myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
SPECIAL: Nick Schultz Resigns From Burbank City Council to be Sworn in for California Assembly
What's the true cost of political ambition? Join us for an engaging conversation with special guest Nick Schultz as he shares his journey from Burbank City Council to the California State Assembly. Nick candidly discusses the legal obligations that necessitated his resignation and the seamless transition of responsibilities to Vice Mayor Nikki Perez and council member-elect Chris Rizzotti. He reflects on his achievements, challenges, and the invaluable support from Burbank voters, offering insights into the weighty decisions and personal sacrifices involved in public service.
Peek behind the curtains of legislative staffing and Capitol operations with a detailed overview of the inner workings of a legislative team. As Nick prepares for his new role, we explore the critical roles within his legislative staff and how resources are strategically allocated. From Capitol tours to maintaining a strong district presence despite frequent travel, listeners will uncover the complexities of balancing local commitments with state responsibilities. Discover how these logistical challenges are met with strategic planning and resourcefulness.
Nick also reflects on his proudest accomplishments during his tenure in local government, including navigating the tumultuous COVID-19 pandemic and spearheading initiatives for economic recovery. With a focus on diversity and fresh perspectives in government, this episode encourages new candidates to step forward with innovative ideas. As Nick transitions to the state level, he emphasizes the importance of understanding the broader impact of state policies on local communities, sharing his aspirations for committee assignments and addressing constituent concerns with urgency and dedication.
From deep in the Burbank Media District. It's time for another edition of my Burbank Talks, presented by the staff of my Burbank. Now let's see what's on today's agenda as we join our program. Hello Burbank, craig Schubert here once again Today. We've got a very serious show. We have some breaking news.
Speaker 2:Oh, is that supposed to be breaking? Oh, no, where's the bottle I get to break?
Speaker 1:That's right. I'm here along with Ross Benson, and we do have breaking news for you Our mayor, nick Schultz, has resigned from the Burbank City Council. Now let's get into this a little bit. Number one it's not a bad thing, okay. He's being forced to resign because of his assembly responsibilities. So what we did was we brought him right in the studio here so he can talk to you and tell you all about it. Assembly member Schultz, good to have you here with us.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you. Thank you guys very much for having me. Yes, this is the first exclusive since the news broke, and so you guys are the first people that I wanted to share it with, and I just want to thank my Burbank for always being not only a great source of news for our community, but for giving me this platform, and so I hope in our time together today, I can answer some of those questions that I'm sure the community is asking.
Speaker 1:So let's get into the. So you kind of have to do this for different reasons. We'll get into those reasons in a second, but let's talk about the process first. When do you officially resign your seat and what happens once your seat is now vacant and we now have four council members until you swear in our new council member.
Speaker 3:So today is Thursday, november 21st. You're all hearing this news for the first time. My resignation will be effective, meaning I will leave the position of mayor and as council member for the city of Burbank on at noon on Monday, november 25th, so in a matter of a few days. The process is relatively simple. I have submitted a letter to our city manager, justin Hess. It's now on file as part of city record and so at that time I will be stepping down and, in my absence, our vice mayor, nikki Perez, while she will remain vice mayor until the reorganization, she will assume all of the job, duties and responsibilities and, for all intents and purposes, will be our acting mayor from now to the 16th. And, in case you're wondering, after, of course, talking with my family about it and Justin Hess, she was my first call and I just want to thank the vice mayor for, you know, offering not only her support but stepping up to lead Burbank in this time of transition.
Speaker 1:Now there's, I'm not sure. Is there a council meeting between now and the reorganization meeting?
Speaker 3:There's two. So we have Tuesday, november 26th, and then the council is on break for Thanksgiving until Tuesday, december 10th. So for those two meetings we will have four council members. The vice mayor will be chairing the meeting, as I would, and acting in my place, but we have a full council. We still have business to tend to and I also just want to, while I'm obviously thanking the vice mayor for performing a lot of the ceremonial duties, I also want to mention that I've talked to all of my colleagues at this point and I want to thank all of them. They're all going to be stepping up to have an expanded role in these couple of weeks to make sure that the community is served and that we are out there and we are visible.
Speaker 1:So now it really it really hasn't happened. But if a vote comes up and it's two to two um, does that mean it would probably get held over until the new council is?
Speaker 2:then they're going to call us to vote.
Speaker 1:Oh, believe me, I have an opinion. Whatever it is, I have an opinion.
Speaker 3:So the short answer? The short answer, craig, is yes. If there's a vote that's tied, it would be held over. We have incoming council member elect Chris Rizzotti, who will be on the council the 16th. Congratulations again, chris. But I will say that this is not. This is not Nick Schultz leaving Burbank in a lurch, justin and Jonathan Kimberly. Joe, we've known about this possibility for quite some time. So, when you look at the agenda forecast for the 26th as well as December 10th, we feel confident that what you will find are agenda items that, while important and worthy of substantial discussion, all of them are capable of achieving a majority, even with a four-member council. So we're optimistic.
Speaker 1:There have been very few, even three to two votes Very few, so I'm not really worried about that, but you know it's a possibility. So let's talk about why this is occurring. What is the reason that you have to kind of do this? I understand the governor is calling the assembly and the state senate together to work on some things. So what did you find out about this and what are the reasonings behind it all?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So before we go on, I just want to thank all of the voters in Burbank, whether you voted for me or not. I'm just grateful to have been on the ballot and I look forward to serving everyone. So let me talk a little bit about what's expected of me and how that impacts the end of my tenure on Burbank City Council. So first thing you have to know is that the California state constitution is very clear the first Monday in December at noon, the entire legislature is sworn in. So at noon on Monday, december 2nd, I am sworn in as your next assembly member and I immediately start on that job. Now, that's a non-negotiable date. So I have to start that day, and so that obviously is much sooner than December 16th when our reorganization meeting would be. And under California state law you can't hold two offices at once law you can't hold two offices at once. So by accepting that appointment, by being sworn into the state capitol in the state legislature, I, by operation of law, lose my seat on the Burbank City Council.
Speaker 3:Now the second part of the question was okay. But why now? Why November 25th? Well, obviously this decision was made in close consultation with our staff, the city manager. Obviously, this decision was made in close consultation with our staff, the city manager, my family, the vice mayor, of course, who will be taking over. It's really twofold. I knew this time was coming and I didn't want to resign at any earlier point. You know at this, at this point, you know this.
Speaker 3:Last Tuesday we had a really important meeting. A lot of great items discussed and I wanted to be there for that. But I also have to balance to your point, craig, the fact that Governor Newsom has called a special session. Just a really quick backstory on this. The legislature normally convenes that Monday in December. Everyone's sworn in and they go home. That's it until January.
Speaker 3:That's obviously not the case this year. Governor Newsom is concerned about impacts on California, with the Trump administration coming soon back into power, and so he's convened the legislature to look at ways that we can safeguard California and preserve our way of life against a federal government that may have different values and different priorities. So my mind has not really been there in these last weeks. I've been focused on doing the job of mayor. But I made the decision to resign Monday at noon, exactly one week prior to being sworn in, exactly one week prior to that special session so that I have time to continue assembling my team legislative director, just to start with. And we have bills. I already have a first bill idea that I I don't want to share quite yet because it's still in formation, um, but there are already bill ideas that we're going to spend this upcoming week putting together so that we can hit the ground running and do everything that we can to protect California.
Speaker 1:Maybe people don't know, but when you become on Burbank city Council basically Justin Hess he picks your staff and the city staff that works with the council and everybody else. But now, being we're going assembly, it's up to you now to pick your own staff. And how many staff members do you get? And you hire these people, you decide who they are and, of course, the state pays for it all and everything else. You don't pay for them. But how do you? What are you looking for in staff members? Can anybody you know give you a call and say, hey, I'd love to interview for your staff, or how's that all go about?
Speaker 3:That is a phenomenal question. So, yes, unlike the city of Burbank, where the whole council shares all the staff and really everybody works for Justin minus Joe McDougal, um, with our, with ours it's a little bit different. I hire a chief of staff and in addition to the chief of staff, um, you're going to have a legislative director who's going to be your point person on crafting and moving your bills through the assembly and then through the Senate and hopefully onto the governor's desk. You're going to have a scheduler. You're going to have one and hopefully several legislative aides who are there in the committee hearings, advocating for your bills, taking notes. Obviously, most of the heavy lifting you have to do is the member, but you still have a team in the Capitol to help you move your bills through. Then you also have your district team. So you typically have a district director who is your, for all intents and purposes, voice and face in the off in the district when you're not here, and you have a couple of field reps that are out there representing you at ribbon cutting, speaking on your behalf at council meetings, chamber of commerce meetings and doing the important work of addressing constituents' concerns. So, all told, the number depends on your seniority. But what we're being told at this early juncture is that the freshman members, including myself, will have seven staff members four in the capital, three in the district. That can obviously go a little up or down depending on if you've been given a committee assignment.
Speaker 3:If you're chairing a major committee, you may have more resources. And last thing, craig, anybody can apply. We have an open hiring process. So if you're interested in being district director or field representative, you can go to the assembly web page after December 2nd. You'll see all the jobs postings there. You can also reach out to me directly. I'm just going to refer you to my chief of staff, but you're welcome to submit your resume and we will consider anyone who wants to work. Have you picked a chief of staff yet? I have designated a chief of staff. Her name is Allison Fantastic.
Speaker 2:Ross Well, we'll probably be dealing with Allison quite a bit. Ross, well, we'll probably be dealing with allison quite a bit. Um, you should uh, she should know, uh, myburbankcom is uh where you had trails and and uh did many podcasts in our studio and we did many ribbon cuttings together. So we did. Hopefully you might be uh down, uh here, uh, and attend a couple of ribbon cuttings yourself. I'm gonna have to write a whole new script when I, you know, we do a ribbon cutting introducing everybody. I'm gonna have to know everybody's new name. I mean it's gonna throw me off, but uh, you're, you're busy well, I and you know.
Speaker 3:One thing you're hinting on is you know, how much should people expect to see of me? I think more more than they might suspect. So look, we're in Burbank we often talk about on this podcast. It's the best little airport there is around. I live a whole eight minutes from it, which is great. So my plan except for those weeks when we're really in deep budget discussions I plan to go up Monday morning, be back Tuesday late afternoon or evening so I can put the kids to bed, maybe make a guest appearance at a council meeting, stop by a ribbon cutting Ross, and then I'll fly back up to the Capitol Wednesday morning and stay the night and come back Thursday. So it's a lot of airtime. But look, I could spend all that time in a hotel room by myself, or I could be sleeping in my own bed in my district. That's what I'm going to choose to do.
Speaker 1:Do they give you room and board while you're there? I mean you have to pay for your own hotel room, or is that? Is there a perk that you have a place to stay up there?
Speaker 3:So yeah so. So they give you in addition to your salary. They give you per diem. So every day that you're in the Capitol, at least for some part of the day, they do give you a set of money. It is there to help pay for your travel, to pay for your hotel, to reimburse you for food. You know different legislators do different things. Some rent a room, I mean. Some buy, although that's much harder to do these days. I mean, having one mortgage is hard enough. Having to, um, you know, god bless you. If you can, I will probably stay at you know, either the Sheridan or the residence in up there. Um, look, my, my job is, when I'm there I want to be in the Capitol doing the work, and when I don't have to be, I want to be back in district with my family, with all of you. So renting and buying is not really on my radar.
Speaker 1:I think even plane fare. They'll give you some plane fare, but you're talking about so much back and forth. A lot of them will come out of your pocket, isn't it?
Speaker 3:It is so. They will pay for two plane flights a week. So they will pay for you to go up Monday and back Thursday. If you want to come back midweek, you can obviously use your own funds to do that. They will pay. It's a reimbursement, it's the per diem I was talking about. But they will pay for your hotel room. As long as you're not staying anywhere extravagant, it should be enough to cover it.
Speaker 1:There's a five-star hotels in Sacramento are there.
Speaker 2:Well, no, I just I don't want to see any footage of you know downtown Sacramento and him living in a motor home in Winnebago. You know.
Speaker 3:I'll be okay, I'll be no, I'll be just fine. Um, and then you know, you have, you have the the the Capitol up there. I will say if any of your listeners are ever um coming to Sacramento, or they got a class coming to Sacramento, or their niece, their nephew, their grandkid um, reach out to me. I'm always happy to arrange a special tour of the Capitol. We have uh a park, historians that can walk and share a great deal of history about not just the assembly but the Senate and the historic governor's office and the historic treasurer's office, um, and then my uh office will be just across the street in what we call the swing space, so that's where I'll be working uh most my time, uh, when I'm not on the floor of the assembly taking a vote well, craig, wasn't, uh, mayor schultz, one of our first.
Speaker 2:Take the podcast on the road show in a burbank bus.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm just easy now. Easy now, easy now.
Speaker 3:I mean I see where you're going and you know what never know any any time you want to come up to sacramento. One, one fun fact. One fact I'll just quickly say um, one of the questions I've heard so far, for those who even watch the legislature, is why is everything in the assembly green and everything in the Senate is the color red? It's actually modeled after British Parliament. So the green is the House of Commons, it's the House of Everyday People, the assembly, and that's why you see the people's president, abraham Lincoln, hanging over the rostrum, which is where the speaker sits. Compare that to the Senate, where you have George Washington. It's much like the House of Lords in Parliament. So there's a lot of history, I mean really.
Speaker 1:I've never heard that before. That's very fascinating.
Speaker 2:Now do you have?
Speaker 3:to go buy new wardrobe too. I might update, because I'll be wearing suits a lot, but no same wardrobe, same suit and tie or a suit.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, all those mean wow, let's let's talk about your, your district office.
Speaker 1:Now you're allowed one district office in your district somewhere, and I'm hoping that Burbank will. We're going to be staying home.
Speaker 3:Yes, we're going to be staying put in the district office that Laura Friedman currently occupies, that Mike Gatto and Paul Krikorian occupied before. We'll be right there, so we're not moving. We're going to have, you know at least, out the gate a district director and two field reps hopefully more if I can secure more funding from the speaker, but you're going to see us out there right away. I already have a bunch of ideas for some early events. We have to talk about whether we want to do a community swearing in in January so people can be part of that. But we really want to get past. I at this point, just me. I suppose the pomp and circumstance is appreciated, but I know that people did not elect me to put pat myself on the back. There are real problems we need to solve, so we want to get to work right away solving those problems.
Speaker 1:Well, when we talk about solving those problems, I'm sure we kind of keep me lit on what you want to kind of propose. But we'll get into that downline. Of course. You know you're going to be invited to come do a whole podcast during the year to talk about what's going on in the assembly and what's going on in the future, we'll have to change that thing.
Speaker 2:At the bottom, craig, it says Assembly Member D Nick Schultz.
Speaker 3:Yep, there you go.
Speaker 3:Well, on that note, I will say uh, look it's. Um, it was a we've said this so many times on this podcast but it was a bittersweet decision to run. But I know I can do good in serving Burbank, moving forward, and I'm really going to be filled with pride every time on the floor, because you know, they never refer to us by name, right? It's always going to be the assembly member from somewhere, and so every time, whether they're agreeing with me or not that they say the assembly member from Burbank, I'm going to be really filled with pride and I'm always going to remember that I represent my home and I'm never going to lose sight of that when I'm standing on the floor of the assembly.
Speaker 1:Well, let's talk a little about since we have you here and you now are leaving us as a city council member. Let's talk about your four years on the council. Let's talk about, once again, you kind of came out of nowhere a little bit too, you know and got elected and made it your own to a point. What, in the four years and you started during the pandemic, which you know it was in itself, you know, stressful times. So what happened in the four years that you think you really, that you left your mark on? You always say leave it better than you found it right, yeah, so what have you done to leave Burbank better, you think? And what are you proud of? What accomplishments are you?
Speaker 3:proud of Let me start with the last end of that question I'm proud of Let me start with the last end of that question. I'm proud of the work that we've all done together, and you heard me talk a little bit about this at the state of the city, but this is, as much as it may be, my success. All of my colleagues, past and present, own this accomplishment, as does our staff, as do you guys, everyone in the community. We all did it together. We we survived a once in a lifetime pandemic. We reopened our local economy and we still lost way too many businesses. I mean, we didn't. I'm not saying there wasn't pain, but we came out of it and our economy is thriving. It could be better, Absolutely, but we survived it better than many communities.
Speaker 3:City budget, which was unheard of in the years prior to the pandemic and leading up to it. We have seen decreases in violent crime under Chief Albanese and our stellar Burbank Police Department. We have the best response times in the region from our fire and EMS services. We offer better city programming than anyone around. Just ask Marissa Garcia and our Parks and Rec team. Homeless homelessness is down for the third consecutive year. You know we passed a landmark greenhouse gas reduction plan. We have an economic development strategy that's going to look at local incentives to keep animation and other industry jobs here. You know we entitled more units of housing in four years than we had in the prior 20 combined. I could go on and on, but I think that when you look back at the last four years, even despite the historic challenges that we faced, we have done more to move Burbank forward into this new century in these four years than I certainly thought was possible.
Speaker 3:And you know, I guess what I would say is on a very personal level. I don't think I've made not every vote's been right. I haven't done everything perfectly, but I hope that maybe in one way I shifted the paradigm in Burbank just a little bit, because I think before my election even with Constantine Anthony you know he had run before people knew what he was A lot of folks didn't feel that I had any business running in 2020. And I and I and I accept that of folks didn't feel that I had any business running in 2020. And I and I and I accept that.
Speaker 3:But I appreciated the way that this community, once I was elected, embraced me and gave me a chance and helped me grow and learn, and I think that in any, if there's anything I hope that we learn from all this, it's that sometimes it's the people that you don't know, that aren't necessarily part of the establishment, that haven't been around Um, they can still be really incredible people with good ideas, and I think that's what we need in government right now Hardworking people that are creative, that are willing to think outside the box, that understand what it means to be a public servant and the fact that we just finished an election and saw a bunch of first time people running I like to think in some small way, maybe they ran because they thought, well, if he could do it, I can too, and I think our government's better because of that.
Speaker 1:I know Ross has questions for you also. I'm going to give you one more follow-up on that, though. What was the because you've never been in public office before? What was the thing for four years in public office that you really didn't expect and that you know was you kind of had to adjust to, and I mean, was it everything you thought it was going to be or was like, oh, you know, I never thought about that.
Speaker 3:It was everything I thought it would be, and then some, all positive, really, I mean. I think what I would say was challenging, though, is that in any other context, you know you're working at a company you're working for, in my case at department of justice you do your job, you do it well, but ultimately it's someone else. You know, I, I do the best job I can for my boss and at the end of the day, it's above my pay grade, so to speak. Right, we all know that. Saying well, not in public office, I mean, at the end of the day, you are faced with impossible decisions. Sometimes they're lose, lose decisions.
Speaker 3:Um, you know and I think that that was the hardest thing to grapple with is, sometimes you can't make a decision that makes everyone happy. All you can do is do what you think is best for your community, whether the public agrees with you right now or not, and I think that that is always. The hardest thing to learn in this job is that we're all imperfect and we're going to make mistakes, but if you can go to bed at night knowing that you did what you thought was truly right and in the best interest of your community, you know, then, whatever the consequences, even if you get tossed out of office because people don't care for your vote, if you think it was the right thing and you can sleep well at night, that's all anyone should expect of you in this job. Just do the right thing.
Speaker 2:So true, you know I made many comments. I know, being an attorney, you read things differently, you studied things differently. And I will say, craig and I have both watched city council for many, many years. We haven't had an attorney sit on the dais, I think, since bob bound or, uh, or uh, george batty, um, you know, I mean we're going back, vince stefano, um, and it's a hard job sitting up there. You know, like you said, I remember Craig and I both watched council a couple nights where you had to put your foot down, people were calling you some pretty ugly stuff, but at the end of the day, like you said, we might not agree, right, but we got to have that conversation. You and I'm we're craig and I are of the same school.
Speaker 2:Government just works slowly, right, you know you call and it takes weeks to get something done permits anything quite a few things here in burbank which you experienced, but I'm finding we're now moving into this phaser, this light speed ahead. Things are getting done. You know, look at our homelessness. I know that was one of the things you have said. You know if you could say to your kids you know, when they grow up, look at Burbank and see what we have done. I mean, some of the things that the council has decided on aren't easy tasks. You know there's so many Craig and I could probably list, but I will say having an attorney on the dais you have done, because you know a lot of people don't know what you do for a living. You know you were attorney general living. You were attorney general. I worked for Bob Banta.
Speaker 1:And you just had to resign that position also.
Speaker 3:Great question. Yes, so I am also resigning that position this week.
Speaker 2:How long have you been with?
Speaker 3:I was hired by Kamala Harris in March of 2016. So it's been wow, eight years. Come to think of it, eight years I've been with Department of Justice. So I worked under her, I worked under Javier Becerra, now Rob Bonta, but obviously I can't work for him if I need to also be funding his department and holding him accountable. So, yeah, it's a change.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know. So this leap, this change for you, you got two toddlers, you know I mean everything that you get to juggle, but I will say probably having, you know, a wife as an attorney. You still can bounce stuff back and forth, but on the dais for Burbank, I've listened to you, you know talk on many, many items and you've been real fair, you know, and I will say our council, greg and I have listened to council for years and I mean I remember back in the day when Jarvey Gilbert would take his hearing aid off and put it on the dais and he was out to lunch. He could have gone, you know, fallen asleep, but I remember working on campaigns for jarvey gilbert and you know he'd take that hearing aid off and forget it. You're not going to get a vote out of this guy for nothing.
Speaker 2:But you know we've had some more recent councils that I wish they were wearing hearing aids. You know they didn't get a lot done and you look at some things that have been passed in the past. They kicked the can, you know, or pensions and a lot of things. You did get quite a bit done the years that you have sat on council and I think people going into your new adventure looking at Burbank. I think you'll do a great job at that, that's for sure.
Speaker 3:Well, I really appreciate that, guys.
Speaker 3:And you know I just want to emphasize again I was very lucky along the way to have a really fantastic city manager, excellent city staff, even my colleagues, to be able to walk in and learn from Jess Talamantes and Bob Frutos and Sharon Springer, who had served in really trying times.
Speaker 3:You know, I guess what I would say is it's kind of what you said at the top of the hour, craig I just wanted to leave Burbank better than I found it. Not that we don't still have problems and you know I wish Chris the best of luck in his new role and there's plenty of work for the Burbank city council to still do but I I can look back at the last four years and say I do think I'm leaving it better than I found it, and that's, I guess that would be my unsolicited advice to Constantine, nikki, tamela Zazette and now Chris. I wish for all four, all five of you, the exact same thing that when your time's done you can look back and say I wasn't perfect, I didn't solve everything. Maybe I set out to do, but on the whole, burbank's moving in the right direction and it's better than it was four years ago.
Speaker 1:I think there were times that you were, as a council member, caught off guard by some of those state policies that came through. Oh sure, and I think, having a member from Burbank up there, you're going to be able to come down here and talk to our council in advance saying, hey, this is going to pass, yeah, and you need to start making preparations for it to either protect the Ranto district or whatever it's going to be. Yeah, but you need to understand this is going to happen, so let's get ahead of it now.
Speaker 3:That. And I also think that when we're talking about, say, housing legislation in the Capitol, I can also tell the Burbank story and say look, this sounds like a great idea if you live in San Francisco, but let me tell you about my community and how it impacts more suburban neighborhood in Burbank as compared to, you know, somewhere in the city of San Francisco. That's where I think I can also be a good advocate. But but you're right, I mean I am one of 80, I need at least 40 other votes to make anything happen. So you know I can advocate for Burbank and I can bring information back so that Burbank is prepared and ready and understands you know what it can do and I will say that's where I think our government works the best. Um, we understands what it can do and I will say that's where I think our government works the best.
Speaker 3:We are not in separate silos. I have relationships and friendships and connections with not just our staff but with our city council. Those don't go away just because I'm spending part time in the capital. So when there's a bill coming up that I think could impact Burbank water and power I'm going to call Mandeep Samra when I think that there is a potential solution that could impact Burbank's approach to homelessness. I might call her vice mayor and I'll also call Patrick Prescott and his team with community development. Um, these Burbank's going to continue to be a real source of support and inspiration for the work that I do, and so, like we said almost two years ago when I announced I was running, I view this as a continuation maybe at a slightly different level and harsher environment and tougher circumstances, but it's a continuation of my love and service to this really amazing city we all call home you're also.
Speaker 1:Basically you've got a promotion from city council to assembly, but now, at leaving the attorney general's office, you're going to be taking a decrease in pay now, because I guarantee you that probably does not pay what a lawyer makes Now. Are you still going to remain a lawyer? Do you have a certification? Do you keep that up? Do you plan to keep that up? What's the plan with your status as a certification? Do you keep that up? Do you plan to keep that up? What, what? What's the plan with your, your status as a?
Speaker 3:lawyer.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um, I'm going to keep my certification as a lawyer, for for two reasons, um, first and foremost, I worked really hard for it and also there is continuing legal education that you have to do to keep your license.
Speaker 3:And I I always think there's more that I can learn, and so I want to continue to be a student and to learn and to get better at my craft. And then look, there may come a day whether because of retirement or maybe the voters don't like the direction I'm going I may not serve in the assembly forever. I know I won't serve more than 12 years because that's the term limit. So what I do after that, you know, I very well may find myself returning to the practice of law. You know a lot of people have asked me like, what next after assembly? I'm really not thinking that far. I have a mountain of work to do over the next 12 years to get California ready for this century. If I've done all that, I might find myself ready to come home and be a little bit more with my family, and I'm going to keep my law license, just in case, okay.
Speaker 1:Well.
Speaker 2:I just uh, yeah, you, you got to think down that road.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, like you said, you uh went to live schooling to become a lawyer and you got to be able to. Uh, you got to stay current with that because you're going to have to you know those debates with your wife, who's also an attorney. You're going to have to win some of those battles.
Speaker 3:You know one thing, since it says this will be my last time on the podcast, at least until I'm back as a member, assembly member a lot of folks have, you know, pointed to different people in the community saying you know how has Nick been so successful? And, yes, blake Dellinger was a great campaign manager and Nikki Perez has been a wonderful co-governing partner on council. But people don't talk nearly enough about my wife. Allie is brilliant in her own right. She's got insights into not only the entertainment industry but being a working mom. She is every bit the at-home chief of staff that I never had on council.
Speaker 3:That I will very much enjoy in the assembly and I can tell you every idea that I brought into the dais, every argument I've made nothing is not vetted through Allie she is. So you know you heard me talk about it in State of the City A lot of what we've done over the last four years. You'll never see her name anywhere. But Allie Schultz has a lot of fingerprints on what's gone well, I think, in the city of Burbank and you know I always say she should run for office one day and she says no, no, no, I enjoy my life way too much to do that.
Speaker 1:Well, what a show. Yeah, I got one last question for you too, just because you know what. I've never paid attention much to the Assembly or the Senate of California. I really haven't. I'm focused Burbank all the time, absolutely. Now, with you up there, you know I need to continue to learn and be educated. So how does it work with the committee assignments or the chair committee? Have you been talked to yet about which committees you might be? Do they assign you? Do you apply? How does that work? Are there committees that you'd like to be beyond? And when you go up there, I know that's by seniority, you know especially chairmanships and everything else. But what? What is it you'd like to get involved in?
Speaker 3:That's, that's great, and I also, in answering, I'll talk just broad strokes about the legislation I want to do. I appreciate you wanting to allow me to keep it a little bit closer to the chest, but I'll talk broad strokes here. So, being chairman, so you know, the assembly elects a speaker and that's usually the majority party. In this case, democrats control 60 of the 80 seats. So the Democrats will pick a speaker to run the assembly and the speaker, frankly, is a lot like the mayor, except they're way more powerful because they actually can put people on committee. They do a lot of the things Justin does a city manager. It's a much more powerful position.
Speaker 3:So when somebody introduces a bill I don't know, ross, let's give me an example. Maybe we want to, we want to ban plastic something? Um, well, you can't just vote on it. It has to go through a committee first. So some of the assembly members may be on natural resources that's one of the committees that handles the environment um, so they will study the bill, they will debate it, they will offer amendments and ultimately the bill has to get out of committee for the whole assembly to vote on it. And many bills don't. Many bills die in committee because they're not ready or there's unanswered questions or it's just a bad idea. But, assuming you can get it out of committee, the entire assembly gets to vote on it. And, by the way, some bills go to multiple committees if they touch multiple areas. So maybe it's an environmental bill, it would go to natural resources, but you also have to send it to appropriations because it's going to cost money. If it gets through all the committees and then it goes to the assembly floor and it passes, it goes to the Senate for the exact same process.
Speaker 3:But back to your question directly, craig. It's the speaker who gets to decide who gets put on what committee. So you, he will typically he or she, but in this case he will ask you when you come into office what committees you'd like to serve on, and then he and his leadership team will make their decision. However, they make their decision and your answer to that question is oh, which ones? I'm putting it on.
Speaker 3:I think public safety would be a natural home for me, given my background as a prosecutor. I think, given my work with Burbank Water and Power, serving on utilities and energy would be a really great fit for me, because the issues that we dealt with there, trying to power Burbank and get more renewables and renewable energy online. That's what that committee deals with. Transportation would also make a lot of sense for me, given that we have the airport, we have Metrolink, rail, you know. There's just there's so much to do in that space and I guess, if I had to pick one more, insurance is kind of an interesting committee. I don't know a great deal about insurance, but it's impacting this district.
Speaker 2:How many would you go on?
Speaker 3:It's way too high. Yes, it is.
Speaker 1:How many?
Speaker 3:committees do you go on? There's no hard numbers, so usually everyone serves on at least three or maybe four. You can do more, you can do less. I think it depends, you know, because some committees do more work than others. The big, powerful committees, if you will, are appropriations, which is in charge of what money is appropriated or spent in the budget. You have the budget committee and I have a feeling they might put me on one of the budget subcommittees overseeing the Department of Justice, because again it just kind of makes sense.
Speaker 3:Committees overseeing the Department of Justice, because again it just kind of makes sense. You know, you have rules committee, which really governs the conduct of all the members and really is sort of part of the speaker's leadership team. Those are the big committees. And then you have committees that are not maybe the big big committees, but they do a lot of really important work. So public safety any change to criminal law in California has to go through that committee. Natural resources If you are talking about our forests, our lakes, our rivers, anything that touches that, it's got to go through that committee.
Speaker 3:So you know there are, but some of those committees have a lot of legislation. There's also medium sized committees, so we have arts and entertainment, which you would think is a huge committee, given Hollywood. Well, there's not a lot of legislation outside of the LA area that comes, so there's work to be done on that committee, but it's substantially less than some of these other committees. So I'm working on my list of what I'd like to serve, on all the ones I talked about I have an interest in, and then sometime in mid-December the speaker will announce where I'm assigned and I will. I will get to work and if you're chair of that committee, um, that's a lot more like the mayor in that there are some powers to it. It's it's more of a facilitating a conversation. It's a bit more ceremonial, but you know, if you're chair of a committee, you're on, you're part of leadership at that point and you are expected to be the point person, the resident expert, on whatever that topic is.
Speaker 2:A lot of the. I mean I'm learning a lot, I mean you got your homework set out for you. But also, I just wonder how many of our listeners know you've explained quite a bit. This is a big jump, big, big jump from mayor, council member to assembly member.
Speaker 1:And you're up to speed in another two weeks and off you go.
Speaker 3:We'll be right there. And the last thing I'll just say About a week, actually About a week. And just the other thing. So you all know it's two-year term limits, so it's a quick turnaround. You've got to get results right away because voters will be telling me whether they like the job I'm doing or not in 26. So you know, unlike a senator, where you have time, the expectation is you get in and you get to work. So I'll simply wrap with this. You guys, this week, this one week break I have between Burbank and the assembly, I'm spending that entire week just thinking of every problem I have heard from my residents, from my soon to be future constituents, from my experience in Burbank. I'm trying to figure out how many different ways we can solve it, because I got about a week to do it before it's showtime.
Speaker 1:What's your deadline to submit bills by?
Speaker 3:Well, you can submit your first bills on December 2nd and I do plan to have at least one bill introduced that day. The absolute hard, fast deadline is the end of February. All bills have to be introduced in what we call the House of Origin. So if it's an assembly bill it's given an ab number. Um, you have to do that by february so that you have time to go through all those committees, hopefully pass the assembly, and then you still got to send it over to the other house because you know, if we pass it in the assembly and it dies on a senate committee, it doesn't become a law very interesting and then, course, the governor decides to veto it anytime.
Speaker 1:And we have the line item veto in California, which other states don't really have our government, our federal government, so I'm sure they can knock things out of bill. Can he knock things individually out of a bill?
Speaker 3:By and large he can line item veto it. You know, traditionally he'll just veto and kill the whole bill, but I'll say it if it's school funding that I want to fix, if it's um, uh, better, uh, renewable energy standards, if it's more money for anything, any of our needs in burbank, it gets really challenging because, as you're seeing quickly, you got to find 40 other votes in the senate, in the assembly, you got to find at least 21 votes in the Senate. And on top of all that you have to think about, is the governor going to sign this and so even passing one bill? That's why you have your own staff of at least seven people. That's why it's a full-time job as opposed to our council, which is part-time, is because it is an incredible amount of work just to get one A lame duck, a lame duck governor too. That's going to make it all the more interesting and a governor's race that'll be heating up here in a couple months. I hear that.
Speaker 1:I hear your former boss, he just might be jumping in. No, your former boss, who boss? He just might be jumping in.
Speaker 3:no, your former boss um, who was our vice president is being, uh mentioned as the next governor of california also. Well, I'll tell you, my my former boss, kamala harris, and my former boss javier becerra, and my current boss rob bonta could, in theory, all find themselves running for that governor's spot. So I'm gonna try to just have my phone silent.
Speaker 1:You need to stay out of that. That whole battle ross.
Speaker 2:What else you got no, I'm just uh shocked at the what you, what you're diving into the next couple of weeks and the next couple of years. And, um, you know, I appreciate you. Like you said, you come back and give us a little update when you're uh in town.
Speaker 2:I'll still see you at some ribbon cuttings maybe, and you will you know some people will say, wow, I, I got an assembly member here instead of just a staff member. So, um, and we'll look forward to seeing you around town. I know that, but what a heck of a show absolutely so.
Speaker 1:Well, ross, thank you for coming by.
Speaker 3:You have one more thing to go ahead before you sign it off. I just really want to say to you guys, to your listeners, just a simple thank you. These have been the best four years of my life. I started a family, I had two amazing kids, we bought a home and all of that grown as a leader. I've had the chance to be the mayor of the best city in the world. Whatever happens in the rest of my life, these four years are always going to be incredibly special to me. I'm sad to see this chapter coming to an end. I'm excited about what happens next, yes, but just know how much being your mayor and being on council has meant to me. It really has been the honor and privilege of a lifetime.
Speaker 1:Well, we really appreciate you coming on and doing this little breaking news show for us. I think it's good that people can hear what's going on. So for Ross Benson Hello Molo, let's go. And for the assembly member from Burbank, nick Schultz. Thank you. This is Craig Sherwood saying thank you very much for listening. We always appreciate it If you're in your car right now or you're watching the YouTube channel. Thank you very much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.