Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Many foreign students take their California degrees back to their home countries. They become entrepreneurs that develop products that they sell back to us.
Yes, we absolutely need to eliminate the single-use plastic bag, but we don't have to eliminate the jobs of hardworking Californians to accomplish this goal.
There isn't enough renewable fuel in the world to crack our growing addiction to foreign oil. We need to decrease miles driven and increase engine efficiency.
I didn't know how to do a press release, so I'd call the local Assembly member and say, 'Hey, can you fax me one of your press releases?' 'Which one?' 'Any one.'
I grew up in the streets of San Diego, and I love this city dearly. I love this city. San Diego is my home. Even though I represent Los Angeles, this is my home.
President Trump's threat to weaponize federal funding is not only unconstitutional but emblematic of the cruelty he seeks to impose on our most vulnerable communities.
California is the greatest beacon of opportunity the world has ever known. But we didn't get here through years of political seniority - we built it through acts of audacity.
My mother passed away young - she died from ovarian cancer at just 54 years old. Her sacrifices for my sisters and I evoke a tribute in her honor each and every Mother's Day.
I wouldn't have voted for the war in Iraq, which has cost us trillions we could have been spending on a carbon-free economy, affordable college, and single-payer health care.
Banning plastic bags so that people use paper bags or imported reusable bags that will end up in local landfills soon thereafter is not the only solution to our plastic bag challenge.
I worry about civil-rights activists being targeted as black-identity extremists. I worry about the government saying, 'I don't like this progressive blogger' and subjecting them to scrutiny.
What we have done dramatically in California is lead the entire nation. For example, we have created more jobs in clean energy in California than there are coal-mining jobs in all of America.
From education to the environment, from high wages to health care to human rights, California is proof that progressive policies put into action improve the human condition of all individuals.
Dependence on oil from volatile foreign markets undermines our economic security and threatens our national security. Moreover, that addiction is producing toxic air and a public-health epidemic.
I believe strongly that when you have political capital, you should use it in a manner that helps improve the human condition. You shouldn't just compile power and hold onto power for power's sake.
Our State Senate must lead by example, restore trust and transparency, stop sweeping workplace misconduct under the rug, and do everything we can to protect women who work in and around the Capitol.
Our communities will become more - not less - dangerous when local police officers are pulled from their duties to arrest otherwise law-abiding maids, busboys, and day laborers for immigration violations.
Unlike Washington, the California legislature has proved that cooperation is both possible and essential to successful policymaking, while stubborn absolutism will have you trailing head lice in popularity polls.
We will not lift a single finger or spend a single cent to be a cog in the Trump deportation machine, and we won't be complicit in his effort to make American great again by reengineering the legal immigration system.
I believe that every family - it doesn't make a difference who you are or where you come from - deserves to have quality healthcare. It is a universal right. It's not the exclusive privilege of the elite and the wealthy.
California lost its way in 1994 with Prop. 187, but that tragic episode gave birth to a new California consciousness - one that will now do everything within its power to protect our diversity and the economic power it has created.
The Internet is now the catalyst in our society for growing our economy, engaging in the democratic process, and connecting with one another. It is an information equalizer, and everyone from farmworkers to financiers deserves fair access to it.
I don't believe the federal government should be snooping into American citizens' cell phones without a warrant issued by a federal judge. You cannot give the federal government extraordinary powers to eavesdrop without a warrant. It's simply un-American.
Cap and trade is an important tool in California's climate policy portfolio. It sends a price signal to industries to reduce their carbon pollution while generating billions of dollars in revenue for investments in clean transportation and direct pollution reduction.
The infrastructure at Union Station is antiquated. High-speed is going to come in eventually. We need to upgrade that system. Every day the Metro comes in, the Amtrak comes in, and they idle their engines for hours, spewing poisonous toxins - all that crap - into the air.
I want you to know that California is your sanctuary. We will always be a place where you can be whoever you are and become whoever you dream of being. California will always stand up for you. That's a principle that's bigger than partisanship, more powerful than any president.
When I was elected for the first time in '06 I'd never been elected to any body. City councils, school board, community college boards, trustee, water district trustee, class president, ASB president, senior class president - nothing. I was never elected to anything in my life.
California's university system is one of the premier higher education systems in the world, and we should require that non-resident students pay a premium to attend it. The revenue generated from these fees can be used to increase affordability and access for more Californians.
No corner of our society has been left unscathed by the horrors of gun violence. To end it, we'll need to bring together the best from each corner, taking what works from government, the private sector, and our local communities and crafting common-sense solutions to gun violence.
I don't believe that all folks who supported Donald Trump are racist. I think that there was a lot of economic anxiety, there was a lot of economic panic. A lot of deep-rooted economic insecurity. I think what Trump did, you know, very astutely, was he tapped into this vein, and he promised them a job.
I know - firsthand - that California works best when everyone has the opportunity to succeed. It's a lesson that's hard to learn from the back of a limousine, or behind gated walls. And it's a lesson that guided me every day as the president of the California State Senate - the most productive and progressive policymaking body in America.