Transcripts For KQED KQED Newsroom 20170506

Audit of u. C. Revealed 175 million in hidden funds. We talked with republican state assemblywoman catherine baker, vice chair of the Higher Education committee, one of three committees that held the joint hearing on the audits findings. Kqed senior politics editor, scott schaefer, has more. Senator baker, thanks for coming in. Scott, good to be here. Lets talk about the audit. Janet napolitano was on the hot seat in sacramento this week. What troubles you the most about the audit, the findings, and how she responded to it . Sure. The audit had many troubling findings. First was the undisclosed offbudget funds that was not disclosed to the region, either the spending or its existence. And that that fund was being amassed or built up within the office of the president at the tame time they were asking for tuition increases from students taking campus assessments away. Dollars that could have been spent on our california students. That was very troubling. The good news is, theyve agreed to take all the budget recommendations of the audit report. Thats good. Very troubling was the tampering that appears to have happened between the office of the president and the communications that were supposed to go to the auditor confidentially to give us unfiltered, unadulterated information. They interfered with the investigation the auditor had. That, to me, is troubling, and the response that the president had. I dont believe she was fully forthright. I know she wasnt in the hearing. That has gravely concerned me. You and some of your republican colleagues are asking to subpoena some records, budget records, invoices, those kinds of things. What are you looking for . Do you feel like there may have been some some law broken perhaps, or what . I really for me, i want to get to the facts. Thats the first part. The office has had a problem with candor, both in terms of the financial documents. There are still a lot of Unanswered Questions that the auditor was unable to get information about. We need to get that out there. Secondly is this issue of how the University Office of the president interfered with the communications. They actually took some of the input that was supposed to go to the auditor, crossed it out, and edited it to make it sound better and gave it forward. That was directed at the highest level from president napolitano, something that she did not agree with at the hearing. That to me is troubling. I do believe the best way to deal with it is factfinding subpoenas. Get the full information in a disciplined way so we have the facts. Could you see this leading to her resignation . I will leave that up to the regents and president. I tell you, this is the most troubling audit ive seen. The auditor said in her testimony on wednesday, in her 17 years, she has never seen that type of interference in this type of audit report. That should cause everyone to look and see whats the appropriate action. Quickly so we can move on, though, do you support rolling back the tuition increase that the regents approved earlier this year . Absolutely. The day that this audit report came out, i had a onehour briefing with the auditor to go through it first and make sure i understood the findings and called for a freeze in the tuition increase and the salary increases, the benefit increases, and the administration costs. We owe it to california students to do that. Lets move on to health care. I was in the kcapitol yesterday when the vote was going down in the house of representatives. A lot of offices had the tv on watching. California, of course, stands to potentially lose billions of dollars if the medicaid expansions are pulled back, that kind of thing. Do you support the bill as it was passed in the house this week . First of all, california went all in with cover california and the Affordable Care act. We stand to lose billions. Whats probably a better reflection of my belief on what should happen with health care at the federal level is h. R. 28, which i was the only republican to vote for in the state assembly of course, this vote was in the house of representatives it was a reflection of how should we best maintain coverage and also choice for californians. Thats probably a better reflection of what i think is the policy and where we should go. Given whats happening in congress, what it now goes to the senate . I mean, would you like to see them start over, or are there things about what passed this week that you like . One thing that i know for sure is its going to be winding through a complicated process. Its got to get through the senate, get to the president s desk. I think it needs to maintain choice, and it needs to maintain access including for preexisting conditions. You said california was all in. Yeah. On the aca. Do you think california went too far in expanding medicai medicaid medical . I agreed with the governor we did expand way beyond medical. The problem is we dont have enough money to provide quality, Accessible Health care for californians here now and needing meneed ing medical, and we expanded it and dont have the budget for it. I believe thats a problem that will make it difficult to respond to what happens at the federal level. Transportation, s. B. 1 passed. The governor signed it. A 52 billion revenue generator or ten years for roads and public transit. You vote against it. I did. A lot of commuters in your district rely on the roads. What was your fundamental opposition to it . Fundamentally, if were going to even think about taking more tax dollars and revenue from californians, we have got to show were making the reforms necessary to spend it better. We have to do that first. The bill had virtually zero reforms to modernize caltrans, to be more efficient with those dollars. And of the 107 pages, there was one page that mentioned caltrans. It was six lines that set a goal for better operations, and that was it. We could have done more. Thats the bill that was before the legislature. Are you saying that doing nothing would have been better than what passed . I think doing the right thing, do the reforms with any kind of conversations about revenue. But zero conversations about reform happened. Zero parts in the bill. And unfortunately, californians, i think, deserve better. If were asking for more money, the highest gas tax in california history, a gas tax that continues year after year after year and we do nothing to spend it better, thats the wrong way to go. California, of course, has become sort of the center of resistance to the trump agenda. And im wondering as a republican, do you how do you feel about what the legislature is doing and specifically the sanctuary state bill, s. B. 54 that passed the senate, in your house . Its all the way over in the senate. I probably wont get to vote on it until its on the assembly floor. Its keenly important to people in my district and i think californians. I support a welcoming immigration policy including for refugees. We have to keep everyone safe. Whoevers here and how they got here, we have to keep them safe. The main thing ill look at with that bill is does it allow Law Enforcement to keep people safe . If not, its not a good bill. Quickly, theres no endangered species list for politicians or republicans. Youd be on it if there was. I have to think of it as a seed that grows. Why do you think republicans have had such a hard time with their message . Certainly in the bay area in particular. In the state . And again, i apologize but were short on time. Thats okay. You know, i think that the California Republican party has had challenges for last two decades. I think were listening more to californians than i think youre seeing the majority agenda in sacramento. What people need to improve their quality of life. If we keep on that path, i think well ton do better and better. All right. Assemblywoman baker, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Now for a closer look at the university of californias finances, on tuesday, u. C. President Janet Napolitano apologized for how her office handled the audit that found millions in hidden reserve funds, even as u. C. Raised tuition across its ten campuses. U. C. Has long enjoyed autonomy in governing itself. Now the audit is affecting trust in u. C. s leadership as questions emerge about whether that autonomy should continue. Joining me now is Bay Area News Group Higher Education reporter emily dury. Nice to have you here. Thanks for having me. How significant is this audit . Its fairly huge. I mean, explosive is a word that has come up. They found that theres 1 75 million in what the auditor at one point called a slush fund. Secret reserves that werent disclosed fully to the board of regents that oversees the u. C. System. You have people saying where is this money going, why are you raising tuition, whats going on here . So then the reaction among parents and students, i would imagine, is theyre pretty upset. You have people really upset. You have students coming forward and saying that the tuition increase, about 3 , raises instate tuition from about 12,300 to 12,600. You have students saying thats hard for some people in . Families. This on top of another audit this year showing that thousands of outofstate students with lower grades and test scores than the instate students were being admitted, primarily to raise cash for the u. C. System. Right. And you have california taxpayers saying were funding this, and im having to send my kid to oregon or to arizona. And why cant they go to the u. C. System that weve been paying for . What has been the response from president napolitano . Napolitanos office has been fairly defensive. Shes been somewhat apologize tick, but she seems to be apologetic, but she seems to be apologizing for the optics of this. Theyve said the 175 million isnt fair. Nays they say its 38 million. Its for cybersecurity, protecting student data. The auditor said, no, im not buying it. The auditor said napolitanos office hasnt shown proof that that is the case. The auditor, whos been doing this for 17 years, and we should point out Elaine Howell has also said that in her 17 years shes never seen the level of interference. Shes referred to criticism that napolitanos office perhaps encouraged some of the u. C. Campuses to come back and change their responses to audit surveys to make the president s office seem more favorable. Right. That is one of the more shocking allegations here and not even allegations. Ive seen emails, and theres some proof there that campuses sent in their responses to a Confidential Survey what was supposed to be confidential, to the u. C. President s office. The president s office offered what theyre calling suggestions to make those responses more favorable. The president s office said we need to make sure everybodys on the same page. The responses changed dramatically. Some of the criticisms of the u. C. President s office were cut out. What got submitted to the state auditor was very different than what some schools initially wrote. Now we have some lawmakers who are asking for subpoenas of those documents, including assemblywoman katherine baker. Also some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are asking for a cancelation of the tuition hike. Right. You have people like gavin newsom coming toward. Absolutely both sides of the aisle. And newsom is saying, you know, we cant raise tuition in light of this this audit and these findings. And we need some transparency around how u. C. Is spending its money, what the budget looks like, and we cant hit students and families with that hike. How likely do you think that will happen, that the hike does not happen . Not necessarily likely. I think we need to wait and see. But the regents oversee the u. C. System. The chair, monica lazano, has been fairly defensive of napolitano and of the way that u. C. Is run. So i dont know how likely it is that theyll freeze the tuition hike. Okay. Now you have the u. C. President s office, the board of regents which oversees the president s office. Who overseens the regents . How much impact or or oversight does the legislature have on the system . Great question, and not a lot. The state the california constitution essentially says that the u. C. Is somewhat autonomous and that state lawmakers can make recommendations to the u. C. System. But the regents dont necessarily have to take those. Thats very different from Something Like the California State University system where lawmakers can pass statutes scoop and the csu system has to take those into account. U. C. Can say thanks, but no thanks. Bottom line, do you think the audit could lead to u. C. Losing some if not all of its autonomy . Possibly. I dont know how likely that is. But possibly. And youve seen some people calling for state lawmakers to really get in there, do an investigation, and potentially handle some of the budgeting process. I spoke with the head of the largest u. C. Employee union, and her comment was we really need some sunlight in there. She wants state lawmakers to handle some of the oversight because shes not thrilled with what shes seeing. We know that the regents are meeting in San Francisco starting may 17th. I am sure this will be on that agenda. A lot more then. Emily dury, Bay Area News Group, Higher Education reporter, thank you for being he here. Thank you. We move to a state lawmaker who has a lot of influence over how our taxpayer money is spent. State senator Holly Mitchell from los angeles has made fighting for the poor her lifes work. She was elected to the state assembly in 2010 and to the state senate in 2014. Shes now chair of the powerful Senate Budget committee, with the governors revised budget due next friday. We get a preview from senator mitchell about what to expect. Kqed has more. Reporter thank you so much for coming in, senator Holly Mitchell. Its my pleasure. Great to be here. Youre chair of the Budget Committee in the senate. Were expecting next week the governor to unveil his may revise, where we get a better idea of what hes proposing. Im curious where you see the big budget showdown this year and if you think the two houses which are both controlled by democrats are going to be united in their priorities. You never know until you know. Well see. May revise is there opportunity to look at a real budget, in my opinion, after the may the april numbers come in from everyone paying their taxes. Well have a better idea of what the states income really is. And i think ive begun to have preliminary conversations with my colleagues in the assembly. I think that there are some kind of abovethefold issues that are resonating with all of us. The coordinated care initiative, the issue about Inhome Supportive Services and whether we kick the can down to the counties or we continue to pay them at the state level. Im glad to see we just got rid of we handled the infrastructure issue with s. B. 1. Thats a big, big piece. There will be any number of Critical Issues that we have to look at health care, childcare. There are a number of issues that resonate i think with leadership in both houses. So one of the big legislative fights youve had in the assembly and senate was a repeal of the maximum family grant rule for welfare recipients, how it works. I want you to kind of lay out what that was. Tell us why that was so important to us as somebody who comes from as an activist in poverty and childcare issues. You know, i worked in the Legislature Many years ago and was an advocate with the western center law on poverty. I remember picking up and reading the Sacramento Bee the date that eventgovernor pete witch that thengovernor pete wilson signed it. You know, it was one less case of beer a month. It was this cavalier attitude about the life and struggles of poor people that never left me. Explain what it is. Maximum family grant. It was a budget deal during his administration that basically said if youre on cal works, youre receiving welfare, cash aid for your family, that if you have another child while youre on cash aid, your grant wouldnt be adjusted. It was a National Kind of effort led by the republican party, who operated on the assumption that poor women had babies to increase their cal works check. And as i have said publicly repeatedly, i dont know a woman and i dont believe shes been born yet who would have another baby for an additional 109 a month. It was a failed policy. 15 states have overturned it over the last 20 years. And all it did in california was push already marginalized, poor families deeper into poverty. So it took us a number of years, but im very proud to say that weve removed it. It seems like your big legislative push is more around criminal justice issues. I notice among a package you introduced with colleagues includes reforming the juvenile justice system. Can you tell me about maybe a couple of those bills . I think the general voting public understands that building prisons and incarcerating people for longer periods of time doesnt is not helpful. It doesnt work. It doesnt necessarily make our communities safer. It costs a great deal of money. So weve seen the reverse. Id not seen that same attitude in Public Policy shift when it comes to juveniles. And thats been made apparent in the policy committees that weve heard some of these bills so far. So weve got bills that say that if youre a minor, you cant waive your miranda right. That we dont believe its appropriate for children under 12 to go to jail. And so theres some fundamental issues where we say children are not pintsized adults. They have different ages and stages of brain development. And we need to treat them accordingly. So another issue weve seen a lot of focus on in sacramento this year is protecting immigrants. And particularly undocumented immigrants given whats happening again in d. C. And im wondering when you go out to your community, is that a concern you hear . No question. I representppli mid city los angeles, little ethiopia. Large areas of my district are latino residents and immigrants from other parts of this world. And i think fundamentally my constituents and i recognize the value that the immigrant Community Brings to california, from our work force and in terms of our diversity. Are you hearing about tradeoffs in terms of spending or also the threats weve mentioned about federal funding . Are people worried about money . People are worried about the threat. People are worried about living in california, living in a country thats based on the sweat equity of immigrants and what our country now looks like in the worlds view. People are worried when they hear about i. C. E. Raids in courthouses and i. C. E. Raids at elementary schools. I cohosted with the black social workers a know your rights workshop with aclu. The diversity of the people in that room looked like california. People were asking questions on behalf of each community. And so people are, i think, have been shaken to their core about really not feeling connected with the new National Focus on what it means to be an american. And our and are thrilled that the California Legislature and leaders are stepping up to defend basic human rights. Another big issue that you have been involved in is Climate Change policy. Again, some of that is under attack by President Trump. Theres also been this interesting sort of debate thats come up. It used to be business versus environmentalists, right . How it theres concerns about Environmental Justice. That places in the inner city or more rural areas have really felt the effects of pollution and other problems. When i first ran for office, i have a son whos now 16, was 10. When i was making my decision, he was about 8. And he made the most profound, had the most profound aha moment that Public Policy is not black and white. Its not a you know an if this then that equation. We need jobs. We need communities that are disproportionately impacted by bad air by trucking or what have you, we need all of that to work in a symbiotic relationship. And so its not if this, then that. And so the manufacturers are coming together with the Environmental Justice and the traditional environmental groups to have a different kind of conversation. And that is thrilling to me, based on the district i represent. And so its just not that elementary. Weve got to come together and have meaningful conversations to target communities that have been disproportionately impacted, as well as recognize that those are the same communities that need the jobs the most. Thank you again for coming in today. Its been my pleasure. Turning now to stockton. A city 80 miles east of San Francisco that made National Headlines when it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. This november, the city made National Headlines again when it elected Michael Tubbs as its first africanamerican mayor. At 26, tubbs is also the youngest mayor ever to lead a large u. S. City. His hometown is struggling with one of the highest crime and unemployment rates in the state. Joining me is stockton mayor Michael Tubbs. Nice to have you here. Thank you very much for having me. You have quite an impressive resume. You graduated from stanford with bachelors and masters degrees, a host of leadership awards, an internship at the white house. And you probably could have chosen to go anywhere. Yet, you chose to go back to stockton, why . Im born and raised in stockton. Growing up, so much the narrative about being successful meant i had to leave stockton. So thats what i did. But then when i was interning in the white house and intergovernmental affairs, every day my job was to work with mayors and Council Members nationwide. I saw at a local level people were making a difference. I thought, okay, its important to donate to good candidates locally, but i didnt think id move back to stockton. Then while still there, my co cousin was murdered. And going home and dealing with the pain, anger, and hurt, but realizing that for a lot of families especially families from neighborhoods like the one i came from that was almost a normal or part of life experience. I thought that all this all the awards, all the education had to be for something bigger than me. Thats why i decided i would go back to stockton and run. And your own family background was pretty challenging. You were born to a teenaged mother. Your father was incarcerated for much of your life. In fact, hes incarcerated now. Tell us about that experience. I would say growing up that way is why im interested in policies. I realize oftentimes when we had talk about people nationally or locally that are poor or that might have criminal backgrounds, that we we deny their humanity. We miss nuance. We miss that people are incredibly resilient. I watch my mom work hard and not make excuses, with nuances like poverty and criminality, i think i have lived with those issues. We need different policy prescriptions than i would have had i just studied them at stanford, for example. Did you ever visit your father in prison . Once when i was a child, around 12. I visited him two weeks before my mayoral kickoff. Why just two times . I spend a lot of time in prison speaking and things. For me, visiting, its a very emotional experience. Its very heavy. Because when you go in, sometimes the guards treat you like youre a criminal, like youre a bad person. You have to go through searches its it denies humanity in my opinion. The leaving is hard, you spend an hour or 30 minutes with someone you love. Youre left and on the bus back to the car, its mothers and children crying, who are hurt, who are upset. Loved ones. Its emotional jarring. It takes a lot for me to go and visit. So how has that experience shaped your goals for your own life . I think for me it really gave me a real determination as a child to make sure that i wasnt a statistic. As i got older, i realized there were ways in which policies and government decisions flounced the choices that individual actors make. I thought if i could help reconfigure the system so instead of pipelining people to prison or having neighborhoods red lined and filled with poverty and lack of opportunity, that we could create opportunities in the communities so people could make the right choices. So if it wasnt for those experiences, i dont think i walk drown to government. But its would be drawn to government. But its the most marginalized and poor folks that rely on government to work most efficiently. So i feel a special responsibility to do all i can to make sure it does that. And you were on the city council before you became mayor. And boy, talk about getting a ringing endorsement. Oprah winfrey sent in a donation. How did that happen . Being in the right place and at the right time. I feel incredibly blessed by god and so my senior year while i was running, she happened to visit. At a luncheon, i studied abroad the Previous Year in south africa. She had girls from her south African Leadership academy. And we were having a conversation. One of the deans mentioned i was running for city council. She was like, who . And they were like, him. She spent ten minutes grilling me about stockton, interview style, who supports you, who doesnt . How much have you raised . At the end, she said, how do i write a check . A month later a check came from miss winfrey, an incredible blessing. Gave us a lot of momentum, a lot of attention. Happened early, in march. Months before the primary in november. For her to be an early investor and believe that early gave us a lot of momentum moving forward. Stockton certainly has its challenges. Its been out of bankruptcy for only a couple of years. It has high crime and unemployment rates. What are your top three goals to accomplish as mayor . Number one, on the Violent Crime front. 80 of our Violent Crime is done by less than 1 of the population. I have a couple of strategies in place. One is a ceasefire. Another is for the 87 guys who drive the Violent Crime rate, what besides jails can we offer them with an understanding that transitioning from a life of criminality and violence is not easy. Oftentimes, theyre perpetrators but also victims. Theyve had trauma, lost people. Figuring out as a community what resources can we provide in terms of housing, employment, and social services for those who want them so they can transition out. Number two, on homelessness. Looking at improving the Housing First solution in collaboration with the county looking at zoning codes, offering tiny houses, and finding out how to make the transition from transitional housing to permanent housing easier. Three are the economic development. Figuring out the skills gap in terms of the peoplive who w. H. O. Li officer the people who live in the cities, how do we make sure to have pipelines between our education system. And employer so when kids graduate they are college and career readi. Much luck to you, stockton mayor Michael Tubbs. Thank you very much for being with us. Thank you very much for having me. That does it for us. For more of our coverage, go to kqed. Org newsroom. Im thuy vu. Thanks for watching. Robert a breakthrough on healthcare. House republicans resuscitate a plan to repeal and replace obamacare. Im robert costa. Well explain how the proposed legislation could change lives and policy in america, tonight on washington week. This is a repeal and a replace of obamacare. Make no mistake about it. Make no mistake. Robert President Trump scores his first significant legislative win and moves one step closer to dismantling the Affordable Care act. President trump most importantly, yes, premiums will be coming down. Yes, deductibles will be coming down. Robert now the bill heads to the senate where it faces roadblocks and bipartisan skepticism over a number of key issues, including premiums, preexisting conditions and billions of dollars in cuts to