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So, I think the situation in Minnesota is still on a lot of people's minds right now. I would like to hear, you know, what you thought of the.
Events this weekend in Minneapolis, the death.
Of Alex Pretty and then what we're hearing today about a possible pullback by the Trump administration.
Do you feel like that has credibility?
You got me on the credibility. Look for me, you know, just contextualize the way I process this. This you know, future happened here first in June of last year, where we had four thousand National Guard that were federalized, We had seven hundred active duty Marines that were not sent overseas to protect our interests, were sent to seize control of the second largest city in the United States of America, Los Angeles, to five thousand federalized troops on the streets of an American.
City last June.
That mindset was further stretched a few months later, when, in an effort to organize a construct to respond to what happened in Texas with midterm redistricting, we launched our campaign for Proposition fifty in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, the sacred site of where we were bussing and intererning the Japanese well known side for anyone down in southern California.
It was at the of all places, Democracy Center. As we were.
Walking in, people were being intimidated by a gentleman by the name of Bovino. Greg Bovino masked men surrounding the building. A poor guy selling strawberries across the street disappeared. Collateral damage was found a few weeks later. Tried to intimidate folks from assembling. We said that was a preview.
Of things to come. On election day in November. I wake up in the morning, true social says.
The elections rig DOJ prosecutors and investigators are there. The expectation that they were going to file a lawsuit, which they have done as you know, was set. But they also set the tone of the day by sending out Bovino's team, the bore tech teams, the Border patrol tactical units, the Dodger Stadium assembled there in order to chill free expression and free speech for diverse communities that were already on edge on election day.
These guys are not screwing around, So I'm getting the said nothing about.
What's happening in Minnesota, and Minneapolis surprises me at all. Quite the contrary. And for a second, if Tom Homan, who was accused of a fifty thousand dollars bribe, were charges dis appeared. Speaking of disappearing cash, FBI is the adults in the room.
We are in more trouble than any of you think.
If Republicans don't agree to reform, ice to pull back on the DHS budget, should Democrats close the government that's now on the table.
I don't think it's not an option. Well, it is an option. Not an option.
You want your republic, You want to say this democracy, you want to enjoy the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, maybe make two hundred and fifty first anniversary of the historic project of our founding fathers. It's not an option. What do you do in Fulton County today? What did Pambondi demand in order to move out? This is the second demand in two days, just twenty four hours ago. I'm old enough to remember pam Bondi said, we'll leave, but we want your voting roles.
This is the FBI rating voting roles in Georgia around the twenty twenty election.
Well, but I'm referring to that as it relates to the Fulton County example today, which is all about setting the baseline that the last election twenty twenty was rigged, so you should have zero confidence in the outcome of the midterm elections, which Donald Trump is going to get crushed. I mean, what more evidence do we need. It's a stacking of all of these things. He is not screwing around. He tried to light democracy on fire when he lost
the election. Try to light it on fire, try to destroy this democracy, is trying to ruin our republic, He's trying to torture.
What more evidence do we need on a day to day basis? All of this is.
Part of that same narrative, that same threat. It's tragic. What's happening. A five year old, angelic young boy used as leverage and collateral this madness. Masked men not even identifying themselves, no warrants, terrorizing communities, people dying quite literally now dying. We said people who will die. People are dying in the United States of America. And what is the threat today?
To your question, Well, do what we legally can't do or will continue to illegally do what we've been doing by terrorizing your community, by turning over people in local jails, or whatever the.
Hell else we want as points of leverage.
None of this can be normalized, and none of this, none of this can be considered credible in the context of any of this renewed, well renewed posture of the administration.
You talked about what the National Guard did in California last year. Do you worry that you're continued emergence as a as a critic, as an antagonist a Trump will bring the same pain that we're seeing in Minnesota back to California.
Well, I mean, I guess we can roll over, kiss the ring, put on some kneepads, do what the university's law firms, do what ABC did, Paramount did, do, what Meta did?
YouTube did you know, do.
What so many companies are doing. Maybe get a golden share in the Golden State.
Me seriously, and just watch it all disappear.
I guess we can do that, or we can stand on principle the rule of law, not the rule of don I hope it's Donnie, and on all of you.
It's the rule of don.
There are co equal branches of government, if a supine Congress. The only approximation of a co equal branch of government is the markets. Thank you, the markets, I mean Bloomberg. It's the only thing he seems to pay attention to. He doesn't even pay attention to court orders. You saw that the federal judge today ninety six specific attempts to completely deny court order just since he's been involved in this operation in Minnesota. This is code red, but it's
become so normalized it's in our bloodstream. I mean, last night he did fifty six true socials in sixty minutes.
Fifty six the President of the United State.
It's one of them, and forgive me, it's not a big deal, but it should alarm you. Was an AI generated video of the governor involved with Mexican cartels that appears to have its origins as a Russian disinformation campaign. The President of the United States is tweeting that out about one of his political enemies. He said that hundreds of Walmart's stores shut down in the state of California because of a twenty two dollar minimum wage sixteen ninety.
Walmart had to correct that today.
Said, we actually just opened a news store that happened in the United States of America. But you see how that travels everywhere. It may even travel to one of your inboxes. Maybe it's a tweet, a retweet.
I didn't say it. It was said all of a sudden. Now it's in a blog.
All of a sudden, there's Jesse Waters, all of a sudden, there's Sean Hannity. All of a sudden, we're having a conversation where I have to say, no, it's not true. I'm not involved with the Mexican cartels.
One of the things that is coming to California is an investigation in the waste, fraud and abuse. The Trump administration clearly had some success with that in Minnesota. Governor Tim Walls is not running for reelection, and now they've promised that the investigation into.
California has begun.
What will they find and what is at stake?
Well, they'll find a state that's taken that issue very, very seriously. They'll find a state that years and years ago established the first framework, something called id ME that has stopped one hundred and thirty five billion dollars of fraud.
Just at the EDD Department.
You'll see someone working with the Trump one point zero administration calling out the fraud in the PUA program, which, by the way, the OIG in the dljail at the DL, the Department of Labor, his own Office of Inspector General identified one hundred and sixty three billion dollars a fraud under his administration in that program. California was able to
stop it. We've prosecuted nine hundred and twenty nine individuals, we've called back five point nine almost six billion dollars, and we're still winding up all across the country that was taking shape. You may have just seen some headlines. Thank you for those that wrote about them. The California became the first pay by Touch with EBT. EBT cards saw eighty three percent decline in fraud just last year. You saw what we're doing and what the Trump administration's doing.
To your question with doctor Oz.
Might have well, you're living in Oz when he went down tacking the Armenian community just a few days ago.
A business is down now thirty percent.
Poor guy, small businessman running a bakery because he decided to do a little TikTok video.
Or something.
Saying they're somehow connected to the mob around hospice hospice. We've been after that for years and years, before OZ was even on the scene. Twenty twenty one, we did a moratorium on new hospice program two hundred and eighty.
We shuddered. We've been after this for years and years and years. We want an open hand, not a close fist.
We absolutely are here to be a partner to go after waste, fraud and abuse.
I started something called ODI Office Digital Innovation.
I did not, my mistake, do it with a chainsaw. Had I done that, you would.
Know about it.
We just began the Office Digital Innovation and we started to begin a process of we're forming our procurement and our strategies on technology across the board, but also on the issues of wastepawn abuse. By the way, ODI was partnership with the Hot and Human Service to create the new EBD card, which again is leading the nation.
I'm humbled in this prospective.
No one's denying these issues, but let's also not deny this is purely political. You all know this because I know you know it, because this is an incredibly bright group. You know about the forty eight people just a few months ago that we're convicted of fourteen point six billion dollars in healthcare fraud in Texas.
Right, you all know that.
You must And if you don't, it's because it wasn't colored in by the Trump administration.
Because this is not about fraud and abuse.
This is about the polarization, politicalization, weaponization not just a grievance, but weaponization across the board of agencies, and weaponization the likes of which we've never seen from an administration in our life.
Well, let's try to take a step out of the polarization for a moment and talk about your record as governor over the last eleven years.
And I know there's lots to be proud of. Full term governor. Yeah, it's also eleven years. It feels like eleven, but it's been just seven. But I appreciate that now.
But it's also, you know, undeniable that we have high housing costs some of the highest in the nation, high energy costs, among the or perhaps the highest unemployment rate in the country. So make the case for us that Californians are better off than they were when you took off.
Well, I don't know. We have the fourth largest economy in the world, not the sixth.
We have more fortune, five hundred companies, and we did since twenty nineteen. By the way, Bloomberg data forty nine. Now it's fifty eight. We dominate four and five point six billion dollar output, thirteen point nine percent of the nation's manufacturing. No one comes close sixty two point one billion dollars. Just as it relates to agriculture. On the issue of housing, there's no state and even some of
our most progressive critics like has reclined of knowledge. California is housing policies to finally break through the original sin that goes back decades and decades around the supply a demand housing and ballots in the state. We're finally making progress in that space, holding cities in counties accountable through a housing Accountability unit. We're moving mountains in that space. As it relates to broader issues of this state, we dominate in fusion robotics. You saw just what Elon just.
Said he's going to do to convert his factory with S and X.
It's now going to be the new robotics, infusion and nuclear advanced nuclear. Obviously in quantum you all know about AI.
There's no peers.
You saw last year venture capital highest it's ever been one hundred and six billion dollars sixty eight billion last year, one hundred and six this year. Interesting, close to seventy percent of those dollars invested back in to the state
of California UCLA. Every year they put out a report going back since Ronald Reagan, noting that the unique nature of our economy, across a spectrum of reasons and issues, we tend to have a point nine to one point two percent higher unemployment rate consistently going back to when Reagan was governor of California than the rest of the nation today it's one point one percent higher.
You are correct about that. It's a stubborn reality, and we can get into that.
And the reason I point out those reports is they tend to do it in a remarkable and sophisticated way that goes to the struggle of all of us to reconcile that but difference. Now, we have our first economic and workforce development plan in our state's history, around regions rising together. It's thirteen economic and workforce development plans, something I'm very proud of.
We spent three years working on. In fact, we'll be announcing.
The latest plan DT's here as part of this in Orange County next week, and we continue to try to reconcile the realities in our diverse.
Communities, rural not just urban.
Communities, the live reality of people that don't live in the aggregate.
You know, the most important word in politics right now is affordability. Is it still too expensive for average Californians to make ends meet?
Well, that's why we created a brand new grade preschool for all saving people eighteen thousand dollars. That's why we did the biggest expansion of any state in the United States history on childcare subsidies.
That's why we created a new product.
Not Trump Our X should have called a new simar X. Again, you would have paid attention. It's called Alrx eleven dollars insulin. Not to subsidize cost, to lower cost. That's why we're coming out with our own diapers, which is exciting. I'm exciting to make an announcement in that space. It's why we've not doubled, we've almost tripled the earn income tax credits over one billion dollars allow working families to keep more of their earning. It's why we had the largest tax rebate in US history.
At a state level.
Eighteen point one billion, almost eighteen point three depending.
On how you categorize it.
But eighteen billion dollar tax rebate to address those costs. It's why we have the most progressive rent controls of any state in America. That's why we're going hard on the supply demand in Ballance as it relates to housing. That's why we're starting to address these issues of time to delivery some of the most progressive reforms on permitting in our state's history for large scale projects. Deliver on these large scale projects. We didn't wait for the Abundance
Book to come out on that. We advanced some of those projects years and years ago. Let me give you a proof point because it goes to the energy question. Since nineteen I'm in San Francisco. Since eighteen seventy four, we've installed about one hundred and five gigawatts of electricity in the state, thirty point two since I've been governor. And why do I highlight that? Because it needs to
be highlighted. One of the largest installed battery and solar farms in the world, Darted in Fresno County, was just approved twenty three hundred megawatts under the new procurement reforms under these new regulatory reforms. I'm making the point that we haven't been sitting back on some of these structural issues. I inherited the most blessed and cursed state in America. The day I got into office, the largest utility in the United States was bankrupt PGE. That's how I started.
We had to dig out of that. And when you dig out of that, yes, that's been the biggest driver, interestingly of utility costs when you look at the bill, where the costs related to decades and decades and decades of neglect to address the underlying issues around the hot's getting higher, dry is getting drier, climate, but also forest in vesitation, management and undergrounding, all of those.
Things that we've ten xt.
We haven't played in the margin five point three billion dollars in forest management.
What I got it was about two hundred million a year.
Unprecedented investments in this space, Unprecedented responsibility, accountability at PGE. We tie executive compensation to performance on safety. We also just passed under Cap and invest program, which we extended to twenty forty five. Because we're not walking away from low carbon green grol A sixty billion. Let me be fair, fifty six billion dollar rebate to address costs for utilities
after eleven years. This is the eleven as Lieutenant governor Governor, we finally got a deal with other Western states to regionalize our grid. This is one of the big news stories that's gotten some.
Trade attention, but will have the impact.
Of allowing us to export more of our green and clean energy, provide more reliability at a lower cost. We estimate a billion dollars a year of savings through that for electricity, and we also just advance our nation leading energy efficiency programs under Title twenty four four point eight billion dollars projective savings.
So we're not sitting on that issue as well.
Too quick follow ups because I want to move on. You mentioned PG and E should the PG and E monopoly in California to be broken up.
Well, PG and is a very different company than it was prior to bankruptcy. I'm more satisfied Under ten fifty four. That was the framework in the rubric to which we created a statutory requirement as exampled in my comments a
moment ago, around executive compensation being tied to safety. We also have the clawback in that which will remind people of receivership where the state can actually assert control statutorially in that law that I passed, and we organized to take back control if they're not performed.
So you're saying no, because the accountability does exist.
Accountability is a persistent issue and continues to need to.
Be improved.
But I'm not convinced, And forgive me, I'm not that a state that finally is turned and is turning DMB around wants to get in the utility business.
And you also mentioned permitting reform this morning. I think the President issued in executive order is he believes that the state is not moving fast enough on permitting to recover from the LA fires.
Helpful, will give me one thing the state hasn't done to address an expertite permitting. There's nothing state doesn't do local permitting. I mean, this is the same president of United States, a president of the United States that said he waived all federal permitting.
He said, which federal permit for local constructors?
When I came down here, he was talking about this in his cabinet me.
It's madness. I mean, it's actual madness.
And it's what's more madden it is there's no accountability it's not called out. I mean, it's just so preposterous, so ludicrous, it's hard for me to even respond. But he's responding to his tonality of frustration because there's been two nine hundred and eighty one permits that have been.
Approved so far as of this week.
That's how I start a start every week with updated permits and by the way, stress tests that two nine eighty one. By the way, it's three hundred and eighty five a year later in Maui, or rather, forgive me in Paradise, which had sixteen thousand units roughly equivalent about fourteen thousand in Los Angeles, three hundred and eighty five a year later approved in Paradise two thousand, nine eighty one, over a thousand units under construction as we speak in LA.
It's been just over a year. No one's happy, no one's satisfied. But it's unprecedented, just as.
Was the cleanup done in six months, unprecedent dozeness houses that are already occupied, which is remarkable. Again, not good enough, so tonally, he expressed that frustration sign an executive order that has in the vernacular of San Francisco and San Franciscan's the form and substance of fog. There's no there there. It literally is meaningless. He actually the only thing meaningful is he calls for an audit of his own federal agency, which I think was a good idea.
And the also meaningful thing.
Is that he refuses to meaningfully address the issue for recovery, and that is the gaps between your insurance, the cost of construction, which has gone up because of his tariffs and his mass deportations and the impacts of those things. By providing to Congress a letter, simple letter, for a supplemental appropriation of thirty three point nine billion dollars, which is what the state is asking on behalf of the
American people that happen to reside in southern California. Interestingly, on that, to their credit, Republican leaders in Congress, not just Democratic leaders, including yesterday our calling on the President to send that disaster supplemental on behalf of American people. And I could not be more proud of those leaders. In fact, one of them tragically passed away, and I
was at his memorial a few days ago. Doug LaMalfa man of principle of character extraordinary American, also supported my recall Doug, but he's a good man.
Was remarkable. Wife Jill Speaker Johnson was there.
Fortunately he's walk right by me. I can have a chance to engage with him. He gave beautiful remarks, he really did about Doug, and he talked in principled terms, just not reflected in the work he does when he's in Washington, d C.
Sadly, so, Governor, I want to talk about Davos first and then the Wealth tax in the next ten minutes before we open them up to questions. I believe the Secretary of Treasury said you were frolicking and Davos reason. But Canadian Prime minute he was as well. Canadian Prime Minister Market.
I don't know as well, but I appreciate that. Yet, Mark Carney gave a powerful speech.
A lot of people watched it, saying that the rules based global order is over, and I wonder if you agree with that and how the next president might repair some of these relationships.
I chance to meet with Carney interesting right before the speech and forgive me.
I I hope you guys have taken a look, maybe you've reported about it. Just a few days ago, the Foreign Minister of India gave a speech that was very similar to Carney's.
India just made a deal with the EU on teriffs.
Twenty years they've been talking about it, they weren't even talking to each other, and now with the friction that Trump has created, they've now brought the mother, as the EU president said, the mother of all trade deals together, and they did it in real time, building on what they did in South America with the EU. I mean, this wrecking ball presidency is jaw dropping in real time. So it goes to your question about what Carney said about that rupture.
It's real truth. Trust.
I talked to dozens and dozens of European leaders, presidents countries across the globe, had the opportunity to run in to people.
From countries I have read about. I confess I can't even pronounce some of them. Universal condemnation. They said, sometimes you.
Were unpredictable, but never this unreliable. It's a wrecking ball presidents.
Should the next president offer an apology to our allies?
How you look?
I mean, the apology is loaded term in American politics. Bama's on an apology tour, so I appreciate the frame, but show respect. These are allies you also show respect for the fact that we're the envy of the world. I mean, your headline's not mine. I mean just a year ago, our economy is the enemy of the world. We continue from a global perspective and share of GDP continue to outperform decades and decades because of these translantic alliance.
It's because of our trade and security relationships, particularly with our European allies.
We're destroying all that in real time.
I think it was Sam Rayburn who said, you know, any fool or idiot can break down a barn door, but it takes a great carpenter to build one.
Destruction is not strength, it's weakness. Weakness masquerading is strength. That's all.
Trump is weakness masquerading as strength. And so it will take the strength of character. It will take leadership to be repairs of that breach, and it will take some time to restore trust. But I'm a little more confident we can based upon just my observations, but also the interactions I was with leaders from Spain just yesterday. I continue to have the privilege representing the fourth largest economy of the world to engage with MoU from people around
the world. Again, open hand, not a close fist sub national relationship, stable, strong partner California, unstable, unpredictable the federal government.
But he'll Trump be known in years.
He's got a few years left, even if his state of mind is to extend his term and have competitive authoritarian election like putin his Time of life suggests this term will be up in three and that gives us an opportunity to turn the proverbial page.
And by the way, one report from Davos that did surprise me was the suggestion that you had a very kind of amiable interchange with the president and his staff behind the scenes.
And he said, Gavin, you're good.
And so how do we tellents your version of that, and how do we reconcile little public animosity and maybe the private fact slab.
My wife is here.
We had a close to twenty minute conversation with Trump the night before he federalized.
The guard Or He just literally lied and said he read me the Riot Act. And Jim said, my god, that went well. Must have.
I said, I know, I was like s laughing. I was smiling the whole time. He kept trying to bring up LA and no interest in LA. Wanted to talk about how many hats he had sold. He goes, what do you think of new scum? He says, this is right the night before he federalized National Guard. I said, hey, yeah, what do you think of new scum. It's pretty good, isn't it, I say, He goes, and I paused. He said, it's original new scum. I said, well, it's not really original.
There was literally a guy in seventh grade on Baltimore Street used to call me that.
And he goes, well, I have, but how about Maga.
I said, well, that's pretty good, but that's not original either, and he got a little sick as I mentioned Ronald Reagan and I mentioned may even meg women make California great again, and he goes, no, matter how many hats you think I sold, I said, I don't know, he goes hundreds of that.
That's amazing, sir, it's amazing.
And so it's not amazing to me that we had that interaction. It should amaze all of you that the President of the United States, you know, operates as he does. And I continue, I said it this morning.
On my team.
I mean, they mentioned we have our morning meetings, our staff meetings, and you know, there were three or four things? Is he that you brought up today? I said, why'd you bury the lead? And it's just because it's just it's shock and awe.
Every single day.
Nothing can be normalized, but our relationship, strangely is normal personally.
Okay, let me ask about the wealth tax and then we'll open this up. So folks in this room probably know the California health Care Union has proposed a wealth tax on the two hundred billionaires in the state five percent of their net worth over five years. You've come out against it. But what they're trying to address, what they say they're trying to address, is a shortfall in medical caused by HR one, the One Big Beautiful Act.
Do you agree that.
Medical that the state healthcare system isn't endangered by this federal law? And what should we do about it if not a wealth tax?
Yeah? HR one is a disaster.
I mean, just talk about your kids and grandkids who sat on them.
Debt burden, interest rates, instability. I mean, it's the same Vesson guy. I would say, well, the devastits down.
He didn't even mention the costs of the Big Beautiful Bill and how.
That's going to impact the debt and so what do we if not asking the richest among us to pay?
What do we do well?
We do California is the most progressive tax structure in the United States of America.
There are billionaires who are sitting on equity who don't sell it.
We have a billionaire lower cancer that are paying those progressive taxes. We have the highest progressive tax rate in the United States of America.
I long believe in that.
I did sit a state of the state arguing in favor of it, and it should many ways be a model for reforms that we need to see federally.
That said, I fear the way this has been drafted, and I'm old fashioned.
I actually seek first to understand before I'm understood sometimes.
And I was burdened by the facts.
The fact is it actually will reduce investments in education.
It will reduce investments and teachers and librarians, childcare.
It will reduce investments in firefighting and police. The impact of a one time tax does not solve an ongoing structural challenge that has been exacerbated by the impacts of HR one. In fact, what it will do is what the Legislative Analysts Office said it would do, which didn't surprise any of us when they put that out. You would have a windfall one time, and then over the years you would see a significant reduction in taxes because tax payers will move.
And that is what.
I fear at a state level. At a state level, So what do you supported this?
I think you can have.
That's an interesting conversation. It's a challenging one too. There's some constitutional issues around takings. There's impact as it relates to the flow of capital, the impacts on the market, which are not inconsequential. If you told me you're gonna have a one time where do you mark to market? How do you audit? Do we go in and find out for those that are in this tac packet? When did you buy your boss?
Yet?
You sure it was nineteen seventy one? Or was nineteen ninety one? Markets have adjusted? Where's the wine collection?
Sir?
Let me look again? Hold it marked to market? Way to say, so, you haven't sold your stuff? But all these things it gets complicated. I'm not suggesting. I'm not here to belittle it argue. I think the imbalance I said at the state of the state, the imbalance between the rich and the poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics. That was Plutarch two thousand years ago. Ten percent of people on two thirds of wealth in the United States of America.
This is not working.
Thirty year old, never done worse thirty year old today than any generation of history.
This is not working.
You've got to democratize our economy. You're going to save democracy. Absolutely, But this proposal by one local in s c I U.
I do not believe. Well, I get to the ballot. They have the money, I don't you know, and we'll see. Yeah, this is uh, there's.
A lot of leverage in this. I think he's got three ballot initiatives. This is by the way, someone said to me, you need to veto this.
I said, well, I can't because it's not legislators. And by the way, legislature is.
Not promoting this. This is an individual with money and I had someone.
You'll appreciate this true story. He was a zoom with munch of fancy folks.
And he outraged, we've got to reform this direct democracy. Anyone can get some of the ballot. I said, just like you got the recall in the ballot.
Yeah. He dropped off the.
Scring And by the way, you go a long way back with a lot of these fancy folks, like how do you talk to them about leaving the state, And do they reckon with the inequality and the tax code and the need for them at some level.
To pay more. Yeah.
Look, I mean there's some extraordinarily enlightened people in that category, and there's some that they put a mask.
On and their faces growing into it.
And by the way, let me just be more specific, what do you tell Sergey when he says I'm moving to Incline or to Reno.
Are you disappointed by Yeah?
Of course, I mean, but obviously I think they're disappointing in some respect as well. I mean, there's just a lot of anxiety out there. And look, you know, I believe in a progressive tax system. I've championed a progressive
tax system. I've defended it formally and informally, and will continue to And I do believe this economy is broken, and I do believe there is a reason there are a lot of Bernie supporters that are also Trump supporters, a lot of Trump supporters that are also Bernie Sander supporters, And that is something we should absorb and understand, and so I am not defending the status quo binding stretch of the imagination. In fact, our entire agendas around growth
and inclusion. That's why we do have a minimum wage of twenty dollars, but not at Walmart, but at fast food restaurants. That's why we do have a twenty five dollars minimum wage, hiascination for healthcare workers. No other stake can like claim to that. In fact, twenty states have minimum waged. It's seven dollars and twenty five cents still today in this country.
That's madness.
That's why we did the earn income task credits, why I increase paid family leave, That's why I increase paid sickly. That's why we've done a brand new grade preschool for all. That's why we've done historic expansions for childcare. That's why we're doing more in healthcare, the largest healthcare expansion.
In the country.
That is also putting pressure on our Medicaid budget, there's no question about that. To absorb and offset that anxiety and stress. But I do think this is unfortunate and we'll you know, continue to make a case for alternative stress.
Okay, thank you, Governor. Let's take a few question from the audience. There's two microphones. Please stay your name and your affilition.
Sure.
Lily Jamali with BBC News, Nice to see everybody on the billionaire tax proposal. I just wondered if you have actually engaged with any of the billionaires who have threatened or have left for months, and what have those conversations been like to can you.
Give us species as you would suggest this is to me, it's so it's just become a story, even though for me it's an issue we've been tackling for five or six months, and now it's become it's just interesting to me for so many different reasons. So yeah, no, I I've engaged with the proponent of it directly indirectly. My staff consistently is working with the person that's championing this.
I've met with people that feel they're being attacked because of it, people that have no problem paying more income tax, people that literally are giving away all of their money but want to do it on the timeline that their family is approved, not this individual's timeline. People that are concerned about losing control of their company.
Because of the unique characteristics of their cash situation.
Yes, I've met with all of them, and they're all in different stages of their lives, careers and their abundance. And some will never give a penny away. Some I respect, some I don't, so I never have. But I've met with those as well. Proof point one of the people that was out there promoting my recal. Yet I still reached out and met with those folks because I'm very mindful as a guy who budgets for this state that we rely on a very small number of people that allows us to do.
Historic things.
For example, with behavior health, which is probably one of the most exciting stories that has been under reported in California, the investments we're making to reform our behavioral system.
There's a connection.
And by the way, that's a literal connection because we have a millionaire's tax that also funds our Mental Health Services Act, and it provides an abundance of resources and investments in a spacey.
Hey, Governor Jeremy.
Webbers of Blio, thanks for taking my question. Mayor Matt Mayheon of San Jose is not running for governor, guy who's criticized elected Democrats in the state and you specifically, I'm wondering how you feel about a Democrat running to succeed you, seemingly running a campaign.
I don't know enough about him. I don't good I wish him good luck.
He said you've jumped blindly into Memeland.
I believe was a quote.
Well, I've tried to put a mirror up, don't I don't know that quote.
Uh. I think it's been.
Important what we've done, put a mirror up to the advererrant behavior.
Of Donald Trump. Do you think, man, it's done a good job in tan Jose And.
I think part of putting a mirror up to that avant behavior has allowed me to drive a conversation that I couldn't drive in the past. And it's a conversation that is style, undoubtedly, but also substance. Fifty three lawsuits, wildly successful in that space. Organizing with other governors strategies to not just defend ourselves but go on the offense. Let me give you an example, the West Coast offense with governors of other Western states for Healthcare Reproductive.
Freedom Alliance that we've organized.
Our engagement with a WHO was meeting with the president of the WHO and Davos.
We saw JB.
Pritzker, entering that the work we're doing coordinating with other ags on strategies related to what's happening and occurring today in many.
Minneapolis and Minnesota.
The fact that we're working directly with Governor Walt's office on a Meeks briest related to their litigation strategies, all of that's part and parcel of the approach that we've taken.
Hi, my name is stri Mupitie. I'm a reporter at the Information at cover AI. My question is do you think we're in AI bubble and how do you foresee this playing out? Last night I reported that in video, Microsoft and Amazon are investing up to sixty billion in Opening Eye, And so I'm curious about sort of all these inter linked circular deals and what do you mean?
And by the way, an amendment, because it's a great question. What would it mean for California if we are and the.
Budget We're mindful of that. It's why we're in our January budget. The real show of our budget will be made because of the abundance of this moment. I mean I just satry December numbers which went through the roof our January numbers. We're in a very different place than we were just literally a few weeks ago when we announced our budget because the nature of the capital gains and the income tax revenue. Because of this moment, look, it was interesting. I was on so many different panels.
I participated in these closed conversations around the issue of AI and surprisingly overseas. But of course that's what we all do here, seeing that an hourly basis not any daily basis, and the interactions we have.
Are we in a bubble? Are we not in a bubble?
And everyone's perspective by Larry Fink had his version of no, we're not, and others would suggest that we are. But the end of the day, the boom bust will lead to this sort of infrastructure, this new platform that will change everything in more ways on more days and fundamentally. On the other side of that is a little bit more optimism.
But in the short term the situation soho, there'll be winners and losers.
To your point, we are the beneficiary, the country is the beneficiary. You saw outperforming consumer spending is a relates to GDP in this country. I mean, this is the only thing Donald Trump has going for him right now personally too, because the crony capitalism, the seth deally that he's doing in this space, the crypto in the AI space.
But it's a really exciting and livening time.
California, as you know, is the first state to lead in terms of doing regulations for frontier.
Models, large language models. We work through that over a two year process. It's become we think.
I don't want to overstate it, but Kathy Hockel mirrored a lot of what we did.
She made it our own in New York. In some ways, it may have the tenants of becoming a national model. We take it very seriously.
Truth, trust, peril, promise, but I don't see it in binary terms. I'm not an accelerist, nor am I doomer in this respect. And maybe it's because I spend too much time with all of the flavors of perspectives on this, so I can see the contours.
But I also know this, we don't know what we don't know.
But I do see the need for us to address the issue of anxiety in a deep and profound way. And that's why we've been leading an effort which we hope to unveil very shortly on UBC not universal basic income income in the old construct. But this notion of universal basic capital, a lot of folks talking about sovereign wealth funds more challenging.
Than it appears to do. That. I've been working to try to figure a version of that out.
But universally basic capital is important predistribution strategies, not just redistribution strung tenants and aspects for the California economy. Your question that we're trying to shape more on that, We hope in May and June of this year as we lay out some tracks for resolving some of that anxiety going trying to get.
To two more.
Hi, Governor, thanks for taking our questions. You and the Attorney General released guidance this week saying that state and local law law enforcement have the authority to investigate violations of state law by federal officers. And there's also a proposal in the legislature this year that would require the state attorney general to investigate shootings by federal officers. So do you think that that should be a mandate and should it be the responsibility of state law enforcement.
Or Well, we have great partnerships, you know, I've been very proud we worked with the legislature did some.
Never been done.
In California, we provided state grants for prosecution two hundred and sixty seven million dollars to fifty five laa's local law enforcement agencies for investigations and prosecution. So we believe you know, localism is determinative. It relates to local independent district attorneys. There's obviously role of our Department of Justice ag level, but needs to be determined on the basis of the facts on the ground.
Your question as it relates.
To legislation, as you know well, tend not to opine about penning legislation in real process as that process unfolds. But I appreciate you referencing something that I'm not sure many states have done of any And that was the guidance we put out in partnership with the ag reminding local days and local law enforcement officials of their authority vested in them understate law to move forward with prosecutions. It's limited in scope. We're not naive about federal rules
and preemption. By the way, that's being tested in the courts. I signed the first in the country on unmasking for federal agencies for federal agents, which is also part of the discussion of whether or not we have a government shutdown, and I think it's an important one. I think they should take the masks off. You want to build trust, you want to build sense of community. Again, this idea that we have a private police force that seems to have taken an oath.
Of office to the president, not the constitution.
This paramilitary outfit scares the hell out of me, and I imagine scares the hell out of you and sure as hell as communities on edge all across this country. Unmasking would be one of the primary reforms we should avange one more.
Thanks Ellie Kamasher with Bloomberg. Good to see you again. A couple of other pieces of legislation. One would ban ice officials from applying or getting California public employee jobs. Another one would tax immigration to centers in California. So wondering if you support any of those or what is kind of your constructive proposals.
We've looked at that, and we've looked at that before the legislative proposal, and we've looked through I don't want to get I'm now literally seeing my legal memo in my mind on the proposal. I want to be careful not to opine on that, but it is pending. It's something we had already considered, and we'll see where the legislation lays out. But there are some legal parameters that have to be worked through on both of those.
Before I let you go Governor.
At the beginning of next year, you will be a fifty nine year old, unemployed man.
Jennifer, there's nothing. Yeah, that's not even middle age. That's the other side of middle age.
So what any plans for twenty twenty seven.
I'm just so hurt by your question. I'm so struck by it.
Yeah, I believe it's fact.
I know I'm a milk carton with a sell by date, and it's that's that's why all these questions about who's next and all that are uncomfortable. And let me apologie us to Jerry Brown and for all the little things I said and did when I was sitting there chopping at his knees and feet and uh and uh and working to get in his office.
But this has been a privilege.
And I'm going to run one hundred and ten yard dash and if anyone sees evidence that I'm not, I got some work to do. But I think there's plenty of evidence that I am. You know, I've got an Okay, our process that's well established, that's the bane of existing. All my poor department heads and you know you can you can see what we got quarter by quarter and uh and all the work we want to do to finish the job and and and navigating this treacherous environment.
I want to be held to a higher level of accountability. I know some people say, well, just you know, not your job to get out in front talk about the way.
The world is and should be. I think it is my job.
I have a moral authority that I need to bring to this conversation, not just a formal role of governor of California, but also represent the state or twenty seven percent of US are for and born size of twenty one state populations combined. We're global state. We're an international I mean, we are a universal state in every way, shape or form. What's happening around the globe impacts California disproportionately number one and two way trade, number one in
direct foreign investment. Look at the ports, forty percent of the goods movement down in LA and Long Beach. All of this directly impacts US, and I think anyone running for governor and auditioning for governor needs.
To be reminded of that as well. It's a big part of the job.
En Roll asked farmers as the ranchers whose tax burden has gotten worse, not better since Donald Trump has become president. With these regressive taxes and tariffs, and the trade policies and all the dams we've done globally overseas, these are direct issues, and so it's really important, I think. And so that's my mindset, and we'll see where fate brings things. One thing I am, and this is important too.
I'm also a small business guy.
And most of you don't know that or don't care, but I started right out a colleg pen of paper. One part time employee, Pat Kelly, started about twenty one small businesses, restaurants, hotels, and wineries at peak about a thousand folks. Not saying that to impress anybody, but to press upon you a passionate entrepreneur. You know when people start Democrats don't understand p and ls, and I mean, yeah,
spare me, spare me, live and breathe this. It's been in a blind trust, it's been frustrating, not that it matters anymore. I should be out here promoting, in fact, the business the way the president is operating. I am promoting my Patriot shop, which has the knee pads available, and maybe even a clone that we may be working on. That smells like success at least that's well, that's Trump's colonne.
Forgive me that he's hawking.
But I have a few identities, but public service is the most precious and no matter what happens, that that is never going to escape me. And that just may be me out there volunteering and working with Jen and her nonprofit on gender equality, or may manifest differently.
Who knows. Governor, Thank you for joining us. It's good to be with you. Thank you much