00:00
We have a president who unfortunately has taken us into these foreign
00:05
escapades, and now we see the price of gasoline surpassing $6
00:09
a gallon. Now we see that the housing prices continue to
00:12
go up because Washington DC is not focused here at home.
00:15
That's the consequence of having a rogue federal government that prefers to
00:20
fight battles in foreign countries than fight a better cost of living
00:24
for families here in California.
00:25
I'm absolutely against the war in Iran.
00:34
Secretary Javier Becerra, thank you so much for joining us today
00:38
Secretary, you've had an impressive journey in leadership from Congress
00:42
to California Attorney General to leading health and human services under President
00:47
Biden, and in 2026 you're running in hopes to be elected
00:51
as California's next governor.
00:53
How did we get here?
00:56
Daniela, we got here,
00:57
through a lot of hard work.
01:00
a construction worker,,
01:02
a secretary office worker,
01:04
just worked really hard,
01:05
never had a chance to go to college.
01:07
They gave their kids that opportunity.
01:09
You learn from example,
01:11
you work hard, you apply yourself,
01:13
you get lucky, get to go to Congress,
01:15
get to go become the chief law enforcement officer for the state
01:19
of California as the attorney general.
01:21
You get an offer from the president of the United States to
01:23
serve in his cabinet as the secretary of the largest health agency
01:27
in the world during the midst of a pandemic.
01:33
So what was that decision when you said I would like to
01:38
be elected, I would like for the people of California to
01:41
consider me to be their next governor?
01:43
What was that point for you?
01:45
It actually started way before I decided to run for governor.
01:49
It started when I first decided to run for my first office
01:52
back in the 1990s when I wanted to make a difference.
01:56
I thought making a difference for someone who never had a chance
02:00
didn't have a lot of money,
02:01
it meant working for somebody who had their hands on the levers
02:04
and I would help drive that policy by working with them
02:08
to help shape it and that's what I started doing.
02:10
I started working with a state legislator helping with their policy.
02:15
And that's when I thought to myself,
02:19
But I always thought it would be as the person helping the
02:22
the elected official, not as the elected official until many of
02:25
the folks that I got to know and work with and champion
02:28
causes with said, Javier,
02:30
have you ever thought of running for office?
02:34
if you think about it,
02:36
we will support you.
02:37
And that's, that's what got the,
02:39
the ball rolling. And in 1990,
02:41
I got elected to the state assembly.
02:44
Then to Congress, then Attorney General,
02:47
then Cabinet Secretary Health and Human Services.
02:49
So, what made me run for governor,
02:51
the fact that I saw that a guy who never thought he'd
02:54
have a chance to run for anything.
02:57
Could become the next governor.
02:58
I think many Latinos relate to that feeling of no we'll help
03:03
others we'll we'll help others get there or we'll we'll we'll be
03:07
in the background but to see a Latino in,
03:10
in, in power in leadership is very inspiring for many.
03:14
Why, why should Latinos look for representation in our leadership at
03:18
this moment in history?
03:20
Daniela, for the same reason,
03:21
it's inspiring to see you as the host talking to me.
03:25
I, I'm talking to someone who I can relate to,
03:28
who I suspect has had many of the same experiences,
03:32
probably likes a lot of the same food that I do,
03:34
and. 20-30 years ago,
03:38
Daniela would not have been sitting there and you say my name
03:41
Daniela, not Danielle or Danielle,
03:44
and struggle with the double L.
03:46
it's a different world and that's the beauty.
03:52
we'll work hard and be part of that evolution,
03:54
and that's what we're seeing.
03:55
I'm watching evolution. I hope to be part of evolution,
03:59
but at the end of the day,
03:59
it's like my parents did.
04:00
You just gotta work hard in it.
04:02
Talking about the future of California,
04:07
some have left, some are thinking about it,
04:10
and many want to stay forever.
04:12
Many, many don't wanna think about that,
04:14
but they're forced to because of the cost of living.
04:16
How would you plan to ensure that California remains affordable and livable
04:20
for all of us who call it home?
04:23
You gotta believe and you got to inspire confidence in those families
04:26
in California that they will get to do it.
04:29
They will get to do what my parents did.
04:30
Again, a man who never got past the 6th grade,
04:33
who had to work with his hands all his life,
04:35
road construction, farm working,
04:37
fixing brakes on railroad cars,
04:39
a mother who didn't come here until she was 18
04:41
when she married my dad,
04:43
they had 12 bucks in their pocket.
04:45
How did they buy a house?
04:46
They bought a house.
04:47
They sent my 3 sisters and I to college or the military
04:51
And when they retired,
04:52
they didn't have to go off to Arizona or Idaho.
04:55
They got to stay here.
04:57
How did they do it without a college education,
04:59
working with their hands,
05:01
just worked hard and believed,
05:03
and we've got to give families that do the same thing,
05:06
the same hope. I believe we can do it.
05:08
And so today I tell people,
05:10
you're renting, you wanna buy a house,
05:12
let me help you because if you're renting,
05:14
you're essentially paying the mortgage on that property.
05:17
What you're missing is the down payment to actually be the owner
05:22
So let me, the state of California,
05:24
help you become the owner by helping you with that down payment
05:27
so we make it affordable for you to put the money down
05:30
and become the owner because you're already doing the monthly payments and
05:35
first time home buyer,
05:37
those,, down payment assistance programs.
05:41
Can help someone who doesn't quite have enough to put the down
05:44
payment down makes it possible for them to get in.
05:46
They'll pay us back when they sell the property.
05:48
The state will get its money back.
05:50
Taxpayers will get their money back.
05:51
We have to build more so the prices don't keep going up
05:54
We'll have to build all sorts of housing,
05:57
regular family, single family homes,
05:58
but a lot of condos,
06:02
small units, so people can start somewhere.
06:05
But we want them to own because the only way you create
06:11
Income is your average monthly salary.
06:15
What you own, your assets.
06:17
Biggest asset most of American families will ever,
06:20
ever purchase their home.
06:23
And I think many whether they're Latino,
06:26
white, whatever it is,
06:28
we're, we're in the state of feeling it's impossible,
06:30
it's impossible, the cost of gas.
06:33
I've seen videos of,
06:34
of people my age going with their parents in a rosary because
06:40
it is that bad right now and under your leadership upon
06:45
election,, what would you continue to do besides obviously
06:49
to ensure. For affordable housing to ensure affordable living from groceries
06:54
to gas to healthcare.
06:56
Yeah, so you're talking to someone who had the opportunity to
06:59
run the largest health agency in the world,
07:02
and we actually made health care more affordable during our watch.
07:05
Obviously things have changed under the new administration,
07:08
but under our watch,
07:09
a lot of those health care premiums for your insurance were costing
07:13
a lot of people $10 or less a month.
07:17
I wanna repeat that,
07:18
$10 or less a month in your premiums,
07:21
monthly premiums to hold on to your health insurance coverage.
07:24
Today, $700 800 dollars a month and it's become unaffordable.
07:29
We can go back to those days.
07:31
We can make it possible for families to know they have access
07:34
to a doctor or they can send their child to the hospital
07:37
when they need it and they won't go bankrupt.
07:39
And so we have to inspire,
07:42
the confidence that we can make this work.
07:46
the way you make it work in healthcare is by not denying
07:49
care and thinking you're saving money by saying,
07:51
oh, you're not in the system because they will enter the
07:54
system if you have a child and your child is ailing.
07:57
You're gonna wait if you don't have insurance before you start taking
08:00
it to the doctor or the hospital.
08:02
But if your child's really hurting,
08:04
you're gonna get care.
08:05
And you may have to break that piggy bank and use up
08:07
all your money. And you still won't pay the,
08:09
the entire bill, which means taxpayers,
08:13
who do have private insurance,
08:15
they will all pay because ultimately someone has to pay the bill
08:18
and that doctor, that hospital can't be in operation forever if
08:22
no one is paying them for the work.
08:23
So the way we're gonna guarantee access is by telling people,
08:25
you all will be covered.
08:27
The state will become the backstop to make sure families are covered
08:30
But the best thing about that is the doctors,
08:33
the hospitals will know that when people come through their door.
08:36
They will be paying customers and therefore they won't close their doors
08:40
So I have to inspire confidence in the families that they
08:43
they know they'll have healthcare and I have to inspire confidence
08:46
in the providers that they know that they'll get paid for the
08:49
work they do. Thank you for that answer.
08:51
We have seen. Governor of California Gavin Newsom go toe to
08:56
toe with President Trump and the current administration on issues ranging from
09:00
COVID to immigration. Are you prepared to assume the demanding role
09:05
and how would you approach working with Donald Trump?
09:09
So we all have our different styles,
09:11
obviously, but am I prepared?
09:13
I'm not only prepared,
09:15
when Donald Trump became president the first time I got sworn in
09:19
about a week after he got sworn in as president,
09:21
I became the attorney general for the state of California and I
09:25
not only went toe to toe with tweets,
09:28
I went toe to toe with Donald Trump in court.
09:31
And I beat him in court over and over,
09:34
including all the way to the Supreme Court.
09:36
So when we talked about health care,
09:39
the Affordable Care Act,
09:40
Donald Trump tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.
09:43
I ended up being the attorney general who led the fight to
09:46
defend the Affordable Care Act not just for the 40 million Californians
09:49
but for every American in the country,
09:51
and we went all the way to the Supreme Court and we
09:53
beat Donald Trump. That's why the Affordable Care Act is still
09:55
here. DACA, which a lot of us in the Latino
09:58
community are very familiar with the Dreamers,
10:00
Donald Trump tried to get rid of DACA.
10:03
I stood up as the Attorney General for California and said,
10:06
no, you can't do that.
10:09
but it wasn't just a tweet.
10:12
all the way to the Supreme Court.
10:14
We beat Donald Trump again.
10:15
And so over and over,
10:16
more than 120 times,
10:21
but in court and beat Donald Trump.
10:23
It's very powerful. The courts are what uphold this beautiful democracy
10:28
that elected officials like yourself get to,
10:31
and we hope the people,
10:34
we do hope that you guys uphold on our behalf if elected
10:38
you would be inheriting a California recovering from devastating wildfires.
10:43
What concrete steps. You take to strengthen preparedness,
10:46
response, and recovery efforts because as an Altadena resident my neighbors
10:51
are still homeless. They're living elsewhere.
10:54
They're with money that is running out that their insurance cannot supplement
11:00
and that's a very vivid reality that we have
11:02
not just for the rest of this year but for many years
11:06
so Daniela, you'll understand this well in my 1st 100 days
11:10
I will work with the insurance commissioner,
11:13
with the legislature, and I will do two things immediately so
11:16
long as my authorities allow me to reach that,
11:18
and I think they do.
11:19
One, I will freeze property insurance rates because so many California
11:25
families are seeing their rates jacked up dramatically.
11:29
I, I saw mine more than double,
11:31
more than double, and I've never filed a claim.
11:34
on my property insurance.
11:36
Some people are losing their coverage altogether after years of paying their
11:39
monthly premiums, never having filed a claim,
11:42
they don't even have that insurance.
11:44
All that money they paid,
11:47
I will put a freeze on any price increases for property insurance
11:53
I will also move to put a freeze on increases in
11:57
utility rates because the same thing applies there.
12:00
And during that time of the freeze,
12:02
I will work with the legislature,
12:03
work with the industries,
12:04
work with the insurance commissioner to find out what we can do
12:08
to understand why the prices of those two services continue to go
12:13
up. There has to be a reason,
12:15
and if they can't explain it,
12:16
then we're not going to let them just hike prices just because
12:20
we're prepared to pay a fair price.
12:23
We want to get a service for what we pay.
12:26
But we're not gonna just be your patsies and continue to pay
12:29
and watch you get out of dodge when you think the going
12:32
gets tough. We need to have an answer because families are
12:36
investing, they're paying,
12:38
and they're doing the right thing and it's unfair for an insurance
12:41
industry or private,,
12:43
for-profit,, utilities to think that they can just make
12:46
money off of us and that we'll,
12:48
we'll continue to pay.
12:49
There are so many that continue to be taken advantage of and
12:53
and are in hopes of our next governor to be protective of
12:56
us,, because we've already been through so much.
12:59
So thank you for that response.
13:01
Today we sit here as the children of immigrants,
13:06
of parents who struggled and worked very hard to give us the
13:09
opportunity to come and make them proud,
13:11
and I would say we're doing that here today.
13:13
How significant do you think it is for a candidate to communicate
13:17
in Spanish in order to engage and fully represent California as a
13:22
state? Daniela, the,
13:24
the beauty of communicating with people is you want them to hear
13:29
more than just words you want them to see inside to your
13:32
heart because people have to trust you because they're about to give
13:38
you their vote and if they give you their vote.
13:41
They're expecting that you'll bring down the price of housing,
13:44
that you'll protect their,
13:45
their healthcare, that if a fire burns your property,
13:48
you will stand up for them after years of paying for their
13:51
property insurance, so they're not just voting for you.
13:54
They're putting their trust in you.
13:56
And so sometimes if you can only communicate in ways that don't
14:01
really connect with people,
14:04
it's hard for them to trust.
14:05
But if I could communicate with someone,
14:08
what I'm gonna do to fight for them to be able to
14:11
afford their property insurance or their utility bill,
14:14
if I say it to them in Spanish.
14:18
oh, I intendo now I understand,
14:21
whereas if I just said it in English,
14:22
they may think they understand,
14:24
but they're not sure if they can have confidence in what I
14:27
say. But if I say pero senora yole guarantiso yes esto
14:31
loquevamos I said ustenova perder susseguro usteva poderri aldo ustenova perder su
14:38
casa. If I can say that to them in a way
14:41
that now sounds familiar,
14:43
I've done more than just communicate.
14:45
I've hit them here in their heart.
14:47
And that same trust upon our vote or the vote that someone
14:53
many would hope that they could trust you to defend our community
14:57
and the current attacks that ICE is is displaying and that we've
15:01
seen throughout the country but specifically Los Angeles and and different areas
15:06
of California. What is your stance on ICE?
15:09
So I won't just tell you again what my stance is,
15:12
but because I've been around a while and done some of these
15:15
jobs I could tell you what I've done.
15:18
I think that's one of the important differences between the candidates for
15:21
governor, the other candidates,
15:22
and me. I don't have to tell you what I will
15:25
do and make inflated promises.
15:27
I could tell you what I'll do based on what I did
15:30
And when it comes to ICE,
15:32
I took on ICE when I was the attorney general when Donald
15:35
Trump was president the first time.
15:37
ICE and Donald Trump tried to do the same things when he
15:40
was president the first time that they're trying to do now,
15:42
come in, they were trying to force us to join them
15:45
in doing immigration raids against immigrant families.
15:49
We fought back. I stood up.
15:50
I was the one that took Donald Trump to court to stop
15:54
him from trying to have ICE rule when it came to public
15:57
safety in our communities,
16:01
And we beat them and they were not happy and they tried
16:03
to take $57 million from us for guess what?
16:07
Our local law enforcement,
16:08
for community policing, for officer training because they didn't like
16:12
the way we were doing business.
16:15
I had to sued for that and we won and we got
16:17
our $57 million back.
16:19
So, you have to have someone who cannot just make the
16:21
promise. But has actually delivered on that particular subject and that's
16:26
what I've done. I did it as I was when I
16:28
was attorney general when I was in Congress.
16:30
I did everything I could to protect immigrant families,
16:34
a policymaker in Washington DC and when I was Secretary of Health
16:38
and Human Services when it came time to health care.
16:42
I was the secretary who expanded access to the Affordable Care Act
16:45
to Dreamers who had been excluded before when I became secretary,
16:49
we were able to make sure that the rules permitted Dreamers to
16:53
qualify to get insurance coverage as well.
16:55
With such a big gap between wealthy and struggling communities in California
17:00
how would you make sure working class Latino families actually feel
17:03
the impact of your policies?
17:07
If you work in California.
17:11
And I say that not just because I think it's important for
17:13
the leader of the state to say that.
17:15
I say that because I was the son of people who did
17:17
nothing but work hard and play by the rules.
17:20
I know what that looks like.
17:22
And fortunately our state,
17:25
our people did enough to help my parents so that while they
17:28
couldn't live the dream,
17:29
they let their kids live that dream and so now it's my
17:33
turn. When I become governor,
17:35
I do this for people,
17:36
but I do it for people because I remember my parents and
17:39
what I wanna do is make sure that if you're,
17:40
if you work hard in California,
17:42
you should not have to stop by the food pantry to have
17:45
enough food to put on the table for your family.
17:47
If you work hard in California,
17:49
you should not have to ask the question if you can afford
17:51
to have your child go to the hospital.
17:53
If you work hard in California,
17:55
you should know that there will be a good school in the
17:57
neighborhood where you live for your kids to get a good education
18:00
that maybe you didn't have a chance to get.
18:02
That's on me. I as governor will do everything that's possible
18:07
to give you the infrastructure you need so that then you just
18:10
fly. My parents flew,
18:13
no college education, but they worked hard and they knew how
18:17
at the height that they couldn't get,
18:19
they made it possible for their kids to get there.
18:22
So, I know what happens if you just give people a
18:24
chance, the opportunity,
18:26
they will fly. I gotta make sure though that I undergird
18:29
them that they know they're not gonna fall if they work really
18:32
hard because if someone gets really ill they'll have coverage for healthcare
18:36
If they need to know how to make sure they can
18:39
afford that house, I'm gonna help them with that down payment
18:42
We're gonna undergird them because they've been building California.
18:45
They worked in California.
18:46
They worked hard, they've earned it.
18:49
And this is a question we've seen across the country upon election
18:53
season, where do you stand on AIPAC?
18:56
AIPAC, meaning the political action committee that addresses issues that
19:02
pertain to the state of Israel,
19:03
right?, AIPAC is a political organization at the state
19:08
level. AIPAC is not a much so much a player because
19:11
they're very concerned about issues in.
19:13
Involving international affairs, having served in Congress for over 24 years
19:18
I know a lot of people who have been members of
19:20
AIPAC, a lot of friends who are in the Jewish community
19:23
who are also members of AIPAC.
19:25
What I will say is this to me,
19:27
what matters is what our policy is.
19:30
To me what matters is how we treat our foreign policy,
19:34
and I will tell you right now.
19:36
I think our foreign policy today is a mess that we are
19:40
now in a war with Iran,
19:43
a war that we unilaterally,
19:45
that Donald Trump unilaterally started,
19:47
that he is doing things that break via,
19:51
that he is doing it in concert with Benjamin Netanyahu,
19:55
the,, prime minister of Israel,
19:58
in ways that break with international norms is not good.
20:02
And what I would say to you is we focus on the
20:04
policy. And you either agree or disagree on the policy and
20:08
you let it be known as an elected official where you stand
20:12
when it comes to individuals,
20:13
we all have a right to be where we want to be
20:16
so long as the law permits it and so
20:18
I don't condemn anyone who wishes to associate with a lawful organization
20:23
I may not like your politics,
20:24
but you have a right under the First Amendment to associate.
20:27
What I will tell you is on the policy though.
20:30
That's where we have to figure out where we stand because that's
20:32
where elected officials have to cast their votes.
20:35
And what I will tell you is that we have a president
20:38
who unfortunately has taken us into these foreign escapades.
20:44
And now we see the price of gasoline surpassing $6 a gallon
20:48
in California. Now we see that the housing prices continue to
20:51
go up because Washington DC is not focused here at home.
20:55
That's the consequence of having a rogue federal government that prefers to
20:59
fight battles in foreign countries than fight the cost of for a
21:03
better cost of living for families here in California.
21:06
To clarify, you're against the war in Ian.
21:08
I'm absolutely against the war in Iran,
21:10
absolutely thank you. We've seen,
21:13
the New York City mayoral election and the rise of
21:16
Zoran Mangdani, and I think across the political spectrum he has
21:22
inspired hope because we have seen him rally the people with simple
21:27
messaging that focuses on giving us the people who vote a voice
21:33
What is your core messaging that you want to get out
21:35
to voters ahead of the primaries?
21:38
That I'm looking to help people like my parents,
21:41
who just worked really hard,
21:43
never ask for much except the opportunity to work really hard,
21:47
because I think those are the folks that got forgotten.
21:49
Those are the folks,
21:52
my mom is still alive,
21:53
my father has passed.
21:55
They're doing pretty well.
21:56
They're not rich, but they're doing pretty well cause that's they
21:58
had a chance. I want them to know that we reward
22:02
people who just work really hard.
22:04
If I can do that and communicate that and show it by
22:08
my policies. That California Wants to be there for you if
22:15
you're there for the state if you're willing to give your best
22:18
years of your life to build California,
22:21
then I gotta give you the best policies that we can enact
22:24
so that you can thrive in California.
22:27
My job will be very similar to what Mayor Mamdani is doing
22:32
And the way I believe you give people hope is by making
22:35
sure that even if they're not college educated,
22:38
even if not that they're not the richest,
22:40
even if they're, they weren't born here and therefore they're learning
22:43
the ways of this country and learning the language,
22:46
as long as you show you're working hard,
22:48
you're building this state.
22:50
This is home. We want you and we will back you
22:53
up because that's what makes California thrive.
22:56
That's what made us the 4th largest economy in the world.
22:59
And upon this election season.
23:03
Upon like what, what is the importance of voting,
23:06
whether it's for yourself or a measure,
23:10
the importance of voting often gets undermined and then we're caught up
23:13
in headlines and complaints from the people because they didn't go out
23:16
to vote. What is your message to those contemplate,
23:18
oh, should I vote in the primaries or sit this one
23:24
The 2024 election gave us a result that I'm not thrilled with
23:28
when Donald Trump won as president.
23:33
because I believe the vote was legitimate,
23:37
but the consequence is what we're seeing now,
23:40
billions being spent. What is it?
23:41
$2 billion a day being spent to fight a unilateral,
23:46
what I consider an illegal war in Iran.
23:49
That could have been spent here to help people afford to buy
23:54
these are the consequences of the vote and I would hope that
23:58
there are enough people who want to come out and say I
24:01
wanna go in a good direction.
24:02
I don't agree with that direction that we will get them to
24:05
vote but recognize that if you don't come out and vote,
24:08
there is something that will come out money money always gets involved
24:13
in elections because. Elections and votes have consequences in the chambers
24:18
of power and money is never absent.
24:21
In fact, you're beginning to see money really infiltrate this gubernatorial
24:26
election as well. And so it should not surprise that the
24:29
wealthiest candidates, the candidates who have the biggest and wealthiest donors
24:33
the billionaires sort of,
24:34
are always gonna have the money to run a campaign.
24:37
And those, those of us who like my parents had to
24:39
work hard for everything we have,
24:41
including our, our fundraising.
24:43
We're the ones that had to get out there and prove ourselves
24:46
But that's what we'll do.
24:47
We need the voters to pay attention because some of us aren't
24:50
billionaires. Some of us aren't being backed by billionaires.
24:53
But we know what it's like to work hard and support those
24:57
and you spent this last week working very hard to make it
25:00
clear that USC had excluded all candidates of color from their upcoming
25:05
election. This morning it was canceled,
25:12
what are your thoughts on USC excluding yourself and other candidates of
25:15
color and, and why should you be platformed in this debate
25:20
So let me begin this morning because of the news that
25:23
the USC canceled that debate by saying I appreciate that President Yung-yoo
25:29
Kim listened to the voices.
25:31
Obviously I was there early.
25:33
I was the one that wrote the letter,
25:36
protesting the process that was used to exclude
25:38
candidates that have been invited.
25:40
But it excluded and someone who has not had as much support
25:45
as I've had with voters was included over us.
25:48
They got to leapfrog us,
25:50
so I pointed out the unfairness of the process
25:54
So today I say at least to President
25:58
Kim, thank you for recognizing that if we're gonna do this
26:01
we gotta do it right.
26:03
But I say to everyone out there,
26:05
especially the voters, watch what's happening.
26:08
What drove this forum to have to be canceled?
26:12
Why was it. Created in a way that was so unfair
26:17
to some of the candidates,
26:18
why is it that it smacks of money that was driving that
26:22
debate and now we have to move forward.
26:24
So hopefully from here forward it's clear we will fight,
26:29
we will stand up to make sure any debate that the voters
26:33
are supposed to get to use to make decisions include the candidates
26:37
who have earned a spot on that stage.
26:39
I believe I've earned a spot on that stage,
26:41
not just based on the polls and the work that I've done
26:44
but over and over the years of working on behalf of
26:47
Californians. So, I'm gonna make the fight every time I
26:49
have to, and there is something I learned from watching
26:52
my parents. It's not just the fight,
26:55
it's winning. You gotta know how to fight And win because
27:00
it's great to be in a fight,
27:01
but if you're always losing,
27:02
you're not helping your team a whole lot.
27:04
You gotta fight and win.
27:06
We fought, we want to have objectivity and fairness govern when
27:10
it comes to debates and now we gotta get these debates scheduled
27:13
So it's, we still need the voters to see the
27:16
see the candidates talking.
27:17
So we need to get these,
27:20
They're very important,,
27:22
conversations before the election.
27:23
Last question, what are your thoughts on the billionaire tax?
27:28
So I believe billionaires are not paying their fair share in California
27:33
and for 20 years when I was in Congress,
27:35
I sat on the Ways and Means Committee,
27:36
which is the committee that does the tax writing for Congress.
27:41
So I'm very familiar with tax policy.
27:43
I believe the, the intention of that initiative to tax billionaires
27:50
is a good intention in that they're trying to get billionaires to
27:54
pay their fair share.
27:55
I think the. Mechanism,
27:58
the way it's being done is not the right way to do
28:00
tax policy. It's a one-time deal.
28:03
You vote yes and it passes,
28:05
you get one-time 5% tax on anyone who's considered a billionaire
28:11
What happens after that?
28:13
What happens after you're,
28:14
you've used up the money that you get from that tax and
28:18
you still see you need something,
28:19
some more for something else.
28:21
So, most of that money is dedicated to healthcare,
28:23
which is good. But it's not a policy.
28:27
Tax policy has to be predictable.
28:31
It has to be stable.
28:32
It has to be something that you and I can look at
28:34
and say, I'm not a happy camper,
28:38
I can make sense of why I'm paying that tax.
28:42
If you do it only once,
28:44
you don't guarantee yourself that you won't have to do it again
28:47
and no one likes to be told we're gonna have to do
28:49
a tax again and so let's do our tax policy in a
28:53
way that's predictable, stable,
28:55
long term, and it makes common sense and I hope
28:59
that what we do is recognize that it may sound pretty good
29:03
and it's doing what we need to do is
29:06
billionaires to pay their fair share,
29:10
in a way that makes,
29:11
that's coherent, that makes sense.
29:13
And finally, what I'll tell you is what's coherent and what
29:15
makes sense. If you take a look at a family where
29:20
there's a. Firefighter,
29:24
a police officer, pretty much middle income type family.
29:28
What are they paying in taxes?
29:29
What rate are they paying?
29:31
If you're a billionaire and you're paying below the rate of taxation
29:34
of those categories of families,
29:37
then you're not paying your fair share.
29:38
If you're paying lower rates than a police officer,
29:42
a nurse, and you're a billionaire,
29:44
no, you're not paying your fair share.
29:46
And that's an easy way to gauge what the standard should be
29:50
and we can come up with policies that are predictable,
29:53
stable, long term that will tell you that no,
29:56
if you're a billionaire,
29:57
you can't be paying tax rates that are lower than that teacher
30:00
down the street. Thank you so much for your time,
30:03
Secretary. Where can the people continue to follow your campaign journey
30:08
before election season falls upon us?
30:10
Then go to Javier Becerra 2026.com and they'll find me there or
30:16
look out your neighborhood.
30:16
I may be walking the streets.
30:18
Thank you. Thank you.
Series