Democracy Under Pressure: Federal Policies and Local Impact

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Louie Miner Show.
I'm your host, bell CountyCommissioner, louie Miner.
Today is July 26, 2025.
We are back from NLEO, nationalAssociation of Latino Elected
and Appointed Officials.
So I was in Atlanta, georgia,for a week and later on, after I

(00:28):
talk about the agenda, I planon playing in its entirety one
of the sessions that I attended,that.
I think you'll understand why Igo and the benefits that we get
out of it.
So let's talk about our agendareal quick For Monday, july 28th

(00:52):
, my birthday.
I'll be turning 46 years old,or young, however you want to
describe it, but yes, I'll bespending my birthday doing the
people's work.
So anyways, starting at 9o'clock, falk County

(01:12):
Commissioner's Court, we havethe regular meeting of the
Commissioner's Court.
First item is the invocation,then we have Pledge of
Allegiance, next item is ConsentAgenda.
Consider the approval of theminutes of the prior meeting of
the Commissioner's Court.
Personnel budget amendments,claims, accounts payable,

(01:36):
payroll, restitution, jury payand we have Departmental
Submissions.
Consider an approval resolutionauthorizing the submission of
an FY 2026-27 solid waste grantprogram application in the
amount of $20,000 with a fundingmatch requirement of $0 for the
Bell County Tire Event Center.

(01:57):
The Central Texas Council ofGovernments designating Bell
County judge as the authorizedofficial for the grant.
Then consider author orconsider designating of
locations as polling placespursuant to section 43.002 of
the Texas election code for theNovember 4th 2025 election.

(02:21):
Then we have considerauthorizing the transfer of one
2024 Ford Transit van VIN number1FTBW1XGARKB24700 from the Bell
County Sheriff's Office to theTechnology Service Department.
Then we have consider theappointment of election judges

(02:44):
pursuant to section 32.001 ofthe Texas Election Code.
Let's see Next.
Item E consider authorizing thecounty judge to enter into an
interlocal cooperation agreementby and between Bell County,
central County Services and theCity of Killeen for the

(03:06):
utilization of the Bell CountyDiversion Center.
Item F consider authorizing thecounty judge to enter into a
service agreement between BellCounty and RightSite emergency
medical provider that can beoffered to 911 callers and
non-emergency medical needs thatdo not require an emergency

(03:30):
response by EMS or transport toan ER facility.
The terms of this agreement arefor two years at no cost to the
county to the county.
Item G consider ratifying thepurchase of eight pre-built 2025
police package FordInterceptors from Sowell Ford

(03:55):
Inc.
Through the buy board contractnumber 724-23, for a total cost
of $540,617, funded through theFY24 COPS Technology and
Equipment Program InvitationalSolicitation Grant.

(04:17):
Next item consider the exemptionfrom competitive requirements
for certain purchases forindependent audits for FY25 in
accordance with local governmentcode 262.024A4 and authorize

(04:38):
the county judge to enter intothe following professional
services agreement the auditengagement letter with Rockway,
gershbach Franklin and Niemeyer,pc for Bell County Independent
Audit for Fiscal Year EndingSeptember 30, 2025 for Amount
Not to Exceed $147,500 plusout-of-pocket cost expenses.

(05:02):
The Audit Engagement Letterwith Brockway, gershbach
Franklin and Niemeyer PC forBell County Juvenile Probation
Department independent audit forfiscal year ending in August
31st 2025 for amount not toexceed $24,000.
And then the audit engagementletter with Brockway.

(05:23):
And then the audit engagementletter with Brockway, gershbach
Franklin and Niemeyer, pc forthe Bell County Community
Supervision and CorrectionsDepartment independent audit for

(05:44):
fiscal year ending in August31st 2025 for amount not take C
$29,000.
Let's see Next item $49,000.
Let's see Next item Considerthe approval of the contract and
statement of work withRingCentral Inc using purchasing
cooperative tips 24-03-03, fora 60-month contract at $8,429
per month and a statement ofwork for implementation services

(06:05):
at a one-time cost of $44,351for the countywide phone system.

(06:27):
Corrections corporal positionsto fund one corrections captain,
one corrections lieutenant andthree corrections sergeant
positions using FY 2025 meritfunds.
Then, item K considerauthorizing the resolution
amending authorizationrepresentatives at text poll and
to add newly hired firstassistant treasurer, cameron

(06:49):
Katie, as an authorized signer.
Item L consider authorizing anewly hired first assistant
treasurer, cameron Keedy, tosigner of Horizon Bank, jp
Salado II.
Then we have a presentation andproclamations.

(07:14):
We have a presentation of a2024 Distinguished Service Award
for the Historical Commissionand receive an update from Dan
Eller, chairman of the BellCounty Historical Commission.
County Engineer Items Considerand approve a final plat of
Harbors Estate Subdivision beinga 15.088-acre 3-lot 1-block

(07:41):
subdivision located in Precinct1.
Next item consider and approvea replat of lot nine, block B,
doves Landing, unit four, beinga .773 acre one lot one block
subdivision located in precincttwo.
And then the final item forengineers consider and approve

(08:02):
the minor plat of Horned FrogEdition being a two acre one
one-lot one-block subdivisionlocated in Precinct 2.
Then we have regular agendaitems Consider granting a
petition and fixing boundariesfor the creation of Emergency
Service District, to be known asBell County Emergency Service

(08:27):
District number three.
Then, next item consideringcall for a general election
issued by the county judge forthe purposes of creating a Bell
County Emergency ServiceDistrict number three, to be
held November 4, 2025.
Consider ratifying a requestfor a temporary hire for a

(08:47):
deputy clerk position andjustice of the peace place.
For place two, considerauthorizing the county judge to
execute a renewal of an existingcontract with Academy ISD for
five school resource officersfor the 2025-2026 school year.
Next item consider authorizingthe county judge to enter into

(09:13):
an interlocal agreement with theCity of Belton for archive
storage at the Bell CountyStorage Facility.
Then, item F considerauthorizing the county judge to
execute a municipal serviceagreement with the city of
Temple for 7.150 plus or minusacres of land and right-of-way.

(09:34):
And that is everything for ourregular
agenda.
Now let's go to our workshopreal quick.
Next item we have for ourworkshop after immediately

(10:00):
following that meeting is reportand updates from various county
offices and departments.
Then we have capitalimprovement update on jail
expansion, killeen Annex, anddiscuss FY 2025 CIP plan.
Then we have discuss SB8relating to the agreement

(10:20):
between sheriffs and the UnitedStates Immigration and Customs
Enforcement law and the grantprogram that covers costs
implementing those agreements.
Then discuss opioid settlementparticipation agreement.
Next item is discussapplication to the FY26 County

(10:42):
Fairhog abatement grant to theFY26 County Fair Hall Abatement
Grant.
Next item is receiveend-of-year grant reports
calendar 2024 from Kylie Brooks,grant administrator.
Discuss allowing the overlapfor the replacement of the
county judge's administrativeassistance.
Next item discuss engaging anoutside firm in the search for a

(11:08):
county engineer.
Next item is discuss policiesand practices relating to
county-wide relating tocounty-provided take-home
vehicles.
Countyjudge.
Then discuss 2025-26commissioner's Court meeting and
2026 County holidays.

(11:28):
Next item is discuss BellCounty flood hazards,
mitigations and low watercrossings.
Next item discuss Justice ofthe Peace and Constable Precinct
lines.
Then discuss creating ahospital district.
Next item FY2026 budgetplanning, implementation and

(11:51):
budget follow-up hearings anddiscussions relating to the
FY2026 budget.
And then at 1.30, presentationby Bell County Animal Shelter
Advisory Board and discussionsrelated to a no-kill animal
shelter, and that isit.

(12:14):
There is a meeting that we mayor may not attend All the
commission may or may not attendand that's going to be at July
30th, 9 am.
Tour of Children's AdvocacyCenter in Belton.
So that's everything that wehave for Monday.

(12:36):
It's going to be a long day andso hopefully you can attend or,
if not, you'll be able to watchthe video after that.
So what I want to do now isbecause it is a long session
that I'm about to play for, butI think you'll get a lot out of

(13:00):
it because you can see whatelected officials are talking
about at the national level andyou there's school boards here,
there's city, county, stateofficials here that you know
these policies are beingaffected, are affecting our

(13:23):
community in a negative way.
So, without further ado, listen, take notes.
If you have any questions,shoot me an email.
I'll respond and say happybirthday to me whenever you
respond to that email and wewill talk to you next week

(13:46):
foreign policy and many others,many others.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
During this session, we will get an overview of the
federal landscape and how someof these changes affect the
Latino community.
On a personal note, I'm also onthe board of directors of a
community health center and wewill be directly affected by the
Medicaid cuts.
So it would be nice to hear howthat would affect a lot of your

(14:11):
community health centers also.
That's the safety net for ourhead down there.
So, but before we get started,a friendly reminder that at at
the Naleo conference, wepractice the Naleo standard,
which allows us to have robustpolicy discussions in a
respectful and solution-orientedmanner.
A full description of the NaleoStandard can be found on the

(14:36):
conference app and via the QRcode on the back of your badge.
Thank you for observing NaleoStandard during this session and
your questions and comments.
So now it is my pleasure tointroduce the speakers joining
us.
We will first hear from RamiroCavazos, president and Chief

(14:57):
Executive Officer of the UnitedStates Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce, followed by DanteMoreno, legislative Manager,
finance Administration andIntergovernmental Relations at
the National League of Cities,and Dr Will Del Pilar, senior
Vice President at EdTrust.
So, dr Cavazos.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
Oh, mr Cavazos, you're not a doctor yet, thank
you.
Thank you, councilman, buenosdias a todos and good morning.
It's, first of all, what anhonor to be here with so many
elected officials.
Let's give our electedofficials a round of applause.
We don't have enough of yourepresenting us, so let me let

(15:46):
me set the stage.
The United States HispanicChamber of Commerce was founded
in 1979.
We were chartered inAlbuquerque, santa Fe, and my
colleague, cynthia Jaramillo, isthere.
She's a native New Mexican.
Let's give her a round ofapplause.
Thank you, cynthia, and I'malso very proud to be here with.

(16:09):
We have about 300 chaptersaround the country of Latino
Chambers, so we're the nationalumbrella.
We're based in Washington DCand I'm very proud that Veronica
Maldonado-Torres, our colleague, who's hosting us in September,
is here.
There's Veronica.
Thank you, veronica.
She is here, boots on theground in Georgia doing a great

(16:33):
job.
And then, really, my lastintroduction is our board member
, yuri Kunza, who runs theNashville Latino Chamber, was
here earlier.
Let's give him a round ofapplause.
So, thank you so much.
53% of Latino males voted forDonald Trump in the most recent

(16:56):
election.
53% 46% of Latinos voted forthe Trump administration that is
in office today.
Numbers don't lie.
We are a nonpartisanorganization.
We don't endorse candidates.
99% of our funding comes fromthe private sector.

(17:17):
We don't endorse candidates.
We love to tell people or I dowe're not red or blue.
We're red, white and blue, andour favorite color is green, and
that's the free enterprisesystem, that that's what makes
the world go round.
So that's the way I see theworld, and you get.

(17:37):
You get what you pay for andyou get how you vote, and so you
look for so let me just say andwe need to go out to vote we
obviously need more electedofficials.
We are under represented in somany different categories, but
the power is in in the futureand the present.
We are a very young population.
Average age is 28.

(17:58):
We're one out of every fiveAmericans 65 million.
We were here 128 years beforethe British arrived at Plymouth
Rock, so the first Europeanlanguage was Spanish.
The dollar sign came from theSpanish peseta, the most
powerful economic symbol in theworld.
We have built this country.

(18:19):
Ten of the 50 states have theirnames that come from the
Spanish language, and I couldtell you thousands of other
cities Nevada is la Nevada,snowdrift in Spanish, and, of
course, colorado Montaña, nextto Canada.
You know, and so I could go onand on.
We need to realize our power asa community and we need to

(18:40):
exercise it, and this is alesson learned for many of us to
see the fact that Medicaid isbeing targeted and we have a lot
of seniors who will be affected, that education is being
targeted and funding for folksthat are not at the economic
level that they should, and thisis a country built by

(19:02):
immigrants too.
That's the irony, and it's true.
Now I'm not again.
I'm not a very partisan person.
My dad was an elected officialin South Texas for 25, 30 years.
He was elected back in 1961 asa justice of the peace, very

(19:24):
proud of his legacy.
Legacy my uncle was Dr LauroCavazos, appointed by President
Reagan to be the first Latinocabinet-level person as
Secretary of Education.
Ironically, that's a departmentthat will be shutting down.
And then Fort Hood, whichbecame Fort Cavazos after my

(19:44):
uncle, who was a four-stargeneral, after two years
relegated back to Fort Hoodagain because of petty politics,
although he's a medal of honorwinner uh, you know pearl.
Uh a, uh, you know, purple heartrecipient.
And you know, there's noquestion that Latinos have
fought in every major conflictsince the American Revolution

(20:05):
and fought bravely.
So, uh, remember, own yourpower, know who you are and this
is your country and you builtit.
And you got here before a lotof other people did and some of
us are still coming as recentlyas last night, and so that's the
power of our culture.
So what's happening in DC?

(20:28):
I can tell you the hundreds ofexecutive orders that have been
passed.
Let me give you some sunlight.
About three quarters of thoseexecutive orders are stuck in
the courts right now hugedisagreement over them.

(20:53):
They may never see, you know,being implemented.
The ones that are beingimplemented are probably, you
know, going to last the nextthree and a half years because
there'll be a new president.
That's the extent of executiveorders is.
The new president comes in,does away with the previous
executive orders.
This president did the samething.
Comes in, does away with theprevious executive orders this
president did the same thing.
So nothing is permanent,nothing is forever, and so, yes,

(21:15):
we're having to live with the,the drama and the challenges,
but the rule of law and peopledeserve a right to due process
is being challenged right now,as you all know, with the ICE
rates.
It's affecting a lot of oursmall businesses and many of
them are not Latino-ownedbusinesses, they're just

(21:37):
businesses in general.
But I think all of us in thisroom will be the final word.
The final word will be themidterm elections.
The final word will be the nextelection for president will be
the midterm elections.
The final word would be thenext election for president.
Is this something that we want?
Is this the kind of countrythat we want?
No question that people shouldbe deported if they're criminals

(21:59):
, but about half of the onesbeing deported, some of them are
, many of them are not criminalsand many of us are maybe 70%,
thank, thank you are US citizens.
So it's just unbelievablewhat's happening.
So let me get back to thechamber.

(22:23):
We have kept our head down.
We have been working with ourlocal chambers to provide
programs to help smallbusinesses succeed.
For me, that's where the actionis.
The action is entrepreneursaround the country who are just
doing a great job, creating jobs, making a living for their

(22:43):
families.
We want them to grow up to bebillion-dollar corporations.
We have five millionLatino-owned businesses in
America, hundreds of thousandsof those here in Georgia, and we
also have about 200corporations great corporations
that are members of our chamber,that believe in us, that are

(23:04):
investing in those programs,great companies like Walmart and
Wells Fargo and I could go onand on Diageo and everyone.
So all I'm saying is thispartnership between corporate
America, our 5 millionLatino-owned businesses and our
close to 300 chambers is verypowerful.
We treasure that, we protect it, but we're also monitoring

(23:26):
advocacy and we will be speakingup more strongly.
We are against tariffs, we'reagainst monitoring advocacy and
we will be speaking up morestrongly.
We are against tariffs, we'reagainst aranceles.
There is no question that it'sgoing to damage.
And guess who ends up payingthe cost?
It will be us, as consumers.
Those $60 billion that we mighthave made in the last quarter.
They came from our pockets, itdidn't come from some mysterious

(23:49):
foreigner.
And then, secondly, we're uh,we fought hard with the, the
recent bill, to limit the tax onremises on remittances.
Uh, it started at five percent,it ended at one percent.
It's a, it's a tax, no matterhow you say see it.
Uh, tariffs are also attacks,uh and uh.

(24:14):
And our economy, uh, you know,is withstanding a lot of this,
mainly because, guess who thebiggest consumer in america is?
We are latinos, we're thefastest growing consumer the
future, we're the, the fastestgrowing consumer of the future,
we're the fastest growingworkforce of the future, and
we're the fastest companies thatare growing as a small business

(24:35):
.
So we own the future.
And so, as I conclude, I wantto let you know I am an optimist
by nature, because data doesnot lie, dna does not lie either
, and I need to tell you thatall of us here represent the
whole world Latinos, we're not arace, we're an ethnic group,

(24:58):
we're Afro-Latino, we'reCaucasian, we're Asians, we're
Jewish, we're Protestant.
The beauty of our culture isthat everybody loves us, is that
everybody loves us.
We marry, people marry out intoour culture more than any other
culture.
The beauty is that we'rebecoming more highly educated.

(25:21):
We're owning our power.
Economically, we are a 4.1trillion dollar economy.
If the 65 million Latinosliving here, as I conclude, were
our own economy, we would bethe fifth largest economy in the
world at $4.1 trillion, andthat's growing at 14% every year

(25:45):
.
So we're too many, we're toomany, we're too many, we're
unstoppable.
And you know, as my dad used tosay, paz descanse, no queremos
que nos den, queremos que nospongan donde hay.
We just want to be where theaction's at, and we're going to
win, we're going to succeed andwe're going to excel.

(26:07):
I'm so proud to be 100% American, 100% Latino, and I'm so proud
to be here with each of you andthank you for your leadership as
elected officials.
We need your help and we'rehere to be your partners in a
nonpartisan way, to be strong,to focus on issues.
There's so much left to do inthe next three, three and a half

(26:30):
years to get ready for ourfuture as a community.
And so, as I can go, I justwant to recognize, of course,
some friends of mine that arehere, gerald and Joe, who are
elected officials in San Antonio.
Let's give them a round ofapplause.
Thank you, okay With that,muchisimas gracias.
I have four, four minutes left,so I'm going to give them to to

(26:53):
my colleagues thank screen, Ithink you can.

Speaker 8 (27:15):
My name is Dante Moreno.
I'm the Finance Administrationand Intergovernmental Relations
Lobbyist at the National Leagueof Cities.
For those of you who don't knowus, the National League of
Cities represents over 19,000cities, towns and villages
across America.
I'll also say I'm a Los Angelesnative, and I say that because
I saw a lot of Californians inthe audience.
I'm here to talk today aboutsome of the stuff that's

(27:41):
happening in the federalgovernment.
I can say it's been a very busyfirst half of the year.
They pushed through the budgetreconciliation bill last month,
the one big, beautiful bill.
There were certainly someexciting provisions in there.
There were things that we werehappy about and there were some
things that we're less happyabout.

(28:01):
I'm just going to run throughthem quickly.
The thing that we were mostexcited to see was that
tax-exempt municipal bonds werewholly preserved.
For those of you who don't dealwith bonds, or for those of you
who may need a refreshertax-exempt municipal bonds help
build America.
Schools use them, cities,counties, states use them.
Unfortunately, they were on thechopping block during the

(28:22):
reconciliation bill because theywere a nice juicy pay-for.
They're $250 billion if you getrid of the tax exemption.
We know they were looking atthem it was released in a menu
of pay-fors this year but theydid not touch them or private
activity bonds at all, which wasgreat.
Staying on bonds, thelow-income housing tax credit or

(28:42):
LIHTC provision was alsoenhanced and expanded
permanently.
This will provide approximately1 million affordable housing
rental homes in the next 10years.
Salt, or the state and localtax deduction, which primarily
impacts high-cost states likeCalifornia, new York, new Jersey
, was temporarily increased from$10,000 as the cap to $40,000.

(29:08):
That will decrease in 2030 backto 10,000, but we're taking the
wins where we can get them.
There was also a preemption AIregulation on state and local
governments that was in theHouse bill.
That would have prohibitedstate and local governments from
regulating artificialintelligence for the next 10

(29:28):
years.
That was stripped out of theSenate version in the 11th hour.
We are watching preemption onthe federal and the state side.
We do think that's going to bea growing issue over the next
couple of years.
Opportunity zones were alsoexpanded and made permanent.
I know that opportunity zoneskind of have a mixed reaction

(29:48):
among folks, but we werelobbying to change them and
there will be new regulationsaround Opportunity Zones
starting in 2027.
They're making them a bit moretransparent Governors can change
the Opportunity Zones every 10years and there is more of an
emphasis on targeting distressedcommunities.
So those were the opportunitiesthat we're seeing that we're

(30:10):
excited about.
There were definitely somesetbacks in the bill.
Medicaid and SNAP wasdefinitely impacted quite a bit
in this bill, primarily as apay-for.
The biggest changes to Medicaidand SNAP were around work
requirements and also impactingwho is now able to access this

(30:30):
social safety net.
While I know that there arefolks in the room today who do
deal with Medicaid and SNAP,either because you're a state or
county or because your healthcenters rely on them, we're
nervous on the city side becausestates provide a lot of money
to local governments, becausestates provide a lot of money to

(30:51):
local governments and if statesare going to have to decrease
their budget to try to meet thiscut to Medicaid and SNAP,
that's going to likely impactthe amount of money that your
city gets from states.
States provide over 30% oflocal budgets.
In the amount of funding,Federal funding is only 6% of
local budgets.
It's very concerning andsomething that we're watching.
And the amount of fundingfederal funding is only 6% of
local budgets.
It's very concerning andsomething that we're watching,

(31:13):
and I know the next presenter isgoing to go into Medicaid and
staff a little bit more to cleanenergy.
Tax credits were a huge loserand this spell.
The reconciliation bill keptthe direct paying mechanism, but
solar and wind projects aredeeply impacted and there are
new provisions around supplychain components that are going

(31:36):
to make it very difficult toaccess.
I will say if your cities orgovernments are looking at doing
clean energy investment, Iencourage you to do it now.
I encourage you to do it beforethe end of this year.
Apply for clean energy taxcredits.
They're there for you to use.

(31:57):
Use them while you have.
It is all I have to say.
There were also rescissions tounobligated funds for
transportation projects aroundequity and access, as well as
EPA emissions projects.
This next slide just has someresources that might be helpful
for you all.
It's a reconciliation breakdownblog that goes into much more
detail than what I just said,and it also has our FY26
appropriations priorities.

(32:19):
Before we move on, I do want toquickly touch on FY26
appropriations.
If a continuing resolution orthe appropriations bills are not
passed in the next two monthsthere'll be a government
shutdown.
They are moving Every year.
It's a concern that there'll bea government shutdown.
They are moving.
We have yet to see what's goingto happen.
Last week, omb Director RussFott said that he hopes the

(32:41):
appropriations process will beless bipartisan, moving forward
which is never not words youwant to hear, together usually
if you're a federal applicant.
They're moving forward.
There are provisions in theHouse bills around sanctuary
cities prohibiting them fromreceiving federal funding.
That's not new.
The House bill often puts incomponents like that.

(33:05):
They've previously beenstripped in the Senate version
of the bill.
We have yet to see if that'sgoing to happen this time.
And I'll go a little bit moreinto appropriations when we get
into the census.
The census is the most fun thingthat I do at NLC.
It's not great Like it's notlike everything's going well,
but I get to work with a lot offun people and the census, I

(33:27):
think, is amazing work thatwe're doing and that's kind of
where I'm going to focus therest of my presentation on today
.
We're in the middle of thedecade, so I don't.
You know there's a lot of otherreally important things
happening.
Why are we talking about thecensus If you do not plan for a
good census now, you're notgoing to have a good census in
five years.
Texas lost 2525 billion infederal funding because they

(33:50):
were undercounted.
The colonias it's reallycommunities of color that are
historically always undercounted.
2020 census was done under thefirst Trump administration.
The second, the 2030 census,will be under another
administration.
But this year, next year andthe following year are when the

(34:12):
bulk of the census work is beingdone, when we're deciding on
what questions are being asked,when we're deciding how much
money is going to the census,when we're deciding do
communities feel safe answeringgovernment questions, when there
are questions around how isthat data being used?
So I do want to flag just a fewthings that we're watching on
the census front.

(34:33):
There is always a bill in theHouse and the Senate around a
citizenship question on thedecennial census, as well as
prohibiting the census fromcounting non-citizens and
prohibiting them from using thatnon-citizen data for federal
apportionment.
So federal representation, aswell as deciding how state and

(34:54):
federal funding is distributed.
No matter who you are in acommunity, no matter what your
documents say, you're stillusing roads.
You're still using water,infrastructure.
Cities need the money that theyneed to support the community,
regardless of who you are in thecommunity.
So we are watching that.
Previously, the House bill hasthe Equal Representation Act has

(35:17):
passed in the House.
The Senate has not passed theEqual Representation Act yet.
We have yet to see if that'sgoing to happen this time.
It definitely has some steam.
It definitely has some steam.
I'll also note that the FY26Commerce, justice and Science
Appropriations Bill does have aprovision in there that bans the
Census Bureau from countingnon-citizens in 2030.

(35:38):
We're waiting to see if that'ssomething that the Senate will
strip out and are encouragingthem to do so.
Beyond the census as a decennial, there are also threats to the
American Community Survey.
That's a survey that happensevery single year.
This is the data that citiescan use, so they have up-to-date
data.
If you're a big city, if you'reLos Angeles, you probably have

(35:59):
the resources to go out, surveya community, see who's there,
see if you're building a newroad, a new bridge, who lives
there.
If you're a small or rural orunder-resourced community,
census data is often the onlydata that you have access to,
and if you only have access toup-to-date data once every 10
years, you're kind of out ofluck compared to your neighbors.

(36:20):
Unfortunately, the ACS has hada lot of threats to it for
making it voluntary or justeliminating it altogether.
Again, that's something that'spicking up some steam this year
that we're watching August isACS Awareness Month, if you're
not already aware.
We're very excited to be doingthings to spotlight how all

(36:41):
municipalities can be using ACSdata, but it's just something to
keep in mind.
There is a push to limitgovernment data, to limit what
amount of information is outthere, and the ACS is really
important to keep in mind.
I wanted to just put somequestions out into the crowd
today and I'll see works veryclosely with Naleo on census

(37:04):
issues, given the impact it hason Latino communities, and the
next five years are the mostimportant five years for the,
given the impact it has onLatino communities, and the next
five years are the mostimportant five years for the
2030.
Next year is the 2026 censustest, where there's going to be
six test sites across thecountry looking at how do we

(37:25):
count historically undercountedcommunities, including the
colonias in Texas in Texas.
And 2027 is when LUCA, or thelocal update to census addresses
, starts, and that's really thebest and only opportunity that
local governments have to updatetheir address book.
The Census Bureau doesn't knowif you have a new development.
They don't know if Linda fromacross the street has guest

(37:48):
house that she's renting tocollege students.
Those are all people that youneed to count, and it's up to
cities and counties primarily toupdate their LUCA address book
and then, by 2027, you shouldalso have a plan for your
community on how you're countingeverybody in 2030.
And that's a group right effort, right Like it's not one.

(38:08):
It's not the cities, it's notthe counties, it's school
districts, it's who are thetrusted members of your
community that you need topartner with to make sure
everybody is counted.
I did put two resources up here.
It's our census research page,which has a timeline, which has
a glossary and an FAQ to helpwith all of the abbreviations
that we have in the census world.

(38:29):
I also put the LUCA resourceguide, which is a guide from an
external group.
It's a phenomenal guide.
I would definitely encourageyou all to start looking at it,
because LUCA is very, veryimportant and it's definitely
not something that you can justdo in a day.
The last thing I wanted to touchon today sort of switching
gears again is civility andcivil discourse.

(38:51):
This is really a rising issuewithin local elected officials.
It's something that at everyNLC conference you hear people
say what are you doing?
What resources are availablefor us to use?
We have members on our boardthat were impacted by what
happened in Minnesota.
They were on the list of whathappened in Minnesota and we're

(39:17):
looking at what to do.
I wanted to provide a fewresources kind of off the bat.
We have a town hall we did afew months ago that I found very
interesting.
We have a report and a resource.
We're also doing two sessionsat our flagship conference in
November and I also just kind ofwanted to give an anecdote here
.
I run the FAIR committee, so theFinance, administration and

(39:38):
Intergovernmental RelationsCommittee at NLC, and we're
focused on civility and civildiscourse, and last week we had
one of our conferences and wehad a 90-minute discussion with
two Ohio State Universityprofessors on civility, on civil
discourse.
How do you talk to people?
Because it's not just talkingto people at a city hall meeting

(39:59):
, a city council meeting, it'salso how are you talking to your
peers?
I've been in city councilmeetings that are not friendly
to be in.
They're uncomfortable, folksare yelling at each other, there
is no civility, there's nocivil discourse happening and
there's no movement happening.
You're not, you're not leading.

(40:19):
You're leading as a bad example, and what you're putting out
there is what your community istaking out.
And so we spent 90 minutestalking through situations.
We did some role playing onscenarios and really they were
focused on like what is the fix?
Like how do you fix thissituation?
And I don't think there is likea one fix.
It's such a complicatedsituation but, frankly, we can't

(40:43):
solve it unless we hear fromyou all, like what are you
dealing with?
What resources would be helpfulfor you?
And again, it's not oneresource.
We're not going to put out onereport and like we solve the
civility issue in America, butit starts with having a
conversation about it, and so Iknow that we would love to have
a conversation with you.
I know Malayo would love tohave a conversation with you.

(41:03):
So I just wanted to put it outthere that we are focused on it.
We are aware it's a risingissue, but cities, local
government, remains the mosttrusted form of government out
there, and it's up to localgovernment to start to solve
this problem, because you're theones that they see in grocery
stores.
Right, like your communityknows you, they're probably not

(41:24):
seeing their senator everysingle week.
That was my presentation.
I appreciate your time and I soappreciate being here as well.
It's phenomenal, and I'mlooking forward to hearing all
the other presenters today.
Thank you.
Now we have the real doctor, drGail Galak.

Speaker 10 (41:47):
You guys see that I'm gonna sit down.

(42:12):
Good morning.
My name is Will DelVillard.
I'm with the Education Trust inWashington DC.
We're a national state advocacyorganization that advocates for
low income students andstudents of color from early
childhood through highereducation.
I serve as a senior vicepresident.

(42:33):
I'm also from LA.
I grew up in Carson, california.
So, yeah, carson Went toChapman University, dominguez
Hills yeah, I grew up in there.
My brother lives in Carsonstill, so, maybe one of them.
Yeah, I went to Dominguez Hillsfor my master's degree and I'm
really happy to be here.

(42:53):
It's a challenging time in termsof federal education policy,
but I want to share two things.
One, my deck will be shared andI'll also share out my notes,
so you don't have to worry abouttaking notes Like furiously.
I'll share everything that Ihave in my notes, or also some
links that might you might findhelpful.
It will be in my notes as welltoday in advance.

(43:15):
Yeah, all right, so I'll betalking about executive orders,
reconciliation, budgetempowerment and then legal
action what's happening in thecourts.
We find ourselves at a reallycritical juncture and it's a
moment that demands both ourresolve and resilience.
Education, you know, I'd sayit's under significant pressure,

(43:37):
but I think it's more accurateto say it's under attack.
Decades of progress are at riskof being dismantled right
before our very eyes.
Research shows that by 2031,the percentage of all jobs
requiring some form ofpost-secondary education is
expected to be 72%.
So 72% of jobs require somelevel of post-secondary

(43:57):
education, with 42% requiring atleast a bachelor's degree.
Nationally, only 20.8% ofLatinos have a bachelor's degree
or higher and only 28% have anassociate's degree or higher,
and only 20 28 percent have anassociate's degree or higher.
This trails every racial andethnic group in this country,
except for Native Americans.
We need policies at the federaland state, local and local

(44:19):
levels that provide increasedaccess to students educational
pathways that lead to good jobs.
Sadly, what we're seeing at thefederal level are actions that
will have a significant impacton who has access to education
in this country.
So executive orders there's somany right Since returning to

(44:41):
office.
Since returning to office inJanuary, president Trump has
signed over 170 executive orders.
They've ranged from immigrationenforcement to trade to
education, and we should expectthose to continue.
Our intel suggests that we maysee as many as 200 executive
orders be fit before the end ofthe administration.

(45:02):
I'm going to highlight a coupleof EO's executive orders that
are likely to impact Latinos.
On January 21st, the presidentrescinded executive order
11-12-46.
This executive order is signedby President Lyndon B Johnson,
prohibited employmentdiscrimination by federal
contractors and requiredaffirmative action in hiring and

(45:25):
contracting.
Contractors had to reportdemographic data and take steps
to recruit and hire moreminorities, including Latinos.
On January 21st, thisrequirement ended.
This executive order ensuredLatino representation in
government contracting work.
The government was required toproactively hire Latinos, and

(45:45):
this has been removed and dataon contractors and proactive
recruitment has ended.
That same day, the presidentsigned the Ending Illegal
Discrimination and RestoringMerit-Based Opportunity, which
bans diversity, equity,inclusion measures in federal
contracting and grants.
In it, he directs agencies toremove DEI references from

(46:10):
procurement processes andemphasize merit-based criteria
only, which still has not beendefined.
With this EO, we saw removal ofDEI programs in education and
workforce training, programsthat disproportionately affect
and have served Latinocommunities, programs that
disproportionately affect andhave served Latino communities.

(46:36):
The final EO that I willhighlight is the Ending Radical
and Wasteful Government DEIProgram signed on January 20th.
This EO executive order purgedDEI offices and positions across
federal agencies, includingeducation and labor.
Education agencies were barredfrom offering DEI grants,
scholarships or programsbenefiting minority students or
employees.
Education and labor educationagencies were barred from
offering dei grants,scholarships or program programs
benefiting minority students oremployees.
This ceo eliminated eliminatedfederal institutional dei

(46:59):
efforts supporting latinostudents and employees.
It ended affinity groups, deirecruitment, outreach, scholar
and scholarship programs.
These EOs taken together havedecreased support and
opportunities for Latinostudents.
There is a concept in researchand in legal scholarship called
repressive legalism, and thisconcept, essentially what it

(47:21):
advances, is that when there isan executive order or any law
that is passed, people will endup applying that law to other
areas beyond the necessary scope, and so we over-enforce because
of two things One, we're afraidof legal action, or two, we're
afraid of political scrutiny.
Right, and so what we have seenis an over-application of these

(47:45):
EOs beyond areas into whichthey were necessary to be
enforced.
Scholarships targeted forLatino students have all but
ended nationally Latinograduations that celebrate
community have come underscrutiny.
Services to Latino or Englishlanguage learners are under
attack, and we should expectthese attacks to continue.

(48:06):
So we talked a little bit aboutreconciliation, but I'm going
to go a little bit more in depthon the impacts to education.
On July 4th 2025, the Trumpadministration and congressional
Republicans secured the passageof the One Big, beautiful Bill
Act, a budget reconciliationpackage that made significant

(48:27):
and permanent changes to federaleducation policy and funding.
While the law touches manypolicy areas, several provisions
will have direct and immediateimplications for students,
families and communities.
What do you see on that slidecourt?
I went too far, all right, IWell.

Speaker 3 (48:49):
The bill cuts $930 billion from Medicaid over the
next decade.

Speaker 10 (48:53):
Many of these cuts won't be implemented until 2027,
and there's a reason for thatthey were waiting until the
midterm elections passed beforethey started cutting people's
health care.
The impacts will be moredirectly felt in 2027 and in
2028, but we have to startplanning.
The cuts to Medicaid willresult in fewer college students

(49:14):
and fewer K-12 students havingaccess to medical care.
The cuts will also put pressureon state budgets to take money
out of education and put it intoMedicaid to fill budget holes.
Roughly half of Americanchildren are on Medicaid or the
Children's Health InsuranceProgram, and the loss of
coverage for their parents meansthey are less likely to be

(49:34):
insured and receive medical care.
Medicaid serves as the fourthlargest federal funding stream
for schools.
As states are forced to grapplewith the loss of federal
funding, this can havedownstream impacts on classrooms
, given that Medicaid helpscover reimbursements for a host
of medical and support servicesprovided to students, including

(49:55):
those with disabilities, such asaccess to nurses physical
therapists, occupationaltherapists and psychologists.
The cuts to Medicaid enacted inthis legislation will force
districts and schools to makedifficult funding decisions that
could limit or eliminateavailability of these services.
In addition, we saw cuts toSNAP.

(50:16):
The bill shifts SNAP theSupplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program benefit costto states if they have a payment
error rate a measure of statespayment accuracy that includes
both under and over paymentsabove 6%.
44 states are currently at orabove the error rate.
Higher error rates wouldrequire higher state payments of

(50:38):
up to 15%.
This doesn't start until 2027.
Once again, this is intentional.
In total, the CongressionalBudget Office projects a bill
will cut $186 billion from SNAPover the next 10 years.
The bill eliminates eligibilityfor individuals in the country
legally, including refugees andasylees, limiting SNAP

(51:00):
eligibility to citizens, legalpermanent residents and certain
Cuban and Haitian entrants.
Because of the shifting benefitcost to states, governors are
going to be forced to makedifficult decisions about
whether to raise taxes, slashstate and local programming or
kick people off SNAP.
Many states may stopparticipating in broad-based

(51:23):
categorical eligibility, whichallows states to raise SNAP
income eligibility limits sothat low-income working families
will have difficulty makingends meet can qualify for food
assistance.
This will also impact access toschool meals for children in
these families.
A SNAP participation allowsstudents to automatically

(51:43):
qualify for free school meals.
As a result of the cuts to SNAPand Medicaid, many students
will no longer automaticallyqualify for free school meals.
Furthermore, the communityeligibility provisions allow
schools where at least 25% ofstudents who receive federal
benefits such as Medicaid orSNAP, they are able to offer

(52:05):
free school meals to allstudents.
As states struggle to addressthese funding gaps with reduced
federal funding, it may beincreasingly difficult for
states to pursue and supportuniversal school lunch programs.
Thank you.
In addition, this will alsoreduce access to participation

(52:26):
in summer EBT, which providesstudents with meals during the
summer months.
In short, the cuts to SNAP willresult in more college students
and K-12 students being deniedfood assistance and going hungry
.
The cuts will also put pressureon state budgets to fill these
budget holes.
The bill also creates apermanent, unlimited tax credit

(52:48):
for individuals donating toscholarship granting
organizations SGOs In stateswhere the governor has approved
an SGO to be created.
The funds can be used for ahost of qualifying expenses,
including tuition for privateand religious schools, but also
for books, curricular and othereducational materials, tutoring,

(53:09):
online expense, educationalresources, dual enrollment fees
and, more effectively, what itdid was create a national
voucher program.
Families must be within 300percent of an area's median
income to qualify, meaning thateven wealthy families living in
high income areas will be ableto apply for that voucher.

(53:31):
The creation of this tax creditto fund vouchers will push more
federal resources to wealthyfamilies and private and
religious schools at the expenseof public schools, which will
have declining enrollment anddeclining funds related to this
provision.
Non-public institutions thatwill be supported by this
national voucher program are notbound by civil rights laws, are

(53:52):
not subject to public reportingrequirements, are not required
to serve low-income students andare not subject to the same
state-level oversight as publicschools.
There are a couple other changesin the law that I think are
important for education.
The bill ended the Grad Plusprogram.
Grad Plus allowed you a borrowup to the total cost of

(54:16):
education.
The limit is now twentythousand five hundred dollars.
So if you attend a school thatcost forty thousand dollars for
tuition only, you can onlyborrow twenty thousand five
hundred dollars and to go tothat school, which means
students will be pushed to theprivate lending market or will
have to opt out of highereducation altogether if they're
planning on going to graduateschool.
The limits for professionalschool are actually $50,000 a

(54:40):
year and for most professionalprograms like law school or
medical school, that is notenough to even cover the cost of
tuition.
The restrictions on federalloan access for graduate
education will result instudents being forced to take
out loans from private banks orsome students will decline to go
to graduate school altogether.
It also creates two standardrepayment plans.

(55:02):
In one plan it's a standardrepayment over 10 years and the
other one I call pay till youdie.
The repayment is over 30 years.
Die, the repayment is over 30years.
Some research has shown that onaverage, if you have student
loan debt, you have until 2028to pick a plan.
The average person's monthlybill for their student loans

(55:27):
will go up $200.
And finally, the bill creates aPell grant, a workforce Pell,
which essentially allows Pellgrants to be.
This is actually the only goodnews in this bill I think it

(55:51):
creates, for on education, itcreates a workforce is actually
may help some workforcerequirements and shorter term
bills or shorter term grantsthat are currently or that are
currently available.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
All right, are we on budget?

Speaker 6 (56:08):
no which one am I?

Speaker 10 (56:11):
man should have stood up.
So we talked a little bit onbudget.
I only have five over Budget.
May I shit a sit up?
So we talked a little bit aboutbudget.
I only have five minutes.
I'm trying to go fast.
I already see you coming, getover there with your orange sign
.
You gave me two minutes.
We're currently at thebeginning of fiscal year 25
budget process.
On May 2nd, the presidentsubmitted his budget

(56:31):
recommendations to House andSenate Appropriations Committee.
There are several areas thatI'm concerned about personally.
The budget zeroes out federalfunding for early childhood
programs to support preschoolreadiness in low-income and
minority communities byeliminating the Preschool
Development Grant $315 million.
Preschools in predominantlyLatino areas often rely on this

(56:51):
funding to maintain affordableaccess and quality instruction,
so this could widen earlylearning gaps, crucial for
educational success.
The administration is alsoproposing deep cuts to
minority-serving institutions'STEM and workforce programs.
Hsis could lose criticalsupport to STEM and technical
education, affecting pipelinedevelopment and into STEM

(57:13):
careers for Latino students,which are most often higher
paying careers.
Finally, the budget makesacross the board reductions to
the Department of Education,especially grants for low income
students, after school andsummer learning programs.
We are likely to see fewerresources for tutoring, test
prep, college readiness andfinancial aid.

(57:33):
Of equal concern has been theadministration's use of
impoundment to withhold fundsthat have been appropriated by
Congress.
Currently, the administrationis withholding over four billion
dollars to schools.
There's a searchable tool andin my notes I have a link to it
where you can actually searchyour district to see how much is
being withheld from your school.
So share my note.

(57:54):
This impoundment will affectevery state in the country.
The average school districtwill lose almost a quarter of a
million dollars in funding.
Districts serving high povertystudent populations will lose
over five times as much infunding.
I'm not paying attention to you, do it?
Keep going?
Keep going.
We're pupil.
I'm going to pay attention.

(58:15):
I'm going to try and finish up.
So the average school districtenrolling majority students of
color will see 50% bigger cutsthan the average majority white
school district.
The areas being impacted I'llquickly go over Title I-C, which
funds services for studentsfrom families whose jobs have
jobs in fisheries, foodprocessing and other transient

(58:37):
industries $375 million.
Title II-A, which fundsprofessional development for
teachers.
Title III-A, which fundsservices for English learners.
Title IV-A, which providesfunding for academic enrichment
and student support.
Adult Basic Grants grants whichfunds literacy and general
instruction and adult integratedEnglish literacy and civic

(58:58):
education grants, which fundsservices for adult students.
My final slide is legalchallenges.
Am I on the final slide?
Yes, all right, cool.
We have witnessed many of theadministration policy decisions
end up in the courts.
As was said previously,Currently the administration is
involved in 322 active cases,including 11 cases from the

(59:20):
Trump administration challengingstate or local laws.
There are three cases that weare watching and one that has
already been decided that willhave significant impacts.
We'll start with the cases thathas been decided.
The Supreme Court recentlyallowed the Trump administration
to lay off over 1,400 EducationDepartment staff and freeze 4
billion in federal k-12 grants.
24 states plus DC have suedarguing Congress, which is

(59:45):
actually true.
Not the president controlsspending.
Latino students who rely onEnglish learner, migrant and
after-school programs aredirectly threatened.
Voto Latino warns that over 18million Latino students could
lose vital protection.
Sffa versus Tennessee.
Sffa in Tennessee versus theDepartment of Education was

(01:00:08):
filed by the Tennessee AG andStudents for Fair Admission, the
same group behind the Harvardcase.
The lawsuit claims federal HSIfunding Hispanic Serving
Institution funding isunconstitutional, claiming
racial favoritism.
These grants support sciencelabs, tutoring and scholarships

(01:00:28):
at colleges where at least 25%of students are Hispanic.
Cal State Dominguez Hills is anHSI.
Went there mainly.
These schools are in California, texas and Florida if halted
Latino enrollment and supportservices at HSIs, which face
severe setbacks or be eliminated.
The second case is the USDepartment of Education.

(01:00:50):
The US Department of Justicehas filed against Kentucky,
minnesota and Texas to blocktheir laws that grant in-state
rates to non-citizens, primarilybenefiting undocumented
students who grew up andgraduated from high schools in
the state.
Yeah, so we know.
For example, in Texas,undocumented students, many of

(01:01:11):
them Latino Dreamers, facetuition rates that can double,
rising from $11,800 to up to$48,000 annually at public
universities In Texas.
Over 57,000 students who reliedon in-state resident tuition
rates now risk halting theirstudies or choosing less
rigorous institutions due tocost.
The final case that we'rewatching is California versus US

(01:01:34):
Department of Education.
Eight states, includingCalifornia, illinois and New
York, sued the Department ofEducation to stop the Trump
administration from terminatingnearly $600 million in federal
grants designed to supportteacher diversity, equity and
inclusion efforts, specificallytargeting recruitment for
hard-to-staff regions andunderserved communities.

(01:01:54):
Without these grants in tact,schools will lose funding used
to hire and retain bilingual andculturally competent teachers
who support Latino studentsuccess.
We should also be watching oneother thing.
It's not a court case yet, butit's going to come.
We should be watchingchallenges supplier versus joe,

(01:02:15):
which provides access to k-12education for undocumented
students.
This year there were threebills in tennessee that were
introduced that didn't make itto the governor, but we're
trying to take away access tok-12 education for undocumented
students or require that theypay the cost of education that
the state was incurring becauseof these students, ignoring the

(01:02:38):
fact that many undocumentedindividuals pay state taxes as
well.
We should expect thesechallenges to continue and I
expect that in Texas who's herefrom Texas we'll probably see
challenges to Plyler in the next, in the next legislative
session.
I think this is my last slide.
I know that I shared a lot ofinformation with you and not

(01:03:01):
much of it's good.
I share my talking points soyou can keep watch on these
policies and you can.
There are some links in there Ithink will be helpful.
The contacts the currentcontacts demand context, demand
States, community and districtsto make difficult decisions
around funding.
I hope that your communitieswill make this decisions that
support Latino students.

Speaker 2 (01:03:22):
Thank you, thank you, dale killer.
I know you did go over, butthere was a lot of stuff there,
so I probably got an F on mymoderating job.
I'm keeping you on time, sothat's okay.
There's a lot of stuff.

(01:03:44):
And his slide presentation.
His notes will be available onthe app.
So we're going to do a coupleof questions, then we're going
to bring it out to all of you.
I'm sure you all have a lot ofquestions.
The first is for Mr Cavazos howcan elected officials work with
their chambers of commerce tomitigate the impact of proposed

(01:04:04):
federal cuts to programs andadvocate for their constituents
and businesses?

Speaker 4 (01:04:19):
During COVID our local Hispanic chambers became
resource centers, emergencyrooms for small businesses in
their communities, and that wasa place to connect with elected
officials If you didn't know whorepresented you.
That was a place to connect forfunding opportunities.
It was also for getting toolsand resources to be always
innovative.
I'm a big believer that if werely on federal government for

(01:04:41):
funding of programs, we're notbeing entrepreneurial, and we
we've seen what happens when ahundred percent of your funding
is tied to the federalgovernment, during good times or
bad, and so I believe we needto be resourceful.
We need to be innovative,entrepreneurial.

(01:05:02):
Local chambers can really helpcome up with creative ideas, to
be champions and work with localcorporations and other
governmental entities.
Sometimes your city governmentand your county government are
better partners for you becausethey understand the local
environment than the federalgovernment.

(01:05:23):
The last thing I would say thepaperwork in dealing with the
federal government on grants isreally a nightmare.
I would not recommend it.
We've done a few grants, butthat's not really something that
we're seeking to do.
So that would be my advice andand also wanted, with your

(01:05:44):
permission, mr Councilmember,introduce.
I only drink Diet Coke and TopoChico, and I want to thank my
friends from Coca-Cola, ish andAda.
Let's give them a round ofapplause that is an ad because
they're sponsoring our Atlantaconference and so thank you all
so much for what you all do forthe Latino community for more

(01:06:06):
than 50 years.
You always do more than 50years, sorry, thank you, thank
you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:12):
Thank you, mr Cavazos .
This is for Ms Moreno.
In this time, it is even moreimportant for state and local
elected officials to communicatewith their members of Congress
and federal agencies.
What best practices can youprovide to elected officials in
the audience to effectivelyadvocate for their communities
at the federal level?

Speaker 8 (01:06:32):
Thank you, Councilman .
I have kind of two points here.
The first one is make sure thatyou're reaching out to your
federal elected representativeand make sure that you're
reaching out regularly.
Don't just reach out when youhave something that you need
help with or you're requestingtheir help.
You should be reaching out tothem when you have a city
council.
If you're doing a city fair,you should be reaching out to

(01:06:53):
them.
When you have a city council,If you're doing a city fair, you
should be reaching out to them.
If you're doing a school bookfair, just keep them updated on
what's happening.
Figure out their priorities andhow that works with you so you
work together as a partnership.
I'll also say that figuring outhow to tell the story of your
community is so important.
It's the numbers we love data,but it's also the anecdotes.

(01:07:13):
They know your community.
So important it's the numberswe love data, but it's also the
anecdotes.
They know your community,they're from your community If
you're telling them.
When we were trying to save taxexempt bonds, we were talking
about roads that they use everysingle day and their staff uses
every single day.
We were talking about theschools that were built that
their kids were educated in.
It's so important for them toget the full picture and hear

(01:07:34):
directly from you all.
As much as they love talking tome, they much prefer to talk to
you guys, and reaching out isimportant, and I'll also say
that I recommend joiningwhatever association you have in
DC.
So if you're a city, theNational League of Cities.
If you're a county, theNational Association of Counties
.
These associations exist in DCto serve you back home.

(01:07:56):
We have access to all thefederal agencies.
We have access to all thefederal representatives and if
you need help contacting anagency because your grant is on
pause and you don't know why, ifyou need help accessing the
White House because you were ona sanctuary city list and you
didn't know why or what to do,now reach out to your

(01:08:16):
association.
That's what we exist for andI'll also say our DC conferences
always have all the federalagencies there.
So I recommend, if you can, youcome and you talk to those
agencies face-to-face when youhave the opportunity.

Speaker 2 (01:08:30):
Thank you, ms Modano, and I can't emphasize that
enough.
At the last conference Iactually got to meet with the
director of the Administration'sIntergovernmental Affairs and
we had a grant that was frozen$70 million between three cities
and I said, oh, I have a phonenumber, so I called her, and I

(01:08:52):
called her, and I called her andwe got it frozen, so it helps.
Okay, dr Del Pilar, underfederal proposals, will there be
any impact on apprenticeshipprograms or vocational schools?

Speaker 10 (01:09:10):
I think that this is an area of opportunity.
I think there's a lot ofinterest in alternative pathways
that don't involve highereducation or traditional
education.
I will say I think there'll besignificant investments in CTE,
but we should not offer thosepathways at the expense of
alternative pathways.
We shouldn't be limiting ourstudents to CTE if they are

(01:09:31):
interested in pursuing anassociate or a bachelor's degree
.
We know that over a longerperiod of time, those jobs are
less likely to offer benefits,especially medical benefits and
retirement benefits.
I'll issue a caution aroundapprenticeship programs, because
I think that they're fool'sgold, because we can't do them
at scale.
So I'll give you an example myson actually wanted to apply or

(01:09:53):
I was trying to help him applyto an apprenticeship program in
the state of Maryland for forauto mechanics.
I have a PhD and we could notfigure out how to navigate the
system and we finally gotthrough into the apprenticeship
program.
They require two years ofexperience.
If he had two years ofexperience, if you have two

(01:10:14):
years of experience, why would Ineed an apprenticeship?
Right?
And so I will say because thereare so such limited
opportunities available inapprenticeships.
They're becoming more selective, so it's like fewer
opportunities, more strictrequirements in terms of getting
into those apprenticeshipprograms.

Speaker 3 (01:10:30):
So we're going to do apprenticeship programs.
We have to do them at scale.

Speaker 10 (01:10:32):
We we can't offer limited opportunities that
require that people haveexperience in order to get them.
Thank you, thank you.
I like Diet Coke too?

Speaker 2 (01:10:44):
Also, given the the student fair admissions lawsuit,
is there fear that historicallyblack colleges and universities
may also be targeted?

Speaker 10 (01:10:52):
I think the mission-based institutions will
be okay.
So I think, like HBCUs andtribal colleges, are more than
likely not going to besignificantly impacted.
I think the enrollment basedones, like HSIs, there are like
five different predominantlyblack institutions institutions.

(01:11:13):
Those institutions are going tobe targeted in lawsuits by this
administration and by certaincertain southern states, I'm sad
to say, and so we are likely tosee challenges to enrollment
base but not likely gonna seechallenges to to mission based
institutions In the next fouryears.

Speaker 2 (01:11:36):
Okay, thank you.
Let's go to questions now.
Where's Orlando?
Okay, right here in the back,right in the back, over there.

Speaker 9 (01:11:51):
We're navigating back here as best as we can.

Speaker 7 (01:11:54):
Well, it's standing room only so.

Speaker 9 (01:11:56):
So friendly reminder name and jurisdiction before you
ask your question.

Speaker 11 (01:12:02):
Hello, good morning, luis Espinoza, from Desert
Recreation District in SouthernCalifornia, coachella Valley,
and my question is directed tothe doctor.
You had mentioned a scale back.
You had mentioned a scale backin federal grants, education

(01:12:29):
grants, pell grants, etc.
With a shift, potential shifttowards the private sector, as
we know currently subsidizedloans, federal grants etc.
Are not dischargeable inbankruptcy court.
Do you see that potential for ashift in the landscape to the

(01:12:51):
private sector, where now theydo become dischargeable in
bankruptcy court, unless ofcourse you know there's an EO
that says you can't?

Speaker 10 (01:13:01):
There was a huge private lending market before
the Obama administration, whichwas largely predatory.
We know that, like low income,communities and communities of
color are less likely to getaccess to credit, so they were
less likely to get access toloans that paid for education.
What this bill effectively doesis re-establish the private

(01:13:24):
lending market instead of therebeing greater reliance on the
federal government to help fundthose loans, and the reason that
we did that was because of thepredatory nature of banks and
the terms that were being putonto those loans.
I think that there is gonnathere are gonna be protections
against against bankruptcy forany type of education loans, the

(01:13:46):
same way they currently areprotected and in statute.
So I I don't believe that it'sgonna be easier to discharge
your loans through.
I didn't say one other thingAll of these changes also make
public service loan forgivenessmore difficult to access, and so
there's actually they've beentrying to limit access to public

(01:14:07):
service loan forgiveness, soyou're not only not going to be
able to discharge private loans,but there also is going to be
less access to public serviceloan forgiveness, because if you
get on the payment plan that'sthe pay till you die the 30
years you're actually noteligible for public service loan
forgiveness.
You have to be in anincome-based repayment plan in
order to qualify, and thatstandard plan ends after 10

(01:14:30):
years, and so there's likeyou're actually not're actually
not gonna basically ended publicservice loan forgiveness with
this plan okay, thank you as afinal going okay, okay, I called
zero two okay any otherquestions?

Speaker 2 (01:14:49):
I have a question back here, okay other questions.

Speaker 12 (01:14:54):
I have a question back here.
Okay, gabriel Buena, trustee atthe Los Angeles Community
College District.
I have a question.
So, in terms of the bigbeautiful bill talked about
reaching out to congresspeople,but if some of our own Latino
elected officials voted for thisbill, how are they navigating
the mess that they made and howdo we communicate with them?

Speaker 10 (01:15:15):
They don't have to navigate yet because a lot of
the provisions don't go intoeffect until 2027, 2028.
And so people won't feel theimpact of a lot of these things
unless you're rich immediately.
Right, the challenge is gonnabe in two years.
I would continue to warn folkslike that hey, this is coming
and I would you know.
I think that all you know, allpolitics are local.

(01:15:38):
We try to set up, have folksset up meetings when your local
officials were on break.
They're on recess, right, andso I would go to their offices
and schedule meetings.
You know there are a lot ofofficials who voted in favor of
this bill who would not takemeetings with anyone that was
outside of their legislativedistrict, and so when we would

(01:15:59):
try, when they were in DC and wewould try to meet with them,
they would say are you in ourdistrict?
And when we said no, they wouldsay okay, we're not taking that
meeting.
So you'll have access to folksthat we may not have access to.
A lot of organizations willprovide like talking points or
like setting up a meeting andwhat you should do in these
meetings.
I think you should put pressureon those elected officials and

(01:16:20):
let folks know how they voted,if they voted against their own
community's best interest, andthen as a as a voter, you should
know that, and so I do thinkthat, like make going making
meetings when they're on recess,making it uncomfortable for
them, putting pressure on themas electives is going to be
important.

Speaker 12 (01:16:40):
Just as a follow-up question, some of them,
specifically in media, mentionedthat they knew that this bill
was going to cause, andsometimes they'll come to
conferences like this and callfor Latino unity, but then are
destroying literally millions ofour people's lives.
Do we have a list of who thoseLatino elected officials who
voted?

Speaker 10 (01:17:00):
for this bill.
Yes, there's roll call vote.
You know who voted.
I get that.

Speaker 12 (01:17:05):
Is there an actual bill that's easy to get, without
everyone doing the researchthat we can easily acquire, so
we can actually put pressure?

Speaker 8 (01:17:12):
I would say it was a Republican-led bill.
It received almost every singleRepublican legislature, just
given the short margin in theHouse.
So that would be the best wayto go about it.

Speaker 3 (01:17:22):
No.

Speaker 8 (01:17:22):
Democrats voted for the bill and I think they lost
two or three senators none fromCalifornia, obviously no one and
maybe two or three Housemembers.
So it kind of lucks on yourside if you're looking at just
third party designation.
I would also say just quickly Ijust want to add on all of your

(01:17:43):
members are in district inAugust.
They have about one more weekthat they're working before they
take four or five weeks off togo back home.
That is an absolutely amazingtime to schedule a meeting with
your member of.
Congress with their staff tohave a conversation, and I think
they're talking about doing asecond reconciliation bill this
year.
It is very important for themto hear from you about what you

(01:18:05):
agreed with in this bill andwhat you don't agree with in
this bill.
So when they vote again thisyear, if they do so, they have
just a little bit more communityinput Because, as he said, as
much as they love to talk to us,it really is you all that
matter so much in their district.

Speaker 2 (01:18:21):
Yeah, and try to give them real life examples.
If something is in yourcommunity that's happening
because of a certain bill notjust this one, but others when
you tell them this is what'shappening in your district're
gonna listen more, they're gonnapay more attention any other

(01:18:53):
questions, so two questions.

Speaker 5 (01:18:55):
I mean we talked about what happened in Minnesota
.
My office has been shot at interms of civility and lack
thereof.
This is violence that's beingperpetrated and it's not.

(01:19:17):
I mean, if January 6 and recentevents are any indication, and
the courts abdicating power,congress allowing that, I I mean
I don't know if it's just me,but I if there's not impeachment
in the next midterm elections,I'm not so sure that we're going
to have a different presidentcome 2030.

(01:19:40):
Am I the only one who's feelingthis way?
No, I mean.
What more can I mean if thisorganization isn't leading the
charge?
I guess what?
What can we do like when we dothere?

Speaker 10 (01:20:00):
are.
I would say there's like asignificant thank you.
There's a significant number oforganizations that are offering
resistance at the federal level, but we also need resistance at
the state level, and so often Iused to be an appointee.
I worked for three governors inPennsylvania and as an
appointee I wouldn't payattention to federal things

(01:20:21):
until they became law and I hadto implement them.
We need people to be payingattention now, before it becomes
law, and so we need to beoffering resistance.
I'll give an example of whatcould be done North Carolina.

(01:20:45):
Who's the governor from NorthCarolina?
The senator, senator.
So I met with 500 advocates inNorth Carolina and I said told
them what was in this bill.
Him during recess, they wroteletters to him and he was a no
vote on the reconciliationpackage, the one big, beautiful
bill.
And so I think that we have tocreate pressure on elected
officials so that they vote nowhen these packages, these bills
, what they're trying to advanceare not.

(01:21:09):
They don't benefit thecommunity.
I think we can get more no's ifthere is more advocacy.
I'll I will say the presidentdoes put significant pressure on
, especially folks in his caucusto vote the way that he wants
them to vote.
But I do think, like publicofficials as many as you know
you're like, like you serve thecommunity that voted you in the

(01:21:30):
office, and so if we create thatkind of pressure, I think we
can get more no's on some ofthese packages and offer
resistance.
But we need people to payattention, not just when the
bill impacts you, but before itever gets to that point and
becomes law.

Speaker 2 (01:21:45):
Anybody else want to take that question?

Speaker 7 (01:21:49):
I'll take it.

Speaker 10 (01:21:51):
I hope the courts stand up.

Speaker 2 (01:21:53):
Before I.
I hope the courts stand upBefore Adam.
Could you give me?
Yeah, it's going to be him.
Sorry, where's the question?
Yeah, I'm just going to sayreal quick this civil discourse
has been going up, up, up and upsince right before COVID.
Covid kind of made things worse.
I remember one time people camebanging on my door, 930 at

(01:22:18):
night, and I had my daughter, mytwo nephews, with me.
As soon as I opened the door mygun was holstered right here
and they kind of backed off.
But I shouldn't have even had todo that not at my own home at
930 at night.
So this is summer 2020.
So it's gotten worse since then, actually so one of the things.
Talk to everybody in here, talkto you.

(01:22:40):
This is a one big therapysession here.
Whatever I come, these days weget together, we may have a
couple drinks or whatever, butthat's when we the stories start
coming up and their strengthand camaraderie here.
So I I would really lean on thepeople all around, all in this
room.
Okay, go ahead.

Speaker 6 (01:22:57):
Thank you so much.
Hello everybody.
My name is javez.
I'm the mayor of the city ofbell gardens out in los angeles.
Briefly, I appreciate thisdiscussion, um and and thank you
, it's been very educational.
I'm thankful that Mr Ramirez DrI mean Mr Ramiro Cavazos for

(01:23:18):
being here from the US HispanicChamber of Commerce and
obviously we know PresidentTrump is very supportive of
business and corporations, etc.
You know particularly to thepoint that you mentioned of ice
raids that have been happeningall over LA and California.
You know particularly in yourposition, being from the Chamber
of Commerce.
We've seen a lot of these raidsoccur in some of the corporate

(01:23:41):
members of the Chamber ofCommerce, being Home Depot and
Lowe's.
I'm curious to know, in yourposition or in your capacity,
what's been done to hold thesemembers accountable and sort of
allowing this to happen in theirparking lots, where they're
chasing after communities thatare Latinos being targeted in
some cases, where managers areactively calling immigration to
pick up folks.
And I think it's a greatopportunity for you to, for you

(01:24:03):
and your organization, all thesecorporate members like Lowe's
and Home Depot accountable afterthe attacks on the community.

Speaker 4 (01:24:12):
Thank you, thank you for your leadership.
We work with the AmericanBusiness Immigration Council,
avec.
That's a bipartisanorganization.
We work with the AmericanImmigration Council to share
information on how thesebusinesses can stop someone from
illegally coming into theirbusiness.
What was happening early on ispeople were unprepared.

(01:24:34):
There is, they were justopening the door and letting
people in and once you give themaccess, you know they come in
with no warrant and again, nodue process, no rule of law.
All of those constitutionalrights have been broken In the
last couple of weeks.
Our businesses that we'vetalked to, we've shared the

(01:24:55):
information on how to reallyjust lock your door.
Don't let anybody in.
You don't answer the door.
Keep working.
A lot of our businesses do havefencing and perimeter
enclosures for their parking,for their employees' parking and
their protection.
You know we're a violent society, the United States.

(01:25:17):
There's no question that wekill more people than we should
compared to anybody else in anyother country.
I mean, I still remember goingto the state capitol and having
to take my wallet and my cellphone out to just get through
the x-ray machine.
Meanwhile some yahoo, some guywith a gun open carry would just

(01:25:39):
be waved through, you know.
So there's more security for acivilian than than someone that
actually has a weapon going intotext.
You know, meet with elected, sowe have to run for office.
Thank you for being there.
We need to vote our convictionsas a community.

(01:26:01):
I shared the numbers earlier ofhow our Latino community voted.
We did this to ourselves.
At the end of the day,hopefully some folks learned a
lesson.
Hopefully some folks learned alesson.
And sometimes you have to tripand fall to get yourself back up
and figure out that less than1% Latino elected officials

(01:26:24):
based on a population of 20% isnot going to cut it.
So we need people like you andothers to run for office.
We need people to vote and votefor the issues that matter for
our communities.
We have talked to our smallbusinesses because this is bad
for business.
Ice rates are bad for business.
Our colleague, maria Salinaswe're very proud of her in the

(01:26:45):
LA area chamber.
She has spoken publicly andshe's one of the members of our
association and California hasmore than 70 Latino standards.
It's number one when youconsider our network of 300.
So I agree we need to do more.
We're not doing enough.
Everybody's still reacting tothe shock and awe of everything

(01:27:06):
that's happening, but we'regoing to be strategic in picking
our spots, sharing thatinformation.
At the end of the day, Ibelieve in the US Constitution
and I believe that enforcementand the rule of law will be
corrected.
Hopefully the courts will holdup.
You know, against some of theseexecutive orders that the

(01:27:28):
doctor had mentioned, that youknow are not seeing the light of
day, so we just need to keepfighting.
Had mentioned that you know arenot seeing the light of day, so
we just need to keep fighting.
My dad had a saying el que nohabla, dios no lo oye.
So we're going to have toreally just be vocal and speak
our mind, and thank you for yourleadership.

Speaker 2 (01:27:42):
Okay, thank you, we're running short of time, so,
adam.

Speaker 13 (01:27:45):
Thank you, honey.
I'm Adam Bezaldua of City ofDallas.
I also sit on the board ofNational League of Cities and I
say this because I havefrustration.
I think frustration that I'veheard from a lot of people here
and I came here and it is veryinformative.
Thank you all for theinformation, but I need more
than information.
I need the organizations likethese that I am proud to be a

(01:28:05):
part of, including NationalLeague of Cities, to step up and
do something.
We're not doing anything.
I can't just keep coming tosessions and hearing about what
the state is.
What is our plan of action?
What is our course of actionwith these organizations?

Speaker 3 (01:28:19):
When are?

Speaker 13 (01:28:19):
we going to stop being complicit and complacent,
because silence right now is notworking.
We're not meeting the moment,we're allowing for this to
happen and we continue to harpon this non-partisanship.
Quite frankly, that's BS.
This isn't about partisanship.
We're talking about ICEs, we'retalking about federal funding
that impacts every community andwe have some of the most

(01:28:40):
vulnerable.
We continue to also harp on thefact that we are few, far in
between, in numbers here aselected, as Latino elected
officials across the country.
So stop just telling us what'shappening.
I think that we all know what'shappening.
That's what we're here.
What is the plan of action?
How are we as an organizationgoing to stand up?
How are we going to be givenresources for the resistance

(01:29:01):
that we keep hearing needs tohappen, because showing up in
these conference rooms andhearing the state of affairs
doesn't help us go back home andfight for our communities in
the way that it needs to be.
This moment needs to be met.
We have officials at everylevel of government and these
delegations that we're sittinghere playing scared because we
want to worry about our fundinglevels with organizations like

(01:29:24):
Naleo or National League ofCities, because we're appeasing
both sides of the aisle andright now, our community is on
fire.
How do we act?
Stop giving us just informationso, thank you, adam.

Speaker 2 (01:29:44):
And you know, being here is a form of resistance too
, because when we come over herewe're growing our network.
So when we go back home it'snot just us speaking up, it's I
could go, I can uh hook up withhorchit, you know, I could hook
up with with you over there.
I could, I can call uh dr, uhdalpillar, or I could reach out.

(01:30:08):
We, we, as we grow our network,as we come, these things, we
are going back with more numbersbehind us.
So yes, I understand it isfrustrating because NLC is
nonpartisan.
We're not, we're not supposedto get pick sides on this thing.
We can do certain advocacythings, but you know and NLEo's

(01:30:32):
in the same boat, but we asindividuals, the nature of us
being elected, we are political,what's?

Speaker 5 (01:30:40):
partisan about cutting Medicare.
Like I mean yeah, like I meanthat shouldn't be partisan, can?

Speaker 10 (01:30:47):
I say really quick, we do produce Advocates Guide
what you can do.
We produce like sample op-eds.
We are preparing a document nowwhat state and local actions
could be done to try and countersome of the things that were in
this bill.
And so I will say, as anorganization, we do produce
resources for advocates, folkson the ground, and then
recommendations for states andlocal advocates or states in

(01:31:09):
terms of legal responses orlegislative responses to what's
happening in terms of legalresponses or um, or legislative
responses to what's happening,um, in terms of, uh, this bill
and the federal kind ofdisinvestment and I'll also just
say I would encourage you totalk to like leadership at nlc
because I think they need tohear from folks about what
membership needs and they onlydo that if they hear directly

(01:31:32):
from you.

Speaker 8 (01:31:32):
So I, if you're a member of nlc, email the ceo
email, the president, don't tellthem.
I told you to do that.
The closed session, but Iencourage you to do that,
because that's how the needlemoves and I understand I I'm not
pointing any fingers but whenwe're coming back and fighting
and resisting against someegregious policies, things that

(01:31:56):
are ignoring our Constitutionand due process.

Speaker 13 (01:31:59):
we're constantly playing catch-up and we're being
reactionary, but y'all aresetting a tone as an
organization If we're going tobe scared to speak up for what
is right because of fundingsources then, what are?
Us, as local elected officials,supposed to do when we're faced
with the same decisions?

Speaker 2 (01:32:16):
okay, uh, we're running short on time.
We only have four minutes left.

Speaker 9 (01:32:20):
Okay, we are okay great okay, uh, my name is
josefina canchola.
I'm a trustee with whittierunion high school district in
california and, fyi, my dad usedto work for the coca-cola food
division.
So I'm kind of actuallypiggybacking on the last comment
.
What is really happening in theUnited States right now is the
elimination of democracy, so itshould be concerning to both

(01:32:44):
Republicans and to Democrats.
And the one thing that Ihaven't heard yet is in terms of
impeachment.
Look at how much damage hasalready been made in the last
six months.
I don't want to wait four yearsto see what's going to happen
with this nation.
I don't want to wait four years.
Where I live in the city ofSanta Fe Springs, california,

(01:33:06):
where the La Migra got in there,took all these people from the
local squat meet.
They parked in our, you know,in our school district.
We like put them out, but youknow our community is afraid.
They're exhausted, they'rehiding.
We're not in Germany, in the,you know, in the Second World

(01:33:28):
War, and we are like in a warsituation in the united states
of america.
That's supposed to be a freecountry.
So I think that part of ourconversation during this next
few days should be aboutimpeachment.

Speaker 10 (01:33:43):
We need to get him out of the white house, thank
you so republicans control thehouse and the senate, like there
isn't going to be animpeachment bill introduced
unless something drastic happensat the midterm elections, and
so I do.
Going to be an impeachment billintroduced unless something
drastic happens at the midtermelections, and so I do want to
be realistic.
Yeah, you should be.
You need to be that withRepublicans controlling the
House and the Senate, there willnot be an impeachment bill

(01:34:03):
introduced.

Speaker 2 (01:34:04):
And okay, one last one.

Speaker 10 (01:34:07):
This is very quick.
Everyone should actuallydownload something called Ice
Block.

Speaker 2 (01:34:11):
Ice Block is basically just for those of you
that are in places that havethat, where you might see ice in
some corner, this is just avery simple thing that says hey,
I am here and ice is here justas a reporting thing, so that
when people download it theyknow where ice is.
So this is something I can getall around the country.
Just a map app, Ice Block.
Just wanted to suggest it,Linda, real quick please good

(01:34:39):
afternoon.

Speaker 7 (01:34:40):
I'm Linda Pritchett, mayor Pro Tem from the city of
South Fulton.
I'm first generation CubanAmerican.
My city is 94 percent AfricanAmerican and most people, when
they see me, they think I'mAfrican American.
I think that the part of theconversation that we're really
missing is with the civil rightsmovement.
The African Americans did notdo that by themselves.

(01:35:03):
They had to get white peopleand other people on board.
What people say to me, notknowing who I am, is this ain't
our fight.
They got to figure that outright for us Latino people.
They don't understand what ourpeople came here for or what
they're running for right.
So we have to figure out amessage to get African Americans

(01:35:28):
and other minorities on board.
Because, see, the thing is,when people talk about
immigrants, we're the onescleaning the toilet, we're the
ones cooking the food, we're theones on the roof, we're the
ones doing all this stuff.
So then, when you startsnatching people, don't look at
me.
I'm not picking the fruit, I'mnot saying it's not honorable,

(01:35:50):
but the African Americans haveto understand you were the
slaves here first.
They're putting you back in aposition where you're going to
have to do it, you know.
So we have to have.
We have to figure out aconversation to get other races
and other ethnic groups involved, to make them understand.
You may feel like this is onlyour fight, but we really have to

(01:36:13):
get together because it'sreally a whole us against a very
narrow them with this idea ofwhite supremacy that has really
exploded at this point.
And that's it.
I yield.

Speaker 3 (01:36:36):
Thank you, councilmember Patino, lydia
Hernandez.
I'm both.
I'm a school board member,phoenix, arizona, of 20 years
and I'm also staterepresentative.
But I've seen it all withimmigration, with the last
marches back in 06 07 comingforward.
But I think we've got to, and Ithink you mentioned Dante.

(01:36:56):
This is a great opportunity forus to request from Naleo it's a
nonprofit organization.
At least that arm that we'rehere with is not able to engage
at that level, but we're able torequest such workshops to take
place so that we have electedofficials that have gone through
this to give us the bestpractices and shared scenarios.
We in Arizona have more Latinosthan we ever have before.

(01:37:18):
We're gonna be competing withTexas here, but we're both
combined.
We're both Democrat andRepublicans and Republicans
leading our leadership.
So we've got to be as much aswe wanna protest.
I'm all for the protest, Iorganize massive marches, but at
the same time we also have towork with each other because,
you know, until we educate, wehave to continue to educate so

(01:37:42):
we can address those issuestogether.
Obviously, we're just going to,you know.
There's a way, Education isliterally being gutted.

Speaker 2 (01:37:50):
Okay let's be respectful.
I know this was a question.

Speaker 3 (01:37:54):
It's further gutted like they're okay, let's be
respectful.
I know this restoration, butfurther, you know we need to be
respectful to each other.
We need to have furtherconversation about what that
looks like.

Speaker 2 (01:37:57):
Okay thank you, you know we're going on, but I just
want to say, uh, you hadmentioned about medicaid.
I I mentioned also that earlierthat I'm on the board of
directors of a community healthcenter.
There is a group because aboutthe national association of
Community Health Centers.
They that is what they do.
So it is in their charter tofight back to save Medicaid

(01:38:20):
dollars.
So I would look at theirwebsite, see what the each state
has its own chapter and seewhat you could do there to
increase their advocacy to savethe Medicaid dollars.
And I just I'm putting that outthere because I know that
firsthand.
But we're ready after 12,everybody.
We probably could stay hereanother 30, 40 minutes.

(01:38:41):
Did you need a second?
Just a couple of.
Okay, real quick.
Thank you everybody.

Speaker 9 (01:38:45):
Thank you everyone, and thank you Councilmember
Patino and the speakers fortaking time to be here with us.
Please give them a round ofapplause.
Thank you, munch.

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