 very specific story about her own experience, her family's experience, and what all of this means to Beth Bowersox. Beth? Thank you Chief Porter. Like Chief Porter said, this is kind of in my family. My dad retired after 30 plus years of the department. My mom was one of the first fire fighters retired by the time. In 2018, nearly at the end of a 12-hour shift, I, in my capacity as a communications operator here in the Butte unit, dispatched what would end up becoming the state's deadliest and most destructive fire. I didn't know at the time while naming it the campfire. In the following 24 hours, it would lead me to having to evacuate my own home in Paradise, which did burn, but fortunately due to the quick actions of Cal Fire engines in the area and my own defensible space survived. I took hundreds of 911 calls, some from friends and neighbors, some who passed. Hearing of the innumerable losses offered by co-workers, many of whom were out fighting fire as their homes burned, and then finding out that my own brother and one of his firefighters were injured by an exploding propane tank. The damage the fire caused the community's con-cow, Spute Creek Canyon, and Miguel was unimaginable, and yet less than two years later we were experiencing the exact same thing in the communities of Berry Creek, Feather Falls, Forbes Town, and Brush Creek, with the 2020 complex. Once again, I had to evacuate my own home, help friends evacuate there, and see the incalculable losses suffered from fellow fire fighters, co-workers, and friends. As Chief Porter and many in the department have said over the last few years, fires in California are changing. The severity and aggressiveness which they burn has increased as the damage and losses that they leave behind, not just in property damage, but damage to the land, the environment, the communities, lives, and the trauma suffered by evacuees, survivors, and responders. Because of these changes, we also have to change. The tactics we use cannot just be offensive, but be defensive, and while Cal Fire has worked diligently and tirelessly over the years, we don't have to finish a project in order for it to have positive impacts. The first day that a project is started, there are impacts. It might be that first day, and the morning of the second day, a fire starts in an area that that piece of the project was key to stopping, or key to allowing firefighters the opportunity to actually take a stand and keep a fire from burning up into a community. Every single day matters. That's why this early action is so important. With that concept in mind, I'd like to bring up Assembly Member Bloom and for your remarks. Thank you. Thank you, Chief Porter. I represent the 50th Assembly District down in Santa Monica, so I'm a long way from home, but no stranger to wildfire. Most recently, the fire that ripped through Malibu area and much of the Santa Monica Mountains about a year ago. And I want to begin by thanking Governor Newsom, thanking my Senate colleagues, particularly my negotiating partner, Senator Wieckowski, all of our staffs, and particularly the speaker of the Assembly, and Assembly staff and my fellow colleagues for supporting us all and for collaborating together to get this done. Last year's devastation clearly galvanized our collective resolve to do something more. And last year, we spent about $9 billion in California resources in fighting fires that, if you look at the map, covered virtually in the entirety of the state of California from the east to the west, the north to the south. There were fires almost everywhere. So in the aftermath of that devastation, 9,400 fires, 33 lives lost, almost 4.4 million acres throughout the state. The worst fire season ever. In the aftermath of that, we decided to hold hearings in Sacramento that were 100% dedicated not to fighting the fires because the, although it was tough, we had the economic resources to draw on, to do everything we could to fight the fires. But we have had an emerging understanding that we're not doing enough to prevent them in the first place. And so that became the topic of our hearing in the fall. And then we were grateful to learn when the budget was released in January that the administration was on the same page. This issue of prevention was front and center and a billion dollars was proposed. Much of that money, as Chief Porter said, for early action and then additional funds in the June budget. What does early action mean? It means that instead of waiting until June and then allocating money and then in the month subsequent, money gets allocated. We're allocating money that will be released immediately and can begin to do good almost immediately. We also wanted, and because it was early action, we wanted these projects to be shovel-ready. So that was something that we focused on in our subsequent consideration of the governor's proposal. These funds needed to be out about this billion dollars needed to be about prevention and not suppression because we know that the funding is there by and large for the suppression needs that we have. And very importantly, particularly for folks in Southern California, we wanted to make sure that the funds that were going to be in this prevention package that they were appropriate to the region. So in Southern California, for example, we have a lot of chaparral areas that's much different from the terrain here. And the prevention methodologies that apply in chaparral are different to the woodland forest and we wanted to make sure that all of the money was spent appropriately. The resulting agreement that was entered into that became the basis for these budget bills that we're here to sign today respected all of these priorities. So I'm very proud of this accomplishment and I want to close by talking about my son who, like Beth Bowersock, is in the fire service as well. He's a firefighter in Culver City. He's been called out on a number of strike teams and has been out in the field and he happened to be over for dinner Sunday night. And so we spoke about the the effort that was coming to a conclusion on Monday on the floor of the Senate, on the floor of the Assembly, and that will be signed today. And he said, you know, Dad, we're already expecting that we'll be called out in short order. We know that there are going to be additional fires. We know that every fire season over the past many years has been successively worse culminating in what happened in 2020. And so he told me he knew he was going to be busy this year and that reminds me that the focus here is on how much work lays ahead of us and we need to be conscientious about making sure that this very important funding that we provide this year continues on into the future because we won't get it all done this year. It needs to be a continuous effort. So thank you again. Thank you, Governor, for your leadership on this issue. Senator Wieckowski for being my partner. Let's resolve to continue to work together on this issue in the years to come and always with the goal of growing our efforts on preventing fires so that we have fewer of them to actually fight. And it is my pleasure now to introduce my friend and colleague from Fremont, Senator Wieckowski. Thank you, Richard. And if you for the members of the press, if you have an opportunity to walk by one of our Cal Fire folks, check out the patch on the side of their uniform because it says the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. And a lot of times we've forgotten the fact that these folks are forestry workers foremost and then they fire suppression folks. So today is the down payment or soon the governor's going to come up. I even brought a pen in case he doesn't have one so we can sign this. But this is a package of early action that we want to take to create an architecture for all hands on deck. Chief Porter said he talked to the folks and said really what you can do to harden your house individually, cut down some excess or pick up some excess brush. I guess the former president would act like we're all Norwegians going out there and cleaning, picking up leaves, but it all counts. And what this bill does, it creates that architecture going forward in the budget year and in the year is forward so we can plug in different amounts of money to get our forests in health, in good health. I think my colleague from the assembly who I've worked hard with don't want to tell you guys any battles that we had with the administration to getting to the point. But what the package does is it gives a little bit to everyone. And it talks to our fire safe councils, our counties, the regional folks that we're going to need your help. It's not just all Cal Fire doing this. Loads of this money is going to go to local businesses, local fire councils so that they can do the work immediately that needs to get done. And it's, you know, as my colleague was saying, it's a wild lands health. So it's talking about wild lands. That means forest. That means chaperrill. That means grasslands that are in the north, south, central valley. And in that investment, which we continue, which we will say, you know, try to make the commitment that will continue in the years to go to come focuses also on all the different departments that are part of the state mosaic. There's money in here for the state parks and the fish and wildlife 30 million. But those are local funds. These folks are going to contract with the local people that are in the parkland area to make sure that those jobs and that work gets gets done. It's comprehensive. It's balance. It's thoughtful. And it takes the long approach to the long game that we need to do. And again, it's just a down. It's just a down payment. I'm not going to bore you with every little detail of what the package does. I will I will say as you can catch from a theme of my remarks while we have $25 million in economic stimulus for jobs embedded in all the programs, whether we're doing fuel breaks or home hardening or the wildlands health are local jobs that are that are in there. So I'm tickled silly to be here in Orville like Orville to be with the governor to sign this. And, you know, this pandemic that it's a sign of the times besides having the mask on, you know, if you just think in 2021 earlier this year, the legislation legislature took actions on the early on the eviction moratorium. We extended that deadline and the governor was leadership was instrumental in making that happen. And just around Valentine's Day, I guess it was, we had this massive stimulus program to to cover relief from COVID-19. And here we are at our third early action, massive investment of $536 million for fire prevention. And it's April 13th. I can I'm delighted to be called upon to introduce the governor of the state of California, who understands his whose leadership continues to be instrumental in bringing the forestry. No manclature back to California. We're all hands on deck, and we're all going to roll up our sleeves and get in this season next season for the next decade for the decade beyond because that's what's going to take. Ladies and gentlemen, governor of the state of California, Gavin Newsom. Thank you, Senator. And the media's pick up on the senator's comment, because I think it's important to reinforce. I really appreciate the assembly member of the senator being here, but I also appreciate the spirit that brings him here. And that's the spirit of urgency and immediacy, the framework that we have advanced over the course of the last number of months to move on priorities for the state of California and 40 million people that trust that this state has their back. And the fact that we were able to move forward as we were working together across many differences on an early package as it relates to rent moratorium or rather, eviction moratorium on rent support, $2.6 billion. The efforts we did to advance similar amount of money to an half billion dollars of small business grants and a $3.8 billion stimulus, the Golden State stimulus to working families and the working poor in the states, demonstrable example of the partnership between our office and the legislature. The fact we're able to move together as well on that action, $6.6 billion to get our kids safely back into in person instruction. Well over 9,000 of our 11,000 schools now have either reopened for in person instruction or have a date set for in person instruction. Again, just further cause of advancing a framework of true collaboration. And that is not I assure you shared all across this country have the privilege, including this morning to speak to my fellow governors all across the nation. And that is not always the case. And yet here we are again in that spirit of urgency and meeting a moment with a $536 million early action to address the pressing issue of wildfires in the state of California. I couldn't be more pleased and I couldn't be more blessed. But not only the partnership, but their leadership. Assemblymember Bloom, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your son's service. Senator Wieckowski, thank you for your leadership and your stewardship to advance a cause that was intended to be advanced later in the year in June. But that sense of urgency, this early action brings over half the money that we had proposed to be set aside for wildfire preparedness and preparation and some suppression dollars and brings it now into the present. When I signed this bill today, we'll be advancing the cause of advancing more prescribed burns in this state, more home hardening support in this state, more efforts to support rural communities and rural economies through wood materials and wood products and the opportunity to support small businesses through grants and loans to support our collective efforts all across the state. We build partnerships and bridges with local nonprofits as well as conservancies all across the state of California. We do it as always with an equity lens, mindful as always as the assembly member was stating that one size does not fit all the unique conditions up here in Buick County are very distinctive from the conditions down in Ventura and Santa Monica and other parts of this state. We're also very mindful that we need to continue to do more to support the men and women in uniform. And that's why we're pleased just a few weeks back through an emergency appropriation to provide 80 million $740,000 to support another $1,399,1400 new Cal Fire staff members to get a jumpstart and to get moving early on this wildfire season. I just want to compliment and thank Chief Porter and his leadership and his entire team to all the men and women in uniform Cal Fire. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your heroism. Beth, thank you for putting this in perspective and bringing your personal story when you noted that not only had you suffered a loss in terms of your own home and the bravery, the muscle bravery of your family members that came to rescue but the idea that you were taking calls from people you knew personally in those 911 calls, including when you stated this folks that lost their lives. I can't even imagine what it must be like to be back here talking about that so publicly having experienced that so recently. So Beth, thank you for your incredible leadership and thank you for your courage being here today and bringing this whole issue back home. You know, I was up here a couple years ago at the camp fire. I told folks in Buick County I'd come back. It's my sixth time back in the county. We're here for the long haul. We're not just here when the cameras are on. We're not just here when the fires are burning. We want to be here for the recovery and we want to be here mindful that good enough never is that this is a constant and never ending challenge. There is no definition of success. It's not a place. It's more of a direction as it relates to the issues of wildfires. Just consider the spot behind me that's at four years of prescribed burns. You got to constantly keep at this. It can't be interested in addressing the issue of preparation. You got to be committed year in and year out and that's what's different now is we are committed as a team, as a partnership with the legislature and other state agencies, including now the federal government no longer aspiring partner, but a working partner federal government where we're not addressing headwinds but tailwinds in terms of the support, a memorandum of understanding doubling our respective commitments to vegetation management and forest management and prescribed burns to support the Biden administration with resources, not just rhetoric to help this collective cause. It's a different paradigm. It's a different framework, but we recognize in the spirit of best comments, spirit of Chiefs Porter's comments that we have to recognize the hots are getting hotter. The dries are getting drier. Just look at this boat launch. This boat launch supposed to launch a boat. There's no water behind us. We're not a reservoir that's 40 year low. And we're only in the second year of these new drought conditions. It's just a few years ago. We had abundance. Not only the hots are getting hotter, the dries getting drier, but the wets are getting wetter with these atmospheric rivers. And you saw that flow that impacted the spillway here at Orville Dam. And so these extremes, extremes in fire, extremes in fire conditions, fire weather. We're seeing as we were down at Shaver Lake just a week or so ago, and we were discussing the magnitude of I think what 371,000 acre fire up there in Fresno County that took literally the snow and precipitation ultimately to put that wildfire out. We talked about that culinous cloud that went up and literally created its own weather conditions. Some 50,000 feet up. These are extremes, the likes of which these men and women in uniform have never experienced and neighbors, friends, family have never experienced. So as a consequence, we got to change our approach, change our strategies, and we need to step up our efforts. So this is a down payment. As was noted, this is not the totality of our efforts. Another 1400 firefighters. We got the Hell Attack crews that are being trained. They'll be fully operational by May. We've got new fire and hand crews, the California Conservation Corps and the good work that they do each and every day. We're going to support more of their efforts. We're addressing some of the prison population issues and the fire crews by extending from five to eight years. The ability for people to take advantage of the opportunity to get out and contribute through public service. Their efforts, again, expanding the pool of available support as well. We are anticipating need for more mutual aid. We have a remarkable mutual aid system. You see that every single fire season when you see folks from Santa Monica and Culver City up here in places like Butte and Plumas and elsewhere, helping support the local firefighting efforts. But we also see that from across the country, from as far back east is New Jersey, not just closer west and home places like Texas and Colorado and New Mexico and Nevada, let alone Oregon and Washington have been incredible partners for us. We got more C-130s that will be coming into our fleet with more Black Hawk helicopters. They'll also be coming back into our fleet. We have new weather stations, new infrared technology, new IT for early detection, early warning. We have new, more robust firefighting strategies and plans with our investor-owned utilities, including new mandates for PG&E as it relates to wildfire prevention and oversight from the Public Utilities Commission with real sanctions and real comprehensive plans to address the issues of undergrounding, hardening, all the related issues that need to comprehensively be considered in order to keep this state safe. That said, in closing, what Chief Porter said, I hope people paid attention to. This will be an active fire season. Why do we say that? We say it because we don't anticipate that. We know that based upon the experience to date. More than two times the number of wildfires in the state of California, we've already had or experienced since the beginning of January compared to last year and was just stated by the assembly member, four plus million acres burned last year, more than 2018 and 2019 combined. And while it wasn't the deadliest or most destructive wildfire season, it certainly was in terms of the total acreage burned. That said, final words, I want to just extend heartfelt appreciation and condolences to those families that were torn asunder, the 15 people that lost their lives in this North complex, orage being that bare fire. Young man, 16 years old from nearby County Berry Creek, our city rather community who lost his lives, the Williams family, and just want to extend our gratitude for those families' resilience and their commitment to the collective cause and memory of those who lost their lives. This was the most deadly wildfire complex in California last year was the fifth deadliest in the history of the state. And this complex represented the sixth largest wildfire in California's recorded history. We talk in terms of records because every year we seem to break these records, but this year we're also breaking another record. And that's a commitment to put real working capital to address some of the root causes, to focus in on our prevention and fuel breaks, and to invest an historic amount of money in preparation of this year's fire season. Final words, I want to just pay note to what is grabbing a lot of attention. And that's the issue of the J&J vaccine here in the state of California. J&J represents about 4% of our weekly allocation in this state. It will not materially impact our ability to fulfill our expectations and commitment to provide enough vaccine to fully vaccinate all those that seek to get vaccinated so that we could begin to more fully open our economy by June 15th. We will not delay our efforts later this week to open up vaccine eligibility to all Californians, 16 and over. That's on track. Many counties and cities have already moved in that direction. We anticipate more Moderna and Pfizer vaccine this week compared to the week prior and our pharmacies anticipate getting more direct allocation of those same two vaccines later this week. 6.85 million J&J vaccines have been administered in the state, including into my arm. The J&J vaccine has been extraordinarily safe, safe for six specific reported instances that the CDC and the FDA have highlighted today. That's less than one in a million incidences that were deemed severe and tragically one individual lost her life. It's impacted women 18 to 48 years old. We will learn more about some of the nuances and details in terms of where those vaccines were administered and who those individuals are in the days and weeks. We met virtually today with Dr. Fauci and the task force, the White House and governors from all across the country to be briefed on this decision that was made less than 24 hours ago. We are aligned. Not surprisingly, our efforts here by pulling the J&J vaccine from our clinics and our distribution network. We have 8,800 individuals that have current reservations on the My Turn app and we're working to convert those reservations to Moderna and Pfizer alternatives in real time. More information will be forthcoming on that. Continue to make the case. These vaccines are safe and effective. 23 million doses have been administered in the state of California more than all but five other nations in the world. More than 7 million doses than any other state in our nation. We have the lowest positivity rate, not just the highest number of administered vaccine doses in the nation. 1.5% positivity rate today. 1,568 individual cases among the lowest number of cases reported in some time. Tragically, though, nine people did indeed lose their lives. This pandemic disease remains deadly and the way we defeat this disease, the way we turn the page is we get vaccinated. The sooner we get vaccinated, the sooner we open up our businesses without any restrictions. Four new counties today moved into less restrictive tiers. That's encouraging and good news. We hope to eliminate that blueprint as early as June 15th, but we can't do that unless people get vaccinated and we are mindful that with the J and J, our ability to do as much as we anticipated this week and over the next few weeks is impacted, but our medium and long term goals are not impacted because of the abundance of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines that we indeed anticipate, not only this week compared to next week, but also in the subsequent and upcoming weeks. And so we were sure to that again today in our conversation with the White House and we continue to be mindful that as a Western States collaborative, we also have a role to play in the safety and the efficacy in our Western States safety advisory task force is meeting later today and will be reviewing the decision from the CDC and the FDA for consideration and concurrence as well. And so that's just for giving long winded, perhaps, but an important, I hope, comprehensive update on where we are with the J and J vaccine and where we are on our vaccine efforts more broadly. But again, we're here for a purpose and that is to sign this bill. With that, though, I'll take some questions, but we are here indeed with Senator Ocowsky's pen to make sure that this bill is signed before we adjourn. With that, we're happy to take any questions. Hi, Governor, Sophia Bolag here from the Sacramento Bee. You mentioned that the state has experienced the past two years of drought conditions. There's a bipartisan group of lawmakers that are calling on you to declare a drought emergency. You said last week you're not planning to do that. I'm hoping you can explain in a bit more detail the scientific threshold that you see for declaring a drought emergency and why California hasn't reached that yet. Well, we have drought conditions and I maintained, as I stated last week very clearly as well, we are iterative process, open argument, and we are working with our partners across the spectrum, including conversation I had with the Interior Secretary yesterday on this topic among a number of other topics. And so we have here today, just coincidentally, Wade Crowford, head of our Resource Agency, who ran point for the Brown administration on all things drought, and I may take advantage now of his being here and ask him to come up and say a few additional words on the topic of drought conditions versus drought emergency, and where we are in the process of making an ultimate determination on your question. Thanks so much, Governor. I'm Wade Crowford. I'm the Secretary for Natural Resources. So emergency proclamations obviously provide the governor certain powers that he would not have under normal circumstances. And as a result, emergency declarations are considered very carefully given the change of authorities that provides. To date, our agencies, mine included, have been coordinating for several months to prepare for the conditions we now experience. And we're taking a number of actions, preparatory actions, whether it's on the environmental side or to ensure emergency water supplies to communities who may need it later in the drought. And all of those actions are possible under normal authorities. As the governor said, we're monitoring conditions in real time, including Lake Oroville behind us. And the governor's made very clear that he welcomes recommendations to change our actions, including consideration of a drought proclamation of emergency as conditions dictate. It's possible that will reach that point this year. Well, I've learned I've learned a couple of things helping to manage drought response. And one of them is to avoid making predictions. So we will continue to work closely with impacted agricultural communities, as well as those agencies protecting fish and wildlife. And just as soon as we need additional actions and the consideration of an emergency proclamation to take specific actions we couldn't otherwise take, certainly the governor's asked us to raise to raise those points with him. I can assure you look, we've been having this conversation for a number of months now. We are prepared to move very quickly when we are prepared to move. But on the basis of the work that we have been doing and the ability and the flexibility that would currently are afforded, we have been advancing a number of efforts. We have an internal team strike team. We have a task force we've assembled. We have leadership from across the spectrum, including as I noted, partnership now with the federal administration and their determinations and decision making is also critical as it relates to advancing ultimate conclusion or leads answering the question more firmly. But we'll be talking a lot more about this in the days and weeks, not just months ahead. Hi, Governor. I'm Natalie Hanson from Chico Enterprise Record, the paper of record for Butte County. And I was wondering, has your office reviewed the report from the Independent Public Advocates Office at the California Public Utilities Commission, which was submitted to PG&E for consideration, outlining four key deficiencies in the package, which may not fully address the high risk areas in marginalized, highest impacted communities, particularly those already recovering from the most destructive wildfires such as Butte County, had your office reviewed and discussed how to further address gaps and resources for those most marginalized and recovering communities. Yeah, I'll take advantage of the opportunity to more specifically get back to you and we'll make sure that we'll respond in real time and I'll get you the details of who in our office is reviewed that in detail specific to the items that you just referenced. Thank you. Hi, Governor Newsome. My name is Christian Lopez. I'm a reporter with Action News Now in Chico. And I was wondering how this money is going to be distributed within the different counties and some of the ways that counties can use these funds. No, I appreciate looking. We're going to be working with conservancies. We're going to be working to provide grant funding. We're going to provide that not only to formal NGOs and community based organizations, but also to private sector and businesses. It's noted that there's a catalyst fund component of this. The catalyst fund is to catalyze investments, low interest loans to allow private sector entrepreneurs the opportunity to partner in terms of some of our forest management as well as vegetation management efforts. In addition to that, we'll be hiring locally as we tend to do as relates to the hand crews and other supports that will provide and supplement the efforts of men and women in uniform, particularly through Cal Fire. As it relates to the actual distribution, we didn't lay out a 58 county strategy with specific prescribed dollars attached, but we provided in what was, I think, significant. And I'm very grateful to the assembly member and the senator. We provided flexibility that we haven't seen in the past to provide different counties that have different requirements and different distinctive conditions. The ability to access these dollars when in the past, those dollars were set aside with prescriptive language that often made places like Santa Monica, Santa Monica Mountains and Ventura County and the unique conditions there and ineligible for some of those grant funds. But 536 million portions of which you can will provide in the press release. You'll see specifically which percentage of those dollars are in portions for what civic purpose. OK, and you mentioned that we're getting a jump start before the fire season. How quickly is this going to all start? How quickly can we see all this work begin, especially like, for example, here in Butte County? So one of the things I'm very proud of is we we move with urgency a couple of years ago. I'm in an office. Seems like decades. It's been 25 months or so a little over two years. And one of the things first actions that I took as governor was up in Placer County to move forward with a 40 five day sprint expedite, the permitting and efforts to do wildfire management, vegetation and forest management. We identified 35 high profile projects impacting 200 vulnerable communities in this state. And we committed to a cause to take things that we're going to be completed in 10 years and get it done. In a calendar month. All but one project was completed within a calendar month. There was one larger project in Santa Cruz Mountains that was extended a little bit into last year and now has been complete. One of the things we also did that hasn't been highlighted and didn't get attention that goes to your question. We took a process we call Cal V T P provide you more information later and that provided the ability through a program what we call a programmatic E I R to assess the conditions in 20 million acres in the state of California to allow a similar permitting process to take shape. What would have taken decades now will take less than a few years. We have identified 500 additional projects, not just the 35 500 projects. And we've already identified roughly 60 projects for prioritization will provide you that list of those priority projects, including those that touch and impact this community. You'll see on the boards there the maps of some of those projects that have been completed or underway specifically related to communities that have been devastated, at least of which community in and around paradise impacted by the campfire and some of the regrowth that's already taking shape there that we also have to manage so that you'll have confidence in our prioritization. Could we see money going to local fire stations within different cities as well? Well, part of our trident one I'm gonna when you have Chief Porter here, I would be remiss. I'm a I'm in politics. He's a he's a fire chief. Let's have a minute. Thank you, Governor, and thanks for the question related to will this money portions of it be available to individual fire stations? What I would like to impress upon this is this is an all of the above approach. So we're looking at money that's going to be available for hardening structures in some cases, doing defensible space work in a community setting, doing fuel break and fuel reduction project work in and around communities and also landscape level health management in order to reduce the intensity of fires coming into communities. Every every area of California is eligible through fire safe councils, through other nonprofits, through county organizations and also fire departments. So everybody should be looking at opportunities to get in here. The grant application period is open and it closes mid May and we'll look at the grant applications that we have for these funds and apply them as was was directed through this process, through a very comprehensive but also open perspective and looking at all opportunities of good projects to fund. This is a down payment. We know that there are going to be projects that are important, that we need to get to that won't be a part of the first funding, but they will be a part of funding downstream and we are committed to continuing this work into the years and hopefully into the decades that it will take to make the whole difference that we need to. Thank you. My final question is, do you have any comments on the current recall effort? We're here to focus on what I think unites Californians and that's focus on making sure that we're prepared for this upcoming wildfire season, making sure we continue to get shots into people's arms, making sure we safely reopen our schools for in-person instruction and getting our small businesses back on their feet and being mindful that this pandemic has not impacted everybody equally and that is making sure that our upcoming budget we're addressing the equity issues of equity in those communities that have been disproportionately impacted on that spirit. One community that has been disproportionately impacted by wildfires is this community, this county in particular Buick County and we're really pleased to be back here to make the case anew that we have your back and we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that we keep you as safe as humanly possible, mindful that mother nature is, as some people say, chemistry, biology and physics. She bats last, she bats a thousand and the experience we had last year that led to this northern complex was historic. Twelve plus thousand lightning strikes in just 24 hours, a heat dome over the entire west coast of the United States, world record breaking temperature in our own state in Death Valley, 130 degrees, conditions so extreme, so extraordinary that they broke every record including a world record temperature. And so that's what we're up against. We're up against a threat and a challenge the likes of which none of these remarkable men and women have ever experienced and that's why we need to continue to do more and continue to make the kind of investments we're here to announce today. Thank you, Governor Adam Beam with the Associated Press, even before today's announcement about the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, you had a sizable group of people in the population that were skeptical of the vaccine or perhaps slide out just refused to get it. In light of today's news, how should you and the state adjust your messaging around the safety and efficacy of these vaccines? Well, we'll continue to do what we've done and put things in perspective. I think Dr. Fauci did it very effectively today at a White House briefing making the case. Not only have we administered some 6.85 million doses of the J&J vaccine, but you've had six recorded instances of severe conditions. Six, that's one in quite literally a million. And so you have to put that in perspective. I had the J&J vaccine and had no side effects whatsoever. In fact, someone asked me, which arm do you get shot? And that was the next day. And I couldn't even, I honestly didn't even remember and I was trying to push to see if I felt it even a bruise. So, you know, the end of the day, we have a Western States Advisory Committee that provides a second and third opportunity for people to review the efficacy and safety data that comes from the federal government. They're reconvening on that basis, not just even a California group. It's now includes number of other states. We'll continue to do our part. But again, we're going to follow the CDC guidelines, obviously FDA guidelines and continue to remind people of the safety record, particularly the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccines that are now going to show up in more abundance than we've seen in the past. And that's why we're able to keep the timelines that we have previously put into place and not deviate from that commitment to extend the eligibility to all Californians 16 and over again. Pfizer's the only one available for those 16 and over. We have emerged the use authorization 12 to 15 year olds with the Pfizer vaccine that's pending and will make announcements if indeed that is formally lifted by the federal government after it's reviewed by our Western States Advisory Committee. But again, I think just putting things into perspective for giving me for the long windiness is the most succinct way that we can more clearly not only answer that question, but answer that concern. And finally, for me, does the state have a model for, you know, when we expect us to reach herd immunity? And if so, when would that be? Well, again, it's I fear it's a little illusory, this notion of herd immunity. That's my personal opinion, but it's also a professional opinion. Here's why you have resistance, you have people that simply are not going to take the vaccine. You have a population if you're going to reach herd immunity that must include all of our children as well. And yet we don't have emergency use authorization or authorization broadly for people below the age of 16. You also have to be mindful of the variants. We have one thousand and ninety seven UK variants that we've sequenced, roughly thirty five thousand sequence we've done, genomic sequence we've done in the state of California. One thousand ninety seven UK variants over twelve thousand five hundred West Coast variants. We have South African variants. And we have a Brazilian variant now forty eight Brazilian twenty four South African twenty three, forgive me. And so those variants combined with resistance, combined with the fact that not all of the herd is included in terms of the availability or accessibility of the vaccine make that question very difficult, forgive me, very, very difficult to answer. And and and I am not just aligning myself to percentage estimates from seventy to eighty five plus herd the other day, ninety percent to get to herd immunity. I'm just considering other factors as well. Hi, Governor Ashley Zavala with Next Star Media Group. I wanted to follow up. I know the USDA secretary sent you a letter last month on declaring essentially 50 of California's 58 counties natural disasters due to drought. I'm wondering if there was any follow up conversation there and the work essentially between the state and federal government on that front. Yeah, almost on it. When I say this, I'm prone and it's not being prone. You may assume this is exaggerated when I say this, but it's not daily. We're in constant or in conversations, at least Monday through Friday with the federal government, including as I noted yesterday with the Interior Secretary. I also had a conversation last week with Secretary Vilsack and we continue not only to have those direct dialogues, but our staffs on a consistent basis dialoguing around all things related to water, voluntary agreements, issues of drought, declarations, drought emergencies, drought conditions not only in the state, but across the western United States where seventy seven percent of the West isn't what they refer to broadly as a mega drought. We're mindful of the snowpack survey that was just completed. The Department of Water Resources already put out letters going back weeks ago to water users as it relates to our own water scarcity and considerations and concerns. We have a playbook that was led by Wade Crowfoot as it relates to the last five year drought that was dusted off months ago. We have executive orders that have already been drafted, but haven't yet been signed. We're dealing in this iterative back and forth the federal government trying to figure out federal allocations versus state allocations. We're mindful of the unique conditions up north as it relates to what happens potentially the Klamath and the impacts that we'll have into California. Impacts obviously related to the Delta impacts related to the Colorado River. All of these factors are considered more broadly in the dialogue and the engagement with our federal partners, state, local partners. And so as I said, we are on top of this. We are mindful of the urgency as relates to the anxiety now entering the second year of drought conditions. And we will be very, very forthright if we make a determination of drought emergency. But again, that has to come with certain benefits that otherwise couldn't be accrued without it. And as Secretary Crowfoot just mentioned, we're able to move on many different fronts without the official declaration of emergency. Thank you. When you were in the Central Valley last week and you were asked pretty much the same question about the state of emergency declaration, you did mention that you'd be making some announcements in this space in the coming days. I don't know if you just sort of tease that with drafting executive orders, but are those announcements coming? No, we have been. We've been working with our partners, our federal partners, our state partners. We've been making, well, Wade wanted to talk more specifically because he can talk to you in detailed terms of the work he's been doing within agencies and those efforts. Yeah, thanks so much. So as I mentioned, Wade Crowfoot, Secretary for Natural Resources, as I explained in my last response, not a week goes by when we're actually considering additional actions we should be taking, either on the water management side or on protecting fish and wildlife or providing emergency support to impacted communities. The governor raised the Klamath River basin, for example, as one area that's particularly hard hit by drought and has been the focus of two federal secretaries attention in the last week focused on providing resources to agricultural producers there. That's a really good example of where we're active in the last several days working in partnership with our federal agencies to address that specific issue. So I think as it relates to the question, you'll hear more and more of our actions over time here as conditions dictate. We are monitoring these these drought conditions in real time and we'll take actions necessary to protect communities, obviously our economy, as well as our fish and wildlife. Any other questions? With that, let me thank everybody for being out here again. I want to just thank Beth, Chief Porter, thank the incredible leadership assembly member and the senator for being up, not only being up here, but for their ongoing leadership, not just stewardship, as it relates to the issue of wildfires and forests and vegetation management. Final point, I just want to reinforce this because it's incredibly important. This is just a down payment. This just gets the ball rolling. This is early action. This by no means, no stretch of the imagination is the final word on the state of California's efforts to lean in to this wildfire season. We have a plethora of other issues, including LiDAR technologies and new satellite technologies that will come to bear new partnerships that are being advanced across the spectrum, new mutual aid strategies, new strategies on PSPS. We didn't even get to that and more expectation, particularly from our IOUs, not least of which PG&E, particularly for those here in Northern California. And so we'll continue to be on top of this, continue to make statements public and continue the hard work of making sure we manifest the expectations that we set out here today because when we sign a bill, that doesn't solve a problem. It's the work that comes after that signing. And that's why I must now move to the signing part of this conversation. Thank you all for joining us. And why don't we go to the engine just because we're there. We'll enjoy it. I don't want to do this. What do you think? What do you want to stand? Just like right here. You want to do it on this? Are you all right? Is there like a place you guys had in America? You're going to put this door on? You want to go sit in there? No, I don't want to go up in. No, that gets a little too I'll sit here. Yeah, that's all right. You can see we prepped with it. Let's go back. I'll trade it. It's already done. Thank you guys. The paper. Thank you guys. Appreciate all your work. And we had a play. Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Sam. I got to get over here. So you want? Yeah, thank you. All right.