BREAKING NEWS: Gov. Gavin Newsom Holds Press Conference On Firefighting Technology

[00:00:00]Sorry.

[00:00:00]>> That's right. Sorry.

[00:00:02]>> Private conversation.

[00:00:03]>> Yes, indeed.

[00:00:05]>> Hey. Well, uh good morning or I guess it's good afternoon. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Joe Tyler. I am the director and fire chief here uh at Calire. And with me today, uh are some distinguished uh speakers that are going to be speaking after me uh from Callowas, the California Natural Resources Agency, and then of course Honorable Governor Gavin Newsome uh will be speaking in that order. Uh so uh welcome again to our aviation management unit here at Mlen Air Park in Sacramento, California. You know it is so often that we talk about uh where we are at with uh fire suppression and the resources that are available and the investments that have been made. really it has been around uh a lot of the activity is additional fire engines by all of our organizations uh additional uh S70i uh Firehawk helicopters like those sitting behind me uh the addition of C130s uh that uh that we have here sitting at Mlen and Sacramento and now in Ramona and San Diego County and of course the addition of 2400 firefighters over the next three additional years, fiscal years in addition to the two that we've already had that really are building the response and prevention aspects about what we as a state agency, what we are doing as a whole of government to be able to come together and talk about how we are protecting the people and resources of California. But what we don't talk about so often and what we're here for today is really talk about some of that technology that is behind the scenes that really allow us to uh build upon not only the suppression efforts but the prevention efforts and the early detection efforts to get the suppression resources to the fire even more quickly.

[00:01:55]you know, uh, we find ourselves here in Sacramento where we see overcast skies where we are, uh, in a space in the third week of July that we find ourselves having, uh, more humidity, more cloud cover. And typically, this is when we start seeing some of the monsunal moisture move across California to uh, start giving us both moisture, moisture with lightning. Sometimes that lightning is dry. And so from the local, state, federal, and tribal level, we are here together uh as a California fire service to make sure that we're protecting the people and the natural resources that we have here. There are really four fires that are going on right now across California. Four large fires that are or or extended fires that are going on across California. Couple of those are here locally. The Rumsy fire in Yolo uh Yolo County started yesterday. The Chute Fire in Yuba County. Then last night we had a large fire kickoff due to high winds and from passing thunderstorms in Inyo County in the uh Mammoth Lakes Independence area.

[00:02:58]And then north of Susanville, we have the Biscar fire. Uh it's a federal fire that's burning in Lassen County. The reason those are important is we really talk about four large fires, but over the last week, over the last seven days, there have been just in state and federal jurisdiction, not including small fires that may be occurring within incorporated cities. There has been 277 new fires that we don't talk about.

[00:03:21]Well, we don't talk about 273 of those new fires. And that is because the suppression resources, the detection resources, the technology that we have really is moving us in that direction that we put those fires out early and then none of you, none of us have to talk about them. Uh we continue to support our federal partners, as I said, on fires uh across the state and outside of the state. we uh between Callowas and ourselves have sent fire engines and uh resources out of the state uh including Colorado and Oregon uh where the Colorado resources at least for Calire on their way back. They should be back this afternoon and the Oregon resources will be gone for a little bit more. But one thing we're not doing when we're allowing our resources to either respond to fires here locally across the state or even out of the state is we're not letting our guard down. We're not making sure that we are not prepared. In fact, our public education campaigns, our readiness make sure that we are very prepared because it's important that each of us and each of you are prepared for wildfire. You know, we want to make sure that you're listening to law enforcement for evacuation notices, listening to the firefighters for evacuation notices, signing up for emergency alert and warnings uh that are available from your local uh municipalities. We want to make sure that uh you are going to websites uh like ready for wildfire to be prepared for wildfire or to uh fire.ca.gov or even callowes.ca.gov to get more information on uh on fires that are actively occurring related to the technology. CalFire is leaning in and taking advantage of uh the power of technology that best supports our firefighting efforts. And a lot of that has been done uh in the last eight years, last five years that I've been the director, really seeing a huge advancement from this legislature and this administration from modeling software that quickly provides prediction and fire spread uh to upgraded aircraft with larger a larger payload to mountaintop cameras with AI technology to beat the first 911 callers uh to be able to uh report into our dispatch centers of a new fire and move those resources resources more quickly. Today you see some of the resources that we're using, some of the technology that we're using here in front of us. Uh the UAS or uncrrewed aerial systems maximizes situational awareness and tactical effectiveness.

[00:05:45]It'll do mapping, perimeter mapping, uh prescribed fire activities, uh and fuels reduction are just a few of those. We've been able to use uh the UAS sitting here for direct fire protection uh capabilities, large payload, being able to move uh and then as we've talked about before uh 1260 mountaintop cameras through Alert California. It's a publicly available website uh that you can find to see these 1260 cameras that are located across the state that feed into our dispatch centers and again are publicly available. There's 200 more of those cameras that will be put up here this year to uh to assist in that. Our updated a AI detection model is showing improved accuracy. And then above the cameras in Alert California, uh really being able to do fuels assessment, be able to help in LAR or really vegetation growth that's occurring across uh California. And that's in cooperation with UC San Diego uh to be able to accomplish that. So as the technology advances, it's important that we continue to advance with that technology. Otherwise, the technology is going to advance so much faster than us.

[00:06:58]Uh CalFire remains an early adopter and uh is supporting EarthFire Alliance uh to leverage what we're calling Fireat.

[00:07:06]Now we don't have any satellites here but just here uh about two weeks ago from Vanderberg Air Force Base there was a launch of three additional uh low earth orbiting satellites that'll become part of a constellation of satellites that will do early detection utilizing all the features of remote sensing both mountaintop cameras fixed wing aircraft and satellite technology to really uh detect new heat images across the across California and that technology is going to be used across California the United states. Uh some data feeding in already from those four that are in the sky. One was launched last year in Australia and British Columbia. The fire sat is moving towards its operational alignment and preparing for larger data ingestion is uh is the goal there. Um so our technology will continue to support fighting fires but not only fight fires but the preventive prevention and preventive opportunities that are so important. It's so important that the public is I'm going to take this opportunity as the public is listening here today. We need your help. We need your help as we are at the peak of the fire year and as we see the monsunal moisture and we see the lightning coming in uh here probably in the next two to three weeks uh and we will combat that that everybody has to be prepared for wildfire. Uh doing their defensible space strengthening and hardening their home or making their home more wildfire prepared is so important. Uh again, uh signing up for those alert and warnings are also important. So, it's going to take all of us as a team coming together to be able to build that resilience of living with wildfire in California. So, with that, uh it is an honor to now uh introduce and bring up my esteemed colleague from the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Director Caroline Thomas Jacobs.

[00:09:01]Thank you, Chief Tyler. Um, really appreciate the opportunity to speak with all of you today. Um, and thank you to CalFire for hosting us here today. So, as mentioned, my name is Caroline Thomas Jacobs, director of the Governor's Office of Emergency Services. Um, and thank you, Governor Nuomo, for bringing us here together. Um, and continuing to invest in the people, the partnerships, and the technology that's protecting California communities. This technology allows us to anticipate risk, detect early, respond faster, and recover quickly. Uh, and I've said this in the past, when it comes to wildfire, preparedness is power, and partnership is everything. Today, I'd like to add that technology gives us the power to prepare earlier, to respond faster, and make better decisions when every second counts. Cowfire and local fire departments um lead the fight on the ground and in the air. And at the Office of Emergency Services, our job is to connect all of those agencies and the statewide emergency response system. We bring together the intelligence, the technology, and the mutual aid to anticipate threats, to position resources, and to rapidly deliver assistance where and when it is needed most. That work begins before a fire starts.

[00:10:27]The Wildfire Forecast and Threat Intelligence Integration Center, commonly known as the WIFFIK, serves as California's central hub for wildfire forecasting and threat intelligence. The whiff tick combines wild uh weather fire or weather data fuels conditions, fire behavior modeling, lightning forecasts, and other information to identify where wildfire risk is increasing across the state. The whiff tick then turns that information, that intelligence into timely, actionable intelligence products that we then share across our partner network so that first responders and emergency managers can make informed decisions before we even have an ignition. The WIFTC also coordinates this information sharing among federal, state, local, tribal agencies as well as universities and nonprofit organizations. It's important to note though that no single agency can confront California's wildfire challenges alone. It is by bringing together the data, the expertise and the strong partnerships that WIFTC helps people that California to stay one step ahead of these emerging threats. So this intelligence one of the things it does is it helps us uh do more than just understand the threat but also it helps us act before the fire starts. Callowes has integrated this intelligence into an online pre-positioning decision support tool that is available to all of our fire partners to make smarter decisions about where they can place their resources before that ignition starts.

[00:12:06]And this California prepositioning program is saving lives. It's allowing local agencies to increase the staffing and strategically place firefighters, uh, engines, water tenders, and other equipment closer to communities facing dangerous fire weather. And in these fast-moving wildfire minutes, by strengthening the local capacity, reducing response times, and supporting more aggressive initial attack, prepositioning can mean the difference between where a fire is quickly contained so that we can avoid the major disaster. This year, Callowas has already approved pre-positioning for 20 counties and 213 pieces of equipment, as well as over 1,400 personnel. And when a fire does start, technology gives responders a clearer and faster picture of what is happening. Callowas has a fire integrated real-time intelligence system commonly known as FIUS. The firus plane is outside this hanger and it provides real-time fire modeling within minutes of ignition now supporting every California county. The sensors mounted on the fixedwing aircraft collect information about a fire's location, the direction, and the potential rate of threat uh spread. And any any fire agency can request us to fly, and we will be in the air in minutes providing real-time perimeter and live overflight video.

[00:13:31][snorts] This allows decision makers to see the critical information and make faster choices from deploying resources to issuing evacuating orders. Evacuation orders. And since its launch, FIUS has flown over 2,000 missions supporting wildfires, hazardous materials, incidents, oil spills, and search and rescue missions. This year alone, FIUS has already flown 263 missions across 41 counties.

[00:13:59]And better information is only valuable if we can turn it into action. Callowas oversees the largest fire and rescue mutual aid system of its kind in the nation. And it connects more than a thousand partner agencies and gives California access to thousand uh fire engine over a thousand fire engines and thousands more personnel. This year, Callowas has already moved more than 500 engines with over 1,700 firefighters and 500 specialized personnel throughout the system to ensure that we're responding to the incidents as there's need. When an incident exceeds one community's resources, Callaways helps us move personnel and equipment across jurisdictions to where they are needed most.

[00:14:42]A real-time resource dashboard, another piece of technology that we've implemented allows us greater visibility into that. The mutual aid process, the requests, and the available resources, helping us expedite the movement as conditions change. That coordination extends beyond California. As Cal Oregon confronts significant wildfire activity, California, as Chief Tyler has mentioned, um has committed 40 fire engines and over 160 personnel.

[00:15:11]We're also expanding from air to the space through our partnership with ISAI.

[00:15:17]Callowas has access to a network of over 70 satellites that are capable of gathering information during day or night and through cloud and smoke. And following a wildfire, this technology can help produce preliminary structure damage assessments within 6 to 24 hours, which enables us to make better and faster decisions around how we can support the local community in that response.

[00:15:42]And the this satellite cap capability complements our on the ground inspection by helping local leaders understand an an emergency's potential scope and begin planning for recovery sooner.

[00:15:57]We are also expediting funding. So through the fire management assistance grant um or commonly known as an FMAG, local responders can get access to additional funds to augment the response to their to the fire. At Callowas, we've released a new technology online tool to expedite that request process and review process so that we can more expeditiously respond and and provide that approval.

[00:16:24]During the Sandy Fire in Ventura County in May, that tool helped California secure approval quickly as hundreds of structures were threatened and ultimately the firefighters were able to hold the damage to one structure. And when you put all of these technologically enabled resources together, we have more accurate forecasts. We're moving ahead of the risk. And when an ignition starts, we're getting more resources to the fire quickly. And while government and first responders have an important responsibility to prepare, and we are, every Californian has a role to play and the power to protect themselves and their family during these types of events. Since 2021, Callowas has invested over a hund00 million in the Ready California campaign, generating more than 13 million engagements across the 58 counties. And I encourage you to go to ready.ca.gov to learn more about how you can make an emergency plan, plan for evacuations, know your evacuation routes, and make sure you have the supplies and never forget your pets. And most importantly, very uh double downing on what um Chief Tyler mentioned, please, please, please make sure that you are signing up for emergency alerts.

[00:17:36]It's vitally important that everyone has access to the alerting information uh and make sure that you've got those alerts on and that your phone is powered and turned on at night.

[00:17:46]So, our technology is helping us see danger sooner. And our partnership partnerships are helping us act on that information together. and as an informed and prepared public makes us makes our community safer. So with that, I thank you all and I will turn it to Secretary Croitt.

[00:18:09]Thank you. I'm WDE Crowford and I serve as California Natural Resources Secretary. The technology that we're featuring today and the investments that it required are more important than ever because wildfire conditions are worse than they've ever been. This summer is just the most recent example.

[00:18:28]Record-breaking temperatures across Europe fuel catastrophic deadly wildfire, prompting Spanish wildfire authorities to explain that this fire is behaving as they've never seen it before. The cool, wet Boreal forest in northern Canada, the large world, the world's largest forest, uh, experiencing catastrophic wildfire over the last three years. uh that was once inconceivable.

[00:18:56]It is scientific fact that these worsening conditions are driven by climate change. It was on this air base six years ago that the sitting president denied this fact and told us you'll see it will be cooler. It will get cooler.

[00:19:12]Well, in fact, it's gotten hotter. Since 2020, each year has landed in the top 10 hottest years in recorded history.

[00:19:22]Overall, across the world, we've seen a multi-digit increase uh in temperatures over the last three years that world governments came together uh to avoid when they established the Paris Climate Accord 10 years ago.

[00:19:39]This climate change and increasing temperatures has driven record-breaking heat waves, not only in California and across the American West, but across the world. Why does that matter? Because hotter temperatures and worsening heat waves exacerbate wildfire danger. They dry soils and vegetation that has effectively extended the worst or the height of our wildfire season in California and the rest of the world.

[00:20:07]and they create conditions like being experienced in in Europe this summer during heat waves um that create tinderbox conditions for catastrophic deadly wildfire to break out. It's no accident that the driest three years in California's history between 20 2020 and 2022 were among our worst years for catastrophic wildfire.

[00:20:32]We know that the LA firestorms um of less than two years ago um became as dangerous and deadly because Los Angeles had experienced its driest uh year in recorded history.

[00:20:48]Acknowledging this reality, this scientific fact of climate change is critically important, as is working to better understand it. This year, the state will complete its sixth science climate assessment where we are investing with the best and brightest scientific minds in understanding how climate change is impacting our state and specifically exacerbating wildfire risk. Scientific understanding protects people and it drives us to work faster, more broadly, and more creatively to protect people, which is where this technology comes in. The satellites that my colleagues have talked about will not only benefit California and protect our residents, but will be available to governments and regions around the world, including those places like Australia and Chile and the European Mediterranean that are experiencing this unprecedented wildfire behavior. We're pairing this technology with international collaboration at a time of international conflict. The governor and previous governors have established agreements including with the nation of Canada currently suffering wildfires that has resulted in technical exchange.

[00:22:08]Um Chile, Australia, our state was a founding member of the Mediterranean Climate Action Partnership, bringing together 15 governments from five different continents specifically to focus on how we help each other protect our residents from wildfire, droughts, and and heat waves. And even this month, German wildfire fighters are on the ground learning from CalFire practices.

[00:22:33]So investments and technology in California, yes, but collaboration, which really manifests most visibly in the mutual aid that our heroes from from CalFire and mutual aid agencies are providing recently this summer in Colorado as well as Oregon and Washington. At a time when some leaders fingerpoint and criticize those in crisis, California is is proud to uh have the back of those jurisdictions that are experiencing this catastrophic wildfire just as so many places around the world came to California's aid um recently.

[00:23:10]So this this technology that you see here was in large part seated by an action that Governor Nuome took in his first day of office January 8th, 2019, initiated a wildfire innovation sprint at CalFire. And I'll say as the agency leader working to support CalFire, it was a catalytic moment that really set CalFire on uh on an arc to learn and integrate this technology that's now saving lives in California and beyond.

[00:23:41]He also, it's worth noting, issued that week an emergency proclamation to streamline wildfire safety projects to get those on the ground uh faster and then made the first major uh budget increase and investment that continued in recent years thanks to partnership with the legislature. um billions of dollars towards expanding boots on the ground, deploying technologies like these, and then taking actions with fuel brakes and wildfire safety projects before wildfire ever hits. So, I'm uh proud to welcome Governor Nuome to the podium to share thoughts.

[00:24:17]>> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Um well, welcome back. This is uh almost I think well, we tend to do this bianually. uh come together and uh mark our progress, our our our common interest uh celebrate some success and uh soberly uh mark the struggles that continue to we continue to face um not just here in California but as way just laid out all across the nation around the world. Uh it's interesting uh just to consider that right now most of our resources are deployed in other states in states like Texas to help with the floods and Colorado resources still there from California but 100 apparatus up in Oregon alone in uh our support of that mutual aid system that uh you just heard about that's that's part of the DNA uh that defines uh the work we do here at CalFire OES uh in partnership partership with uh other agencies across the United States. But one of the things that we wanted to mark as well was progress. As we just noted, we started on a journey a new to really focus with laser-like focus on technology, looking uh at areas where we were strong, areas where we were weak. I can say this with absolute conviction. Uh we don't imitate, we're a model for others. We have people coming from all over the United States and around the globe to look at what California is doing in orbit, in the air, and on the ground.

[00:25:45]You heard from the chief, you heard from the director of OES some of the highlights. Uh last September, we launched that first satellite. We did launch that first damn satellite. Our own three additional satellites are up there. There'll be more uh shortly. We have partnerships across the spectrum from the department of war and Pentagon uh on early detection to partnerships uh as was noted by the OES director uh uh that are global some that were are taking shape. We have 31 international uh uh competitors now with a new prize that the Gordon Betty Moore Foundation put up in partnership with Calire uh to look at additional data collection to continue to stay a step ahead. We did just that with Technos, our first AI predictive technology that went through that RFI2 process that Wade was describing, which was this innovative sprint to procurement uh so that we could test technologies in real time and we didn't go through that multi-year labyrinth of RFQS, RFIs, and RFPs uh to delay the progress that obviously we are promoting. Uh one of the critical things uh that we also are mindful of is that it's also about people, not just technology. We have doubled the size of CalFire about 11,500 personnel just shy.

[00:27:04]Uh that's almost double when I got here.

[00:27:07]Uh our investments $3.8 billion um in the current budget was a little over two billion when I started. You asked where the money went. It went into personnel, went into equipment, went into the largest uh civilian aerial firefighting fleet in the world, the seven C130s, four that are operational, two more that will get done by the end of the calendar year. 17 Firehawks. When I got here, we weren't flying at night. We now are flying at night with the night technology. Uh that was determinative in some of the fights. Even in Southern California, it could have been even more catastrophic. Uh the work we're doing across the spectrum, including what you see here with the drones, is best-in-class. These drones, by the way, are drones that also highlight some of the progress we made on prescribed burns. Um people uh continue to have old talking points uh about California need to do more prescrib prescribed burns.

[00:28:00]Well, we've doubled the prescribed burns since 2021.

[00:28:04]We've 10xed and I'll remind you of this uh when inevitably the president of United States will put out a tweet saying otherwise. Let's get the facts straight before the lies are perpetrated. We've 10xed our vegetation and forest management. We fasttracked the efforts. That was what Wade just referenced. That first executive order I signed as governor of California in Kfax, California to fasttrack our vegetation and forest management so we didn't have to go through the labyrinth of a long winded ERRI process. We created a new dashboard. We exceeded our goals on completed and treated vegetation management. You can go to that dashboard today to see the inter agencies the inter agency inter agency collaboration from federal agents to state uh to private in terms of treated acres and completed acreage. 7 3.7 million 3.7 million now have been treated in the last number of years. And just to give you a proof point on the 10X, from $20 million a year in vegetation management and annual funding to 200 million and then unprecedented one-time investments that total $2.5 billion dollar just in the last number of years to quote unquote, yes, I'll say it, rake our force.

[00:29:22]Not lost on me that the president of United States has just imposed a 50% tariff to increase your costs. to increase your costs because he said that Canada didn't do enough to rake their forests. That was just promoted by the president yesterday. You can't make that up. Of course, not surprising here in California. Uh these talking points are getting exhausting. We continue to believe in science.

[00:29:51]We continue to believe in investments in human capital. Um, and innovation is at the core of who we are. The Firus, there's two of those planes, actually three. There's a backup plane. Those are best-in-class, went into full effect in 2020. Uh, that's an envy for people across the country. Uh, the Whitick work we're doing in terms of prediction, allows us to preposition assets the likes of which few jurisdictions in the country are able to do. So across the spectrum um I'm very proud of OES, very proud of CalFire. The artificial intelligence is not just on predictive technology like Technosila, but it's also as it relates to uh some of the work we're doing on the ground. It's part of that alert uh uh network of,60 cameras, 915 now are AI enabled. And as uh as Joe said, um we're getting phone calls not from people to 911 uh but we're getting alerted by those cameras and artificial intelligence before even one phone call is made. Yes, we want to see more investment in the technology, not just the deployment of the technology as it relates to drones and suppression. We continue to pilot uh different proposals and you know companies that are interested in this space. Uh most of it currently is for the built environment for the urban interface in some cities and some countries but not for the wildland. So we're continuing to test that technology. You may have seen on their uh website a few weeks ago some of that technology uh being depress tested. Uh we read about technologies around the globe. We make the phone calls. You've got an iron dome of sorts and we're interested in at least seeing if it works. But again, we're looking at scale here. 58% of the lands, I'll remind you in California or federal. So, it's all about partnership. We have just a very small percentage, less than 5% of all of the responsibility for forest management. But we do the job of the federal government in partnership through a memorandum of understanding and shared stewardship to do more uh to meet the needs uh that federal government is unable to meet. So across the spectrum real progress has been made unprecedented investments but technology has been at the forefront. And so that's what we wanted to underscore. And I'll say this on a personal basis because so often I hear fire people say well it's 21st century. I hope you know why aren't you investing in 21st century uh technology say we're doing it um and we we constantly have to remind people uh that this is a state uh that is on the cutting edge in terms of these tools uh but we also have humility in this space and we recognize good enough never is and we're constantly seeking out uh additional u partnerships and seeking out new technologies to continue to stay on the cutting edge. I'll end on this.

[00:32:57]Look, it's uh we're as dumb as we want to be. Um everything about the world we're living in, you know, get me started on, you know, seeding uh the future of the dominance and, you know, and in new technologies. We're speaking about new technologies as relates to alternatives to combustion engines.

[00:33:15]We're seeding that to China and it's about state craft for them. It's about dominating supply chains. It's about flooding the zones on tech stack, not just high quality vehicles around the globe. We double down on stupid and we roll back tailpipe emissions so we complete the planet more short termism.

[00:33:32]So we actually can exacerbate the very problem we're trying to mitigate and address. Doubling down on stupid and complete denialism that climate change is real as if there's a democratic thermometer and a Republican thermometer.

[00:33:45]We're just fundamentally have a different mindset. We believe in science but we also believe in our own eyes.

[00:33:52]I'll continue to remind people and not just in, you know, folks up there in Paradise, but Grizzly Flats, Greenville, and places wiped off the map, lifestyles, traditions impacted. It's about culture. It's about people. And it's also about the economy. You you climate risk is financial risk. You can't ensure it.

[00:34:13]And so I hope people start connecting dots not just to the fires, not just the acuity of the the crisis as it relates to the impacts we're feeling and the heat and the stress, but also to the economy to a geopolitical future where we don't have to be dependent on the a Gulf somewhere or straight somewhere else. Um, and we can truly have resilient supply chains. we could dominate on technology stacks, marimeade technology, and continue to diversify our energy flows at the same time addressing some of the need not to have to make these unprecedented investments on the back end, but to start to prevent the very thing that we're trying to address. So, forgive that editorial, but I feel it's appropriate at a time where we have $4 gas again nationally and we see $90 cost and barrel and we have a war of choice that seems quite literally endless. One of the worst mistakes uh in modern American history by presidents way out of his league, including on this subject that brings us together here today. With that, we're happy to answer any questions.

[00:35:56]Yeah, it's peril and promise that you're addressing at the same time. It's, you know, truth and trust. Um, and we've been trying to balance both. As you know, we're the first state in the nation to lead SP53 with regulating uh frontier models, large language models. Uh, we were um the first and we now are seeing other states, including just recently Illinois, taking it a step further.

[00:36:19]We've seen states like u uh New York follow's lead. I'm proud of that. We still need to do more. The Trump administration's approach is let it rip.

[00:36:28]um ours is a little bit more cautious same time we're trying to find that balance always striking that balance but also talking about its promise and promoting the promise of what AI is delivering in this space and across the spectrum as it relates to what is being promoted as it relates to solving the issues of you know ignorance as it relates to education poverty as it relates to uh creating more autonomy in terms of opportunities and uh and access to information and the tools that this technology promotes but also disease as it relates to the issue of health care uh in the breakthroughs that AI promises. So it's finding that balance continuing to promote both and uh also I should highlight also preparing for the worst case in the spirit uh of disaster response always preparing for the worstc case scenario and that was represented in an executive order I recently advanced as you know we're piloting programs uh to reform our warrant act which we just highlighted to uh create a new framework around unemployment insurance to pilot employment insurance to keep people employed employed uh to look at portable benefits to look at different strategies uh to address the anxieties around largecale job job displacement if that takes shape. No evidence at the moment that has taken shape. Uh but none of us are naive as it relates to the prospect that we may be one upgrade away from that presenting itself at scale and California wants to lead in that conversation and we are uh and that executive order is already taking shape with these pilots in place and we're hoping to scale some additional announcements or at least announce the scale of additional component parts of that executive order in the near future.

[00:38:28]Well, I I've said this on multiple occasions. You can't save democracy unless we democratize the economy.

[00:38:34]People need to have an ownership stake.

[00:38:36]Um, we put a stake in the ground years and years ago, about five and a half years ago. Uh, 5.5 million Californians are eligible for a college. uh and career savings account, the first in the nation. Uh Trump just recently uh modeled our program at the national level. Uh I applaud that work. We believe in university basic capital uh as opposed to university basic income as an approach, predistribution, not just redistribution in the vernacular of addressing some of the macro issues around wealth and income disparities. Um that predistribution we believe begins um as it relates to not only access to uh these accounts, but also funding the accounts beyond just the seed uh of the $ 1.9 billion we put in the program and the ongoing few hundred million uh that we continue uh to provide. And that's where we're looking at this notion uh of equity, sovereign wealth, uh looking to broaden access particularly as it relates to the abundance uh that we anticipate uh will take shape in the AI space and a lot of people now are talking about this and far-left Bernie Sanders now talking about this. Um even Donald Trump has talked about this uh and I think it's a very healthy conversation, a very healthy debate.

[00:39:55]People need to feel they have a stake in the future. Um otherwise more nihilism will take shape. And so I think this is foundational. We've set the foundation up. Uh we have created something that is unique in the nation. The nation is building off of that which is encouraging. We want to promote those accounts, federal accounts as we promote our accounts. Uh and then we want to promote this opportunity to start to get shares to start to get equity uh and share that abundance. Uh Sam Alman himself has talked about this at open AI. Uh we need to see more than rhetoric in this space. Uh we would like to see some real investment. Uh but again, this is an area of broadstroke agreement with the president and I'm encouraged the fact that he's having those conversations well with one eye open because he tends to have those conversations and he's looking to somehow pat his own nest and there's usually something corrupt that happens in those conversations that we have to be cautious about. But those nonetheless are important conversations to have. But I hope he has it with the kind of transparency that uh is worthy of that office.

[00:41:09]>> Sorry, Ashley. What's up?

[00:41:31]Yeah, I believe localism is determinative. It's a local planning decision and I think that's appropriate.

[00:41:35]I also think it's absolutely essential and appropriate that um these hyperscalers pay their fair share that they're funding the socialized costs upfront that any upgrades as relates to transmission is on their dime not the public's dime that the water consumption issues are substantively addressed and that any increase as it relates to utility bills is also addressed upfront.

[00:42:02]and that's local government's responsibility to negotiate those deals.

[00:42:05]Now, as it relates to California, these large um hyperscale data centers um have not been the dominant investment that we've seen over the last few decades in California. We tend to have different latency issues. We've tend to have data centers, hundreds that we have already installed in California that are much more modest in scale compared to some states like well the ones proposed in Utah, what's happening in Texas, what's happened where 25% of all the electricity consumption in the entire state of Virginia is taking shape. Uh we now have a few new projects that are more approximate to those larger uh scales uh notably in Imperial County that now have re-engaged a different conversation and and dialogue and we support um that dialectic.

[00:43:01]PUC has been directed through legislation that I signed a number of months ago to come out with recommendations to create statewide parameters and there are a number of bills in the legislature that are currently being debated in this space and uh we've taken a very flexible and non ideological approach to engaging legislative leaders uh on this issue. At the same time, uh, I fundamentally believe localism is determinative and the baseline should be contribution. If you're Microsoft, you can afford to make those contributions. You're Google, you can afford to make those contributions.

[00:43:37]And that should be the minimum table stakes as it relates to any of these hyperscalers making those kinds of investments.

[00:43:52]>> Yes. Have you been contacted by investigators yet?

[00:43:58]>> Nope. Yeah.

[00:44:01]>> No, it's inevitable.

[00:44:05]Come on.

[00:44:07]I mean, who we're dealing with?

[00:44:11]>> Oh, Anton will be hurt, but maybe he defers to you.

[00:44:17]>> I I mean, I think you have to choose.

[00:44:19]Just want to know. Of course, all of you.

[00:44:32]This is me publicly putting Joe on the spot. Two, by the end of the year, right, Joe? One, he knows for sure. And then I said, you know, I said, maybe I'll, you know, we'll try to delay the swearing in of the next governor until the sixth. Uh, but no, that I'm I'm I'm working on six. Five, I'm confident. I'm I'm just putting a lot of stress on him.

[00:44:53]But uh we've got seven, as you know, we had a delay. It was years and years of delay in the Pentagon and we decided enough was enough and we finally took the assets under our own um jurisdiction and finally we're moving these forward.

[00:45:05]And so I'm very proud of the work they've done to already get four of these things up with the CalFire logo.

[00:45:10]It's a point of pride. No other state can lay claim to that kind of investment. We'll get five by the end of the year for sure. And Joe thinks he can get to six depending uh how mild the wildfire season is. So he has time.

[00:45:33]Innesota >> uh it's a day that ends in a Y and why they're doing it's pure politics. You know that everybody knows it.

[00:45:48]It's ready fire aim. They didn't even assert. They said, "Well, something is wrong." We said, "What is it?" They said, "Well, we don't know. Provide us information." We said, "Is it the same information you requested a few months ago that we're in the process of providing that you said should be um uh sent to us by the end of July?" We said, "Well," they said, "Yes." Said, "Well, then what what's the point of the theater?" And you know exactly what the point was. Who did they who was their emphasis today? They didn't even know his name, but last name's Basera because they know he's a candidate for office in California. I mean, come on.

[00:46:24]This is exhausting.

[00:46:26]It's just it's uh I I've been I never seen anything like this. And so we'll work through the problem. We take fraud seriously. We don't politicize it like these guys. Always have. Open hand, not a closed fist. We've been working with them in good faith. They have issues with IHSS and our issue is why not IHSS?

[00:46:49]Uh we believe in keeping people at home, dignity in place is a way of not only helping community and families and seniors and those with disabilities, but also to save the taxpayers money. We have one of the lowest rates of growth in skilled nursing facilities, which saves the taxpayers. It cost about $100,000 more to have someone in a sniff than it does in home in home care. So we have emphasized and prioritized that space. They're emphasizing prioritizing two states on their hit list that has consistently been on their hit list. Um, but we nonetheless are working with them in the spirit that you deserve, which is a collaborative one and uh we are providing the information and have been and will continue to try to root out any corruption and fraud that uh we see. And if they see something we're not seeing, uh, we'll celebrate and applaud them. And none of us are naive about what's going on out there all across the country, uh, on their watch, not just our watch. And so we're we're we're uh going to maintain our vigilance, but that uh that press conference was pretty self-evident to anybody that was born with objectivity or at least maintains objectivity.

[00:48:21]you, them, us. Come on. Hey, look. I I'm a little I don't know if it's time of life or my state of mind. Um, but I'm deeply mindful that, you know, that we have a crisis, a lot of crisis in this country. One of them is cris crisis of loneliness, people not feeling connected. Um, I want people to come back to work, re-engage, rediscover, collaborate, coordinate, develop relationships, friendships, fall in love, you know, go down, build a sense of community, you know, support that, you know, poor sandwich shop, you know, where the immigrant family came here 20 years ago and, you know, put everything on the line for riches and new beginnings and They're barely holding on because everybody left. The downtown cores have been hollowed out.

[00:49:21]And all I'm asking for is you get three-day weekends, you still do. You know, four years ago that would have been a triumph. Now it's some burden. So respectfully, I I have a different point of view. I I believe it's as a taxpayer, you deserve it, but I also believe it's better for people and we make exceptions. If there's legitimate exceptions, we'll make them, but not blanket exceptions. I want to see people back at work. I want people re-engaged.

[00:49:52]You know, that's where that's where that's where magic happens. That's where creativity happens. With all due respect, nothing happened on Zoom. And Zoom's impressive, but you know, I don't know that the world's great breakthroughs have happened online.

[00:50:05]They tend to happen when people mash things up from different backgrounds and they come together and something sparks in the hallway, not during the meeting, in the conversation after work, you know, maybe walking in with that cup of coffee and spills on someone and all of a sudden a new relationship is formed.

[00:50:22]Um, that's my mindset. And so I know it's hard, but I don't think it's asking much. You get your three days. Give us the four and um and I think you're going to find something special on the other side. I really believe that. One of the best things that happened to our office is getting everybody back to work.

[00:50:42]People just seem happier again and more fulfilled. And to the extent that people need to be accommodated, we accommodate them. Um, and uh, again, I don't know what kind of world I'm living in, but I I don't know that that's some great burden. So, that's my humble opinion.

[00:50:57]Forgive me. I It's very um well defined because I haven't backed off on this in over a year, two years, and uh, I'm glad it's finally taking place.

[00:51:13]>> No, no, I I I it's not I don't that's not the way I think. Um, These are this is an organization representing these are people I've worked with done incredible work with these guys created the first childcare bargaining unit in the nation you know we we provided $25 minimum wage um for healthcare workers 20 for fast food work with this same union HSS you know other workers in that same union so we great partnership it's not you know they're not sparring partners they're working partners I just want to see people working again and and u I I don't know that it's too much to ask. And look, I got a sell by date. So, you know, we'll see what the next administration thinks.

[00:51:56]And I hope uh they they hold well, stay the course.

[00:52:24]Yeah. And well, we're we're working with the legislature to make it a felony to interfere with the election count. And I have no expectation. We're not I mean, look, Donald Trump's going to do everything to try to steal this election. He was unhinged the other night. That was 25th amendment stuff.

[00:52:41]He was unhinged.

[00:52:43]I mean, thank God for the, you know, broken clock, but even the Wall Street Journal editorial board, the New York Post even recognized that, which is extraordinary.

[00:52:53]Uh, he was unhinged, unfounded allegations of election fraud.

[00:52:59]It's madness. But he's setting it up.

[00:53:01]He's he's setting you all up. You know what he's doing? He's doing it in plain sight. He's socializing all of this to normalize all of this. And he's going to have masked men in masked men in and around polling places just as he did in Los Angeles last November. Bortac teams that were sent out before the polls were open. Border Patrol tactical units. He said on that same election day that the election was rigged. No evidence of that. Sent out department of justice personnel to find out to find something anomaly and then went to the tried to get to the Supreme Court to throw out the election. This guy's not screwing around. That's what he will do this November at scale. He doesn't believe in fair and free elections. He believes only in competitive authoritarianism. He wants to have an election, but he wants the election that Putin has where he gets 87.3%.

[00:53:48]The next guy gets 4.6%.

[00:53:50]That's what Trump believes. He doesn't believe in fair and freely doesn't.

[00:53:55]That's what the save that's what it's all about. Wants to pick and choose who votes.

[00:54:01]So, you know, we have to be vigilant.

[00:54:03]This is the same guy that did vote by mail. I mean, this this is pathetic that anyone is defending the ramblings of this madness, this mad man on this topic. It's the core of who we are. Fair and free elections.

[00:54:19]He's doing everything to undermine that.

[00:54:20]So, we we're we're going to be forthright, vigilant, continue to call this out. Shirley Weber is tough and uh she's you know it's it can be slow and painful. Yes, our counts, but we believe every vote counts and we want to make sure every vote was counted appropriately, which means we're verifying signatures. We have a process that's well defined. I want to improve that process. We want to continue work with the legislature to fasttrack that process. Absolutely. In fact, I passed legislation or we passed legislation a year ago. I signed it to compel those counts to come in faster. We want it still faster. Um and um and that's resources and so working with the legislature on providing additional resources to the counties uh to move forward uh more expeditiously which is absolutely appropriate. Um but uh but this is a a serious moment. We have a malignant president and uh when it comes to these issues and uh and all of us need to be on guard at peril we lose our republic.

[00:55:44]I was uh debating Orwell versus Huxley today and Haxman's version of Huxley's work around authoritarianism coming through fear or authoritarianism coming through pleasure in relationship to artificial intelligence. I'm connecting a few dots here um at least in the contemporary terms that I was debating it today. Um, as it relates to Animal Farm, I haven't really thought that through, but I appreciate your reference. Um, and uh, I have to I'll have to consider that more fully to give you more honest response.

[00:56:20]I was an old cliffnotee guy. I don't use cliff notes anymore. I use Claude.

[00:56:49]Well, it's completely naive because Ashley's been there at four press conferences during the budgets and has asked me what's my position on billionaire's tax. I say we have we should have a national debate for years and years before you got up here. So you should rewind the tape on that. I've been very consistent on this and I believe it's a race to the bottom at states. We're competing with other states. Wake up. And so you can't tax something that's left. I mean I you know forgive me I governor of the state of California. Have a fiduciary responsibility moral formal role and responsibility relationship to the state. And you know this I read the I I made a mistake maybe because maybe most folks it's just virtue signaling. It's easier not to know claim ignorance. that actually read the initiative, actually know what it does, by the way. So did the teachers. So did our firefighters that oppose it. Not just me. Teachers oppose it. Firefighters oppose it.

[00:57:43]Overwhelming majority of labor opposes the billionaire's tax in California.

[00:57:48]Many of them share the same point of view I have as it relates to a tax system that, you know, is, you know, like a tribute system to the rich that needs to be reformed federally.

[00:58:00]Donald Trump did tremendous damage with the big beautiful bill and you know he saddled the debt issues are just they're just outsized under the Trump administration. You know, forgive me, spare me the morality about balanced budgets. Look at the Trump administrations and what this guy did with the tax system for billionaires and now trillionaires. Didn't even ask for a tax cut. Got it. You know, we got $124 trillion dollars of generational wealth that's going to pass over the next few decades. A lot of it's going to be passing tax-free.

[00:58:36]That's not what our founding fathers lived and died for. You have these lifestyle loans. People can borrow against their assets without ever paying taxes and buy yachts and airplanes and, you know, hangers like this. That needs to be reformed. Our tax code fundamentally needs to be reformed. I do believe there should be progressive taxes at the federal level. I believe in a progressive tax system. We defend it here. Unlike states like Texas and Florida that tax their lowest wage earners more than we tax our highest wage earners, those are the high tax states. They can't get their arms around that.

[00:59:11]Not everyone's in the 1%.

[00:59:14]Folks out there defending the 1% don't seem to give a damn about 99% of you.

[00:59:20]I believe in a progressive tax system and I believe that we need a progressive tax rate at the federal level. I believe what Warren Buffett said when he said that he should not be paying less taxes than his secretary. I don't know that people that you read your publication believe that, which is jaw-dropping to me. It's actually extraordinary. They care more about folks with that kind of abundance, less about folks that are like themselves that are hardworking people. You know, that that's why I feel when people say it's a rigged system, it starts to feel pretty rigged in that context. You know, getting a write off for your private plane.

[01:00:01]Saddling our kids and grandkids with unbelievable debt so that interest on the debt is one of the most significant contributors to the budget. not investments and lowcarbon green growth or fire suppression. I mean, it's honestly, you know, it's Orwellian.

[01:00:22]And so, we'll just keep calling it out and uh and I'll keep trying to do my job and uh but but on this issue, I've been consistent for years and years and years and years. And that's all I can say in response to your question.

[01:00:39]I'm sorry. What's that?

[01:00:48]>> Well, it's just a We don't know what they're they said they're withholding it. 867.5, I think. Uh, may but we knew this weeks ago because we've been working with them, but they decided again to make it a thing. Uh and um so I'm confident we're gonna I mean again we're we're trying to be collaborative.

[01:01:10]Um understand you know it's again it's ready fire aim for them. Um they're they're suggesting something um but they haven't even gotten the response from the state and now they're suggesting it very publicly in order to make this is politics and you know it's politics. to the extent it's substantive. Bring it on. We want to work with them, but but not with the BS, not the not this, you know, just this partisanship. And that's what it is. And you know it. Everyone knows it. But we take the issues very seriously. I don't want any of my I taxpayer. I can't stand I don't like w none of us likes waste fraud. Come on. The fraud is the Trump administration.

[01:01:58]The waste is the jaw-dropping abuse to the taxpayers of these, you know, this failed war in Iran.

[01:02:06]You want to talk about waste, fraud, and abuse.

[01:02:10]And this is legendary status, hall of fame, oneofone status, Trump administration on waste.

[01:02:20]Look at the Pentagon supplemental request and fraud. the Great Grift, theQatari plane. That includes almost a billion dollars of your taxpayer money.

[01:02:31]A billion dollars, by the way, almost the exact same amount they withheld on Medicaid in California to go to pay for his private plane that he'll be taking with him to the foundation when he leaves that can't even fly because it's not even safe.

[01:02:48]The drone companies, the boys are invested in the mineral companies, the boys are invested in the sole source contracts from the Department of War that were directed to the family, the Witco family, the Kushner family, the board of peace, which is about getting a piece of the Middle East. What's the tariffs have to do? Canada tariffs.

[01:03:09]That's there's going to be some grift in that just like there was grift in the tariff relief in Vietnam in order to get the golf course in order to get the building constructed.

[01:03:21]When am I coming out with my mean coin stable coin?

[01:03:30]2.2 billion dollar of net income.

[01:03:36]Talk to me about waste. Talk about fraud.

[01:03:40]Talk about abuse.

[01:03:43]Look in the mirror, Mr. President. Thank you guys.