myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
Catching Up With Assemblymember Nick Schultz
Behind the scenes of California lawmaking, Assemblyman Nick Schultz reveals what his first year representing Burbank in Sacramento has truly been like. Far from the stereotypical politician, Schultz shares how he balances flying back twice weekly to be with his young family while chairing the powerful Public Safety Committee—an unusual responsibility for a freshman legislator.
The conversation takes us through Schultz's legislative victories, including his human trafficking bill that closes critical loopholes in protecting minors and creates support funds for survivors. With passion drawn from his prosecutor background, Schultz explains how his experience handling complex cases now shapes his approach to lawmaking. "Nobody is above the law," he asserts when discussing controversial legislation requiring federal agents to identify themselves—a direct response to recent immigration enforcement tactics that have alarmed communities.
Film industry advocates will appreciate Schultz's detailed breakdown of the expanded tax credit program that's bringing production back to Burbank. He artfully explains how these incentives aren't corporate handouts but essential economic drivers keeping skilled workers employed locally. Similarly, his innovative approach to housing development aims to transform vacant commercial properties into affordable housing while respecting local control—a refreshing middle ground in California's contentious housing debate.
What resonates throughout is Schultz's authentic connection to Burbank and surprising optimism about political collaboration. Despite the challenges—from budget deficits to the high-speed rail controversy—his practical problem-solving approach and willingness to reach across divides offers a glimpse of how governance might work when focused on community needs rather than political posturing.
Have thoughts on pending legislation or need assistance with state-related issues? Reach out directly to Assemblyman Schultz through his website or district office on 3rd and Magnolia in Burbank.
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 with us once again, and of course, we have Ross Benson.
Speaker 2:Wow, it's been a while since. I'm glad you know it's not as hot as in New York, but I'm sure glad you got the air crank. The room deodorant is that fluffy smell of niceness and hi-ho, tally-ho, let's go.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well. We've got a special guest who's been here before, but in a new capacity now. He started with us as a council member, moved up to mayor and now he's the Assemblyman from Burbank and we talk about Nick Schultz. Nick, good to have you with us.
Speaker 3:Craig Ross. Thank you guys for having me. It is really good to be back. It's good to be back home and I love how you said that the Assemblyman from Burbank. That's how I like to go by in the Capitol.
Speaker 2:So I'm curious, how do we address you now, sir, to go by in the Capitol. So I'm curious, how do we address you now, sir? Mr Assemblyman, your chair.
Speaker 3:I haven't been there yet, have you? No, not yet. I don't anticipate you, ross, you and anyone in the community, just call me Nick. When I'm home and I'm out of the Capitol, I just want to be in my sweatpants at the store like everybody else.
Speaker 2:There you go. I want to see that.
Speaker 1:When you speak at the assembly they say, oh, we recognize the gentleman from Burbank. Is that they do like they do in the yeah, it's actually a lot like that.
Speaker 3:So there it seems a little arcane, but there's actually a rule that if you're debating on the floor you're not allowed to call another member by name. So you would never say I disagree with Mr Benson or Craig's wrong. The only proper way to do it is to say the member from Burbank, the member from San Francisco you know, lobbyists and other folks when they're interacting with me might call me Mr Chair if they're talking about something with the Public Safety Committee, or Mr Assemblyman, but I find all that incredibly formal and kind of weird. So please call me Nick.
Speaker 1:So I'm calling Mr Sofa.
Speaker 2:So, so that rule book that you had to learn, I mean, does it tell you how to part your hair too?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm sure there's a provision in there about that.
Speaker 1:Well, so how's the family? I know you probably don't get to see the family as much as you want to. How's everybody doing?
Speaker 3:They're doing really good. I appreciate you guys asking. Allie's still at NBCUniversal. Her career is going great. Ella turned four. She's going to be starting TK this fall and she'll be going to Edison about a year from now. So we're getting ready to officially join the BUSD family. Aiden's two and a half approaching three. I think we're going to do a Spider-Man-themed birthday party for him this October and I think we're going to do a Spider-Man-themed birthday party for him this October. And then the last thing I'd say, craig, is travel is obviously tough and we can talk more about it, but we're on summer recess right now, so it's so great to be home with the family and to be with all of you right back here at home.
Speaker 1:It's funny, all these technical rules and then you call recess like elementary school. It's a lot like that. How are the kids? Because now you're gone four or five days at a time? Sometimes are the kids understanding why you're not there all week?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, it was funny the first couple of months. I think they were adjusting to it and they almost didn't realize what was happening. But we've been able to soften the blow. So I would say, more often than not, more than half the time, I fly up Monday morning at a Burbank airport, usually like the 10 am flight or something around there. You know how. We have floor session in the afternoon. I stay Monday night. We have committee the next day. I come back Tuesday late afternoon very, very often. So if you were at the airport, like on a Tuesday evening, right around when council starting, you would probably see me exiting the airport, walking over to my car. Don't tell TMZ that. I know I probably should have been careful with what I bought.
Speaker 2:Well, you, know, nowadays with technology, I find my son, who travels quite a bit. You know he was gone for two weeks at the All-Star game but he could FaceTime with his girls nightly and that technology, you can talk to them.
Speaker 3:And to your point, ross, like I, I have heard from many people that this is a very hard profession. It can be hard on families and, as you both know, a lot of families don't make it. We have a lot of great things that we do as a family. So every night at 8 30 PM, wherever I'm at, even if I'm at an event I step out and I FaceTime with the kids every single night and then usually later, once the kids are down, allie and I talk all the time. So you know we're always just keeping that relationship strong. And I am in town Thursday night to Monday morning. So every weekend I'm home. And then these recess times we have a summer recess of a month and then we have the last three and a half months of the year when we're not in session. I'm home as often as I can be. A lot of my colleagues like to travel internationally and do other things.
Speaker 2:I just want to be home in my district with my family, with all of you and when you say in your district, burbank being your one of your part of your district, you have your office in burbank in burbank. It's the same place where your predecessor.
Speaker 1:Yep 3rd and Magnolia and their predecessor was, and their predecessor yeah.
Speaker 3:I think it goes. The guy in my gato was in that office. It might have even gone back all the way to Paul Krikorian who I think got into that. We don't use that word in here no I got it. Yeah, if anyone's listening, it's on 3rd and Magn from the YMCA of Burbank. So we're right there on the fifth floor. You can come up and visit us.
Speaker 2:You know there used to be a sign on that street pole that said Assembly Member so-and-so's office.
Speaker 3:Might have to get working on that right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we talked a little about your travel on Monday, tuesday, so I was going to ask you you must be traveling a lot on are you using Southwest, or I mean is that how you get miles? Or something. Some of it you got to pay for yourself. Right, the state's not paying for you to go back and forth several times a week, correct?
Speaker 3:That's correct. So I will just say I have hundreds of thousands of miles on my Southwest app and I did get the card too because it's an even better way to make points. But yeah, to your point, they will pay for one round trip a week. So if I fly up Monday and then back Thursday after we have a morning session on Thursday and then that's it for the week, they'll pay for that. If I want to come back midweek, I pay for that personally, or rarely.
Speaker 3:On occasion there was an event, I think it was. Let me see if I have it here. Oh yeah, birmingham Human Relations Council did a genocide remembrance event at, I think, the church up there on first on the hill. That was like on a Tuesday night, if I recall correctly, and so I actually got special permission from the speaker's office to fly back for that. So sometimes if there's like a community event or a legislative purpose, they will fly you back. But you're right, Generally it's all out of pocket for me to want to come home. But the way I look at it, for the same price of a night in a hotel in Sacramento, I could fly home and be home with my kids?
Speaker 1:Are you staying in a hotel up there?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm staying at the Sheridan Generally, sheridan, generally. Sometimes they bounce me around, but that QMZ Sheridan, yeah, you can find me there in the lobby, I'm sure, um, but no, I the way I work it out is because I come home Tuesday nights. I'm only in Sacramento two nights a week, monday and Wednesday. Some people rent an apartment. I would rather just get home as quickly as I can and not have to worry about getting groceries or cleaning up. I just I want to be in Burbank as often as I can.
Speaker 1:That sounds good. Any kind of humorous stories about the travel back and forth, or you know you must know that speech by heart.
Speaker 2:Could you recite it? The overhang or the oxygen drops down your life if we're over water. That one you must know in your sleep.
Speaker 3:I do. There's not like a particularly funny story, other than to say there was one time I think in January or February we're flying back and there was heavy turbulence. I think it was shortly after the fires. There was like a stormy day in Burbank and I kept thinking like there's like half the legislature on this plane, like heaven forbid right. Like like there's a lot of people on this plane that California needs. So sometimes you're like I just hope and pray everything works as it should. The pilots do their job, but they always take care of us.
Speaker 1:I wonder if they have the same. Do you know the NFL and NBA and MLB have contingency plans if a team ever goes down? Is that how they travel? There's actually contingency plans in the pro sports if that were ever to happen. Interesting, I didn't know that. I wonder if California legislature there's actually contingency plans in the pro sports if that were ever to happen, interest I didn't know that I want.
Speaker 3:California legislature has anything like that I mean, you know, I, I not to get too I don't get more of it here, but no, but that's a little known fact.
Speaker 2:I think you know, I don't know how southwest and other planes out of burbank are bouncing off each other that I, I mean it definitely, you know I, I still get a little uh, nervous every time I fly.
Speaker 3:You know doing it so many times, you kind of get used to it, I suppose.
Speaker 1:It seems to be the military aircrafts are causing all the chaos.
Speaker 2:You used to have parking over there. Do you get where the commissioners park?
Speaker 3:So yeah, so they don't have a dedicated spot for me. However, I have a pass so that garage like when you're entering the airport right, if the drop off's on the right, there's that garage to the left. I can park anywhere in there and I have a pass that will get me in and out.
Speaker 1:But it is just whatever parking is available. So what about? So here you go. I told the experience what is it that you did not anticipate, or what, what, what kind of happened up there that you were kind of like, oh, this is different. Or you know how long until you get your, your sea legs, or your legislative legs, as they say?
Speaker 3:so that's a phenomenal question, I would say, I think, what I like. When I was sitting here as a candidate or even as mayor, we obviously talked about all the challenges facing California and there was a lot of things that I foresaw. What I didn't expect was that the first week on the job we would have massive wildfires in LA that would decimate Altadena and the Palisades as we know it, and that doesn't seem like it affects our district. But as you, as you guys, know, we had wind damage in Glendale to their utilities. We had a lot of people displaced from those communities that came into this district, including Burbank, relocating temporarily. So that challenge was something we didn't predict. And then, not to get too political, but obviously the federal government has a contentious relationship with California, to say the least. We knew there were going to be challenging financial times, but when we're seeing funding ripped away from health and human services, it is just creating more challenges than I even originally thought were possible. But to kind of end on a positive note, what I would say is I didn't know who I'd be serving with, and we have a pretty large freshman class this year, about almost 20 brand new state legislators.
Speaker 3:I can tell you that I've never been more impressed. Not that we all agree, but rarely can I really say these are the people I'm working with. I've never been more impressed. Not that we all agree, but rarely can I really say these are the people I'm working with. I know them, I trust them. I really think that they have a servant's heart. They're in it for the right reasons. They want to solve big problems. They're not thinking about where they'll go next. They're really thinking like, hey, how do we address the cost of housing? That was a pleasant surprise. You know you go to Sacramento and you think you're going into this like really cutthroat environment and everybody's out for themselves and I suppose to a degree everybody obviously has their own ambition. But this unexpected sense of camaraderie, of teamwork, of teammanship, it's, it's really pleasant.
Speaker 1:Your party has more than the other party, so that's a little more easy to do. How many are in the assembly? 80 in total, so 80 assembly members, 60 Democrats, 19 Republicans, and then there's one seat currently vacant. So how does it feel going from a voice of one of five to a voice of one of 80?
Speaker 3:It is enormously challenging to your point, because on the council you're one of five. You get two people to agree with you and you can do anything that you really want to do. Building a coalition in the assembly is so much more challenging. I think that's been. The biggest learning curve is that you can have a great idea but you got to find at least 40 other colleagues to agree with you. And to get those people to agree with you you really have to look at you know, outside the box. Like, if you want to do something about our public schools, you better be talking to the California Teachers Association no-transcript government is dealing with stuff I mean locally.
Speaker 2:We know that California is not their favorite place, that's true.
Speaker 1:So we're recording this at the end of July and yesterday, literally, and yesterday the governor signed SB 379, the first bill of yours that the governor signed and made into law. Now, I know you're a lot into the trafficking, everything while you're here in Burbank and you pass some stuff with that, sure, and I think this has to do a little with that theme, doesn't it? Do you want to tell us about what SB 379 is all about?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I'll just mention it's AB for Assembly, bill 379. This was a bill that we worked on with Assemblymember Stephanie Wynn, maggie Krell and others. It really does three things to change the code, change penal code in California. And before I go on, I really just want to say that a lot of this bill the pieces that I added to it specifically came from Burbank. I mean, gloria Solis, we all know, has been talking about human trafficking and getting businesses to do their part for years. It was my time on council and working with Burbankers like Gloria. That really inspired a lot of the changes that I added into 379. So I really think Burbank gets to claim a little bit of victory in this legislative accomplishment.
Speaker 3:But what it does is three things. So under current law but that will change come January 1st it is generally a wobbler, meaning that it can be charged as a felony if you approach and solicit a minor to engage in commercial sex. So if you're trying to buy commercial sex from somebody, generally speaking it's a wobbler. However, under existing law it's only a misdemeanor if the minor is 16 or 17 years old. This bill eliminates that loophole. So all minors, anyone under the age of 18, if you're trying to solicit them for sex, you're now going to be subject to being charged as a felony and prosecuted as a felony. That's number one. It also creates a vertical grant program for local district attorney's offices to make sure that the investigators and the prosecutors who are investigating these cases can work with the victim from beginning to end to really ensure that we are holding these human traffickers to account.
Speaker 3:The piece that has a real tie to Burbank has to do with our businesses. The Civil Code of California, for more than a decade, has required different kinds of businesses to have that standard human trafficking. Notice the thing that you might see at a restaurant or a massage parlor that says if you or someone you suspect is a victim of human trafficking, call this number, text this number. The Civil code has never said who's responsible for actually enforcing that and or what do you do with the fines, the funds that you collect from that. This bill says Department of Justice will be responsible for going after these businesses and ensuring that they comply with the law, and then any funds that are collected from the fines go directly to support survivors or exiting a human trafficking situation.
Speaker 3:I could go on, but what I would say in summary is. This is probably the most comprehensive addition or reform to human trafficking prevention and prosecution that we've had in California in years. There's still more work that will have to be done in future years, but to have such a big accomplishment signed into law a little bit more than maybe eight months into office, I mean I'm very proud of that.
Speaker 1:Not only the fact that you had some experience with Burbank, but you're also a lawyer and you work for the Attorney General's office. Did that really help you a lot in informing this and then coming up with this?
Speaker 3:It did. I know I've talked to you guys before, but when I was at the California Department of Justice, I prosecuted the Lelous Del Mundo human trafficking case that major case that the LA Times covered and what we saw was OK, you can go after the human trafficker, but that doesn't really do. I mean, I suppose it provides provides some sense of relief and justice to the victim, but there's not a lot we can do to help them put their lives back together. That victim support fund that this bill creates and funds is real dollars that are now available to our survivors to ensure that they have access to housing, that they can get a job, that they can really begin to rebuild their lives and repair from the damage. And that's not something our justice system does very well. We're good at holding people accountable and punishing those who break the law, but really making survivors whole and trying to help them get back on their feet and rebuild their lives. I'm not saying this bill is perfect and going to solve everything, but I think it's a step in the right direction.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's very interesting because I was curious with your background with the Department of Justice. You prosecuted many, many different cases, but your whole. For years you've been dealing with victims, suspects, so forth. So when you go up to be an assembly member, you have a little knowledge in there, where your colleagues probably don't have the same background.
Speaker 3:I think so and I appreciate the point, Ross, because you know, when I joined the assembly, it's relatively unheard of Not saying it never happens, but it's pretty rare for a freshman, a rookie, someone brand new to the assembly, to be asked or given the responsibility to chair a major policy committee like public safety. I think the last person who was a rookie to chair public safety was Bob Hertzberg, the former speaker.
Speaker 3:I mean so it's not common. I think the only reason I was given that opportunity was because of that background, because a lot of people know what the justice system is. There's things they like about it, there's things they don't like about it. They want safe communities, but not nearly enough legislators have actually investigated or prosecuted a case or really have that practical know-how. So enormous responsibility, um, but you know, eight months in, it's everything I hoped it would be and I love the work so I just real quickly do you miss working for the doj and doing that type of cases?
Speaker 2:because you had some cases you you never talked about, but I know some of the cases that they used to handle. You had some doozies. I mean things that people don't think about. Oh yeah, daily. I mean, do you miss that? I do, I really do. Do you miss?
Speaker 3:being in court? I actually do, and you know I'm going to answer a question that you guys didn't ask, but I get it all the time. A lot of folks say, hey, you know, You're 36 years old, you've been mayor of Burbank, you're an assembly member, what's next? I'm not being coy, look. I love this job and I want to do it as well as I can for as long as you all will have me. But, honestly, when I'm done right now, I'm not saying never rule anything out, but I could be very happy just going back to the courtroom. I love what I did at California DOJ. I love being in court, I love fighting for what's right and trying to make victims whole. Again, I'm going to do this job as well as I can for as long as I can, but I, you know it's hard to think like 10 years from now, 12 years from now, all this travel, you know, coming back home, being with my family every night and trying to keep my community safe, that sounds pretty good too.
Speaker 1:I will say this, though If I understand, you get in the courtroom and you want to help that one individual and everything else, but in your position now you can help tenfold because of laws you might pass or things like that down the line. So, while I understand the one-on-one thing, look what you can do in the long run. And I got to tell you I don't think the latter has more rung still, I really do, and that's another podcast down the line. That's very sweet. Let me ask you this. So you came back eight months ago. First you got kind of rushed in and sworn in real fast and then one day you probably got that little office. It's a medium-sized office, right?
Speaker 3:It's probably about the capital office is maybe double the size of this room. It's not tiny, it's not big, it's small, then.
Speaker 1:Take a nap.
Speaker 3:I could probably take a nap.
Speaker 1:You sat down at your desk. Now you just got your first bill passed. How would you say, did you have preconceived notions, yeah, I'd like to get these kind of bills going. Or how did you come up with the bills that you decided to to introduce and all that stuff? What was the process there? Did you have some preconceived ideas or did you just kind of, did people come to you and say, hey, I'm going to do this and we'd like to get on board with it, or how'd that all go?
Speaker 3:That is an outstanding question and other than, what's next, that's probably the next most often asked question I get is like how do bills actually get made? It was a bit of both. So I in a minute I can talk more about it. But there were some ideas that I brought to the table that I said, hey, for example, we can talk about it more in a minute. But assembly bill 1050, which has to do with getting more housing on vacant commercial parcels like the old Ikea, that was something that I thought of. I was thinking okay, what are the obstacles? Why aren't we building more housing on those sites where it makes more sense, and how can we make it easier to put housing there? So some of the bills came from me or from members of my team like that. But to your point, craig, certainly other people come in the door all the time and they bring different legislative ideas and we review them. If we agree with them, if we think it's a good policy, we'll take it forward. Plenty of things that we pass on. But I'll give you one just concrete example.
Speaker 3:The Los Angeles Unified School District came forward with an idea. That's now Assembly Bill 361. And it does have a tie into Burbank. What AB 361 says is really simple.
Speaker 3:When a school district has to go out and contract for someone to do work or services, generally speaking they're required to go with the lowest bidder.
Speaker 3:Right, that's generally the law. Lausd has had a pilot program for maybe the last 10 years that says they don't have to go with the lowest bidder, they can go with the best value because somebody might've been really low and have a terrible reputation or history and it just gives school boards the flexibility to weigh things like reputation, prior work performed. So they came forward with a bill and said could you make it not a pilot program but make it permanent, and could you expand it so that any school district in California, if they choose to, could use that same process? That's AB three 61. And that was an example of someone else coming forward with a bill, us reviewing it and saying, hey, maybe Burbank Unified won't use that, but it's giving them actually more discretion to pick what they think is right for their students who's going to perform the work. So those are the kind of different ways that we can decide if we're going to introduce a bill or not.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about some of the bills you actually have going right now and hopefully we'll get signed soon. So let's talk about some of the bills you actually have going right now and hopefully we'll get signed soon. Yesterday was the first day of signing. I guess you know, because it's the first time I was signing. I signed another set of bills coming out today or something. But so what other bills you got in the pipeline and what do you think? You got some more stuff coming up.
Speaker 3:Definitely, and we have about gosh, maybe 17 or 18 bills in total, but I'm just going to highlight the ones with the Burbank connection. So you know we have 379 solicitation, the human trafficking one we talked about, that. 80-361, the one I was just talking about, the school district one that is over in Senate appropriations. So we are hoping, crossing our fingers, that that will get out of appropriations.
Speaker 1:I want to talk with the Burbank QST right now and their situation with contractors.
Speaker 3:Oh, yes, oh yes.
Speaker 3:Well, we'll come back to that, but I will say 361 is, like many of our bills sitting in Senate appropriations. If it gets out of that committee, the whole Senate votes on it and then, if that happens, it goes off to the governor to be signed into law. Their 1050 was another bill I was talking about. It's a pretty simple bill. When you look at parcels like the old Ikea, the old Kmart and Burbank, there's a lot of reasons we're not putting housing there, and you guys have heard me talk about this before. With all due respect to prior state legislators, an ABU here and there is not going to solve the housing crisis. We need more housing, but it needs to make sense in our communities. So we should be looking at these vacant and underutilized commercial parcels that are just sitting as dead space in our community.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm going to interrupt you a little bit now. Sure, so I, I, I get it, and yeah, we do need the housing, but look what SB nine and and SB 35 and all that you know. All of a sudden, now we're forced to do certain things. Right, how are you going to do this? We're not forced into something you know. And also, this is private property too. This is not you know, not, you know, city owned property, right, so, but how are you going to make sure that we get what works for the community and not something to shove down our throats like we did on Empire Street, empire?
Speaker 2:yeah.
Speaker 1:Five parking spaces and 125 units.
Speaker 3:Great questions, guys. So a lot of the prior bills we've talked about, like SB 35, they deal with either changing the zoning effectively.
Speaker 1:By the way, those are Senate bills, not assembly bills yes, yes. Explain the Senate Good idea.
Speaker 3:So they either change the zoning altogether or they eliminate a council or a planning commission's discretion to review a project. Ab 1050, my bill, doesn't do either of those things. So on those commercial parcels there are covenants that run with the land and on many parcels they say you can't put housing there. Period, it runs with the land. All this bill does is say that if you want to put housing on these parcels, the covenants are not an obstacle. It doesn't change the zoning, it doesn't take away the discretion of local jurisdictions to still evaluate and make sure the project makes sense. It just tries to eliminate one minor obstacle so that, hey, if we have to add housing in Burbank, let's at least do it somewhere that has the infrastructure to handle more water, sewage, traffic, parking etc. But so that's another bill like the other one sitting in Senate appropriations, hoping it goes to a full Senate floor vote.
Speaker 3:I'll just quickly mention we have AB 1150, which is actually sponsored by the Hollywood Burbank Airport. It's to allow them to raise more funds to upgrade the car rental facility to handle the new terminal. And then we have AB 793, which is our dangerous and vicious dog bill. This actually was a response to the Conan saga that we saw late last year, where you had city of Burbank ordering the euthanasia of an animal, and what this bill tries to do is put in place a higher standard that must be met and more clarity about, for example, determining what is a dangerous or vicious dog and requiring basic findings such as there's no lesser means we could use than euthanasia to make the dog safe to the community. So that's another example of experience I had on council and wanting to address that at the state level and trying to make something happen. The last thing I'll mention is, of course, the other big bill that got signed my first six months in office Assembly Bill 1138, which I co-authored. That's the film and television tax credit program.
Speaker 1:So that was a down the line. So yeah, let's talk about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that was a bill that I was happy to jump on as a co-author with others, but it does something really important. So just as a little bit of context and background for you guys and for your listeners, you know that last October Governor Newsom came to Burbank I believe it was in Burbank, but he came to LA for sure and he announced that he wanted to double the state's financial commitment to the film and television tax credit program and we did vote on that and approve that and he signed that into law at that signing ceremony here in Burbank a few weeks ago.
Speaker 3:So, we were not invited to, by the way. Yeah, it was kind of awkward, they didn't invite any local press. I thought that was bizarre, but he signed it into law. So we now went from 330 million to 750 million a year to help keep production local. Assembly Bill 1138, the bill that I joined was a compliment to that so it said, yes, more money is great, but it can't just be more money at the problem.
Speaker 3:The problem is is that we have animation studios, as you guys know, that have left Burbank. We used to have Netflix animation they're gone. We had Cartoon Network they're gone. We thankfully still have Nickelodeon. But these are jobs that are important to our economy too, and animation could not previously take part in the program. Well, now they can with Assembly Bill 1138. They, too, can take advantage of that tax credit program. We also looked at things like 30-minute productions, not those big hour-long dramas, but those 30-minute productions can now also participate in the program. So AB 1138 really just expanded the types of productions that can now participate in our program, all with the aim of just keeping more now participate in our program, all with the aim of just keeping more jobs, more production right here, because it's the backbone of our local economy.
Speaker 1:Well, talk about. I've heard many people say well, why are we giving all this money to the studios and we're not giving money to the studios? These are, you know, maybe explain how the tax breaks work, where we're not actually writing checks but they're not paying as much in taxes in certain situations.
Speaker 3:That's right, craig. I mean I could go into a much deeper explanation and I will mention whenever this drops. You know it might be after, but tomorrow I'll actually be at the Burbank Media Expo with a panel including folks from the industry talking in more detail about that about a huge event by the way. It's going to thousands of people last year, and so we have a panel tomorrow with Ed Duffy from the Teamsters, michael Walbrook from Warner Brothers, we have someone from the California Film Commission, so I'll get into more detail there.
Speaker 3:But on a high level it's pretty simple. If you're a production company and you want to produce content in California, you want to keep the jobs here, you would apply for it and you have to actually produce the content, employ people locally, employ those local catering companies. Once there's all that economic benefit, provided you're able to get the tax break on the backend. So, yes, it is a tax break to a production company, but what we don't talk about is all the benefits of that tax break, all the people that live here in Burbank and around our region that are actually employed by the production companies. All the benefits to our small businesses, our dry cleaners like Milton Eady's that benefit our local restaurants, our catering companies, all of these local establishments benefit, and so for every dollar we may spend on the tax program, we're getting several fold of that economic return to our community. I can think of probably no bigger bill that's going to have more of an impact on Burbank than AB 11.
Speaker 1:And we have to do that because look at what they're doing in Georgia to attract Vancouver, north Carolina. These are all states that are trying to get the action, so we have to really compete with them, because they're giving the same tax cuts too. We're trying to say stay here, don't even travel there.
Speaker 3:If we had done nothing, we would have lost even more jobs, and that means more people out of work in our community. That means more small business closures. I'm not suggesting that the things we did this year are going to be enough forever. This is just a good first step for more work we have to do. But to your point, this isn't some corporate handout. This is about keeping jobs, good paying jobs, good entertainment industry jobs, right here in Burbank, where we need them.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, you listen. The drum keeps getting pounded, the negativity about production and we're not seeing filming, and I think that negative needs to be turned to a positive. You drive down any burbank street the last couple of last month. You find more filming than there has been in years yeah, you know everybody's been closed out twice in the last two months.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well saw that yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, you know other places, not only, but they're filming local and they are starting slowly. It's not going to happen overnight, but it's slowly.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of it is also. One of the is that there's a lot of local restrictions put on production companies too. You have to have this, you have to have that, you have to have all these things in place on a set, where I don't think other places have that. So that's another down the line thing. But I think there's so much regulation that in the actual shooting of the show that's also kind of a constraint.
Speaker 3:And my last thought on that, because I know we have other topics, guys, but I will say look, the state is doing our job. Our job is to put the money behind this tax credit program. That's our role. I've been watching. I think it's great that the council is in partnership with the chamber. They're talking about this film commission. I think that's all wonderful. My hope and my expectation is that locally, we'll build upon what the state's doing and say great. More resources, more people eligible to partake in the program, fantastic. Now how can we cut red tape and just make it easier to film content in Burbank? All of that has the benefit, to your point, craig, of keeping jobs and keeping people that live here working here.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I was told that the Film Commission Burbank was talking about what a month ago has now been put on the back burner.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:I was told that the chamber wanted to do it. The city would supply the money and that's taxpayer money. And can the chamber do it? And I'm told that right now it's.
Speaker 1:Great idea is that you'll know where sometimes. Yeah, how many times have you heard that? Yeah, exactly, okay, well, let's move on a little bit. You touched on it real, real briefly before. Um, you were named the chairman of the public safety committee and, like you said, not a lot of freshmen, that's a pretty, that's pretty prestigious role right there. So talk about the committee. What, what do you do? What is it all about? What do you, what do you know? Get a little rundown on it absolutely so.
Speaker 3:the public safety committee, like a lot of other policy committees because there's committees on housing, the environment, you name it they all function similarly. They're actually a lot like a council, like they're smaller composition. Uh, we have nine members of the public safety committee seven democrats, two republicans. I'm named as the chair, so you always win that way. Well, you would think so, but there are definitely on public safety, it's one of those issues. It really does cross the partisans, absolutely, but it's a lot like a council meeting and that I run it like I would as a mayor, with the gavel and trying to facilitate conversation.
Speaker 2:Never left that gavel.
Speaker 3:No, no, I still got it, but on a high level. High level it's really simple. If you have a bill that would propose to change the law in california related to what's a crime or how we're going to punish a crime or incarceration so anything with the state prisons all of that is going to come through the public safety committee. So we look at it from the lens of is this good policy? Does it make sense? The way it works is I review the bills. In addition to my staff, I have the public safety committee staff that also work for me. So we review the bills, we offer amendments to the authors, we try to make the bills better and then ultimately, the way the hearings go, I make a recommendation as chair, I either say I think this is a good bill, or it's a good bill as amended. I want you to vote aye, or I want you to vote no, I don't think it's a good bill. I've not been overruled yet, so you know, but we try to work with everybody to get the bills in good shape. There were hundreds I think over 200, both Assembly and Senate proposals this year to change the law and over 98% of them all got out of our committee. Some we had to work on a bit and change, but it's been really important work and I absolutely love it. And the last thing I'll say, craig, is the way I approach it.
Speaker 3:Every bill I ask two questions like this is sort of my North star, how I try to approach the problem. Does this bill make Californians safer? Does it build safer communities? If it does that, it's a bill I can support Separately. No less important, just a different way to tackle it is does it improve our justice system?
Speaker 3:I spent a lot of years in court. To your point, ross, and I'm just being very blunt People that look like me, people that come from my zip code, my background we have a very different outcome in the justice system than many others, and that is absolutely wrong. The the the way you're treated in the justice system should not depend on how much money you have in your pocket or where you live. So the other question I ask is does this bill do something to actually make our justice system better? We're not talking about letting people out of prisons willy nilly, uh, or not holding people accountable, but it's just simple things Like, for example, if you were convicted and you think you were wrongly convicted. I'm running a bill this year that says you have a right to post-conviction discovery. All that means is you should have access to information that might prove your innocence. Little things like that that make our justice system better and more fair.
Speaker 1:Okay, and the same thing. I'm going to get into this. I've got a problem with the secret police. We have a secret police here in Burbank who have blocked their radio calls from the public and from the media. Now we have the secret federal police who are running around with nothing on their uniforms covering their faces, unmarked vehicles and snatching people off the streets. Now it's federal, of course, but still this is the same way third-world countries operate, you know, in El Salvador and other places, which is scary To have that happen here in Los Angeles and by the federal government. I heard there's a bill that was trying to be introduced about making them at least wear their identification and all that. Now, has that bill come to you as a chairman and everything else? Have you looked at that bill and what are your opinions on that?
Speaker 3:So the short and quick answer is yes, it was actually two bills, one from Senator Scott Weiner and one from Senator Sasha Renee Perez. And yes, you heard that correct. You actually may have a Scott Weiner bill you like here, believe it or not, but there are two bills. One would say local, state and federal. So, including ICE, all law enforcement cannot wear a mask unless there's a legitimate reason, like there's a fire or a medical condition, but generally speaking, can't wear a mask. That's the Scott Wiener bill. The other bill was the Sasha Renee Perez bill, which said if you're an officer, you have to identify yourself as law enforcement, again with very specific exemptions, like if you're an undercover officer. Absolutely right. Both bills came through public safety committee about two weeks ago. They both passed with my eye recommendation. And then the Scott Wiener bill 627, I actually asked to jump on as a co-author.
Speaker 3:The last thing I'll just mention on that, craig, is I agree with you. We live in a free and democratic society. It's bounded on the principle that hey, if someone's going to come and make contact with you, you have a right to know they're an officer. If you're going to be arrested, whether you're a citizen or not of this country. You have due process rights Think about the Miranda rights. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to know that anything you say may be used against you. You have a basic right to know that the person taking you out of your home or your place of business is a legitimate law enforcement officer and, ultimately, what you've been accused of doing.
Speaker 1:Okay, those are basic things, but do you have a right to tell the federal government, the federal officers, what to do?
Speaker 3:We believe we do you know?
Speaker 3:I'm not going to lie to you. I think that it's something that will be tested in court. These bills passed the Assembly. We believe they will pass. Sorry, they passed pass the assembly. They'll be concurred by the Senate. They will be signed by law by Governor Newsom. He's indicated support for it. We fully expect that almost immediately the United States Attorney's Office will sue and it will be challenged in court. But what I would say is that there are basic standards that any law enforcement officer has to abide by, whether they're local, state or federal. We believe that the masking and the identification requirement are reasonable. They don't impede their ability to do their job as immigration officials. But at the end of the day, it is all about transparency and public safety.
Speaker 1:Well, after listening to the appeal the other day at the 9th District Court and listening to the government's lawyer saying oh well, you know what we're doing is fine and you know there's people in a group that you know we should be able to go there and profile those people because they're in a group at that location, I don't understand how the government really thinks that they can. It just really boggles my mind. When I first saw it, I was shocked. I said this is what happens when we go and free a country. This is what they do in that country to people when we go to free it. It's scary to me. It really is how the federal government can do what they want to do when they want to do it.
Speaker 3:I agree with you, craig, and not to belabor the point, I will say there were people in that hearing and outside the hearing that suggested maybe we shouldn't do it. The courts may not agree with us, they might say we can't do it. I think it's more about expressing our values. That's not who we are as a society. No one is above the law, and that I mean because if we're not going to let them, if we're not going to require them to wear masks, does that mean that ICE officers don't need to abide by our city speed limits? I mean, it's one thing if they're in a pursuit, but just generally speaking, does that mean they don't have to abide by the laws that everybody else has to abide to?
Speaker 3:This is about saying nobody is above the law and there is a precedent for putting in place basic requirements, even on federal law enforcement officials that don't impede their ability to do their job, even on federal law enforcement officials that don't impede their ability to do their job. That's not the goal here. At the end of the day, it will likely end up in the courts, and I hope that the district court, the Court of Appeals, heck, even the Supreme Court do not want the United States to turn into a third world authoritarian regime, because it sure feels like we're heading that direction now. This gives them the chance to be on the right side of history.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I totally agree. It's like Craig says. We've talked about it. You know just what you see, and what we're seeing on TV is maybe a tenth of how bad it really is. I agree, it's just we don't, you don't drive down the street, and for us, you know the color of our skin or whatever, but it's going to hurt our economy. It's hurting everything. These people that are afraid to go shopping, go to medical appointments. Yeah, you know all those things.
Speaker 1:And we're in a pandemic for some businesses now. Yeah, I'll give you a quick story. This happened, oh, maybe 20 years ago. And my coaching days well, I still have my coaching days, but my earlier coaching days we used to have practice and then we used to go back to school to get some hitting in and there was a 7-11 on the way back and so we would stop in and then some of the players would stop in. You know, we'd grab a drink or whatever it is to go back before we went to hitting and one of our players you know we'd grab a drink or whatever it is to go back before we went to hitting and one of our players you know, our center fielder was a black kid, one of the greatest kids in the world, absolutely just awesome.
Speaker 1:And I'm in the 7-Eleven and I'm watching the clerk, and wherever this player went in the 7-Eleven, he was walking around and I went to him. I said do you see what this he goes? I go, oh no, I'm used to this. It happens all the time and you know, here's as a white guy, you know, I I would never think of something like that. So, like you said before, the color of our skin, the experiences and things like that. We have no idea what it's like to walk in there. They're used to it. I guess you know they get to talk. You know when you get pulled over how you're supposed to, you know put your hands on the wheel and be very polite. I mean, you know we don't understand what that's all about, and some of those people. So I learned a lot and it's stuck with me for 20 years now. You know, think about what they're going through. I think about what the Hispanics are going through, even the ones who are legal and are being caught up in all this.
Speaker 2:There's a car wash in Burbank that has been closed now for a month because employees are afraid to go to work. It's a car wash up on Glen Oaks. It's been there. Gary Sutliff, burbank farmer, built it and he told me he said they can't get employees to come to work, so the business is now shut down.
Speaker 3:Well, you know. One last point on this, guys, because I really appreciate both of you sharing that perspective and I'll be brief, but you're absolutely right. Look, when President Trump, like I, didn't vote for him Not probably a surprise to your listeners but when President Trump got elected and he was talking about doing immigration enforcement against violent criminals, people causing harm in our community, I would say most people could probably get on board and say, yes, somebody's committing violent crime, absolutely Obviously. That's what I'm and, by the way, the biggest misconception out there is that Assembly Democrats or others want to harbor people that immigrated here illegally. I will just point out Senate Bill 54, the California Values Act, has exemptions so that we can work if there are violent criminals leaving our state prisons and ensure that ICE knows about these individuals.
Speaker 3:That's not who the federal government's targeting. They are targeting, by and large, law-abiding people that are contributing to our economy, like you said, ross, and documented instances where they've deported US citizens. They're not going after serious and violent criminals. They're going after people, quite frankly, by profiling them to your point, craig, and that is absolutely wrong. And now they're trying to do it with secret police. All your listeners, if you're listening, you should be scared. This is exactly what we saw in 1930s Germany. I mean, this is how democracy fails If we don't stand up and say this is not who we are and it's fundamentally wrong process matters.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Totally agree.
Speaker 1:I don't know what the solution is going to be, but it's something that we need to get to quickly.
Speaker 2:We really need to move on it because it's yes, it's getting. We're not seeing it as much because it's not the top of the news now, but it's continuing for me to happen, and if we don't get a jump on it now and stop, it.
Speaker 1:We're chasing people through fields and everything else that we're doing, and it's just, I feel bad for them. Anyhow, let's move on a little bit here. You following the Burbank City Council at all.
Speaker 3:Believe it or not, I am, you know. I will mention that I'll actually be in front of city council later this fall to give an end of year update. So if you want to come hear more about what I've been working on, or throw tomatoes at me, whatever your pleasure I'll be there. I do try to watch every week. I'll mention I can't watch all of every meeting, but I always try to tune into the public comment period.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, because you know the best television there is.
Speaker 3:It is. Well, because you know the best television there is, it is. And also, if I can't watch a whole meeting, I figure the people that are coming down to council and sharing their frustration, whatever. Listening to that at least gives me a sense of what is on the mind of our community, so I do try to follow. I think the council is doing an admirable job of trying to tackle the tough issues. I will say that, even with the obstacles to the Film Commission, I hope they understand that what we did with our entertainment industry, the bills we ran, it's just a foundation, it's just a starting point. I encourage the council to do more locally to keep production.
Speaker 1:I think we need to do more like that. The council cracks me up right now because we're talking about politically correctness and the word landlord, you know. I mean I just you know they want to call it so many different things. Now, if you're a landlord, you own land and you rent it, I mean it's your landlord, not a plantation owner, your landlord, okay. So I mean Burbank wants to change a lot of terminology and somebody asked at one of the meetings well, there's a state landlord. It was a state, everybody calls it landlord, and yet in Burbank we're all stirred up about that. Yeah, it kind of cracks me up.
Speaker 2:One of the things that bugs me and you dealt with some of it, I forget which topic that you had to throw that gavel down a couple times is just decorum. Craig and I remember the days when, okay, we had Jules Kemet and Mel Perlich and they'd get up there and Mike Nolan and they'd say their piece about something, then they'd sit down. But now people are rude, nasty to our political people, to our politicians that are up there.
Speaker 1:I heard today that the LA City Council passed something. Yes, they did. You cannot say certain words or slurs or things like that. Wow, and I'm not sure how that's going to work in the free speech, but that's interesting how they.
Speaker 2:Well, now that you're not at the local level, you've gone up. You probably don't have anybody publicly protest you, or you haven't had anybody pick at your house lately protest.
Speaker 3:You or you haven't had anybody pick at your house lately. Well, actually, with with ab379 um earlier this year, you might remember, there was a lot of misinformation out there. Um, people thought that we were trying to protect people preying on children, when that's not at all what we were doing. I had, uh, numerous confirmed death threats. I had people picketing my events. By the way, none of these people were from burbank. They they were all um, forgive me, they were. They were right-wing lunatics from outside our area, never read the bill, didn't know anything about us, but saw something on a right-wing blog and took it as true and came to Burbank and we had to use Burbank police department for resources to keep us safe. They did a great job. By the way, love the new chief of police, chief Quintero, is fantastic, but no, I mean, it's not the same. You're right, because it's very occasional.
Speaker 3:It's one bill that maybe causes controversy, but I agree with you though, at the end of the day, in a free and democratic society, we have to be willing to get together. Disagree, that's fine. Bob Frutos, the first person who I had the pleasure of serving under as mayor, always said you can disagree without being disagreeable. I think we've got to get back to that. You can disagree with me on policy, but the moment you start making slurs or being disrespectful at the dais or, in my case, threatening my wife and kids, we've then, at that point, crossed a line that is not appropriate conduct. Yeah, and this is burbank. Yeah, exactly this is burbank actually. But you know, and I will say time and again, it's not the people that call burbank home that are doing this. It's other people we saw it with tin horn flats people from elsewhere that are coming in that are using exactly, they're stirring the pot and using our city, our opportunity, as a chance to further whatever agenda, and I I'm not going to have any more of that.
Speaker 1:So here's a local issue, that's a Burbank issue, but I think it's also in your district also, and that's the bus corridor.
Speaker 3:Oh the BRT, yeah the BRT.
Speaker 1:Now, of course that's coming through Burbank, but it starts in North Lawn and goes all the way to Pasadena and they're changing the configuration of streets. And there's kind of that fight saying, well, changing configuration of streets, and there's kind of that fight thing, well, we're going to do this, and we're saying well, nah, we don't know if we're going to do this and what they want and what they can force us to do or leverage us to do, you know. So I'm wondering if that's something that you know down the line you might have to be looking at, as you know, I mean, besides Britain, that's another area too. They do it in Hollywood and other places. So I wonder if that's down the line, is public transportation going to have more rights, you know, and give the cities less rights?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, talking about local issues, that's one that I've been continuing to monitor. I appreciate the council for continuing to show up and engage. I would like to see more resolution on that issue. It feels like the city and Metro are still miles apart After last week's meeting. Yes, I know, but here's what I will say. What the state can do is we're trying to offer solutions that can be helpful, regardless of whether the project moves forward or not. I respect the fact that the city officials need to work with Metro and make whatever decision they're going to make, but one of the bills we didn't talk about, which is alive and we will be working on next year, is assembly bill 939. This would, if it passed, the legislature next year, would put on the 2026 ballot for all of you to vote on a 20 billion dollar bond for transit capital improvement projects things like a monorail well, sure you, sure you can do a monorail rail or a trolley car or a trolley car.
Speaker 3:I had in mind the Olive Avenue Bridge, because, whether or not you have a dedicated lane, that bridge is only so many years from being an end of life. There's no dedicated bike path on that bridge it's not safe to cross or walk across or walk across and 939 was designed for the whole state. But it came from my experience in Burbank and at a time when the federal government's ripping away funding, we don't have a lot of available dollars to do a big project like that. That's what Assembly Bill 939 is all about.
Speaker 1:Okay, Transportation and statewide high-speed rail. That has become a slippery slope. The government just pulled their funding for it. We've got half the thing built in Northern California. It's a train to nowhere right now, you know. So they haven't even talked about doing the southern part of it down to LA yet and where it's going to go and what domains. I mean it's a huge cluster thing, you know. So what do you see in that going on? Because right now you've got half a thing well kind of built, yeah, and that's it.
Speaker 3:I think it's a great question. I mean, look, I think we're still in the capital. There's sort of division of opinion. You have some people that are saying that we've tried the project, we spent a lot of money on the project, it's time to bring it to an end, which seems like a waste of resources and dollars.
Speaker 3:Exactly and, by the way, this is a job creator. Most of the jobs have been in the Central Valley, but this has the potential to put a lot of people to work for a very long time. You have another group of people that still see value in the project, and I would say I fall more in that camp. I still think the high-speed rail can work. The issue is the implementation has been completely sideways. I would have started with the Southern California leg of it as opposed to the Central Valley. I would have certainly done that.
Speaker 3:I think there clearly has been inadequate oversight of the high-speed rail project, and so I think that if the legislature were to continue with this project, we do need more transparency. We need more accountability If we're not going to cut our losses and just end the project now. The public needs to have more confidence that these dollars are actually going to construction of a rail project which Burbank will play a big part of. I mean it will have seamless integration with our airport. It'll bring more people through Burbank, to Burbank. It has selfishly for our district, for our city. If it's done the right way and that's a big if. But if it were, it has incredible potential to bring more economic boom to our city. It just has to be done the right way.
Speaker 1:We're in such, we're one of the best technological states and more or less countries in the world. But yeah, you go to Japan, you go to all these other countries, high-speed rail everywhere, and we can't figure out how to do one rail line through the state. Now there's a private one that's going to happen to Vegas, which a private company is going to do, but the one we're doing, we can't figure it out. All these other countries have no problem with it, and that boggles me.
Speaker 3:And to your point, craig, before we just cut our losses and have this weird segment of a train stranded in the Central Valley, I'd be much more inclined to see is there a public-private partnership that could help at least save a portion of the project? But you know, I think that you know we're sort of losing the point of the argument if we're just saying we hate this project, we want it to end. Let's see if we can finish it and do it the right way and at least have some positive contribution to california at all.
Speaker 2:I think we can get there, it's funny, you, we're talking about high-speed rail, cra. Craig and I witnessed for 40, 30 years the controversy about Burbank Airport. We're going to replace terminals. How many meetings did we cover? How many? I mean countless hours of the fight, of you know a new.
Speaker 1:And even today you can't say new terminal, it has to be replacement terminal.
Speaker 2:It's all about words you know, yeah, but as you go out there you fly by. That's moving rather rapidly, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Believe it or not, they're on schedule and at budget. It's remarkable.
Speaker 1:So it can be done. It can be done. It cracks me up. When they put the Ritzy in for everything else, I said why would they put it in here when they're going to move the terminal over there? And now they're finding that they don't have the you know with your bill and everything else, because they have to now put another rental car situation in, because the one they built 10 years ago now is going to become obsolete because of the terminals. And I just said that was wasted money.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, real quickly I drove by there just the other day, went out of Van Owen and I don't know I don't remember if you were on council at the time the argument about the paintings or the artwork on the outside of the Ritzy. They drove by there, All those frames that they put up. You can't see them because the trees have now matured and grown.
Speaker 1:How about the bridge?
Speaker 2:that's supposed to go to the train station. Yeah, just this little stuff, you know.
Speaker 3:I'm with you and at the end of the day I you know, I know we're close on time, but I'll just wrap with saying on this issue, I mean, I'll wrap with saying that what I think my contribution can be is that I hope to be in the sea as long as I keep doing a good job and the voters keep sending me back. You know I'm turned out in 11 years but for as long as I'm here I want to have that sort of regional eye view. Obviously, burbank is our home. I care deeply about what happens in the city. I see opportunity with these regional projects, with these state projects. I want to do right by our whole district and yes, of course, burbank is where my heart is, it's where my family is. So I want to make sure that Burbank comes through very well in all of this.
Speaker 3:I think to your point, ross. We just have to have more strategic vision. You know we can't just be so reactionary. We have to be thinking about what do we want Burbank and, more broadly, the 44th district, to look like 20 years from now? How do we get there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it uh, like you say, burbank's not going anywhere, folks. I mean, we're a city of people, pride and progress. I think, yeah, and we really are. This is the movie capital of the world. That's right. I mean how we move forward and so forth.
Speaker 1:And things are changing. I think in the next 20 years actually a lot of location filming won't even be done anymore because they're going to sound stages now.
Speaker 3:Oh, look what they're doing, warner.
Speaker 1:Brothers might become more sound stages and then less sets there now. Well, 16 new stages over there, right, but I'm talking about the main lot, oh, the main lot right?
Speaker 2:Well, I know we've gone on longer than we were expecting.
Speaker 1:Yeah we have, but that's one more thing for them.
Speaker 2:Okay, because I want to find out. What's the future hold.
Speaker 1:What do you see in the future? Right now, what are your goals, your immediate goals? For the next, let's say six months.
Speaker 2:You know that little snowball or cube.
Speaker 3:Oh, the eight ball, you know turn it over.
Speaker 2:Tell us what you see.
Speaker 3:You Tell us what you see. You know I would say as I, as I continue to be in the district. And, by the way, I will mention, even though I am gone a lot, Monday to Thursday for seven months of the year, you know, I still have managed to make it back to Burbank to a lot of events that are near and dear to my heart. And I won't go through all of them but, like from Earth Day to Genocide Remembrance, to the Media Expo tomorrow at Woodbury, like I try to be here when I can, genocide remembrance to the media expo tomorrow at Woodbury, like I try to be here when I can. The reason I bring all that up is to say I keep hearing.
Speaker 3:Even with the progress we're making, the primary concerns continue to be affordability. I think that's going to continue to be the theme of this entire legislative term. People are struggling with the very high cost of living, from the cost of rent or or what your mortgage is I mean the cost of rent or what your mortgage is and the cost of housing is through the roof to the cost of what you're paying at the pump for gas, to the cost of. That translates to and what you're paying for at the grocery store to your energy cost. I know the council just had to approve more rate increases for Burbank Water and Power, which our family is absorbing like anyone else.
Speaker 2:I sure did this month.
Speaker 3:It's all up, and so I would say whether it's running bills, like we're trying to do, to add more housing in a sensible way to our communities, to bills that we didn't talk about, like AB 1117, which would offer dynamic pricing, so that the quick explanation, ross, is you could know that if you want to turn on the AC right now, this is what it'll cost you, or you could wait two hours at a cheaper cost, just giving you, the consumer, that knowledge to help save a few bucks in your pocket. Those are going to continue to be the things that I prioritize affordability and then, of course, I would say, separate to that, public safety. It's going to continue to be something that I care deeply about wanting to build safer communities. And the last thing I'll close on is just the budget.
Speaker 3:We have a budget crisis in California. We had a deficit, and that's made worse by the fact that the federal government is now clawing back grants left and right. They passed HR one, which is ripping away more funding. Even in spite of that, we passed a budget that includes universal, uh, tk, uh, free schools at you know, free, um, afterschool meals. We are doing what we can in our budget to keep in place that social safety net that I think is going to be more needed than ever.
Speaker 3:So the last thing I would say, craig, is, as this federal government continues to really hammer California and really, by extension, hurt the people in our community in Burbank who really need our lifelines the most, a lot of the legislation and the work I'll be doing on the budget is trying to keep that social safety net in place. Nobody's asking for a handout. They're just asking for a hand up and the opportunity to not fall into homelessness. That is what we need to do at the state level is to ensure that we're continuing programs like SNAP, to ensure that we're continuing to house people, that we're making progress on reducing homelessness. Those are going to continue to be priorities.
Speaker 1:I think you're going to have to find a balance somewhere. Also, because if you have a rent cap, basically of 99% of the state or something in that area I'm not sure exactly what it is but if the landlord's cost is going up 12 or 13% because of you know certain things, well, you're asking them to take a 3 or 4% loss every year then for where they can raise the rent and where they have to their bottom line. So I think that's something that you'll have to find. The whole you know the whole legislature will have to find how do we find a balance in that so that they have their, they can still maintain their margin and yet these people can still have housing too. I think that's the big equation which nobody has the answer to.
Speaker 3:I agree, Craig, and the only thing I'll very quickly say is another bill. Clearly we've been busy, but another bill we didn't talk about was the affordable housing bond, which we're co-authoring as well. This idea of we keep talking about rent control as a solution when we all know it's a temporary measure at best. We need more housing to alleviate market pressure. We don't need more luxury level units, we need affordable housing that our workforce can afford. One of the bills we're running this year, this affordable housing bond, if approved by the voters next year would be $10 billion. $10 billion to construct 100%, truly affordable housing. It's trying to replace what we lost when the Burbank Housing Corporation lost access to those redevelopment agency funds Like those are the kind of things that we need right now.
Speaker 1:That was a terrible redevelopment agency when they lost that.
Speaker 2:It was oh, so many things went down the tube, so many things. Well, you know, I heard you a minute ago. Didn't say these words, but this is what I heard come out of your mouth this is still the best damn state to live in.
Speaker 3:And the best city.
Speaker 2:Well, being a lifelong Burbank resident, I will always say that Both of us will. But if you look at all the other states and everything that they go through and so forth, california is still. It is, you know, the best, absolutely there's nowhere else I'd rather be.
Speaker 3:And I just say to your listeners um, you know, if if you don't believe me or you think I'm full of it, let me prove you wrong. And to everyone else, that's exactly what you should expect from your state rep. You should have someone there who believes in the promise of California, who knows that we can do better and wants to do better because we have to. But I still think that we are the greatest state. I think we are one of the world's largest, strongest economies, and I still believe that we have yet to achieve our maximum potential.
Speaker 2:Oh, definitely. What's the best way for you know here, there your email, probably have the same cell phone I do or what's the best way if somebody does a right test but wants to talk to you?
Speaker 3:yeah. So I would say, I would say look, many, many folks still have my cell phone and you can reach me that way.
Speaker 1:Um, but that cell phone put out there, huh 818-806-9392.
Speaker 3:You can still reach me that way, but but I'd say the best way though, because I don't know any given day where I'm going to be or if I'm going to be voting.
Speaker 2:You can't have that phone on when you're on the floor?
Speaker 3:No, you can't. So I would say, if you're wanting to get my attention on something or if you want help, two things you can do. You can always write an email to assemblymember all one word schultz, s-c-h-u-l-t-z at A-S-M, dot, c-a, dot gov. That goes right to our office. I get it, diane. Or Amanda Amanda's your field rep in Burbank with my office. We have access to it. That way it doesn't get lost in my inbox. We have multiple eyes on it so we can track what you need.
Speaker 3:The other thing I would say is, if you go through our website, you can find all of our legislation we're working on. You can also comment on legislation, and a lot of people like to call our office and speak to a person and I totally get that. But if you go on our website, you can write a direct message I support SB, whatever. I hate AB, whatever. That gets loaded right onto my iPad. So when I'm sitting on the floor voting, I have an iPad with me and I can look, not just organization but individually. So it'll say Ross Benson, burbank, and I can see how many residents, how many constituents, support a bill or oppose a bill. That is such an easy way, easy thing to do so that I have a sense of hey, there's 500 constituents who reached out that want me to go up on this bill, or 500 that absolutely want me to vote no on this terrible housing bill, for example whatever it is, it's really interesting.
Speaker 2:Again, technology makes it so you can have that iPad there and get messages.
Speaker 1:Or it's nice to watch the plane. We have that hour plane flight.
Speaker 3:And I read it. I really do, like every time before a floor session I'm looking at. For each bill we'll be voting on, who did we hear from in the district and when I hear from a lot of constituents, there are times where I was like you know I might have voted one way, but really listening to my community, that's part of the job too. I mean it makes a difference. So I would say, if you want to talk to me, if you need help with something, send the email, but if you just want to know, you want me to know, how you feel about a bill.
Speaker 2:use the website, you can still call and email, but that website is such an easy way to get your opinion registered with our office. Fantastic Ross, any final comments or anything? No great show, I mean. We haven't seen you in a while and you and I have seen each other out in the community, looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. We're your SPF 35 probably out there It'll be. Last year was cooking, I remember so, but I'm glad everybody at home is feeling good. The kids are getting older, yeah, and thanks for representing Burbank.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you guys.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I want to thank everybody for listening. I think this is great information, and please contact Assemblyman Schultz if you have issues you want to talk about. He's very approachable. Okay, so, once again, subscribe to the channel. We'd appreciate that. Hit those old like buttons all that stuff you always hear and become a member of our channel too. If you want to help support my Burbank, get a channel membership. That's where you can really do some help for us. So that's it for this time and we will talk to you again. Thanks for watching and, by the way, two hands of stereo. If you're doing this podcast in your car, take care.
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