assembly Member Arambula and long before he was doctor Arambula.

I watched him grow up in a family with a deep legacy of service to Fresno. And as life would have it, I eventually found myself serving alongside him here in the California State Assembly. I remember seeing the first time we got the alert that there was a tiger on the floor and being, like, really proud with no clue that I would get to learn to serve alongside you. So before coming to the capital, Assembly member Arambula served as an emergency room doctor in Selma.

He saw firsthand how access to health care can change a person's life, And he brought that perspective with him to this institution.

He fought to expand access to health care, improve food security for college students, support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, strengthen farmworker housing, and protect survivors of labor trafficking. As Assembly member Ramos noted, through AB 1830, he addressed a long standing health disparity by recognize by requiring folic acid in corn masa products work that attracted natural national interest. But his legacy is not only measured by legislation.

He helped secure millions of dollars in state investments for Fresno and communities throughout the Central Valley, supporting health care, public safety, infrastructure, education, workforce development, and economic opportunity. And what makes his record especially meaningful is that he never forgot where he came from.

He grew up in Fresno, returned home after medical school, and chose to serve the community that helped shaped him. Joaquin, from the kid I knew at Computec Junior High to the doctor, legislator, and public servant you have become, it has been an incredible privilege to watch your journey. Thank you for your friendship, your compassion, and your service to the state of California. And of course, from one tiger to another, I'm proud of you, my friend.

Assembly member Arambula, and wish you nothing but the very best in what comes next.

Thank you,

Thank you, Mister speaker and members for the opportunity to address you here today. And before I begin, I'm reminded of a quote that my daughter taught me quite a long time ago, which is that while we have two ears and one mouth, that's so that we can listen twice as hard and not speak twice as fast as some of us so often do while on this floor. But today, I wanna share some advice.

I do want to share some of the insights that I've gained from being on this floor now for over a decade. And that is that listening has a purpose.

That focusing on people's stories, where they come from, who they are, and why they're here, why they choose to serve this institution of any place in the world. And I have to speak about the importance that this green carpet has, that this building, that what we do together as a legislature has in shaping the greatest state in our nation and in moving us forward every day that we have an honor of showing up to this state capital.

Now I've been blessed to have been elected, frankly, to have been called to serve. I didn't choose when I grew up to want to become an elected member of this body. I chose to serve my community by saving lives.

And I loved that job. I really did. I loved being able to show up and ask how I could help, what I could do, and how I could make their pain, their suffering, their lived experience just a little bit better. But what I saw during my time in practice is there's not enough we can do within those four walls. Sometimes we have to pull upon the levers of government.

And then we get the government we deserve. If we're not willing to do something about it, if we're not willing to step up and serve ourselves, then we're stuck with those who are. And that means we have to ask more of ourselves. That means we have to sacrifice. That means we have to take the time to give to our constituents what they deserve, and that's our responsibility.

And so I've been grateful that I've only served here in the people's house. I'm not from the royal house. I'm not going to the royal house. I'm not going to the Senate, which if we've not forgotten is the enemy. I've only served here in the people's house.

And the reason why I served here in the people's house is because we do the people's work. That time and time again in this building, we stay connected to our constituents. That we don't have elections every four years. We are back in front of our constituents every weekend. We're back doing their work, and we get elected every election cycle.

So having been elected for six cycles, I first have to start by thanking my staff who kept me connected to the district. And that begins with my longest serving staff in Maria Lemos, my district director, who's here in the back of the chambers, Felicia Matloss, who's my communications director, Maricela, my senior field rep, Damian Doug Maricela Ortiz, Damian Douglas, my field rep who's back at our district office right now.

But it also includes Itsy, Chang Tuwa, Zach, and so many of the interns who have come through our district office. To my capital staff and my chief of staff in Musevio Padilla, Erica Dacumas, who's been my scheduler, Victoria Harris, Arlie, David, Elizabeth included in there. We have Sana.

We've had Maheen. We've had Arusa. We've had Jackie. We've had Grayson Doucette. We've had so many people who have come through my office, who have contributed and has made this place better.

None of us can do this by ourselves. And it makes us realize that we have something to do by uplifting staff, empowering them so that we can do a better job together. That ultimately, it's important for us to build that team wide network and to watch them go other places. Whether or not that's watching as they become chiefs of staff, whether or not that's eventually waiting for them to run for your seat, to run for office themselves, what

you do is you hope to inspire them through your own commitments to be willing to give back. And so I wish to tell you a little bit about that commitment and how I spent my time while up here because I do think it matters how we spend our time. Now I had the ability to Chair sub one, and I did it for nearly eight years. It does not sound like much.

But that's a committee that they had to split into two because there was too much darn work for any one person to do.

And I shouldered it for eight years. And I shouldered it for those eight years without ever once cutting off public comment or testimony. And I did it for those eight years, oftentimes late into the night while many of you were out doing whatever it is that we do at night till nine, ten, 11:00, sometimes till midnight. Because here at the people's house, we have to listen to the people when they come to tell us about their budget. These aren't our tax dollars.

These are theirs. And if we want this system, this government to work for people, then we should spend the time to listen to them to make government better, to make our programs better, to make medical and social services and developmental services and child welfare services and adult protective services and disability services. The programs that we run here in our state needed to be strengthened and improved. And frankly, we needed to increase the resources to those very programs.

So in my time in office, in the decade that I've served, we've increased that spending towards our social safety net by over 50%.

Ways in which we can better capture people before they hit rock bottom, before they end up back in an emergency room because they had no other choice. And what we're able to do by affecting those social drivers of health is start to address the root inequities that happen between too many people who are suffering still in our state.

We hear about it every day as we talk about this affordability crisis, as we watch as our community members are struggling to make ends meet, to keep a roof over their head or food on our tables, that we can't lose sight of their struggles while we're working here to do the people's work. And so it's been in that service that I've shown up every day listening to their stories, wanting to advocate, and wanting to push.

It doesn't mean that I speak up often here on this floor.

I believe I have the second least amount of words spoken by a Democrat on the floor this year for those of, those who do keep track. But I speak up when it matters, and that matters to me when my constituents are impacted. Now I represent the 31st Assembly District which is Fresno. It's the same zip code, the same community that I grew up in. I have that honor of living in now where I'm raising my three daughters.

But when I came here over a decade ago, I was looking at the pictures just yesterday. I saw as my youngest daughter, Kennedy, who's here, who now just turned 11, wasn't even old enough to be able to walk down the aisle. And I watched as my three and four year old at the time who are here in Scarlet and Aviana were hugging each other as they were coming down this aisle and the joys that they had.

And the memories that we will have made here while on the Assembly means that we've been able to grow together as a family, but it also means that we've sacrificed together as a family. It means that we know what the perils are of giving of yourself as an individual when you have to come up here four days out of the week, When you have to give of yourself and your family, you oftentimes do it at the impact of those who are closest around you.

And so I wanna remind them if I can, while it is a struggle, I hope you've also seen the importance of service, the importance of giving back, the important the importance of making sure that we get the government that we deserve. It's not a mistake that I asked them to sit in my seat here today. It was just a fight between which one was going to take the seat first that I had to really battle between.

And, you know, I I bring that up because it is our job to make sure that those future generations see themselves in these positions as well. And so I'm grateful to have had my time carrying that baton knowing that we can do what we can within our service, but that it's also time for us to pass it on to the future generations.

And so for those future generations who are looking at this body, who wants to serve in this institution, you should know that change can happen, that we've seen it happen. Here I am having served under what then began as president Obama through Trump one point o, Biden, and now Trump two point o. And I've watched as we've expanded health care. I've watched as we've made significant progress. I've watched as we as California are the tent pole for America's economy.

And what we've done as a body, what we've done as a state is miraculous. But what we've done as an institution to become more reflective of the communities that we serve is even more impressive. When I began, we had 95 men out of a 120 legislators representing us. And today, it's fifty nine sixty one.

Having three daughters, knowing the importance that representation has, it is a great point of pride to me that we will reach parity and that we will fight to make sure that everyone's voice gets included up here.

And so I'm grateful for this opportunity to be able to thank my staff, to thank my family, but most importantly, to thank this institution. To give us an opportunity to be able to serve our community is the honor and privilege of a lifetime. And so I'd ultimately like to end just by thanking the people, my constituents who sent me here, who had trust in me, who had faith that by sending a doctor that ultimately we'd be fighting for a healthier Central Valley, and we have.

We've delivered results. We've delivered victories, and now it's time for us to go back home, finish raising our daughters, and to pass the baton on to future generations.

Thank you all for the opportunity to serve and to share some words with you today.

Members, we continue on and it is time to honor our good friend Assembly member Mike Gibson. On that note, we recognize doctor Jackson.

Thank you very much, Mister speaker. It is a distinct honor to be able, to honor one of the elder statesmen of the State Assembly and certainly the Black Caucus as well. You know, there's not very many members who be who, who end up serving twelve years. And there's some of us, whose only wish is to never serve all twelve years. However, he has been able to do so.

And as a matter of fact, he is one of the last remaining members who were able to either work for or serve with some of the old school members of the legislature when things were a little bit rowdier. Let's just talk about Assembly member Mike Gibson, the great member representing the great city of Carson. You see, since Gibson entered the legislature, passionate and outspoken leader on the issues that matter most to his district.

For the past twelve years, Assemblymember Gibson has stood on this floor and repeated one phrase that will stay with stay with us very long after he leaves this body. And that's the question he continues to pose to not only his self, but to many of us as well.

What is our why? What he means by this is simple. Why do we show up to this job every day? Why do we get out of bed each morning? Why do we choose public service when there is a easier, quieter way of making a living?

Why do we miss birthdays and ball games and bedtimes for a job that doesn't always say thank you? Gibson, the app's answer is always the same. Priorities of his constituents, all the way to Sacramento, And we knew whenever he felt that his district, he felt that his district was a And we knew whenever he felt that his district was not having a voice, he made sure that he got our attention.

And I say that during his time in this body, he has done a darn good job of doing exactly that. From 2015 to 2025, one of his greatest legacies will be to have served eight years as Democratic caucus Chair.

The longest anyone has ever held that position in California's state history. During that time, he has proven to be Specifically, his bill AB 1621 created some of the most stringent restrictions on ghost guns in the nation. AB 490, Angelo's law, banned law enforcement from using restraint techniques that cause positional asphyxia, of limitation for vehicular manslaughter in cases when a driver fled the scene of the accident. One issue that is deeply, deeply personal to the Assembly member.

And one of the great examples for all of us when it's time for us to turn pain into power.

These bills, along with many others during his time, are results delivered. Results for his constituents. Results for his communities. And results for the state of California. Mike Gibson as a legislator will be remembered for generations to come as a voice for the voiceless.

But for me, I remember Mike Gibson as the person. We know there's times when Mike will take over this floor, And he will preach some of the biggest baptist sermons on this floor than anyone have ever heard. And you always knew when it was coming. When he first starts off a sentence with, watch this. And we said, oh, Lord.

Here we go. You always knew Gibson meant business because he was the only member on the floor dressed better for a Tuesday committee hearing than most of us will dress for our entire time, including weddings. I'm actually convinced that Gibson owns more bow ties than the legislature will pass bills this session. But you know when you saw the bow tie walking down the hall that you were in store for two things, good laughs and good food.

I do not know what type of kitchen Gibson has in his office.

But somehow, he can make some gumbo. He can make some fried chicken. He can make some banana pudding. All kinds of stuff. You will regularly get a text when it's time to eat in Gibson's office.

Something about some southern hospitality. And if you're gonna call someone family, he knows you gotta feed them too. And so if you're ever hungry, And so if you were ever hungry, somehow Gibson will bring out a crock pot or something out of his office and make you some southern food. Honestly, his reputation for food might just outlast his reputation for bills because he's fed so many of us. See, he loved to break bread with legislative staff, building staff, and members alike.

And each of those will all have a story. It doesn't matter if you are a a member a a sergeant, if you're a custodian, if you're a member or anyone's staff, sometimes I wonder where the heck my staff is and the Ian Gibson's office. And I think that says a lot about the man Gibson is and should be remembered as. A man of faith who treated everyone with a level of respect that all of us would do well to learn from.

Mike Gibson, the legislator, I think it's also fitting that we also take a moment to say thank you to the man, who always tried to create a culture of family in this legislature, and particularly with the Democratic caucus, who didn't forget about people's birthdays, or most importantly, made sure that people had a little hug and a little lovin', when we all had different crises and lost loved ones in our lives as well.

So Assembly member, on behalf of this chamber, we say thank you. Thank you for twelve years of service, twelve years of what is your why, twelve years of good food, twelve years of making sure that Carson always had a seat at the table. Bills you've passed would outlived all of it will outlive all of us in this room. Ghost gun restrictions, Angelo's law, extending justice for victims of hit and run. That's just a legacy That's not just a legacy, that's about lives changed and lives saved.

We will not forget the work you've done here. And more importantly, sir, we will not let you stop here. This chamber will carry it forward, because that's what you taught us to do. Congratulations, Assemblymember Gibson, the voice of the 65th Assembly District. And we know that they are lucky to have you.

We know this body is lucky to have you, and we have been lucky to have you these twelve years as well. Well done.

Assembly member Mark Gonzalez, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mister speaker. And it's always very hard to follow Mister Jackson, but I will do my best to do that today. When you look around this chamber, you come to understand that every person here arrived carrying something with them. A story to share, a community to represent, a reason to serve, and a vision. For Assembly member Mike Gibson, or as we've learned today and out these last twelve years, preacher Mike, that reason has always been Watts.

He was born there, raised there. And for twelve years, he has carried Watts in Compton and Wilmington, and every community in between into this building every single day. Mike and I represent neighboring communities, different districts, but the same fight. Watching his work up close has been one of the privileges of this role. And I've had the privilege of knowing Mike long before we were colleagues in this chamber.

I remember Mike as an organizer back in the days when he was doing the hard work, thankless work of organizing, building power, bringing people together, and fighting for working families through the labor movement in Los Angeles. I watched him put that organized experience to work with United Teachers Los Angeles, standing with educators and understanding that when when you fight for teachers, you're also fighting for students, for families, for the future of our communities, and for the future of California.