The Louie Minor Show
Texas politics from Killeen to Belton to Austin and beyond. Join the conservation with Bell County Commissioner Pct 4 Louie Minor as we dive deep into local government. Interviews with community leaders and the public.
The Louie Minor Show
Democracy Under Pressure: Federal Policies and Local Impact
The political landscape is shifting dramatically at the federal level, with profound implications for Latino communities and local governments nationwide. In this revealing episode, Bell County Commissioner Louie Minor takes us inside a pivotal session from the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) conference where experts dissect recent federal policy changes affecting everything from healthcare to education to immigration.
Through candid presentations from the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, National League of Cities, and education policy experts, we witness a sobering assessment of what's at stake. The discussion lays bare how budget reconciliation cuts to Medicaid and SNAP will ripple through state budgets to impact local services, how executive orders eliminating diversity initiatives affect Latino students, and how immigration enforcement tactics are disrupting communities and businesses.
What makes this episode particularly valuable is the raw, unfiltered audience discussion that follows. Latino elected officials from across the country voice frustration about lack of coordinated resistance, share strategies for advocacy, and grapple with how to protect their communities from policies they view as harmful. The tension is palpable as participants debate whether traditional non-partisan approaches are adequate in today's political climate.
Beyond policy analysis, this episode offers a window into the Latino political experience in America today. As one speaker notes, "We are too many, we are unstoppable" - highlighting the growing demographic and economic power of Latino communities despite current challenges. By sharing this session in its entirety, Commissioner Minor provides a rare opportunity to understand both the mechanics of federal policy and the human response from those tasked with implementing it.
Have you considered how federal policy changes might be affecting your local community? Join the conversation by sharing your thoughts and questions about these critical issues facing our democracy.
Welcome to the Louie Miner Show. I'm your host, bell County Commissioner, louie Miner. Today is July 26, 2025. We are back from NLEO, national Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. So I was in Atlanta, georgia, for a week and later on, after I talk about the agenda, I plan on playing in its entirety one of the sessions that I attended, that. I think you'll understand why I go and the benefits that we get out of it. So let's talk about our agenda real quick For Monday, july 28th, my birthday. I'll be turning 46 years old, or young, however you want to describe it, but yes, I'll be spending my birthday doing the people's work. So anyways, starting at 9 o'clock, falk County Commissioner's Court, we have the regular meeting of the Commissioner's Court. First item is the invocation, then we have Pledge of Allegiance, next item is Consent Agenda. Consider the approval of the minutes of the prior meeting of the Commissioner's Court. Personnel budget amendments, claims, accounts payable, payroll, restitution, jury pay and we have Departmental Submissions. Consider an approval resolution authorizing the submission of an FY 2026-27 solid waste grant program application in the amount of $20,000 with a funding match requirement of $0 for the Bell County Tire Event Center. The Central Texas Council of Governments designating Bell County judge as the authorized official for the grant. Then consider author or consider designating of locations as polling places pursuant to section 43.002 of the Texas election code for the November 4th 2025 election. Then we have consider authorizing the transfer of one 2024 Ford Transit van VIN number 1FTBW1XGARKB24700 from the Bell County Sheriff's Office to the Technology Service Department. Then we have consider the appointment of election judges pursuant to section 32.001 of the Texas Election Code.
Speaker 1:Let's see Next. Item E consider authorizing the county judge to enter into an interlocal cooperation agreement by and between Bell County, central County Services and the City of Killeen for the utilization of the Bell County Diversion Center. Item F consider authorizing the county judge to enter into a service agreement between Bell County and RightSite emergency medical provider that can be offered to 911 callers and non-emergency medical needs that do not require an emergency response by EMS or transport to an ER facility. The terms of this agreement are for two years at no cost to the county to the county. Item G consider ratifying the purchase of eight pre-built 2025 police package Ford Interceptors from Sowell Ford Inc. Through the buy board contract number 724-23, for a total cost of $540,617, funded through the FY24 COPS Technology and Equipment Program Invitational Solicitation Grant.
Speaker 1:Next item consider the exemption from competitive requirements for certain purchases for independent audits for FY25 in accordance with local government code 262.024A4 and authorize the county judge to enter into the following professional services agreement the audit engagement letter with Rockway, gershbach Franklin and Niemeyer, pc for Bell County Independent Audit for Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2025 for Amount Not to Exceed $147,500 plus out-of-pocket cost expenses. The Audit Engagement Letter with Brockway, gershbach Franklin and Niemeyer PC for Bell County Juvenile Probation Department independent audit for fiscal year ending in August 31st 2025 for amount not to exceed $24,000. And then the audit engagement letter with Brockway. And then the audit engagement letter with Brockway, gershbach Franklin and Niemeyer, pc for the Bell County Community Supervision and Corrections Department independent audit for fiscal year ending in August 31st 2025 for amount not take C $29,000. Let's see Next item $49,000. Let's see Next item Consider the approval of the contract and statement of work with RingCentral Inc using purchasing cooperative tips 24-03-03, for a 60-month contract at $8,429 per month and a statement of work for implementation services at a one-time cost of $44,351 for the countywide phone system.
Speaker 1:Corrections corporal positions to fund one corrections captain, one corrections lieutenant and three corrections sergeant positions using FY 2025 merit funds. Then, item K consider authorizing the resolution amending authorization representatives at text poll and to add newly hired first assistant treasurer, cameron Katie, as an authorized signer. Item L consider authorizing a newly hired first assistant treasurer, cameron Keedy, to signer of Horizon Bank, jp Salado II. Then we have a presentation and proclamations. We have a presentation of a 2024 Distinguished Service Award for the Historical Commission and receive an update from Dan Eller, chairman of the Bell County Historical Commission.
Speaker 1:County Engineer Items Consider and approve a final plat of Harbors Estate Subdivision being a 15.088-acre 3-lot 1-block subdivision located in Precinct 1. Next item consider and approve a replat of lot nine, block B, doves Landing, unit four, being a .773 acre one lot one block subdivision located in precinct two. And then the final item for engineers consider and approve the minor plat of Horned Frog Edition being a two acre one one-lot one-block subdivision located in Precinct 2. Then we have regular agenda items Consider granting a petition and fixing boundaries for the creation of Emergency Service District, to be known as Bell County Emergency Service District number three. Then, next item considering call for a general election issued by the county judge for the purposes of creating a Bell County Emergency Service District number three, to be held November 4, 2025. Consider ratifying a request for a temporary hire for a deputy clerk position and justice of the peace place. For place two, consider authorizing the county judge to execute a renewal of an existing contract with Academy ISD for five school resource officers for the 2025-2026 school year. Next item consider authorizing the county judge to enter into an interlocal agreement with the City of Belton for archive storage at the Bell County Storage Facility. Then, item F consider authorizing the county judge to execute a municipal service agreement with the city of Temple for 7.150 plus or minus acres of land and right-of-way. And that is everything for our regular
Speaker 1:agenda. Now let's go to our workshop real quick. Next item we have for our workshop after immediately following that meeting is report and updates from various county offices and departments. Then we have capital improvement update on jail expansion, killeen Annex, and discuss FY 2025 CIP plan. Then we have discuss SB8 relating to the agreement between sheriffs and the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement law and the grant program that covers costs implementing those agreements. Then discuss opioid settlement participation agreement. Next item is discuss application to the FY26 County Fairhog abatement grant to the FY26 County Fair Hall Abatement Grant. Next item is receive end-of-year grant reports calendar 2024 from Kylie Brooks, grant administrator. Discuss allowing the overlap for the replacement of the county judge's administrative assistance. Next item discuss engaging an outside firm in the search for a county engineer. Next item is discuss policies and practices relating to county-wide relating to county-provided take-home
Speaker 1:vehicles. County
Speaker 1:judge. Then discuss 2025-26 commissioner's Court meeting and 2026 County holidays. Next item is discuss Bell County flood hazards, mitigations and low water crossings. Next item discuss Justice of the Peace and Constable Precinct lines. Then discuss creating a hospital district. Next item FY2026 budget planning, implementation and budget follow-up hearings and discussions relating to the FY2026 budget. And then at 1.30, presentation by Bell County Animal Shelter Advisory Board and discussions related to a no-kill animal shelter, and that is
Speaker 1:it. There is a meeting that we may or may not attend All the commission may or may not attend and that's going to be at July 30th, 9 am. Tour of Children's Advocacy Center in Belton. So that's everything that we have for Monday. It's going to be a long day and so hopefully you can attend or, if not, you'll be able to watch the video after that. So what I want to do now is because it is a long session that I'm about to play for, but I think you'll get a lot out of it because you can see what elected officials are talking about at the national level and you there's school boards here, there's city, county, state officials here that you know these policies are being affected, are affecting our 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 happy birthday to me whenever you respond to that email and we will talk to you next week foreign policy and many others, many others.
Speaker 2:During this session, we will get an overview of the federal landscape and how some of these changes affect the Latino community. On a personal note, I'm also on the board of directors of a community health center and we will be directly affected by the Medicaid cuts.
Speaker 2:So it would be nice to hear how that would affect a lot of your community health centers also. That's the safety net for our head down there. So, but before we get started, a friendly reminder that at at the Naleo conference, we practice the Naleo standard, which allows us to have robust policy discussions in a respectful and solution-oriented manner. A full description of the Naleo Standard can be found on the conference app and via the QR code on the back of your badge. Thank you for observing Naleo Standard during this session and your questions and comments. So now it is my pleasure to introduce the speakers joining us. We will first hear from Ramiro Cavazos, president and Chief Executive Officer of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, followed by Dante Moreno, legislative Manager, finance Administration and Intergovernmental Relations at the National League of Cities, and Dr Will Del Pilar, senior Vice President at EdTrust. So, dr Cavazos.
Speaker 4:Oh, mr Cavazos, you're not a doctor yet, thank you. Thank you, councilman, buenos dias a todos and good morning. It's, first of all, what an honor to be here with so many elected officials. Let's give our elected officials a round of applause. We don't have enough of you representing us, so let me let me set the stage. The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1979. We were chartered in Albuquerque, santa Fe, and my colleague, cynthia Jaramillo, is there. She's a native New Mexican. Let's give her a round of applause. Thank you, cynthia, and I'm also very proud to be here with. We have about 300 chapters around the country of Latino Chambers, so we're the national umbrella. We're based in Washington DC and 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 the ground in Georgia doing a great job. And then, really, my last introduction is our board member, yuri Kunza, who runs the Nashville Latino Chamber, was here earlier. Let's give him a round of applause. So, thank you so much.
Speaker 4:53% of Latino males voted for Donald Trump in the most recent election. 53% 46% of Latinos voted for the Trump administration that is in office today. Numbers don't lie. We are a nonpartisan organization. We don't endorse candidates. 99% of our funding comes from the private sector. We don't endorse candidates. We love to tell people or I do we're not red or blue. We're red, white and blue, and our favorite color is green, and that's the free enterprise system, that that's what makes the world go round. So that's the way I see the world, and you get. You get what you pay for and you get how you vote, and so you look for so let me just say and we need to go out to vote we obviously need more elected officials.
Speaker 4:We are under represented in so many different categories, but the power is in in the future and the present. We are a very young population. Average age is 28. We're one out of every five Americans 65 million. We were here 128 years before the British arrived at Plymouth Rock, so the first European language was Spanish. The dollar sign came from the Spanish peseta, the most powerful economic symbol in the world. We have built this country. Ten of the 50 states have their names that come from the Spanish language, and I could tell you thousands of other cities Nevada is la Nevada, snowdrift in Spanish, and, of course, colorado Montaña, next to Canada. You know, and so I could go on and on. We need to realize our power as a community and we need to exercise it, and this is a lesson learned for many of us to see the fact that Medicaid is being targeted and we have a lot of seniors who will be affected, that education is being targeted and funding for folks that are not at the economic level that they should, and this is a country built by immigrants too. That's the irony, and it's true. Now I'm not again. I'm not a very partisan person.
Speaker 4:My dad was an elected official in South Texas for 25, 30 years. He was elected back in 1961 as a justice of the peace, very proud of his legacy. Legacy my uncle was Dr Lauro Cavazos, appointed by President Reagan to be the first Latino cabinet-level person as Secretary of Education. Ironically, that's a department that will be shutting down. And then Fort Hood, which became Fort Cavazos after my uncle, who was a four-star general, after two years relegated back to Fort Hood again because of petty politics, although he's a medal of honor winner uh, you know pearl.
Speaker 4:Uh a, uh, you know, purple heart recipient. And you know, there's no question that Latinos have fought in every major conflict since the American Revolution and fought bravely. So, uh, remember, own your power, know who you are and this is your country and you built it. And you got here before a lot of other people did and some of us are still coming as recently as last night, and so that's the power of our culture. So what's happening in DC? I can tell you the hundreds of executive orders that have been passed. Let me give you some sunlight. About three quarters of those executive orders are stuck in the courts right now huge disagreement over them.
Speaker 4:They may never see, you know, being implemented. The ones that are being implemented are probably, you know, going to last the next three and a half years because there'll be a new president. That's the extent of executive orders is. The new president comes in, does away with the previous executive orders. This president did the same thing. Comes in, does away with the previous executive orders this president did the same thing. So nothing is permanent, nothing is forever, and so, yes, we're having to live with the, the drama and the challenges, but the rule of law and people deserve a right to due process is being challenged right now, as you all know, with the ICE rates. It's affecting a lot of our small businesses and many of them are not Latino-owned businesses, they're just businesses in general. But I think all of us in this room will be the final word. The final word will be the midterm elections. The final word will be the next election for president will be the midterm elections. The final word would be the next election for president. Is this something that we want? Is this the kind of country that we want? No question that people should be deported if they're criminals, but about half of the ones being deported, some of them are, many of them are not criminals and many of us are maybe 70%, thank, thank you are US citizens. So it's just unbelievable what's happening. So let me get back to the chamber. We have kept our head down. We have been working with our local chambers to provide programs to help small businesses succeed. For me, that's where the action is. The action is entrepreneurs around the country who are just doing a great job, creating jobs, making a living for their families. We want them to grow up to be billion-dollar corporations. We have five million Latino-owned businesses in America, hundreds of thousands of those here in Georgia, and we also have about 200 corporations great corporations that are members of our chamber, that believe in us, that are investing in those programs, great companies like Walmart and Wells Fargo and I could go on and on Diageo and everyone. So all I'm saying is this partnership between corporate America, our 5 million Latino-owned businesses and our close to 300 chambers is very powerful. We treasure that, we protect it, but we're also monitoring advocacy and we will be speaking up more strongly. We are against tariffs, we're against monitoring advocacy and we will be speaking up more strongly. We are against tariffs, we're against aranceles. There is no question that it's going to damage. And guess who ends up paying the cost? It will be us, as consumers. Those $60 billion that we might have made in the last quarter. They came from our pockets, it didn't come from some mysterious foreigner. And then, secondly, we're uh, we fought hard with the, the recent bill, to limit the tax on remises on remittances. Uh, it started at five percent, it ended at one percent. It's a, it's a tax, no matter how you say see it. Uh, tariffs are also attacks, uh and uh.
Speaker 4:And our economy, uh, you know, is withstanding a lot of this, mainly because, guess who the biggest consumer in america is? We are latinos, we're the fastest growing consumer the future, we're the, the fastest growing consumer of the future, we're the fastest growing workforce of the future, and we're the fastest companies that are growing as a small business. So we own the future. And so, as I conclude, I want to let you know I am an optimist by nature, because data does not lie, dna does not lie either, and I need to tell you that all of us here represent the whole world Latinos, we're not a race, we're an ethnic group, we're Afro-Latino, we're Caucasian, we're Asians, we're Jewish, we're Protestant. The beauty of our culture is that everybody loves us, is that everybody loves us. We marry, people marry out into our culture more than any other culture. The beauty is that we're becoming more highly educated. We're owning our power.
Speaker 4:Economically, we are a 4.1 trillion dollar economy. If the 65 million Latinos living here, as I conclude, were our own economy, we would be the fifth largest economy in the world at $4.1 trillion, and that's growing at 14% every year. So we're too many, we're too many, we're too many, we're unstoppable. And you know, as my dad used to say, paz descanse, no queremos que nos den, queremos que nos pongan donde hay. We just want to be where the action's at, and we're going to win, we're going to succeed and we're going to excel.
Speaker 4:I'm so proud to be 100% American, 100% Latino, and I'm so proud to be here with each of you and thank you for your leadership as elected officials. We need your help and we're here to be your partners in a nonpartisan way, to be strong, to focus on issues. There's so much left to do in the next three, three and a half years to get ready for our future as a community. And so, as I can go, I just want to recognize, of course, some friends of mine that are here, gerald and Joe, who are elected officials in San Antonio. Let's give them a round of applause. Thank you, okay With that, muchisimas gracias. I have four, four minutes left, so I'm going to give them to to my colleagues thank screen, I think you can.
Speaker 8:My name is Dante Moreno. I'm the Finance Administration and Intergovernmental Relations Lobbyist at the National League of Cities. For those of you who don't know us, the National League of Cities represents over 19,000 cities, towns and villages across America. I'll also say I'm a Los Angeles native, and I say that because I saw a lot of Californians in the audience. I'm here to talk today about some of the stuff that's happening in the federal government. I can say it's been a very busy first half of the year.
Speaker 8:They pushed through the budget reconciliation bill last month, the one big, beautiful bill. There were certainly some exciting provisions in there. There were things that we were happy about and there were some things that we're less happy about. I'm just going to run through them quickly. The thing that we were most excited to see was that tax-exempt municipal bonds were wholly preserved. For those of you who don't deal with bonds, or for those of you who may need a refresher tax-exempt municipal bonds help build America. Schools use them, cities, counties, states use them. Unfortunately, they were on the chopping block during the reconciliation bill because they were a nice juicy pay-for.
Speaker 8:They're $250 billion if you get rid of the tax exemption. We know they were looking at them it was released in a menu of pay-fors this year but they did not touch them or private activity bonds at all, which was great. Staying on bonds, the low-income housing tax credit or LIHTC provision was also enhanced and expanded permanently. This will provide approximately 1 million affordable housing rental homes in the next 10 years. Salt, or the state and local tax deduction, which primarily impacts high-cost states like California, new York, new Jersey, was temporarily increased from $10,000 as the cap to $40,000. That will decrease in 2030 back to 10,000, but we're taking the wins where we can get them. There was also a preemption AI regulation on state and local governments that was in the House bill. That would have prohibited state and local governments from regulating artificial intelligence for the next 10 years. That was stripped out of the Senate version in the 11th hour. We are watching preemption on the federal and the state side. We do think that's going to be a growing issue over the next couple of years. Opportunity zones were also expanded and made permanent. I know that opportunity zones kind of have a mixed reaction among folks, but we were lobbying to change them and there will be new regulations around Opportunity Zones starting in 2027. They're making them a bit more transparent Governors can change the Opportunity Zones every 10 years and there is more of an emphasis on targeting distressed communities. So those were the opportunities that we're seeing that we're excited about.
Speaker 8:There were definitely some setbacks in the bill. Medicaid and SNAP was definitely impacted quite a bit in this bill, primarily as a pay-for. The biggest changes to Medicaid and SNAP were around work requirements and also impacting who is now able to access this social safety net. While I know that there are folks in the room today who do deal with Medicaid and SNAP, either because you're a state or county or because your health centers rely on them, we're nervous on the city side because states provide a lot of money to local governments, because states provide a lot of money to local governments and if states are going to have to decrease their budget to try to meet this cut to Medicaid and SNAP, that's going to likely impact the amount of money that your city gets from states. States provide over 30% of local budgets. In the amount of funding, Federal funding is only 6% of local budgets. It's very concerning and something that we're watching. And the amount of funding federal funding is only 6% of local budgets. It's very concerning and something that we're watching, and I know the next presenter is going to go into Medicaid and staff a little bit more to clean energy. Tax credits were a huge loser and this spell. The reconciliation bill kept the direct paying mechanism, but solar and wind projects are deeply impacted and there are new provisions around supply chain components that are going to make it very difficult to access.
Speaker 8:I will say if your cities or governments are looking at doing clean energy investment, I encourage you to do it now. I encourage you to do it before the end of this year. Apply for clean energy tax credits. They're there for you to use. Use them while you have. It is all I have to say. There were also rescissions to unobligated funds for transportation projects around equity and access, as well as EPA emissions projects. This next slide just has some resources that might be helpful for you all. It's a reconciliation breakdown blog that goes into much more detail than what I just said, and it also has our FY26 appropriations priorities.
Speaker 8:Before we move on, I do want to quickly touch on FY26 appropriations. If a continuing resolution or the appropriations bills are not passed in the next two months there'll be a government shutdown. They are moving Every year. It's a concern that there'll be a government shutdown. They are moving. We have yet to see what's going to happen. Last week, omb Director Russ Fott said that he hopes the appropriations process will be less bipartisan, moving forward which is never not words you want to hear, together usually if you're a federal applicant. They're moving forward. There are provisions in the House bills around sanctuary cities prohibiting them from receiving federal funding. That's not new. The House bill often puts in components like that. They've previously been stripped in the Senate version of the bill. We have yet to see if that's going to happen this time. And I'll go a little bit more into appropriations when we get into the census.
Speaker 8:The census is the most fun thing that I do at NLC. It's not great Like it's not like everything's going well, but I get to work with a lot of fun people and the census, I think, is amazing work that we're doing and that's kind of where I'm going to focus the rest of my presentation on today. We're in the middle of the decade, so I don't. You know there's a lot of other really important things happening. Why are we talking about the census If you do not plan for a good census now, you're not going to have a good census in five years.
Speaker 8:Texas lost 2525 billion in federal funding because they were undercounted. The colonias it's really communities of color that are historically always undercounted. 2020 census was done under the first Trump administration. The second, the 2030 census, will be under another administration. But this year, next year and the following year are when the bulk of the census work is being done, 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 answering government questions, when there are questions around how is that data being used? So I do want to flag just a few things that we're watching on the census front.
Speaker 8:There is always a bill in the House and the Senate around a citizenship question on the decennial census, as well as prohibiting the census from counting non-citizens and prohibiting them from using that non-citizen data for federal apportionment. So federal representation, as well as deciding how state and federal funding is distributed. No matter who you are in a community, no matter what your documents say, you're still using roads. You're still using water, infrastructure. Cities need the money that they need to support the community, regardless of who you are in the community. So we are watching that. Previously, the House bill has the Equal Representation Act has passed in the House. The Senate has not passed the Equal Representation Act yet. We have yet to see if that's going to happen this time. It definitely has some steam. It definitely has some steam. I'll also note that the FY26 Commerce, justice and Science Appropriations Bill does have a provision in there that bans the Census Bureau from counting non-citizens in 2030. We're waiting to see if that's something that the Senate will strip out and are encouraging them to do so.
Speaker 8:Beyond the census as a decennial, there are also threats to the American Community Survey. That's a survey that happens every single year. This is the data that cities can use, so they have up-to-date data. If you're a big city, if you're Los Angeles, you probably have the resources to go out, survey a community, see who's there, see if you're building a new road, a new bridge, who lives there. If you're a small or rural or under-resourced community, census data is often the only data that you have access to, and if you only have access to up-to-date data once every 10 years, you're kind of out of luck compared to your neighbors. Unfortunately, the ACS has had a lot of threats to it for making it voluntary or just eliminating it altogether. Again, that's something that's picking up some steam this year that we're watching August is ACS Awareness Month, if you're not already aware. We're very excited to be doing things to spotlight how all municipalities can be using ACS data, but it's just something to keep in mind. There is a push to limit government data, to limit what amount of information is out there, and the ACS is really important to keep in mind.
Speaker 8:I wanted to just put some questions out into the crowd today and I'll see works very closely with Naleo on census issues, given the impact it has on Latino communities, and the next five years are the most important five years for the, given the impact it has on Latino communities, and the next five years are the most important five years for the 2030. Next year is the 2026 census test, where there's going to be six test sites across the country looking at how do we count historically undercounted communities, including the colonias in Texas in Texas. And 2027 is when LUCA, or the local update to census addresses, starts, and that's really the best and only opportunity that local governments have to update their address book. The Census Bureau doesn't know if you have a new development. They don't know if Linda from across the street has guest house that she's renting to college students. Those are all people that you need to count, and it's up to cities and counties primarily to update their LUCA address book and then, by 2027, you should also have a plan for your community on how you're counting everybody in 2030. And that's a group right effort, right Like it's not one. It's not the cities, it's not the counties, it's school districts, it's who are the trusted members of your community that you need to partner 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 help with all of the abbreviations that we have in the census world. I also put the LUCA resource guide, which is a guide from an external group. It's a phenomenal guide. I would definitely encourage you all to start looking at it, because LUCA is very, very important and it's definitely not something that you can just do in a day.
Speaker 8:The last thing I wanted to touch on today sort of switching gears again is civility and civil discourse. This is really a rising issue within local elected officials. It's something that at every NLC conference you hear people say what are you doing? What resources are available for us to use? We have members on our board that were impacted by what happened in Minnesota. They were on the list of what happened in Minnesota and we're looking at what to do. I wanted to provide a few resources kind of off the bat. We have a town hall we did a few months ago that I found very interesting. We have a report and a resource. We're also doing two sessions at our flagship conference in November and I also just kind of wanted to give an anecdote here.
Speaker 8:I run the FAIR committee, so the Finance, administration and Intergovernmental Relations Committee at NLC, and we're focused on civility and civil discourse, and last week we had one of our conferences and we had a 90-minute discussion with two Ohio State University professors on civility, on civil discourse. How do you talk to people? Because it's not just talking to people at a city hall meeting, a city council meeting, it's also how are you talking to your peers? I've been in city council meetings that are not friendly to be in. They're uncomfortable, folks are yelling at each other, there is no civility, there's no civil discourse happening and there's no movement happening. You're not, you're not leading. You're leading as a bad example, and what you're putting out there is what your community is taking out.
Speaker 8:And so we spent 90 minutes talking through situations. We did some role playing on scenarios and really they were focused on like what is the fix? Like how do you fix this situation? And I don't think there is like a one fix. It's such a complicated situation but, frankly, we can't solve it unless we hear from you all, like what are you dealing with? What resources would be helpful for you? And again, it's not one resource.
Speaker 8:We're not going to put out one report and like we solve the civility issue in America, but it starts with having a conversation about it, and so I know that we would love to have a conversation with you. I know Malayo would love to have a conversation with you. So I just wanted to put it out there that we are focused on it. We are aware it's a rising issue, but cities, local government, remains the most trusted form of government out there, and it's up to local government to start to solve this problem, because you're the ones that they see in grocery stores. Right, like your community knows you, they're probably not seeing their senator every single week. That was my presentation. I appreciate your time and I so appreciate being here as well. It's phenomenal, and I'm looking forward to hearing all the other presenters today. Thank you. Now we have the real doctor, dr Gail Galak.
Speaker 10:You guys see that I'm gonna sit down. Good morning. My name is Will DelVillard. I'm with the Education Trust in Washington DC. We're a national state advocacy organization that advocates for low income students and students of color from early childhood through higher education. I serve as a senior vice president. I'm also from LA. I grew up in Carson, california. So, yeah, carson Went to Chapman University, dominguez Hills yeah, I grew up in there. My brother lives in Carson still, so, maybe one of them. Yeah, I went to Dominguez Hills for my master's degree and I'm really happy to be here.
Speaker 10:It's a challenging time in terms of federal education policy, but I want to share two things. One, my deck will be shared and I'll also share out my notes, so you don't have to worry about taking notes Like furiously. I'll share everything that I have in my notes, or also some links that might you might find helpful. It will be in my notes as well today in advance. Yeah, all right, so I'll be talking about executive orders, reconciliation, budget empowerment and then legal action what's happening in the courts.
Speaker 10:We find ourselves at a really critical juncture and it's a moment that demands both our resolve and resilience. Education, you know, I'd say it's under significant pressure, but I think it's more accurate to say it's under attack. Decades of progress are at risk of being dismantled right before our very eyes. Research shows that by 2031, the percentage of all jobs requiring some form of post-secondary education is expected to be 72%. So 72% of jobs require some level of post-secondary education, with 42% requiring at least a bachelor's degree. Nationally, only 20.8% of Latinos have a bachelor's degree or higher and only 28% have an associate's degree or higher, and only 20 28 percent have an associate's degree or higher. This trails every racial and ethnic group in this country, except for Native Americans. We need policies at the federal and state, local and local levels that provide increased access to students educational pathways that lead to good jobs. Sadly, what we're seeing at the federal level are actions that will have a significant impact on who has access to education in this country. So executive orders there's so many right Since returning to office.
Speaker 10:Since returning to office in January, president Trump has signed over 170 executive orders. They've ranged from immigration enforcement to trade to education, and we should expect those to continue. Our intel suggests that we may see as many as 200 executive orders be fit before the end of the administration. I'm going to highlight a couple of EO's executive orders that are likely to impact Latinos. On January 21st, the president rescinded executive order 11-12-46. This executive order is signed by President Lyndon B Johnson, prohibited employment discrimination by federal contractors and required affirmative action in hiring and contracting. Contractors had to report demographic data and take steps to recruit and hire more minorities, including Latinos. On January 21st, this requirement ended. This executive order ensured Latino representation in government contracting work. The government was required to proactively hire Latinos, and this has been removed and data on contractors and proactive recruitment has ended. That same day, the president signed the Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, which bans diversity, equity, inclusion measures in federal contracting and grants. In it, he directs agencies to remove DEI references from procurement processes and emphasize merit-based criteria only, which still has not been defined. With this EO, we saw removal of DEI programs in education and workforce training, programs that disproportionately affect and have served Latino communities, programs that disproportionately affect and have served Latino communities.
Speaker 10:The final EO that I will highlight is the Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Program signed on January 20th. This EO executive order purged DEI offices and positions across federal agencies, including education and labor. Education agencies were barred from offering DEI grants, scholarships or programs benefiting minority students or employees. Education and labor education agencies were barred from offering dei grants, scholarships or program programs benefiting minority students or employees. This ceo eliminated eliminated federal institutional dei efforts supporting latino students and employees. It ended affinity groups, dei recruitment, outreach, scholar and scholarship programs. These EOs taken together have decreased support and opportunities for Latino students.
Speaker 10:There is a concept in research and in legal scholarship called repressive legalism, and this concept, essentially what it advances, is that when there is an executive order or any law that is passed, people will end up applying that law to other areas beyond the necessary scope, and so we over-enforce because of two things One, we're afraid of legal action, or two, we're afraid of political scrutiny. Right, and so what we have seen is an over-application of these EOs beyond areas into which they were necessary to be enforced. Scholarships targeted for Latino students have all but ended nationally Latino graduations that celebrate community have come under scrutiny. Services to Latino or English language learners are under attack, and we should expect these attacks to continue. So we talked a little bit about reconciliation, but I'm going to go a little bit more in depth on the impacts to education.
Speaker 10:On July 4th 2025, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans secured the passage of the One Big, beautiful Bill Act, a budget reconciliation package that made significant and permanent changes to federal education policy and funding. While the law touches many policy areas, several provisions will have direct and immediate implications for students, families and communities. What do you see on that slide court? I went too far, all right, I Well.
Speaker 3:The bill cuts $930 billion from Medicaid over the next decade.
Speaker 10:Many of these cuts won't be implemented until 2027, and there's a reason for that they were waiting until the midterm elections passed before they started cutting people's health care. The impacts will be more directly felt in 2027 and in 2028, but we have to start planning. The cuts to Medicaid will result in fewer college students and fewer K-12 students having access to medical care. The cuts will also put pressure on state budgets to take money out of education and put it into Medicaid to fill budget holes. Roughly half of American children are on Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, and the loss of coverage for their parents means they are less likely to be insured and receive medical care. Medicaid serves as the fourth largest federal funding stream for schools. As states are forced to grapple with the loss of federal funding, this can have downstream impacts on classrooms, given that Medicaid helps cover reimbursements for a host of medical and support services provided to students, including those with disabilities, such as access to nurses physical therapists, occupational therapists and psychologists.
Speaker 10:The cuts to Medicaid enacted in this legislation will force districts and schools to make difficult funding decisions that could limit or eliminate availability of these services. In addition, we saw cuts to SNAP. The bill shifts SNAP the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit cost to states if they have a payment error rate a measure of states payment accuracy that includes both under and over payments above 6%. 44 states are currently at or above the error rate. Higher error rates would require higher state payments of up to 15%. This doesn't start until 2027. Once again, this is intentional. In total, the Congressional Budget Office projects a bill will cut $186 billion from SNAP over the next 10 years. The bill eliminates eligibility for individuals in the country legally, including refugees and asylees, limiting SNAP eligibility to citizens, legal permanent residents and certain Cuban and Haitian entrants.
Speaker 10:Because of the shifting benefit cost to states, governors are going to be forced to make difficult decisions about whether to raise taxes, slash state and local programming or kick people off SNAP. Many states may stop participating in broad-based categorical eligibility, which allows states to raise SNAP income eligibility limits so that low-income working families will have difficulty making ends meet can qualify for food assistance. This will also impact access to school meals for children in these families. A SNAP participation allows students to automatically qualify for free school meals. As a result of the cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, many students will no longer automatically qualify for free school meals. Furthermore, the community eligibility provisions allow schools where at least 25% of students who receive federal benefits such as Medicaid or SNAP, they are able to offer free school meals to all students.
Speaker 10:As states struggle to address these funding gaps with reduced federal funding, it may be increasingly difficult for states to pursue and support universal school lunch programs. Thank you. In addition, this will also reduce access to participation in summer EBT, which provides students with meals during the summer months. In short, the cuts to SNAP will result in more college students and K-12 students being denied food assistance and going hungry. The cuts will also put pressure on state budgets to fill these budget holes. The bill also creates a permanent, unlimited tax credit for individuals donating to scholarship granting organizations SGOs In states where the governor has approved an SGO to be created. The funds can be used for a host of qualifying expenses, including tuition for private and religious schools, but also for books, curricular and other educational materials, tutoring, online expense, educational resources, dual enrollment fees and, more effectively, what it did was create a national voucher program. Families must be within 300 percent of an area's median income to qualify, meaning that even wealthy families living in high income areas will be able to apply for that voucher. The creation of this tax credit to fund vouchers will push more federal resources to wealthy families and private and religious schools at the expense of public schools, which will have declining enrollment and declining funds related to this provision. Non-public institutions that will be supported by this national voucher program are not bound by civil rights laws, are not subject to public reporting requirements, are not required to serve low-income students and are not subject to the same state-level oversight as public schools.
Speaker 10:There are a couple other changes in the law that I think are important for education. The bill ended the Grad Plus program. Grad Plus allowed you a borrow up to the total cost of education. The limit is now twenty thousand five hundred dollars. So if you attend a school that cost forty thousand dollars for tuition only, you can only borrow twenty thousand five hundred dollars and to go to that school, which means students will be pushed to the private lending market or will have to opt out of higher education altogether if they're planning on going to graduate school. The limits for professional school are actually $50,000 a year and for most professional programs like law school or medical school, that is not enough to even cover the cost of tuition. The restrictions on federal loan access for graduate education will result in students being forced to take out loans from private banks or some students will decline to go to graduate school altogether.
Speaker 10:It also creates two standard repayment plans. In one plan it's a standard repayment over 10 years and the other one I call pay till you die. The repayment is over 30 years. Die, the repayment is over 30 years. Some research has shown that on average, if you have student loan debt, you have until 2028 to pick a plan. The average person's monthly bill for their student loans will go up $200. And finally, the bill creates a Pell grant, a workforce Pell, which essentially allows Pell grants to be. This is actually the only good news in this bill I think it creates, for on education, it creates a workforce is actually may help some workforce requirements and shorter term bills or shorter term grants that are currently or that are currently available.
Speaker 3:All right, are we on budget?
Speaker 6:no which one am I?
Speaker 10:man should have stood up. So we talked a little bit on budget. I only have five over Budget. May I shit a sit up? So we talked a little bit about budget. I only have five minutes. I'm trying to go fast. I already see you coming, get over there with your orange sign.
Speaker 10:You gave me two minutes. We're currently at the beginning of fiscal year 25 budget process. On May 2nd, the president submitted his budget recommendations to House and Senate Appropriations Committee. There are several areas that I'm concerned about personally. The budget zeroes out federal funding for early childhood programs to support preschool readiness in low-income and minority communities by eliminating the Preschool Development Grant $315 million. Preschools in predominantly Latino areas often rely on this funding to maintain affordable access and quality instruction, so this could widen early learning gaps, crucial for educational success. The administration is also proposing deep cuts to minority-serving institutions' STEM and workforce programs. Hsis could lose critical support to STEM and technical education, affecting pipeline development and into STEM careers for Latino students, which are most often higher paying careers. Finally, the budget makes across the board reductions to the Department of Education, especially grants for low income students, after school and summer learning programs. We are likely to see fewer resources for tutoring, test prep, college readiness and financial aid.
Speaker 10:Of equal concern has been the administration's use of impoundment to withhold funds that have been appropriated by Congress. Currently, the administration is withholding over four billion dollars to schools. There's a searchable tool and in my notes I have a link to it where you can actually search your district to see how much is being withheld from your school. So share my note. This impoundment will affect every state in the country. The average school district will lose almost a quarter of a million dollars in funding. Districts serving high poverty student populations will lose over five times as much in funding. I'm not paying attention to you, do it? Keep going? Keep going. We're pupil. I'm going to pay attention. I'm going to try and finish up. So the average school district enrolling majority students of color will see 50% bigger cuts than the average majority white school district. The areas being impacted I'll quickly go over Title I-C, which funds services for students from families whose jobs have jobs in fisheries, food processing and other transient industries $375 million. Title II-A, which funds professional development for teachers. Title III-A, which funds services for English learners. Title IV-A, which provides funding for academic enrichment and student support. Adult Basic Grants grants which funds literacy and general instruction and adult integrated English literacy and civic education grants, which funds services for adult students. My final slide is legal challenges. Am I on the final slide? Yes, all right, cool.
Speaker 10:We have witnessed many of the administration 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 Trump administration challenging state or local laws. There are three cases that we are watching and one that has already been decided that will have significant impacts. We'll start with the cases that has been decided. The Supreme Court recently allowed the Trump administration to lay off over 1,400 Education Department staff and freeze 4 billion in federal k-12 grants. 24 states plus DC have sued arguing Congress, which is actually true. Not the president controls spending. Latino students who rely on English learner, migrant and after-school programs are directly threatened. Voto Latino warns that over 18 million Latino students could lose vital protection.
Speaker 10:Sffa versus Tennessee. Sffa in Tennessee versus the Department of Education was filed by the Tennessee AG and Students for Fair Admission, the same group behind the Harvard case. The lawsuit claims federal HSI funding Hispanic Serving Institution funding is unconstitutional, claiming racial favoritism. These grants support science labs, tutoring and scholarships at colleges where at least 25% of students are Hispanic. Cal State Dominguez Hills is an HSI. Went there mainly. These schools are in California, texas and Florida if halted Latino enrollment and support services at HSIs, which face severe setbacks or be eliminated.
Speaker 10:The second case is the US Department of Education. The US Department of Justice has filed against Kentucky, minnesota and Texas to block their laws that grant in-state rates to non-citizens, primarily benefiting undocumented students who grew up and graduated from high schools in the state. Yeah, so we know. For example, in Texas, undocumented students, many of them Latino Dreamers, face tuition rates that can double, rising from $11,800 to up to $48,000 annually at public universities In Texas. Over 57,000 students who relied on in-state resident tuition rates now risk halting their studies or choosing less rigorous institutions due to cost. The final case that we're watching is California versus US Department of Education. Eight states, including California, illinois and New York, sued the Department of Education to stop the Trump administration from terminating nearly $600 million in federal grants designed to support teacher diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, specifically targeting recruitment for hard-to-staff regions and underserved communities. Without these grants in tact, schools will lose funding used to hire and retain bilingual and culturally competent teachers who support Latino student success.
Speaker 10:We should also be watching one other thing. It's not a court case yet, but it's going to come. We should be watching challenges supplier versus joe, which provides access to k-12 education for undocumented students. This year there were three bills in tennessee that were introduced that didn't make it to the governor, but we're trying to take away access to k-12 education for undocumented students or require that they pay the cost of education that the state was incurring because of these students, ignoring the fact that many undocumented individuals pay state taxes as well. We should expect these challenges to continue and I expect that in Texas who's here from Texas we'll probably see challenges to Plyler in the next, in the next legislative session.
Speaker 10:I think this is my last slide. I know that I shared a lot of information with you and not much of it's good. I share my talking points so you can keep watch on these policies and you can. There are some links in there I think will be helpful. The contacts the current contacts demand context, demand States, community and districts to make difficult decisions around funding. I hope that your communities will make this decisions that support Latino students.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you, dale killer. I know you did go over, but there was a lot of stuff there, so I probably got an F on my moderating job. I'm keeping you on time, so that's okay. There's a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2:And his slide presentation. His notes will be available on the app. So we're going to do a couple of questions, then we're going to bring it out to all of you. I'm sure you all have a lot of questions. The first is for Mr Cavazos how can elected officials work with their chambers of commerce to mitigate the impact of proposed federal cuts to programs and advocate for their constituents and businesses?
Speaker 4:During COVID our local Hispanic chambers became resource centers, emergency rooms for small businesses in their communities, and that was a place to connect with elected officials If you didn't know who represented you. That was a place to connect for funding opportunities. It was also for getting tools and resources to be always innovative.
Speaker 4:I'm a big believer that if we rely on federal government for funding of programs, we're not being entrepreneurial, and we we've seen what happens when a hundred percent of your funding is tied to the federal government, during good times or bad, and so I believe we need to be resourceful. We need to be innovative, entrepreneurial. Local chambers can really help come up with creative ideas, to be champions and work with local corporations and other governmental entities. Sometimes your city government and your county government are better partners for you because they understand the local environment than the federal government.
Speaker 4:The last thing I would say the paperwork in dealing with the federal government on grants is really a nightmare. I would not recommend it. We've done a few grants, but that's not really something that we're seeking to do. So that would be my advice and and also wanted, with your permission, mr Councilmember, introduce. I only drink Diet Coke and Topo Chico, and I want to thank my friends from Coca-Cola, ish and Ada. Let's give them a round of applause that is an ad because they're sponsoring our Atlanta conference and so thank you all so much for what you all do for the Latino community for more than 50 years. You always do more than 50 years, sorry, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, mr Cavazos. This is for Ms Moreno. In this time, it is even more important for state and local elected officials to communicate with their members of Congress and federal agencies. What best practices can you provide to elected officials in the audience to effectively advocate for their communities at the federal level?
Speaker 8:Thank you, Councilman. I have kind of two points here. The first one is make sure that you're reaching out to your federal elected representative and make sure that you're reaching out regularly. Don't just reach out when you have something that you need help with or you're requesting their help. You should be reaching out to them when you have a city council. If you're doing a city fair, you should be reaching out to 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 book fair, just keep them updated on what's happening. Figure out their priorities and how that works with you so you work together as a partnership.
Speaker 8:I'll also say that figuring out how to tell the story of your community is so important. It's the numbers we love data, but it's also the anecdotes. They know your community. So important it's the numbers we 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 tax exempt bonds, we were talking about roads that they use every single day and their staff uses every single day. We were talking about the schools that were built that their kids were educated in. It's so important for them to get the full picture and hear directly from you all. As much as they love talking to me, they much prefer to talk to you guys, and reaching out is important, and I'll also say that I recommend joining whatever association you have in DC.
Speaker 8:So if you're a city, the National League of Cities. If you're a county, the National Association of Counties. These associations exist in DC to serve you back home. We have access to all the federal agencies. We have access to all the federal representatives and if you need help contacting an agency because your grant is on pause and you don't know why, if you need help accessing the White House because you were on a sanctuary city list and you didn't know why or what to do, now reach out to your association. That's what we exist for and I'll also say our DC conferences always have all the federal agencies there. So I recommend, if you can, you come and you talk to those agencies face-to-face when you have the opportunity.
Speaker 2:Thank you, ms Modano, and I can't emphasize that enough. At the last conference I actually got to meet with the director of the Administration's Intergovernmental Affairs and we had a grant that was frozen $70 million between three cities and I said, oh, I have a phone number, so I called her, and I called her, and I called her and we got it frozen, so it helps. Okay, dr Del Pilar, under federal proposals, will there be any impact on apprenticeship programs or vocational schools?
Speaker 10:I think that this is an area of opportunity. I think there's a lot of interest in alternative pathways that don't involve higher education or traditional education. I will say I think there'll be significant investments in CTE, but we should not offer those pathways at the expense of alternative pathways. We shouldn't be limiting our students to CTE if they are interested in pursuing an associate or a bachelor's degree. We know that over a longer period of time, those jobs are less likely to offer benefits, especially medical benefits and retirement benefits.
Speaker 10:I'll issue a caution around apprenticeship programs, because I think that they're fool's gold, because we can't do them at scale. So I'll give you an example my son actually wanted to apply or I was trying to help him apply to an apprenticeship program in the state of Maryland for for auto mechanics. I have a PhD and we could not figure out how to navigate the system and we finally got through into the apprenticeship program. They require two years of experience. If he had two years of experience, if you have two years of experience, why would I need an apprenticeship? Right? And so I will say because there are so such limited opportunities available in apprenticeships. They're becoming more selective, so it's like fewer opportunities, more strict requirements in terms of getting into those apprenticeship programs.
Speaker 3:So we're going to do apprenticeship programs. We have to do them at scale.
Speaker 10:We we can't offer limited opportunities that require that people have experience in order to get them. Thank you, thank you. I like Diet Coke too?
Speaker 2:Also, given the the student fair admissions lawsuit, is there fear that historically black colleges and universities may also be targeted?
Speaker 10:I think the mission-based institutions will be okay. So I think, like HBCUs and tribal colleges, are more than likely not going to be significantly impacted. I think the enrollment based ones, like HSIs, there are like five different predominantly black institutions institutions. Those institutions are going to be targeted in lawsuits by this administration and by certain certain southern states, I'm sad to say, and so we are likely to see challenges to enrollment base but not likely gonna see challenges to to mission based institutions In the next four years.
Speaker 2: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:We're navigating back here as best as we can.
Speaker 7:Well, it's standing room only so.
Speaker 9:So friendly reminder name and jurisdiction before you ask your question.
Speaker 11:Hello, good morning, luis Espinoza, from Desert Recreation District in Southern California, coachella Valley, and my question is directed to the doctor. You had mentioned a scale back. You had mentioned a scale back in federal grants, education grants, pell grants, etc. With a shift, potential shift towards the private sector, as we know currently subsidized loans, federal grants etc.
Speaker 11:Are not dischargeable in bankruptcy court. Do you see that potential for a shift in the landscape to the private sector, where now they do become dischargeable in bankruptcy court, unless of course you know there's an EO that says you can't?
Speaker 10:There was a huge private lending market before the Obama administration, which was largely predatory. We know that, like low income, communities and communities of color are less likely to get access to credit, so they were less likely to get access to loans that paid for education.
Speaker 10:What this bill effectively does is re-establish the private lending market instead of there being greater reliance on the federal government to help fund those loans, and the reason that we did that was because of the predatory nature of banks and the terms that were being put onto those loans. I think that there is gonna there are gonna be protections against against bankruptcy for any type of education loans, the same way they currently are protected and in statute. So I I don't believe that it's gonna be easier to discharge your loans through. I didn't say one other thing All of these changes also make public service loan forgiveness more difficult to access, and so there's actually they've been trying to limit access to public service loan forgiveness, so you're not only not going to be able to discharge private loans, but there also is going to be less access to public service loan forgiveness, because if you get on the payment plan that's the pay till you die the 30 years you're actually not eligible for public service loan forgiveness.
Speaker 10:You have to be in an income-based repayment plan in order to qualify, and that standard plan ends after 10 years, and so there's like you're actually not're actually not gonna basically ended public service loan forgiveness with this plan okay, thank you as a final going okay, okay, I called zero two okay any other questions?
Speaker 2:I have a question back here, okay other questions.
Speaker 12:I have a question back here. Okay, gabriel Buena, trustee at the Los Angeles Community College District. I have a question. So, in terms of the big beautiful bill talked about reaching out to congresspeople, but if some of our own Latino elected officials voted for this bill, how are they navigating the mess that they made and how do we communicate with them?
Speaker 10:They don't have to navigate yet because a lot of the provisions don't go into effect until 2027, 2028. And so people won't feel the impact of a lot of these things unless you're rich immediately. Right, the challenge is gonna be in two years. I would continue to warn folks like that hey, this is coming and I would you know. I think that all you know, all politics are local. We try to set up, have folks set up meetings when your local officials were on break. They're on recess, right, and so I would go to their offices and schedule meetings.
Speaker 10:You know there are a lot of officials who voted in favor of this bill who would not take meetings with anyone that was outside of their legislative district, and so when we would try, when they were in DC and we would try to meet with them, they would say are you in our district? And when we said no, they would say okay, we're not taking that meeting. So you'll have access to folks that we may not have access to. A lot of organizations will provide like talking points or like setting up a meeting and what you should do in these meetings. I think you should put pressure on those elected officials and let folks know how they voted, if they voted against their own community's best interest, and then as a as a voter, you should know that, and so I do think that, like make going making meetings when they're on recess, making it uncomfortable for them, putting pressure on them as electives is going to be important.
Speaker 12:Just as a follow-up question, some of them, specifically in media, mentioned that they knew that this bill was going to cause, and sometimes they'll come to conferences like this and call for Latino unity, but then are destroying literally millions of our people's lives. Do we have a list of who those Latino elected officials who voted?
Speaker 10:for this bill. Yes, there's roll call vote. You know who voted. I get that.
Speaker 12:Is there an actual bill that's easy to get, without everyone doing the research that we can easily acquire, so we can actually put pressure?
Speaker 8:I would say it was a Republican-led bill. It received almost every single Republican legislature, just given the short margin in the House. So that would be the best way to go about it.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 8:Democrats voted for the bill and I think they lost two or three senators none from California, obviously no one and maybe two or three House members. So it kind of lucks on your side if you're looking at just third party designation. I would also say just quickly I just want to add on all of your members are in district in August. They have about one more week that they're working before they take four or five weeks off to go back home. That is an absolutely amazing time to schedule a meeting with your member of.
Speaker 8:Congress with their staff to have a conversation, and I think they're talking about doing a second reconciliation bill this year. It is very important for them to hear from you about what you agreed with in this bill and what you don't agree with in this bill. So when they vote again this year, if they do so, they have just a little bit more community input 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:Yeah, and try to give them real life examples. If something is in your community that's happening because of a certain bill not just this one, but others when you tell them this is what's happening in your district're gonna listen more, they're gonna pay more attention any other questions, so two questions.
Speaker 5:I mean we talked about what happened in Minnesota. My office has been shot at in terms of civility and lack thereof. This is violence that's being perpetrated and it's not. I mean, if January 6 and recent events 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 president come 2030. Am I the only one who's feeling this way? No, I mean. What more can I mean if this organization isn't leading the charge? I guess what? What can we do like when we do there?
Speaker 10:are. I would say there's like a significant thank you. There's a significant number of organizations that are offering resistance at the federal level, but we also need resistance at the state level, and so often I used to be an appointee. I worked for three governors in Pennsylvania and as an appointee I wouldn't pay attention to federal things until they became law and I had to implement them. We need people to be paying attention now, before it becomes law, and so we need to be offering resistance.
Speaker 10:I'll give an example of what could be done North Carolina. Who's the governor from North Carolina? The senator, senator. So I met with 500 advocates in North Carolina and I said told them what was in this bill. Him during recess, they wrote letters to him and he was a no vote on the reconciliation package, the one big, beautiful bill.
Speaker 10:And so I think that we have to create pressure on elected officials so that they vote no when these packages, these bills, what they're trying to advance are not. They don't benefit the community. I think we can get more no's if there is more advocacy. I'll I will say the president does put significant pressure on, especially folks in his caucus to vote the way that he wants them to vote. But I do think, like public officials as many as you know you're like, like you serve the community that voted you in the office, and so if we create that kind of pressure, I think we can get more no's on some of these packages and offer resistance. But we need people to pay attention, not just when the bill impacts you, but before it ever gets to that point and becomes law.
Speaker 2:Anybody else want to take that question?
Speaker 7:I'll take it.
Speaker 10:I hope the courts stand up.
Speaker 2:Before I. I hope the courts stand up Before Adam. Could you give me? Yeah, it's going to be him. Sorry, where's the question? Yeah, I'm just going to say real quick this civil discourse has been going up, up, up and up since right before COVID. Covid kind of made things worse. I remember one time people came banging on my door, 930 at night, and I had my daughter, my two nephews, with me. As soon as I opened the door my gun was holstered right here and they kind of backed off.
Speaker 2:But I shouldn't have even had to do 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, talk to you. This is a one big therapy session here. Whatever I come, these days we get together, we may have a couple drinks or whatever, but that's when we the stories start coming up and their strength and camaraderie here. So I I would really lean on the people all around, all in this room. Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 6:Thank you so much. Hello everybody. My name is javez. I'm the mayor of the city of bell gardens out in los angeles. Briefly, I appreciate this discussion, um and and thank you, it's been very educational. I'm thankful that Mr Ramirez Dr I mean Mr Ramiro Cavazos for being here from the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and obviously we know President Trump is very supportive of business and corporations, etc.
Speaker 6:You know particularly to the point that you mentioned of ice raids that have been happening all over LA and California. You know particularly in your position, being from the Chamber of Commerce. We've seen a lot of these raids occur in some of the corporate members of the Chamber of Commerce, being Home Depot and Lowe's. I'm curious to know, in your position or in your capacity, what's been done to hold these members accountable and sort of allowing this to happen in their parking lots, where they're chasing after communities that are Latinos being targeted in some cases, where managers are actively calling immigration to pick up folks. And I think it's a great opportunity for you to, for you and your organization, all these corporate members like Lowe's and Home Depot accountable after the attacks on the community.
Speaker 4:Thank you, thank you for your leadership. We work with the American Business Immigration Council, avec. That's a bipartisan organization. We work with the American Immigration Council to share information on how these businesses can stop someone from illegally coming into their business. What was happening early on is people were unprepared. There is, they were just opening the door and letting people in and once you give them access, you know they come in with no warrant and again, no due process, no rule of law. All of those constitutional rights have been broken In the last couple of weeks. Our businesses that we've talked to, we've shared the information on how to really just lock your door. Don't let anybody in. You don't answer the door. Keep working. A lot of our businesses do have fencing and perimeter enclosures for their parking, for their employees' parking and their protection.
Speaker 4:You know we're a violent society, the United States. There's no question that we kill more people than we should compared to anybody else in any other country. I mean, I still remember going to the state capitol and having to take my wallet and my cell phone out to just get through the x-ray machine. Meanwhile some yahoo, some guy with a gun open carry would just be waved through, you know. So there's more security for a civilian than than someone that actually has a weapon going into text. You know, meet with elected, so we have to run for office. Thank you for being there. We need to vote our convictions as a community. I shared the numbers earlier of how 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 a lesson. And sometimes you have to trip and fall to get yourself back up and figure out that less than 1% Latino elected officials based on a population of 20% is not going to cut it.
Speaker 4:So we need people like you and others to run for office. We need people to vote and vote for the issues that matter for our communities. We have talked to our small businesses because this is bad for business. Ice rates are bad for business. Our colleague, maria Salinas we're very proud of her in the LA area chamber. She has spoken publicly and she's one of the members of our association and California has more than 70 Latino standards. It's number one when you consider our network of 300.
Speaker 4:So I agree we need to do more. We're not doing enough. Everybody's still reacting to the shock and awe of everything that's happening, but we're going to be strategic in picking our spots, sharing that information. At the end of the day, I believe in the US Constitution and I believe that enforcement and the rule of law will be corrected. Hopefully the courts will hold up. You know, against some of these executive orders that the doctor had mentioned, that you know are not seeing the light of day, so we just need to keep fighting. Had mentioned that you know are not seeing the light of day, so we just need to keep fighting. My dad had a saying el que no habla, dios no lo oye. So we're going to have to really just be vocal and speak our mind, and thank you for your leadership.
Speaker 2:Okay, thank you, we're running short of time, so, adam.
Speaker 13:Thank you, honey. I'm Adam Bezaldua of City of Dallas. I also sit on the board of National League of Cities and I say this because I have frustration. I think frustration that I've heard from a lot of people here and I came here and it is very informative. Thank you all for the information, but I need more than information. I need the organizations like these that I am proud to be a part of, including National League of Cities, to step up and do something. We're not doing anything. I can't just keep coming to sessions and hearing about what the state is. What is our plan of action? What is our course of action with these organizations?
Speaker 3:When are?
Speaker 13:we going to stop being complicit and complacent, because silence right now is not working. We're not meeting the moment, we're allowing for this to happen and we continue to harp on this non-partisanship. Quite frankly, that's BS. This isn't about partisanship. We're talking about ICEs, we're talking about federal funding that impacts every community and we have some of the most vulnerable. We continue to also harp on the fact that we are few, far in between, in numbers here as elected, as Latino elected officials across the country. So stop just telling us what's happening.
Speaker 13:I think that we all know what's happening. That's what we're here. What is the plan of action? How are we as an organization going to stand up? How are we going to be given resources for the resistance that we keep hearing needs to happen, because showing up in these conference rooms and hearing the state of affairs doesn't help us go back home and fight for our communities in the way that it needs to be. This moment needs to be met. We have officials at every level of government and these delegations that we're sitting here playing scared because we want to worry about our funding levels with organizations like Naleo or National League of Cities, because we're appeasing both sides of the aisle and right now, our community is on fire. How do we act? Stop giving us just information so, thank you, adam.
Speaker 2:And you know, being here is a form of resistance too, because when we come over here we're growing our network. So when we go back home it's not just us speaking up, it's I could go, I can uh hook up with horchit, you know, I could hook up with with you over there. I could, I can call uh dr, uh dalpillar, or I could reach out. We, we, as we grow our network, as we come, these things, we are going back with more numbers behind us. So yes, I understand it is frustrating because NLC is nonpartisan. We're not, we're not supposed to get pick sides on this thing. We can do certain advocacy things, but you know and NLEo's in the same boat, but we as individuals, the nature of us being elected, we are political, what's?
Speaker 5:partisan about cutting Medicare. Like I mean yeah, like I mean that shouldn't be partisan, can?
Speaker 10:I say really quick, we do produce Advocates Guide what you can do. We produce like sample op-eds. We are preparing a document now what state and local actions could be done to try and counter some of the things that were in this bill. And so I will say, as an organization, we do produce resources for advocates, folks on the ground, and then recommendations for states and local advocates or states in terms of legal responses or legislative responses to what's happening in terms of legal responses or um, or legislative responses to what's happening, um, in terms of, uh, this bill and the federal kind of disinvestment and I'll also just say I would encourage you to talk to like leadership at nlc because I think they need to hear from folks about what membership needs and they only do that if they hear directly from you.
Speaker 8:So I, if you're a member of nlc, email the ceo email, the president, don't tell them. I told you to do that. The closed session, but I encourage you to do that, because that's how the needle moves and I understand I I'm not pointing any fingers but when we're coming back and fighting and resisting against some egregious policies, things that are ignoring our Constitution and due process.
Speaker 13:we're constantly playing catch-up and we're being reactionary, but y'all are setting a tone as an organization If we're going to be scared to speak up for what is right because of funding sources then, what are? Us, as local elected officials, supposed to do when we're faced with the same decisions?
Speaker 2:okay, uh, we're running short on time. We only have four minutes left.
Speaker 9:Okay, we are okay great okay, uh, my name is josefina canchola. I'm a trustee with whittier union high school district in california and, fyi, my dad used to work for the coca-cola food division.
Speaker 9:So I'm kind of actually piggybacking on the last comment. What is really happening in the United States right now is the elimination of democracy, so it should be concerning to both Republicans and to Democrats. And the one thing that I haven't heard yet is in terms of impeachment. Look at how much damage has already been made in the last six months. I don't want to wait four years to see what's going to happen with this nation. I don't want to wait four years. Where I live in the city of Santa Fe Springs, california, 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 you know our community is afraid. They're exhausted, they're hiding. We're not in Germany, in the, you know, in the Second World War, and we are like in a war situation in the united states of america. That's supposed to be a free country. So I think that part of our conversation during this next few days should be about impeachment.
Speaker 10:We need to get him out of the white house, thank you so republicans control the house and the senate, like there isn't going to be an impeachment bill introduced unless something drastic happens at the midterm elections, and so I do. Going to be an impeachment bill introduced unless something drastic happens at the midterm elections, and so I do want to be realistic. Yeah, you should be. You need to be that with Republicans controlling the House and the Senate, there will not be an impeachment bill introduced.
Speaker 2:And okay, one last one.
Speaker 10:This is very quick. Everyone should actually download something called Ice Block.
Speaker 2:Ice Block is basically just for those of you that are in places that have that, where you might see ice in some corner, this is just a very simple thing that says hey, I am here and ice is here just as a reporting thing, so that when people download it they know where ice is. So this is something I can get all around the country. Just a map app, Ice Block. Just wanted to suggest it, Linda, real quick please good afternoon.
Speaker 7:I'm Linda Pritchett, mayor Pro Tem from the city of South Fulton. I'm first generation Cuban American. My city is 94 percent African American and most people, when they see me, they think I'm African American. I think that the part of the conversation that we're really missing is with the civil rights movement. The African Americans did not do that by themselves. They had to get white people and other people on board.
Speaker 7:What people say to me, not knowing who I am, is this ain't our fight. They got to figure that out right for us Latino people. They don't understand what our people came here for or what they're running for right. So we have to figure out a message to get African Americans and other minorities on board. Because, see, the thing is, when people talk about immigrants, we're the ones cleaning the toilet, we're the ones cooking the food, we're the ones on the roof, we're the ones doing all this stuff. So then, when you start snatching people, don't look at me.
Speaker 7:I'm not picking the fruit, I'm not saying it's not honorable, but the African Americans have to understand you were the slaves here first. They're putting you back in a position where you're going to have to do it, you know. So we have to have. We have to figure out a conversation to get other races and other ethnic groups involved, to make them understand. You may feel like this is only our fight, but we really have to get together because it's really a whole us against a very narrow them with this idea of white supremacy that has really exploded at this point. And that's it. I yield.
Speaker 3:Thank you, councilmember Patino, lydia Hernandez. I'm both. I'm a school board member, phoenix, arizona, of 20 years and I'm also state representative. But I've seen it all with immigration, with the last marches back in 06 07 coming forward. But I think we've got to, and I think you mentioned Dante. This is a great opportunity for us to request from Naleo it's a nonprofit organization. At least that arm that we're here with is not able to engage at that level, but we're able to request such workshops to take place so that we have elected officials that have gone through this to give us the best practices and shared scenarios.
Speaker 3:We in Arizona have more Latinos than we ever have before. We're gonna be competing with Texas here, but we're both combined. We're both Democrat and Republicans and Republicans leading our leadership. So we've got to be as much as we wanna protest. I'm all for the protest, I organize massive marches, but at the same time we also have to work with each other because, you know, until we educate, we have to continue to educate so we can address those issues together. Obviously, we're just going to, you know. There's a way, Education is literally being gutted.
Speaker 2:Okay let's be respectful. I know this was a question.
Speaker 3:It's further gutted like they're okay, let's be respectful. I know this restoration, but further, you know we need to be respectful to each other. We need to have further conversation about what that looks like.
Speaker 2:Okay thank you, you know we're going on, but I just want to say, uh, you had mentioned about medicaid. I I mentioned also that earlier that I'm on the board of directors of a community health center. There is a group because about the national association of Community Health Centers. They that is what they do. So it is in their charter to fight back to save Medicaid dollars. So I would look at their website, see what the each state has its own chapter and see what you could do there to increase their advocacy to save the Medicaid dollars. And I just I'm putting that out there because I know that firsthand. But we're ready after 12, everybody. We probably could stay here another 30, 40 minutes. Did you need a second? Just a couple of. Okay, real quick. Thank you everybody.
Speaker 9:Thank you everyone, and thank you Councilmember Patino and the speakers for taking time to be here with us. Please give them a round of applause. Thank you, munch.
