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TBLA Talk fifteen eighty.
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The love is right here. We got it for you.
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God love around here all the time. There's a whole
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bunch of things going on. As you might have heard
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me saying, the fourth anniversary of KBLA Talk fifteen eighty
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is coming up June teenth, twenty twenty five. I can't
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believe it's been four years already since I had the
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honor of being the very first voice to crack the
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mic on this radio station on Juneteenth, and we're doing
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four events to celebrate four years.
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It's going to be really exciting.
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One of those events will be the State of Black
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Women in La, which I get to host, so I
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am super pumped about that. Shortly thereafter, we will head
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out for the Motherland. We're going to Nigeria, the Republic
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of Benin, and Ghana this year and we have a
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full house, a bunch of bunch of us going. But
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you're coming virtually whether you know it or not, because
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we'll be broadcasting everywhere we go in Africa and sharing
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our journey with you and meeting people along the way.
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Me and Miles about to hit the road, big Lee.
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So that's coming up. We also have an important broadcast
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in just a couple of weeks around an update on
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Alsadena Pasadena and what particularly is being done, has happened
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so far, and what needs to still be done to
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help those residents who have lost everything, both renters and homeowners,
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people who lost their jobs and their businesses. We will
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continue to track that. So that's coming up April sixteenth.
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You definitely do not want to miss that. I'll be
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jumping on for a second broadcast that day, joining my
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friend and colleague, doctor Nie Corlai Corte James Farr, who,
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as you know, has a show every week on this
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station Saturday mornings after Black Lives Matter.
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This is not a drill.
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He comes on with Alta Dina Rising the Conversation Live
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where he really does a deep dive and drills down
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on what is happening in terms of that project. The
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When I say project, I'm talking about the rebuilding of
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Altadena Pasadena, and we are not going to forget. We're
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just simply not going to black down on this. We'll
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be talking shortly with Senator Perees. She is out there
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in Altadena, the Pasadena area where the reception is not
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always so great, and so we're working right now to
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get that connection. Meantime, I don't know if you're tracking this.
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Oh well, I had a caller that asked me to
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restate what I said about Social Security. So I was
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talking about this guy who goes by the name.
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Of Big Balls.
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He works for Elon Musk. His name's actual name is
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Edward Chorstein, and it was just revealed he's one of
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this group of people that works for DOGE that was
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granted access to the Social Security database. That means they
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can go into Social Securities computers and get your name,
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your Social Security number, whether or not you've been paid
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or when you're going to be paid, all the records
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about your work, everything that all the information that Social
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Security has about every American, because every American has a
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Social Security card almost every American. I think every American that's,
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you know, over a certain age, maybe you could have
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slipped through the cracks, but for the most part, everyone
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has a Social Security number, so they've got info on you. Well,
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DOSE has been granted access to that information. They can
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now get into those records. And that's what I was saying,
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is that this man, mister Big Balls, who's very young guy,
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who is inside that Social Security computer previously worked with
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a group called e Godly, which is a cyber crime
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group that hacks government emails and cyber stocks FBI agents.
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This just came out, that's all I'm saying. I will
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see what happens, but it's one of those what could
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possibly go wrong conversations. Let's led a criminal into highly
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sensitive information of every single American. That's what I was
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saying about social Security. I guess sometimes I go fast
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and and so that's probably why she didn't understand. I
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try to cover a lot of territory in a little
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bit of time, because well it's not that little as
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three hours, but there's so much going on that I
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want us to stay informed about. Lewis de Joy resigned
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from the Post Office, and that happened earlier this week. Still,
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that would have been good news if it was last year.
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This year, it's not such great news because they've got
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somebody even worse in mind. And the dismantling of the
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post Office is part of the Project twenty twenty five agenda,
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which the current president in the current Republican Party seem
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to be sticking to pretty closely. Monday will be his
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last day on the job, and this is pretty sudden.
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He just stepped down, but that is partly because he
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said he agreed earlier this month that he was going
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to allow the Department of Grifter's for Elon to come
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on in that Doze department and cut costs and remove
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quote red tape.
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And again.
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The Commerce Secretary says that the Post Office has been
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just a tremendous loser for this country. So what does
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that mean. It means they're measuring the Post Office as
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a profit center rather than a public service. And the
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Post Office is a public service, not a profit center.
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It's a subsidized service that the American people need, and
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if it goes away, it's going to be a problem,
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especially for a lot of people in rural America that
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don't have banks, don't have other alternatives. More on that later.
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Just taking some time while we were connecting through all
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of the mountainous Outsta terrain to get our state senator
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on the air, and we have done that. She was
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elected actually in November of twenty twenty four. She is
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the chair of the Senate Education Committee. She serves on
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the Budget Committee, Budget Sub one, Environmental Quality, Human Services,
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Public Safety, and the Joint Committee on the Arts She's
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also going to serve on this newly created Affordability Working Group,
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which is meant to do what it sounds like, push
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affordability to improve the lives of working Californians and seniors.
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She's born and raised.
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In Alhambra, and she's lived in the San Gabriel Valley
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for three generations. State Senator Sasha petre Is Welcome.
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Hi, Dominique, good morning, Good morning calling me.
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Yeah, thanks for coming on. You sound loud and clear too,
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despite our technical difficulties, you sound great. And one thing
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I didn't mention in the intro is that you are
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the youngest senator in the state of California by by
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a bit.
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Yes, Yes, that's right, you are.
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You're a millennial, right.
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Yes i am. I'm I'm thirty two.
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Yeah, So on the younger end of millennial. What made
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you say I'm going to run for office. A lot
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of folks criticize your generation for not going the traditional
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route right and getting involved in an elected office.
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Yeah, you know. I I've worked in policy for for
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most of my career and I absolutely loved the work
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and have spent most of my time focused on education policy,
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doing research and the racial equity space, and I really
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really enjoyed that work. But what made me decide that
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I wanted to run was actually losing a member of
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my own family to the homelessness crisis that happened in
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in twenty eighteen. And you know, I think for me
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it was it was almost like a wake up call.
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I just felt like I had watched so many systems
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just fail family members of mine, and I wanted to
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do something about it. And I just wanted to get
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more involved. And I was already really involved at that point,
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going to city council meetings and you know, regularly commenting
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on kind of local issues, and felt like I wanted
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to do more to advocate for families like mine that
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I felt like weren't getting the kind of representation that
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we needed.
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Yeah, so you took action. I'm sorry to hear that
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about your family member. That's you know, it's it's always
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one thing to read about these things and read statistics
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and data, and it's really another when it hits home.
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Yeah, absolutely, it was. It was an eye opening experience.
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But you know, I think about it and every single
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day do this work. It feels like a moment to
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honor my family and what happened. So it's all it's
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all really personal and really important.
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So you run for office kind of were you surprised
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when you won or was that like you had done
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all the work so you got I got this.
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You know, it definitely came as a as a surprise.
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I ran against somebody that was independently wealthy, and so
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they spent over three million dollars of their own money
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and self financed their company. So we were actually outspent
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more than three to one. And I think a lot
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of folks did not anticipate that I would win. They
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thought that it was going to be too much of
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an uphill battle and just didn't see a pathway to
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victory for us. But you know, we knocked over thirty
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thousand doors, and you know that was together with my
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huge volunteer team and connected with people directly. And you know,
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I've been in the community and have been from the
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SGV for so many generations, and you know, I think
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having that personal connection with people and getting out there
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and talking to people, it really really made a difference.
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Yeah, she said, SGB San Gabriel Valley.
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For clearly you're from there, right, So so you get
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elected against the odds against the big money, and you're
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sworn in.
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When I was sworn in on December second, and I
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started my term, my full term, on January sixth.
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You started your term on January sixth, and of course
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you represent a part of your district, the twenty fifth
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district is Altadena. So you're sworn in January sixth, and
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January seventh, one of the biggest disasters of our of
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our time happens. How do you process that, what happens?
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I don't I don't know that I even had time
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to process it when it first happened, Dominique, I think
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I was really in a state of shock, and I
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think it was it was just like I had to
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take action and keep moving. And I'm just I'm really
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grateful for you know, my entire team. The night that
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it happened, January seventh, we were up until you know,
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four o'clock in the morning, and you know, in the office,
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I think I like napped for about twenty minutes before
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I left to the airport to take the first flight
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back to Los Angeles. But you know, it really I
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think it really called upon us to all just step
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up in a different way. I had just gotten to
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know my team. I had just finished the hiring process
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for my folks in Sacramento and we all got thrown
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into this big disaster. So it was it was overwhelming January.
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It was really really hard. It was one of the
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most difficult moments that I've ever experienced, and I think,
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you know, for many of my residents, they would tell
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you the exact same thing.
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It was.
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It was a really difficult moment for the entire community.
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Yeah, I met you out there actually at fire camp.
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That's where we first connected. You were out speaking with
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the prisoners who were fighting the fire out there and
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doing well. I mean, I guess you can explain what
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brought you out there, but it was that's where we connected,
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and I was happy to see you on the ground
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out there with the Assembly member Brian, you know, in
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on the front lines out there.
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Yeah, it was it was important for, you know, for
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us to be present, and I think for me, I
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really wanted to show up and to continue to thank them.
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I met with them on three separate occasions. That was
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actually the second time that I came out. The last
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time that I met with them, I actually went and
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individually shook every person's hand that was on the front
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lines of fighting the fires, to thank them because they
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had played such a critical role in protecting our communities
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from further devastation, helping to put out those fires. And
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you know, so many of them or are well some
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of them are from LA, some of them are not
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from LA and you know, this is very personal to
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them and talking with them and the the impact that
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this work just had on their lives and feeling like
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they could give back to the community, and I just
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wanted to let them know that we saw them, that
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we saw what they were doing, that my constituents were
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reaching out to me saying, I'm reading articles of these
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incredible incarcerated firefighters putting their lives at risk to protect us,
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and I want them to know how grateful I am.
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And I wanted to relay that message over because there
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were so many hundreds of people that were sharing that
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from all across Los Angeles, including in the San Gabel Valley.
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Yeah. Well, it was great to meet you out there.
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That's what started this conversation and got us on the
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air today and we got a lot to talk about.
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I know, we've got some deadlines coming up, some opportunities
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and resources will get into all of that, the work
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that you're doing, and yeah, and in many fronts, and
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how to move even on the Education Committee given and
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what now we've just found out today we're under investigation
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by the Department of Education looking at massive cuts. All
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that is on the table. I'm Dominique Taprima. Our guest
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is Senator Sasha Petes, and you're listening to KBLA Talk
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fifteen eighty. Always nice to welcome a new voice into
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the conversation. She is a state senator elected in twenty
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twenty four serves the Altadena area. It's the twenty fifth
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district and the youngest senator in what is the first
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female majority Senate body for the state of California. Sasha
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Petes is her name. Yeah, So it's so much going
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on right now that I want to talk to you about.
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But I want to make sure we get all of
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the Altadena business and prioritize that because obviously that's something
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that has to be top of mind no matter where
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the news cycle goes. So talk to me about the deadline.
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I've mentioned it a couple times today. I think Monday
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is the FEMA deadline for folks to get in the
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system right.
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Yes, yes, that's right. So Monday, March thirty first is
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the deadline, and not just for FEMA, but for the
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Small Business Administration for EDD and also for right of
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entry forms. So for anybody that has not had their
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lot cleaned out they want to get rid of that
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hazardous debris and would like to utilize the US Army
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Corps of Engineers to have them come and clean off
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their lot for free. They need to submit their right
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of entry form. They can find that on Ala County's website.
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If they went ahead and they typed in La County
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Right of Entry Form, it should come up first link.
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But all of those forms need to be submitted by Monday,
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March thirty first. There's a whole process involved with getting
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those things completed, but as long as you submit that
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first applic that will make sure that you've started that process.
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So we've really been pushing this out, doing text messages, emails,
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posting on social media. I'm going to be making some videos.
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This is so critical and so important for people to
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sign up and get the aid that they are really allocated.
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This is part of what government does to work for
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the people, to make sure that we're taking care of
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people when we're in times of crisis.
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Yeah, I didn't realize it was SBA.
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Of course that's a Small Business Administration, so that could
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be not just a business loan though, because I know
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they also do home loans. Danny Bakwell Junior was talking
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about that. So there's lots of different reasons right right,
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why someone would want to be in their system.
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Yeah. Absolutely, SBA and the Small Business Administration they do
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home loans. They also do rental assistance too. We know
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that so many people that are small business owners work
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from home. They have their home offices, so when they
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lost their home, they lost their home office. You know,
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there's so many folks that operate that way after the pandemic,
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and so I really really encourage folks to reach out
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to these different agencies get signed up. There could be
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eight on the table available to you that you're not
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tapping into, and so it's really really important that you
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get those applications in.
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It has to happen by Monday, but it's online, so
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they could do it all weekend, right, It just has
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to happen, yes, yes, And if you're not in the system,
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then you can't circle back later and say, but wait,
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I lost my house, or my job or my business.
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If you're not in the system by the thirty first,
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you're you're basically out.
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Yes, that's right. This is actually the pushed back deadline.
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So the deadline was originally at the beginning of March.
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We had requested from the federal government that they do
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an extension they want to and they pushed the deadline back.
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So this is the final deadline, and I really want
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to emphasize that to people to definitely take it seriously.
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And you know, if you've done your applications already, pick
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up the phone, call a friend, Call a NAPOR that
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you know that lives in Alsadina, lives in Pasadena and
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was impacted. Make sure that you give them a little
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nudge and a reminder and check in. This whole process
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and this experience that we've all gone through has been
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very traumatizing, and you know, sometimes we need a friend
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to just check in on us and see if we
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need a hand with completing some of those applications and forms.
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Senator Sasha Petas is my guest. We continue the conversation
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after news Traffic in Sports. I'm Dominique di Prima for
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KBLA Talk fifteen eighty, and we're talking to the elected
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representative of the twenty fifth Senate district, one of a
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tiny group of millennials in state government, Senator Sasha Petaz,
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speaking on these deadlines, A lot of them are Monday.
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You mentioned, we mentioned FEMA, we mentioned the Small Business Administration,
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and in passing you said ed D. Why is this,
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Why is this important? How does unemployment play a role here?
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Yeah, So anybody that has lost their job as a
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result of the fires, who's had their jobs impacted, is
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also going to want to sign up for assistance through
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ed D. So there is a process for that. You know,
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maybe you know Small Business Administration is for those that
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are business owners, right, whether you have a home business,
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whether you had you know, an actual brick and mortar business.
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We know so many business owners in Altadena lost their
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businesses in addition to losing their home. But we also
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know many folks employment was impacted as well. So getting
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those EDD applications in if that is the case, is incredibly,
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incredibly important.
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So that means if you are, if your claim is
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tied to the fire, the deadline is Monday.
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Yes, okay, got it. That's important.
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So much has been made of you know, much is
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always made of sort of a division between Black and Latino.
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I think sometimes we don't note our collaborations as much
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as we could. And there's a lot of talk about
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Altadena is a diverse community, but the eighty percent home
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ownership among Black Altadenons is something that is worth preserving,
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worth guarding. May some folks may think, well, you know,
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the state senator is Latina, maybe it's not as important
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to her to help keep the black population in Altadena
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or help us recover.
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What would you say that.
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You know, I'd say it's actually quite the opposite. I think.
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I think being a Latin, a young Latino woman in
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this moment, and seeing so many of the stories of
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folks who lost absolutely everything and being so fearful of
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being left behind, I think that is something that the
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Latino community is all too familiar with as well, and
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you know, understanding that feeling and that fear, and you know,
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being from this area, I have three generations of family
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from the SGV, and I feel a deep sense of
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responsibility to show up for these communities, for the black community.
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You know, when I ran for office, I knew even
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though so many folks and you know, including those that
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I ran against did not understand the diversity you know
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of this community. I really understood that the twenty fifth
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district is one of the most diverse districts in the state.
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We do not have a racial majority in this district.
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There are so many populations, whether we have you know,
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the Black community in Pasadena and Altadena, you have an
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Armenian community in Glendale, you have an API community in
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al hambur and Monterey Park. And it's my responsibility is
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somebody that's come from the racial equity space and doing
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that kind of research to make sure that I'm taking
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a targeted approach to take into account the needs of
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each of those groups. And so, you know, this moment,
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I realize it's so important to center those conversations because
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if not, if we don't center racial equity in these
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recovery conversations, we know what's going to happen. We know
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who's going to get left behind. And I refuse to
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allow what we've seen happen in places like Hawaii, or
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what's happened in places like Katrina, to allow that to
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happen again here in Altadena.
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Are you even allowed to say equity? And I think
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that's one of the banned words, you might get in trouble.
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You know, they're going to have to come arrest me then, except.
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Yeah, it's I don't even know how how we're how
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are they talking? Because women and females are also banned.
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If you're in the Trump administration, you're not allowed to
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say women and you're not allowed to say females. How
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do you talk about anything? I don't understand it.
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I mean, it's absurd, It is really absurd. We've gotten
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to this point of you know, just free speech being banned,
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basically not being able to have real conversations about anything,
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it seems. But you know, I don't I don't even
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know what's going on with the federal administration. It feels
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like I wake up each morning to new headlines and
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absurdities and people having conversations about war over signal. It's
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just see.
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So yeah, and there's a lot of being made about
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the fact that, you know, the first you know, administration
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of Trump, California was like the resistance and a lot
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of Dems kind of identified as some kind of resistance
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or pushback, and this time lawmakers are kind of scrambling
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to walk a line where you know, our governor's got
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to cooperate with the administration, but also to protect the
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residents of our state and our interests. Is that something
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you struggle with or do you are you? You know,
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how are you navigating that?
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You know?
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I I have my my own personal thoughts and beliefs
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around how we should navigate this moment, and I think
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I probably align with a lot of the few other
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millennials that we have up here in the legislature at
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this point. I'm very close personal friends with Assembly Member
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shade Al Hawari as well as Assembly Member you know,
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Isaac Bryan, and I really view us as you know,
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as California needing to continue to to not just be
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the resistance, that California needs to fight back, and it's
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going to be on us to really draw the line
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and to say, you know, this is unacceptable and if
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you continue down this pathway federal government, then you know,
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we have purse strings. We're going to pull them. You know.
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I introduced legislation just yesterday to make it so that
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California withholds some of its federal tax dollars if we
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continue to see these massive cuts by the federal administration,
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you know, for them to go after things like Social Security, medicate.
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I mean, some of these programs that are not just essential,
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they are life saving. If people don't have access to
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these things, they will die. Is unacceptable, and we have
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to put our foot down and we have to strike back.
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To see the I R S about to make a
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deal with ICE to essentially give up information of undocumented
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people so that they could be targeted and deported. Like,
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what are we doing? And it's my personal belief that
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in this moment that we have to be more aggressive.
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And that is what my constituents have made crystal clear
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to me, is that they want me to fight back
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in the same aggressive way that we're seeing this administration
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rip apart government.
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Yeah, not acquiesce, not cower, fight back. You know, I'm
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with you on that, Senator.
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Because, like.
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The great poet Audrey Lord said, your silence will not
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protect you. So you're better You're better off going down,
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you know, if you're gonna go down or winning fighting, That's.
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That's how I see it.
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Do you what do you make of this investigation we
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found out today? I mean, you're on the Education Committee
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State of California being investigated supposedly for teachers not having
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to tell parents that their children are presenting as trans
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at school. And there's that piece, and then there's the
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other piece of just cuts to state education which were announced.
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I think yesterday, what do you make of that?
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You know, I think that this administration cares about one thing,
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and that is trying to get hits on social media
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and to put on a show. And I think that's
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what you've seen at every single step of this administration,
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starting from the very beginning Trump's second day in office,
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getting up there and basically turning signing executive orders, you know,
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into a performer that's being filmed in the middle of
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the stadium, and they are coming after and targeting California
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because they know it will wait, but will make headlines.
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And that is what this is being utilized for. You know,
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the rules that we have here in the state, the
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Trump and so much of so many members of his
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administration and members of the GOP have tried to weaponize
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the laws that we have here to protect trans children.
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And the only thing that our laws say is that
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if a child is choosing to be called a different
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name at school, that that's not something that the teacher
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necessarily has to report to the parent and I think
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back to even when I was a kid in school Dominique.
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I remember my parents were very strict, and you know,
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sometimes I like to wear My parents did not like
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me to wear black, and I enjoyed wearing black at school.
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So I'd pack my black clothes into my backpack, and
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so when they drop me off, I would go and
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I would change out of my uniform and I'd put
485
00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:09.799
on the clothes i'd want to wear. You know, my
486
00:31:09.880 --> 00:31:12.319
teacher did not pick up the phone and then call
487
00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:14.440
my parents and say, you know, Sasha is sitting here
488
00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:17.000
and she's wearing a black shirt and she's wearing, you know,
489
00:31:17.160 --> 00:31:21.200
a black pants. That's ridiculous. These are the kinds of
490
00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:24.279
things that kids do as they're exploring and figuring out
491
00:31:24.279 --> 00:31:27.319
their personalities. But they've tried to make it seem as
492
00:31:27.400 --> 00:31:31.559
if that schools are giving kids medications, that they're making
493
00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:34.319
some sort of health choices for kids. That is not
494
00:31:34.519 --> 00:31:38.720
only completely false, it's illegal. Parents have the authority over
495
00:31:38.759 --> 00:31:42.119
their children. We would never allow that to happen. So
496
00:31:42.119 --> 00:31:44.200
so much of this has just spun out of control
497
00:31:44.279 --> 00:31:48.839
to misinformation train and they are just looking to create
498
00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:52.799
performances that they can capture for media hits. I mean,
499
00:31:52.839 --> 00:31:54.720
it is so ridiculous and absurd.
500
00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:58.920
Yeah, it's well said State Senator Sasha Peta.
501
00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:01.960
She's over the twenty fifth district.
502
00:32:02.039 --> 00:32:05.200
She's my guest, and you're listening to KBLA talk fifteen
503
00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:07.880
to eighty. It does, and we are talking with Senator
504
00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:12.519
Sasha Perez La Well, Californias, I should say twenty fifth.
505
00:32:12.519 --> 00:32:19.559
Everything's la to me, California's twenty fifth district and a
506
00:32:19.559 --> 00:32:21.680
lot to cover here. You're on the Education committee. I
507
00:32:21.720 --> 00:32:24.920
was asking you about these cuts. No matter where you stand,
508
00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:30.119
there's some people talking in the chat on trends, children
509
00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:35.000
and their rights. Cuts of three billion dollars to California's
510
00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:39.480
education system based on teachers following state law will have
511
00:32:39.559 --> 00:32:44.160
a huge impact on education for all children, particularly when
512
00:32:44.279 --> 00:32:49.400
trans youth make up less than one percent of people
513
00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:50.279
in this country.
514
00:32:51.160 --> 00:32:52.759
How will we handle that as a state?
515
00:32:52.759 --> 00:32:56.759
I mean, if we're we're looking at possibly billions you
516
00:32:56.839 --> 00:33:02.720
mentioned with holding our own contributions, disproportionate contributions, what else
517
00:33:02.759 --> 00:33:06.759
could be done to protect our education system, our young
518
00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:14.000
students in the state of California. Senator peteses, we have
519
00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:16.720
Senator oh, we've lost Senator Petes, that is not good.
520
00:33:17.559 --> 00:33:18.960
While we get her back on.
521
00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:21.240
The line.
522
00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:25.880
Man, I was not ready for that. Okay, we can,
523
00:33:26.839 --> 00:33:28.480
we can go to Jam. She's on the phone.
524
00:33:28.519 --> 00:33:28.960
Hi, Jam.
525
00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:32.440
Where we get Senator Pettes back on the line. Hi, Jen,
526
00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:33.000
you're on the air.
527
00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:36.000
Hi, Good morning, Dominic.
528
00:33:36.200 --> 00:33:38.440
How are you morning? I'm blessed? What's on your mind?
529
00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:42.880
I had a question for Senator Perez about the hearing
530
00:33:43.319 --> 00:33:46.279
that happened yesterday in an education committee and on SC
531
00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:49.599
four thirty seven. So I can hold.
532
00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:52.640
On, Yeah, you can just state your question and then
533
00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:54.920
I'll ask she can address it when we get her on.
534
00:33:56.359 --> 00:34:00.960
Okay. So we sit in a lot of letters of
535
00:34:01.079 --> 00:34:05.480
opposition to SB four thirty seven. It's a bill that
536
00:34:05.880 --> 00:34:11.159
is going to dry millions of dollars that's allocated to
537
00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:17.039
implement reparations. And although she received all these letters, received
538
00:34:17.039 --> 00:34:20.760
all these phone calls in opposition, she's still aligned with
539
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:22.440
who she named were her friends.
540
00:34:23.199 --> 00:34:25.079
Well, so that's that's one of the bills that's been
541
00:34:25.119 --> 00:34:29.960
brought by the Congressional Black Caucus. So around reparations that
542
00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:34.199
you just you don't agree with. Some reparationists supported, some
543
00:34:34.280 --> 00:34:35.360
don't write.
544
00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:41.400
Actually, none of the reparationists supports SB four thirty seven.
545
00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:46.800
There's differences on SB five eighteen, but no one supports
546
00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:51.480
SB four thirty seven except for the California Legislative Black Caucus.
547
00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:57.760
They want to prolong a study instead of implementing real reparations.
548
00:34:57.800 --> 00:35:01.440
And so my question for the Senate is if she
549
00:35:01.480 --> 00:35:05.719
would reconsider supporting that deal and if said, look at
550
00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:12.079
ABE thirteen fifteen and other bills that would not prolong
551
00:35:12.719 --> 00:35:15.199
the study of replations. And it's.
552
00:35:17.400 --> 00:35:21.039
Okay, got it. Appreciate the colle jan and the work
553
00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:27.199
that you're doing. That you're talking about Education Committee, of
554
00:35:27.239 --> 00:35:31.039
which Senator Petes is a member. We don't have her
555
00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:35.639
back on the line, so we will address that when
556
00:35:36.199 --> 00:35:42.920
when we continue this conversation. I you know, I do
557
00:35:43.079 --> 00:35:48.920
think we can talk about this more in depth tomorrow
558
00:35:48.920 --> 00:35:53.960
for Friedman Friday. We are having an attorney on who's
559
00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:56.880
also an expert in such matters, and it will be
560
00:35:56.920 --> 00:35:58.719
interesting to see what she has to say.
561
00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:01.079
Doctor Adrian Davis is her name.
562
00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:04.119
We're going to continue this conversation when we come forward
563
00:36:04.519 --> 00:36:09.320
on KBLA Talk fifteen to eighty. Yeah, multitasking here. Senator
564
00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:12.199
Sasha Petz is back with us on the line. We're
565
00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:15.880
navigating the Altadina Mountains. She's over the twenty fifth district
566
00:36:16.719 --> 00:36:19.920
and Senator Petes while you were off the line, jan
567
00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:23.719
called in about to vote in the Education Committee yesterday
568
00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:26.920
on SB four thirty seven, which I believe is a
569
00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:32.199
bill that sounds similar to what Governor Gavin Newsom teed
570
00:36:32.280 --> 00:36:36.599
up for last year, which was rejected by a lot
571
00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:40.360
of reparationists when we had the fiasco with the California
572
00:36:40.440 --> 00:36:46.719
Legislative Black Caucus deciding not to put their own reparations
573
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:49.920
bills on the floor. Now, this bill, I believe is
574
00:36:49.960 --> 00:36:53.880
another study which has no end date and which could
575
00:36:54.000 --> 00:37:00.400
a lot of analysts, feel myself included, could indefinitely delay
576
00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:05.079
other reparations actions while we wait for an endless study
577
00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:10.119
to decide who's eligible. She's asking if you would reconsider
578
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:11.280
your support of that bill.
579
00:37:12.800 --> 00:37:15.800
Yeah, so I guess. Let me and well, first of all,
580
00:37:15.800 --> 00:37:18.280
before I get started, Domini, can you hear me clearly?
581
00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:19.159
Okay?
582
00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:22.599
Excellent? And I apologize too. I don't know what happened.
583
00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:27.280
So I want to go ahead and speak in particular
584
00:37:27.480 --> 00:37:32.280
to SB four thirty seven, and you know, in meeting
585
00:37:32.280 --> 00:37:38.079
with Senator Weber Pearson, you know, understanding what won her bill,
586
00:37:38.239 --> 00:37:41.280
and also I think what the Blackhawk is just trying
587
00:37:41.320 --> 00:37:45.960
to ensure is going to happen. So one US before
588
00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:50.599
thirty seven would create a process with the CSU system
589
00:37:51.559 --> 00:37:56.800
in order to determine if somebody is a descendant of
590
00:37:56.840 --> 00:38:00.119
an enslaved person in the United States. So the CSU
591
00:38:00.199 --> 00:38:04.599
system would develop and come up with a process and
592
00:38:05.320 --> 00:38:08.519
provide a scientific methodology for how they would do that.
593
00:38:08.639 --> 00:38:11.000
So she has one bill, and that's SB four thirty
594
00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:14.280
seven that went through the Senate Education Committee. Because it
595
00:38:14.320 --> 00:38:18.639
involves the cal State University system. There's a separate bill
596
00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:22.679
that Senator Weber Pearson has also brought forward that would
597
00:38:22.760 --> 00:38:26.760
create a department so that we can begin this process
598
00:38:26.920 --> 00:38:31.920
of actually delivering reparations to individuals. So she has two
599
00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:35.119
vehicles that are moving at the same time. Part of
600
00:38:35.159 --> 00:38:39.039
the reason why I believe that she's done this and
601
00:38:39.079 --> 00:38:42.519
it makes a lot of sense, is because unfortunately, we
602
00:38:42.559 --> 00:38:45.519
are in the midst of one of the most difficult
603
00:38:46.119 --> 00:38:49.119
budget challenges that the state has faced in a very
604
00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:51.719
long time. And you're going to hear this not just
605
00:38:51.719 --> 00:38:55.280
from government agencies like the State of California, but from
606
00:38:55.599 --> 00:38:59.159
everyone from the state level down to the local level.
607
00:38:59.239 --> 00:39:01.119
The County of Law Angelus is in the middle of
608
00:39:01.159 --> 00:39:04.039
a budget crisis as well as the City of Los Angeles.
609
00:39:04.119 --> 00:39:07.519
We just had Mayor Karen Bass travel up to Sacramento
610
00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:12.000
to ask us for support and for assistance because this
611
00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:16.000
state is facing such challenging times and so I think
612
00:39:16.039 --> 00:39:19.079
the purpose in trying to move forward both a vehicle
613
00:39:19.159 --> 00:39:22.480
that's creating that department as well as this vehicle so
614
00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:28.320
that we can begin this scientific methodology kind of study
615
00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:32.239
and information gathering is because it is going to be very,
616
00:39:32.599 --> 00:39:36.639
very difficult for the department bill to get signed. We
617
00:39:36.920 --> 00:39:40.719
just spent over two billion dollars on all to dena
618
00:39:40.760 --> 00:39:45.199
fire recovery. I can tell you just alone the number
619
00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:49.280
of budget requests that I have or alta diner and
620
00:39:49.320 --> 00:39:52.639
the hundreds of millions. I think what she is trying
621
00:39:52.639 --> 00:39:56.360
to be mindful of is the cost associated with these
622
00:39:56.400 --> 00:39:59.280
things and to keep the ball moving. And I really
623
00:39:59.320 --> 00:40:02.679
want to be clear about that with advocates that we
624
00:40:02.719 --> 00:40:06.119
want to make sure that we are keeping this process
625
00:40:06.199 --> 00:40:09.679
moving forward. Even if the governor does not sign the
626
00:40:09.719 --> 00:40:12.440
bill to create the department, that bill won't come through
627
00:40:12.440 --> 00:40:15.199
My Committee. We want to make sure that things are
628
00:40:15.239 --> 00:40:18.079
moving forward. So there's a two processes that are Senator
629
00:40:18.119 --> 00:40:18.440
beet As.
630
00:40:18.679 --> 00:40:20.960
We have to leave it there. I hope you'll come back.
631
00:40:21.679 --> 00:40:24.800
I so appreciate the conversation, of course.
632
00:40:24.840 --> 00:40:26.960
Oh my goodness, I'm happy to do it, Dominique, and
633
00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:28.599
thank you so much for having me.
634
00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:31.119
Thank you for coming on, and thank you for your
635
00:40:31.119 --> 00:40:35.159
great work around Altadina Tavis Smiley's up next, y'all until
636
00:40:35.199 --> 00:40:36.559
tomorrow's Friedman Friday.
637
00:40:36.679 --> 00:40:37.559
One Love,
1
00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:03.960
TBLA Talk fifteen eighty.
2
00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:07.120
The love is right here. We got it for you.
3
00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:10.119
God love around here all the time. There's a whole
4
00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:13.320
bunch of things going on. As you might have heard
5
00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:18.359
me saying, the fourth anniversary of KBLA Talk fifteen eighty
6
00:00:18.440 --> 00:00:22.679
is coming up June teenth, twenty twenty five. I can't
7
00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:26.920
believe it's been four years already since I had the
8
00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:29.399
honor of being the very first voice to crack the
9
00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:33.079
mic on this radio station on Juneteenth, and we're doing
10
00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:35.320
four events to celebrate four years.
11
00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:36.719
It's going to be really exciting.
12
00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:39.880
One of those events will be the State of Black
13
00:00:39.880 --> 00:00:43.240
Women in La, which I get to host, so I
14
00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:48.159
am super pumped about that. Shortly thereafter, we will head
15
00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:54.679
out for the Motherland. We're going to Nigeria, the Republic
16
00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:59.200
of Benin, and Ghana this year and we have a
17
00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:02.119
full house, a bunch of bunch of us going. But
18
00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:06.200
you're coming virtually whether you know it or not, because
19
00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:11.120
we'll be broadcasting everywhere we go in Africa and sharing
20
00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:13.959
our journey with you and meeting people along the way.
21
00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:17.680
Me and Miles about to hit the road, big Lee.
22
00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:24.519
So that's coming up. We also have an important broadcast
23
00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:30.719
in just a couple of weeks around an update on
24
00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:37.120
Alsadena Pasadena and what particularly is being done, has happened
25
00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:39.959
so far, and what needs to still be done to
26
00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:45.719
help those residents who have lost everything, both renters and homeowners,
27
00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:51.400
people who lost their jobs and their businesses. We will
28
00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:55.680
continue to track that. So that's coming up April sixteenth.
29
00:01:55.719 --> 00:01:58.760
You definitely do not want to miss that. I'll be
30
00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:02.239
jumping on for a second broadcast that day, joining my
31
00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:06.920
friend and colleague, doctor Nie Corlai Corte James Farr, who,
32
00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:11.879
as you know, has a show every week on this
33
00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.199
station Saturday mornings after Black Lives Matter.
34
00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:16.800
This is not a drill.
35
00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:20.599
He comes on with Alta Dina Rising the Conversation Live
36
00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:25.479
where he really does a deep dive and drills down
37
00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:33.599
on what is happening in terms of that project. The
38
00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:37.080
When I say project, I'm talking about the rebuilding of
39
00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:43.360
Altadena Pasadena, and we are not going to forget. We're
40
00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:48.280
just simply not going to black down on this. We'll
41
00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:52.439
be talking shortly with Senator Perees. She is out there
42
00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:58.680
in Altadena, the Pasadena area where the reception is not
43
00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:03.280
always so great, and so we're working right now to
44
00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:08.039
get that connection. Meantime, I don't know if you're tracking this.
45
00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:10.199
Oh well, I had a caller that asked me to
46
00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:14.080
restate what I said about Social Security. So I was
47
00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:18.240
talking about this guy who goes by the name.
48
00:03:18.199 --> 00:03:19.360
Of Big Balls.
49
00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:24.680
He works for Elon Musk. His name's actual name is
50
00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:28.120
Edward Chorstein, and it was just revealed he's one of
51
00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:31.080
this group of people that works for DOGE that was
52
00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:36.879
granted access to the Social Security database. That means they
53
00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:42.199
can go into Social Securities computers and get your name,
54
00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:45.000
your Social Security number, whether or not you've been paid
55
00:03:45.080 --> 00:03:47.120
or when you're going to be paid, all the records
56
00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:50.759
about your work, everything that all the information that Social
57
00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:56.479
Security has about every American, because every American has a
58
00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:02.840
Social Security card almost every American. I think every American that's,
59
00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:06.159
you know, over a certain age, maybe you could have
60
00:04:06.199 --> 00:04:08.520
slipped through the cracks, but for the most part, everyone
61
00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:11.520
has a Social Security number, so they've got info on you. Well,
62
00:04:11.639 --> 00:04:14.759
DOSE has been granted access to that information. They can
63
00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:18.240
now get into those records. And that's what I was saying,
64
00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:24.079
is that this man, mister Big Balls, who's very young guy,
65
00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:31.279
who is inside that Social Security computer previously worked with
66
00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:34.680
a group called e Godly, which is a cyber crime
67
00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:39.079
group that hacks government emails and cyber stocks FBI agents.
68
00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:42.319
This just came out, that's all I'm saying. I will
69
00:04:42.360 --> 00:04:44.680
see what happens, but it's one of those what could
70
00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:49.120
possibly go wrong conversations. Let's led a criminal into highly
71
00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:55.079
sensitive information of every single American. That's what I was
72
00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:59.000
saying about social Security. I guess sometimes I go fast
73
00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:05.639
and and so that's probably why she didn't understand. I
74
00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:08.600
try to cover a lot of territory in a little
75
00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:12.439
bit of time, because well it's not that little as
76
00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:14.279
three hours, but there's so much going on that I
77
00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:20.519
want us to stay informed about. Lewis de Joy resigned
78
00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:26.680
from the Post Office, and that happened earlier this week. Still,
79
00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:28.839
that would have been good news if it was last year.
80
00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:32.439
This year, it's not such great news because they've got
81
00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:36.759
somebody even worse in mind. And the dismantling of the
82
00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:39.920
post Office is part of the Project twenty twenty five agenda,
83
00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.759
which the current president in the current Republican Party seem
84
00:05:44.839 --> 00:05:50.240
to be sticking to pretty closely. Monday will be his
85
00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:58.160
last day on the job, and this is pretty sudden.
86
00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:03.600
He just stepped down, but that is partly because he
87
00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:07.360
said he agreed earlier this month that he was going
88
00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:10.959
to allow the Department of Grifter's for Elon to come
89
00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:14.319
on in that Doze department and cut costs and remove
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quote red tape.
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And again.
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The Commerce Secretary says that the Post Office has been
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just a tremendous loser for this country. So what does
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that mean. It means they're measuring the Post Office as
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a profit center rather than a public service. And the
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Post Office is a public service, not a profit center.
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It's a subsidized service that the American people need, and
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if it goes away, it's going to be a problem,
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especially for a lot of people in rural America that
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don't have banks, don't have other alternatives. More on that later.
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Just taking some time while we were connecting through all
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of the mountainous Outsta terrain to get our state senator
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on the air, and we have done that. She was
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elected actually in November of twenty twenty four. She is
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the chair of the Senate Education Committee. She serves on
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the Budget Committee, Budget Sub one, Environmental Quality, Human Services,
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Public Safety, and the Joint Committee on the Arts She's
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also going to serve on this newly created Affordability Working Group,
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which is meant to do what it sounds like, push
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affordability to improve the lives of working Californians and seniors.
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She's born and raised.
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In Alhambra, and she's lived in the San Gabriel Valley
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for three generations. State Senator Sasha petre Is Welcome.
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Hi, Dominique, good morning, Good morning calling me.
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Yeah, thanks for coming on. You sound loud and clear too,
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despite our technical difficulties, you sound great. And one thing
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I didn't mention in the intro is that you are
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the youngest senator in the state of California by by
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a bit.
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Yes, Yes, that's right, you are.
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You're a millennial, right.
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Yes i am. I'm I'm thirty two.
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Yeah, So on the younger end of millennial. What made
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you say I'm going to run for office. A lot
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of folks criticize your generation for not going the traditional
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route right and getting involved in an elected office.
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Yeah, you know. I I've worked in policy for for
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most of my career and I absolutely loved the work
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and have spent most of my time focused on education policy,
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doing research and the racial equity space, and I really
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really enjoyed that work. But what made me decide that
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I wanted to run was actually losing a member of
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my own family to the homelessness crisis that happened in
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in twenty eighteen. And you know, I think for me
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it was it was almost like a wake up call.
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I just felt like I had watched so many systems
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just fail family members of mine, and I wanted to
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do something about it. And I just wanted to get
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more involved. And I was already really involved at that point,
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going to city council meetings and you know, regularly commenting
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on kind of local issues, and felt like I wanted
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to do more to advocate for families like mine that
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I felt like weren't getting the kind of representation that
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we needed.
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Yeah, so you took action. I'm sorry to hear that
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about your family member. That's you know, it's it's always
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one thing to read about these things and read statistics
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and data, and it's really another when it hits home.
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Yeah, absolutely, it was. It was an eye opening experience.
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But you know, I think about it and every single
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day do this work. It feels like a moment to
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honor my family and what happened. So it's all it's
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all really personal and really important.
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So you run for office kind of were you surprised
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when you won or was that like you had done
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all the work so you got I got this.
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You know, it definitely came as a as a surprise.
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I ran against somebody that was independently wealthy, and so
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they spent over three million dollars of their own money
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and self financed their company. So we were actually outspent
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more than three to one. And I think a lot
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of folks did not anticipate that I would win. They
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thought that it was going to be too much of
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an uphill battle and just didn't see a pathway to
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victory for us. But you know, we knocked over thirty
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thousand doors, and you know that was together with my
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huge volunteer team and connected with people directly. And you know,
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I've been in the community and have been from the
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SGV for so many generations, and you know, I think
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having that personal connection with people and getting out there
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and talking to people, it really really made a difference.
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Yeah, she said, SGB San Gabriel Valley.
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For clearly you're from there, right, So so you get
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elected against the odds against the big money, and you're
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sworn in.
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When I was sworn in on December second, and I
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started my term, my full term, on January sixth.
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You started your term on January sixth, and of course
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you represent a part of your district, the twenty fifth
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district is Altadena. So you're sworn in January sixth, and
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January seventh, one of the biggest disasters of our of
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our time happens. How do you process that, what happens?
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I don't I don't know that I even had time
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to process it when it first happened, Dominique, I think
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I was really in a state of shock, and I
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think it was it was just like I had to
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take action and keep moving. And I'm just I'm really
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grateful for you know, my entire team. The night that
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it happened, January seventh, we were up until you know,
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four o'clock in the morning, and you know, in the office,
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I think I like napped for about twenty minutes before
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I left to the airport to take the first flight
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back to Los Angeles. But you know, it really I
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think it really called upon us to all just step
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up in a different way. I had just gotten to
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know my team. I had just finished the hiring process
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for my folks in Sacramento and we all got thrown
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into this big disaster. So it was it was overwhelming January.
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It was really really hard. It was one of the
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most difficult moments that I've ever experienced, and I think,
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you know, for many of my residents, they would tell
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you the exact same thing.
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It was.
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It was a really difficult moment for the entire community.
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Yeah, I met you out there actually at fire camp.
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That's where we first connected. You were out speaking with
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the prisoners who were fighting the fire out there and
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doing well. I mean, I guess you can explain what
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brought you out there, but it was that's where we connected,
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and I was happy to see you on the ground
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out there with the Assembly member Brian, you know, in
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on the front lines out there.
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Yeah, it was it was important for, you know, for
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us to be present, and I think for me, I
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really wanted to show up and to continue to thank them.
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I met with them on three separate occasions. That was
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actually the second time that I came out. The last
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time that I met with them, I actually went and
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individually shook every person's hand that was on the front
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lines of fighting the fires, to thank them because they
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had played such a critical role in protecting our communities
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from further devastation, helping to put out those fires. And
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you know, so many of them or are well some
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of them are from LA, some of them are not
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from LA and you know, this is very personal to
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them and talking with them and the the impact that
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this work just had on their lives and feeling like
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they could give back to the community, and I just
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wanted to let them know that we saw them, that
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we saw what they were doing, that my constituents were
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reaching out to me saying, I'm reading articles of these
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incredible incarcerated firefighters putting their lives at risk to protect us,
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and I want them to know how grateful I am.
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And I wanted to relay that message over because there
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were so many hundreds of people that were sharing that
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from all across Los Angeles, including in the San Gabel Valley.
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Yeah. Well, it was great to meet you out there.
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That's what started this conversation and got us on the
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air today and we got a lot to talk about.
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I know, we've got some deadlines coming up, some opportunities
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and resources will get into all of that, the work
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that you're doing, and yeah, and in many fronts, and
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how to move even on the Education Committee given and
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what now we've just found out today we're under investigation
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by the Department of Education looking at massive cuts. All
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that is on the table. I'm Dominique Taprima. Our guest
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is Senator Sasha Petes, and you're listening to KBLA Talk
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fifteen eighty. Always nice to welcome a new voice into
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the conversation. She is a state senator elected in twenty
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twenty four serves the Altadena area. It's the twenty fifth
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district and the youngest senator in what is the first
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female majority Senate body for the state of California. Sasha
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Petes is her name. Yeah, So it's so much going
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on right now that I want to talk to you about.
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But I want to make sure we get all of
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the Altadena business and prioritize that because obviously that's something
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that has to be top of mind no matter where
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the news cycle goes. So talk to me about the deadline.
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I've mentioned it a couple times today. I think Monday
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is the FEMA deadline for folks to get in the
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system right.
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Yes, yes, that's right. So Monday, March thirty first is
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the deadline, and not just for FEMA, but for the
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Small Business Administration for EDD and also for right of
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entry forms. So for anybody that has not had their
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lot cleaned out they want to get rid of that
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hazardous debris and would like to utilize the US Army
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Corps of Engineers to have them come and clean off
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their lot for free. They need to submit their right
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of entry form. They can find that on Ala County's website.
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If they went ahead and they typed in La County
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Right of Entry Form, it should come up first link.
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But all of those forms need to be submitted by Monday,
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March thirty first. There's a whole process involved with getting
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those things completed, but as long as you submit that
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first applic that will make sure that you've started that process.
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So we've really been pushing this out, doing text messages, emails,
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posting on social media. I'm going to be making some videos.
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This is so critical and so important for people to
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sign up and get the aid that they are really allocated.
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This is part of what government does to work for
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the people, to make sure that we're taking care of
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people when we're in times of crisis.
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Yeah, I didn't realize it was SBA.
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Of course that's a Small Business Administration, so that could
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be not just a business loan though, because I know
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they also do home loans. Danny Bakwell Junior was talking
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about that. So there's lots of different reasons right right,
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why someone would want to be in their system.
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Yeah. Absolutely, SBA and the Small Business Administration they do
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home loans. They also do rental assistance too. We know
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that so many people that are small business owners work
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from home. They have their home offices, so when they
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lost their home, they lost their home office. You know,
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there's so many folks that operate that way after the pandemic,
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and so I really really encourage folks to reach out
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to these different agencies get signed up. There could be
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eight on the table available to you that you're not
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tapping into, and so it's really really important that you
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get those applications in.
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It has to happen by Monday, but it's online, so
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they could do it all weekend, right, It just has
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to happen, yes, yes, And if you're not in the system,
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then you can't circle back later and say, but wait,
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I lost my house, or my job or my business.
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If you're not in the system by the thirty first,
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you're you're basically out.
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Yes, that's right. This is actually the pushed back deadline.
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So the deadline was originally at the beginning of March.
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We had requested from the federal government that they do
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an extension they want to and they pushed the deadline back.
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So this is the final deadline, and I really want
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to emphasize that to people to definitely take it seriously.
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And you know, if you've done your applications already, pick
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up the phone, call a friend, Call a NAPOR that
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you know that lives in Alsadina, lives in Pasadena and
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was impacted. Make sure that you give them a little
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nudge and a reminder and check in. This whole process
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and this experience that we've all gone through has been
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very traumatizing, and you know, sometimes we need a friend
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to just check in on us and see if we
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need a hand with completing some of those applications and forms.
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Senator Sasha Petas is my guest. We continue the conversation
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after news Traffic in Sports. I'm Dominique di Prima for
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KBLA Talk fifteen eighty, and we're talking to the elected
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representative of the twenty fifth Senate district, one of a
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tiny group of millennials in state government, Senator Sasha Petaz,
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speaking on these deadlines, A lot of them are Monday.
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You mentioned, we mentioned FEMA, we mentioned the Small Business Administration,
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and in passing you said ed D. Why is this,
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Why is this important? How does unemployment play a role here?
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Yeah, So anybody that has lost their job as a
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result of the fires, who's had their jobs impacted, is
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also going to want to sign up for assistance through
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ed D. So there is a process for that. You know,
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maybe you know Small Business Administration is for those that
337
00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:41.200
are business owners, right, whether you have a home business,
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00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:45.079
whether you had you know, an actual brick and mortar business.
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We know so many business owners in Altadena lost their
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businesses in addition to losing their home. But we also
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00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:57.240
know many folks employment was impacted as well. So getting
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those EDD applications in if that is the case, is incredibly,
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incredibly important.
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So that means if you are, if your claim is
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tied to the fire, the deadline is Monday.
346
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Yes, okay, got it. That's important.
347
00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:16.680
So much has been made of you know, much is
348
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always made of sort of a division between Black and Latino.
349
00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:24.880
I think sometimes we don't note our collaborations as much
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as we could. And there's a lot of talk about
351
00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:34.799
Altadena is a diverse community, but the eighty percent home
352
00:22:34.839 --> 00:22:42.039
ownership among Black Altadenons is something that is worth preserving,
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00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:45.480
worth guarding. May some folks may think, well, you know,
354
00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:50.480
the state senator is Latina, maybe it's not as important
355
00:22:50.519 --> 00:22:57.359
to her to help keep the black population in Altadena
356
00:22:57.440 --> 00:22:58.519
or help us recover.
357
00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:00.480
What would you say that.
358
00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:06.400
You know, I'd say it's actually quite the opposite. I think.
359
00:23:07.319 --> 00:23:11.519
I think being a Latin, a young Latino woman in
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this moment, and seeing so many of the stories of
361
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folks who lost absolutely everything and being so fearful of
362
00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:25.400
being left behind, I think that is something that the
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00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:29.559
Latino community is all too familiar with as well, and
364
00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:33.880
you know, understanding that feeling and that fear, and you know,
365
00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:37.039
being from this area, I have three generations of family
366
00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:41.319
from the SGV, and I feel a deep sense of
367
00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:47.279
responsibility to show up for these communities, for the black community.
368
00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:50.480
You know, when I ran for office, I knew even
369
00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:53.839
though so many folks and you know, including those that
370
00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:57.440
I ran against did not understand the diversity you know
371
00:23:57.559 --> 00:24:01.359
of this community. I really understood that the twenty fifth
372
00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:04.359
district is one of the most diverse districts in the state.
373
00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:09.079
We do not have a racial majority in this district.
374
00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:13.279
There are so many populations, whether we have you know,
375
00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:17.279
the Black community in Pasadena and Altadena, you have an
376
00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:21.039
Armenian community in Glendale, you have an API community in
377
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:25.279
al hambur and Monterey Park. And it's my responsibility is
378
00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:28.359
somebody that's come from the racial equity space and doing
379
00:24:28.359 --> 00:24:31.200
that kind of research to make sure that I'm taking
380
00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:34.759
a targeted approach to take into account the needs of
381
00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:38.279
each of those groups. And so, you know, this moment,
382
00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:43.400
I realize it's so important to center those conversations because
383
00:24:43.720 --> 00:24:46.839
if not, if we don't center racial equity in these
384
00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:50.480
recovery conversations, we know what's going to happen. We know
385
00:24:50.519 --> 00:24:53.400
who's going to get left behind. And I refuse to
386
00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:57.720
allow what we've seen happen in places like Hawaii, or
387
00:24:57.799 --> 00:25:01.279
what's happened in places like Katrina, to allow that to
388
00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:02.920
happen again here in Altadena.
389
00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:06.960
Are you even allowed to say equity? And I think
390
00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:10.400
that's one of the banned words, you might get in trouble.
391
00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:16.079
You know, they're going to have to come arrest me then, except.
392
00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:21.400
Yeah, it's I don't even know how how we're how
393
00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:25.160
are they talking? Because women and females are also banned.
394
00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:27.720
If you're in the Trump administration, you're not allowed to
395
00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:30.839
say women and you're not allowed to say females. How
396
00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:34.119
do you talk about anything? I don't understand it.
397
00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:37.839
I mean, it's absurd, It is really absurd. We've gotten
398
00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:42.440
to this point of you know, just free speech being banned,
399
00:25:42.519 --> 00:25:45.720
basically not being able to have real conversations about anything,
400
00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:48.519
it seems. But you know, I don't I don't even
401
00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:50.880
know what's going on with the federal administration. It feels
402
00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:54.640
like I wake up each morning to new headlines and
403
00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:59.640
absurdities and people having conversations about war over signal. It's
404
00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:00.480
just see.
405
00:26:00.599 --> 00:26:04.559
So yeah, and there's a lot of being made about
406
00:26:04.599 --> 00:26:08.440
the fact that, you know, the first you know, administration
407
00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:11.880
of Trump, California was like the resistance and a lot
408
00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:15.839
of Dems kind of identified as some kind of resistance
409
00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:20.079
or pushback, and this time lawmakers are kind of scrambling
410
00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:23.640
to walk a line where you know, our governor's got
411
00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:28.200
to cooperate with the administration, but also to protect the
412
00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:31.440
residents of our state and our interests. Is that something
413
00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:33.839
you struggle with or do you are you? You know,
414
00:26:33.880 --> 00:26:35.079
how are you navigating that?
415
00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:36.599
You know?
416
00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:41.680
I I have my my own personal thoughts and beliefs
417
00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:44.640
around how we should navigate this moment, and I think
418
00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:49.359
I probably align with a lot of the few other
419
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:52.839
millennials that we have up here in the legislature at
420
00:26:52.839 --> 00:26:57.839
this point. I'm very close personal friends with Assembly Member
421
00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:01.720
shade Al Hawari as well as Assembly Member you know,
422
00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:06.920
Isaac Bryan, and I really view us as you know,
423
00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:10.960
as California needing to continue to to not just be
424
00:27:11.079 --> 00:27:16.079
the resistance, that California needs to fight back, and it's
425
00:27:16.119 --> 00:27:18.920
going to be on us to really draw the line
426
00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:24.440
and to say, you know, this is unacceptable and if
427
00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:28.920
you continue down this pathway federal government, then you know,
428
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:31.319
we have purse strings. We're going to pull them. You know.
429
00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:36.880
I introduced legislation just yesterday to make it so that
430
00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:40.839
California withholds some of its federal tax dollars if we
431
00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:44.400
continue to see these massive cuts by the federal administration,
432
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.519
you know, for them to go after things like Social Security, medicate.
433
00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:53.759
I mean, some of these programs that are not just essential,
434
00:27:53.839 --> 00:27:56.480
they are life saving. If people don't have access to
435
00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:59.880
these things, they will die. Is unacceptable, and we have
436
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:02.519
to put our foot down and we have to strike back.
437
00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:05.400
To see the I R S about to make a
438
00:28:05.480 --> 00:28:09.880
deal with ICE to essentially give up information of undocumented
439
00:28:09.880 --> 00:28:13.440
people so that they could be targeted and deported. Like,
440
00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:18.160
what are we doing? And it's my personal belief that
441
00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:21.079
in this moment that we have to be more aggressive.
442
00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:24.559
And that is what my constituents have made crystal clear
443
00:28:24.599 --> 00:28:27.720
to me, is that they want me to fight back
444
00:28:28.440 --> 00:28:31.519
in the same aggressive way that we're seeing this administration
445
00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:32.839
rip apart government.
446
00:28:33.799 --> 00:28:39.039
Yeah, not acquiesce, not cower, fight back. You know, I'm
447
00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:41.079
with you on that, Senator.
448
00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:43.319
Because, like.
449
00:28:44.920 --> 00:28:47.279
The great poet Audrey Lord said, your silence will not
450
00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:53.839
protect you. So you're better You're better off going down,
451
00:28:54.119 --> 00:28:58.279
you know, if you're gonna go down or winning fighting, That's.
452
00:28:58.119 --> 00:28:59.079
That's how I see it.
453
00:29:00.759 --> 00:29:05.200
Do you what do you make of this investigation we
454
00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:07.559
found out today? I mean, you're on the Education Committee
455
00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:14.160
State of California being investigated supposedly for teachers not having
456
00:29:14.200 --> 00:29:19.319
to tell parents that their children are presenting as trans
457
00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:22.599
at school. And there's that piece, and then there's the
458
00:29:22.680 --> 00:29:27.000
other piece of just cuts to state education which were announced.
459
00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:29.640
I think yesterday, what do you make of that?
460
00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:34.839
You know, I think that this administration cares about one thing,
461
00:29:35.079 --> 00:29:39.200
and that is trying to get hits on social media
462
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.039
and to put on a show. And I think that's
463
00:29:44.039 --> 00:29:47.960
what you've seen at every single step of this administration,
464
00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:51.480
starting from the very beginning Trump's second day in office,
465
00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:58.480
getting up there and basically turning signing executive orders, you know,
466
00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:02.359
into a performer that's being filmed in the middle of
467
00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:07.759
the stadium, and they are coming after and targeting California
468
00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:11.079
because they know it will wait, but will make headlines.
469
00:30:11.240 --> 00:30:14.480
And that is what this is being utilized for. You know,
470
00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:19.359
the rules that we have here in the state, the
471
00:30:19.400 --> 00:30:22.240
Trump and so much of so many members of his
472
00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:27.680
administration and members of the GOP have tried to weaponize
473
00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:31.559
the laws that we have here to protect trans children.
474
00:30:32.119 --> 00:30:35.400
And the only thing that our laws say is that
475
00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:40.039
if a child is choosing to be called a different
476
00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:45.000
name at school, that that's not something that the teacher
477
00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:49.880
necessarily has to report to the parent and I think
478
00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:52.599
back to even when I was a kid in school Dominique.
479
00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:55.759
I remember my parents were very strict, and you know,
480
00:30:55.880 --> 00:30:58.160
sometimes I like to wear My parents did not like
481
00:30:58.200 --> 00:31:00.599
me to wear black, and I enjoyed wearing black at school.
482
00:31:00.599 --> 00:31:04.000
So I'd pack my black clothes into my backpack, and
483
00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:05.960
so when they drop me off, I would go and
484
00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:07.960
I would change out of my uniform and I'd put
485
00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:09.799
on the clothes i'd want to wear. You know, my
486
00:31:09.880 --> 00:31:12.319
teacher did not pick up the phone and then call
487
00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:14.440
my parents and say, you know, Sasha is sitting here
488
00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:17.000
and she's wearing a black shirt and she's wearing, you know,
489
00:31:17.160 --> 00:31:21.200
a black pants. That's ridiculous. These are the kinds of
490
00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:24.279
things that kids do as they're exploring and figuring out
491
00:31:24.279 --> 00:31:27.319
their personalities. But they've tried to make it seem as
492
00:31:27.400 --> 00:31:31.559
if that schools are giving kids medications, that they're making
493
00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:34.319
some sort of health choices for kids. That is not
494
00:31:34.519 --> 00:31:38.720
only completely false, it's illegal. Parents have the authority over
495
00:31:38.759 --> 00:31:42.119
their children. We would never allow that to happen. So
496
00:31:42.119 --> 00:31:44.200
so much of this has just spun out of control
497
00:31:44.279 --> 00:31:48.839
to misinformation train and they are just looking to create
498
00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:52.799
performances that they can capture for media hits. I mean,
499
00:31:52.839 --> 00:31:54.720
it is so ridiculous and absurd.
500
00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:58.920
Yeah, it's well said State Senator Sasha Peta.
501
00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:01.960
She's over the twenty fifth district.
502
00:32:02.039 --> 00:32:05.200
She's my guest, and you're listening to KBLA talk fifteen
503
00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:07.880
to eighty. It does, and we are talking with Senator
504
00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:12.519
Sasha Perez La Well, Californias, I should say twenty fifth.
505
00:32:12.519 --> 00:32:19.559
Everything's la to me, California's twenty fifth district and a
506
00:32:19.559 --> 00:32:21.680
lot to cover here. You're on the Education committee. I
507
00:32:21.720 --> 00:32:24.920
was asking you about these cuts. No matter where you stand,
508
00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:30.119
there's some people talking in the chat on trends, children
509
00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:35.000
and their rights. Cuts of three billion dollars to California's
510
00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:39.480
education system based on teachers following state law will have
511
00:32:39.559 --> 00:32:44.160
a huge impact on education for all children, particularly when
512
00:32:44.279 --> 00:32:49.400
trans youth make up less than one percent of people
513
00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:50.279
in this country.
514
00:32:51.160 --> 00:32:52.759
How will we handle that as a state?
515
00:32:52.759 --> 00:32:56.759
I mean, if we're we're looking at possibly billions you
516
00:32:56.839 --> 00:33:02.720
mentioned with holding our own contributions, disproportionate contributions, what else
517
00:33:02.759 --> 00:33:06.759
could be done to protect our education system, our young
518
00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:14.000
students in the state of California. Senator peteses, we have
519
00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:16.720
Senator oh, we've lost Senator Petes, that is not good.
520
00:33:17.559 --> 00:33:18.960
While we get her back on.
521
00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:21.240
The line.
522
00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:25.880
Man, I was not ready for that. Okay, we can,
523
00:33:26.839 --> 00:33:28.480
we can go to Jam. She's on the phone.
524
00:33:28.519 --> 00:33:28.960
Hi, Jam.
525
00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:32.440
Where we get Senator Pettes back on the line. Hi, Jen,
526
00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:33.000
you're on the air.
527
00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:36.000
Hi, Good morning, Dominic.
528
00:33:36.200 --> 00:33:38.440
How are you morning? I'm blessed? What's on your mind?
529
00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:42.880
I had a question for Senator Perez about the hearing
530
00:33:43.319 --> 00:33:46.279
that happened yesterday in an education committee and on SC
531
00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:49.599
four thirty seven. So I can hold.
532
00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:52.640
On, Yeah, you can just state your question and then
533
00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:54.920
I'll ask she can address it when we get her on.
534
00:33:56.359 --> 00:34:00.960
Okay. So we sit in a lot of letters of
535
00:34:01.079 --> 00:34:05.480
opposition to SB four thirty seven. It's a bill that
536
00:34:05.880 --> 00:34:11.159
is going to dry millions of dollars that's allocated to
537
00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:17.039
implement reparations. And although she received all these letters, received
538
00:34:17.039 --> 00:34:20.760
all these phone calls in opposition, she's still aligned with
539
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:22.440
who she named were her friends.
540
00:34:23.199 --> 00:34:25.079
Well, so that's that's one of the bills that's been
541
00:34:25.119 --> 00:34:29.960
brought by the Congressional Black Caucus. So around reparations that
542
00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:34.199
you just you don't agree with. Some reparationists supported, some
543
00:34:34.280 --> 00:34:35.360
don't write.
544
00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:41.400
Actually, none of the reparationists supports SB four thirty seven.
545
00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:46.800
There's differences on SB five eighteen, but no one supports
546
00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:51.480
SB four thirty seven except for the California Legislative Black Caucus.
547
00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:57.760
They want to prolong a study instead of implementing real reparations.
548
00:34:57.800 --> 00:35:01.440
And so my question for the Senate is if she
549
00:35:01.480 --> 00:35:05.719
would reconsider supporting that deal and if said, look at
550
00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:12.079
ABE thirteen fifteen and other bills that would not prolong
551
00:35:12.719 --> 00:35:15.199
the study of replations. And it's.
552
00:35:17.400 --> 00:35:21.039
Okay, got it. Appreciate the colle jan and the work
553
00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:27.199
that you're doing. That you're talking about Education Committee, of
554
00:35:27.239 --> 00:35:31.039
which Senator Petes is a member. We don't have her
555
00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:35.639
back on the line, so we will address that when
556
00:35:36.199 --> 00:35:42.920
when we continue this conversation. I you know, I do
557
00:35:43.079 --> 00:35:48.920
think we can talk about this more in depth tomorrow
558
00:35:48.920 --> 00:35:53.960
for Friedman Friday. We are having an attorney on who's
559
00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:56.880
also an expert in such matters, and it will be
560
00:35:56.920 --> 00:35:58.719
interesting to see what she has to say.
561
00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:01.079
Doctor Adrian Davis is her name.
562
00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:04.119
We're going to continue this conversation when we come forward
563
00:36:04.519 --> 00:36:09.320
on KBLA Talk fifteen to eighty. Yeah, multitasking here. Senator
564
00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:12.199
Sasha Petz is back with us on the line. We're
565
00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:15.880
navigating the Altadina Mountains. She's over the twenty fifth district
566
00:36:16.719 --> 00:36:19.920
and Senator Petes while you were off the line, jan
567
00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:23.719
called in about to vote in the Education Committee yesterday
568
00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:26.920
on SB four thirty seven, which I believe is a
569
00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:32.199
bill that sounds similar to what Governor Gavin Newsom teed
570
00:36:32.280 --> 00:36:36.599
up for last year, which was rejected by a lot
571
00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:40.360
of reparationists when we had the fiasco with the California
572
00:36:40.440 --> 00:36:46.719
Legislative Black Caucus deciding not to put their own reparations
573
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:49.920
bills on the floor. Now, this bill, I believe is
574
00:36:49.960 --> 00:36:53.880
another study which has no end date and which could
575
00:36:54.000 --> 00:37:00.400
a lot of analysts, feel myself included, could indefinitely delay
576
00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:05.079
other reparations actions while we wait for an endless study
577
00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:10.119
to decide who's eligible. She's asking if you would reconsider
578
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:11.280
your support of that bill.
579
00:37:12.800 --> 00:37:15.800
Yeah, so I guess. Let me and well, first of all,
580
00:37:15.800 --> 00:37:18.280
before I get started, Domini, can you hear me clearly?
581
00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:19.159
Okay?
582
00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:22.599
Excellent? And I apologize too. I don't know what happened.
583
00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:27.280
So I want to go ahead and speak in particular
584
00:37:27.480 --> 00:37:32.280
to SB four thirty seven, and you know, in meeting
585
00:37:32.280 --> 00:37:38.079
with Senator Weber Pearson, you know, understanding what won her bill,
586
00:37:38.239 --> 00:37:41.280
and also I think what the Blackhawk is just trying
587
00:37:41.320 --> 00:37:45.960
to ensure is going to happen. So one US before
588
00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:50.599
thirty seven would create a process with the CSU system
589
00:37:51.559 --> 00:37:56.800
in order to determine if somebody is a descendant of
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00:37:56.840 --> 00:38:00.119
an enslaved person in the United States. So the CSU
591
00:38:00.199 --> 00:38:04.599
system would develop and come up with a process and
592
00:38:05.320 --> 00:38:08.519
provide a scientific methodology for how they would do that.
593
00:38:08.639 --> 00:38:11.000
So she has one bill, and that's SB four thirty
594
00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:14.280
seven that went through the Senate Education Committee. Because it
595
00:38:14.320 --> 00:38:18.639
involves the cal State University system. There's a separate bill
596
00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:22.679
that Senator Weber Pearson has also brought forward that would
597
00:38:22.760 --> 00:38:26.760
create a department so that we can begin this process
598
00:38:26.920 --> 00:38:31.920
of actually delivering reparations to individuals. So she has two
599
00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:35.119
vehicles that are moving at the same time. Part of
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00:38:35.159 --> 00:38:39.039
the reason why I believe that she's done this and
601
00:38:39.079 --> 00:38:42.519
it makes a lot of sense, is because unfortunately, we
602
00:38:42.559 --> 00:38:45.519
are in the midst of one of the most difficult
603
00:38:46.119 --> 00:38:49.119
budget challenges that the state has faced in a very
604
00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:51.719
long time. And you're going to hear this not just
605
00:38:51.719 --> 00:38:55.280
from government agencies like the State of California, but from
606
00:38:55.599 --> 00:38:59.159
everyone from the state level down to the local level.
607
00:38:59.239 --> 00:39:01.119
The County of Law Angelus is in the middle of
608
00:39:01.159 --> 00:39:04.039
a budget crisis as well as the City of Los Angeles.
609
00:39:04.119 --> 00:39:07.519
We just had Mayor Karen Bass travel up to Sacramento
610
00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:12.000
to ask us for support and for assistance because this
611
00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:16.000
state is facing such challenging times and so I think
612
00:39:16.039 --> 00:39:19.079
the purpose in trying to move forward both a vehicle
613
00:39:19.159 --> 00:39:22.480
that's creating that department as well as this vehicle so
614
00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:28.320
that we can begin this scientific methodology kind of study
615
00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:32.239
and information gathering is because it is going to be very,
616
00:39:32.599 --> 00:39:36.639
very difficult for the department bill to get signed. We
617
00:39:36.920 --> 00:39:40.719
just spent over two billion dollars on all to dena
618
00:39:40.760 --> 00:39:45.199
fire recovery. I can tell you just alone the number
619
00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:49.280
of budget requests that I have or alta diner and
620
00:39:49.320 --> 00:39:52.639
the hundreds of millions. I think what she is trying
621
00:39:52.639 --> 00:39:56.360
to be mindful of is the cost associated with these
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00:39:56.400 --> 00:39:59.280
things and to keep the ball moving. And I really
623
00:39:59.320 --> 00:40:02.679
want to be clear about that with advocates that we
624
00:40:02.719 --> 00:40:06.119
want to make sure that we are keeping this process
625
00:40:06.199 --> 00:40:09.679
moving forward. Even if the governor does not sign the
626
00:40:09.719 --> 00:40:12.440
bill to create the department, that bill won't come through
627
00:40:12.440 --> 00:40:15.199
My Committee. We want to make sure that things are
628
00:40:15.239 --> 00:40:18.079
moving forward. So there's a two processes that are Senator
629
00:40:18.119 --> 00:40:18.440
beet As.
630
00:40:18.679 --> 00:40:20.960
We have to leave it there. I hope you'll come back.
631
00:40:21.679 --> 00:40:24.800
I so appreciate the conversation, of course.
632
00:40:24.840 --> 00:40:26.960
Oh my goodness, I'm happy to do it, Dominique, and
633
00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:28.599
thank you so much for having me.
634
00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:31.119
Thank you for coming on, and thank you for your
635
00:40:31.119 --> 00:40:35.159
great work around Altadina Tavis Smiley's up next, y'all until
636
00:40:35.199 --> 00:40:36.559
tomorrow's Friedman Friday.
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00:40:36.679 --> 00:40:37.559
One Love,
