00:00Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
00:02I rise today because democracy is on the line.
00:06Freedom is on the line.
00:08Liberty and justice is on the line.
00:10Free and fair elections for all is on the line today.
00:15I don't know about anyone else, but I was raised to stand up for people who cannot stand up for themselves.
00:20We can't just be bystanders when bullies come to push us around, especially when people already don't have a voice.
00:27That's what the people elected us to do, and that's what this is all about.
00:32We're not forcing anything down anyone's throat.
00:35We're giving Californians a choice.
00:37Do you want to bow down or do you want to fight back?
00:40AC-8 gives the voters, the people that we represent, the decision-making power.
00:48To those who suddenly have so much to say, I have to say that I have been baffled by the silence that we have heard.
00:56It's been very loud.
00:58Where was all of the noise when the President and Congress slash federal funding cut Medicaid, imposed tariffs that hurt small businesses?
01:07Where was the noise?
01:09There's been complicity as the Constitution has been undermined, as partisan gerrymandering maps have been pushed on the people in Texas, which ultimately affects the entire United States.
01:23Today, where was all the noise while America was being hijacked?
01:28Today, with all of the objections and with all of the noise, I'm clearly concerned that it is our job to stand up and to speak out.
01:38We must ask, can you tell us, please, what I've not heard is why are we so afraid to give the voters a choice?
01:46What are we so afraid of?
01:49And we should also ask, with all the tears to protect the President's gerrymandering plan, where were all the tears for the poor people?
01:57The people who have been silenced.
02:00People are suffering and dying because we need to lead.
02:05People are not leading.
02:06And that hurts America.
02:08So we have a voice and we have a choice.
02:12Do we deny the citizens a chance to have democracy, freedom, free and fair elections, and liberty and justice for all, like we say when we stand up and we pledge allegiance to this same flag when we come into this chamber?
02:27This is about citizens that are being terrorized.
02:31When those who are being bullied need someone to stand up, California is not going to sit down and be a vice sander.
02:39If you want to be taken seriously, you need to be able to explain to us why you don't want to give this to the voters.
02:46The rules have been changed, and that means we have to act accordingly.
02:51We have a choice.
02:53Do we want to allow the entire nation to be disenfranchised?
02:57Or do we ask the citizens of California to lock arms with us and to march forward to save democracy?
03:04In a world where the U.S. has now become an authoritarian government and has adopted the strategies of dictators to rig a system,
03:13I say that it's our duty to give it to the voters so that we can have a chance to fight back on behalf of the citizens of the United States.
03:22And I respectfully ask for your aye vote.
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