Matt Haney — Announced as appointed to replace Assembly Member Mark Berman for today's hearing only.
Marc Berman — Noted as the member being replaced for today's hearing only.
SB259 — SB 259 is introduced as a response to threats against election integrity, specifically to create new felony penalties for interference with the delivery or submission of vote-by-mail ballots. Speakers express support for the bill as part of a broader election protection package and ask for an aye vote. The committee then moves do pass and re-refer the bill to the Committee on Appropriations, places it on call for absent members, later reopens the roll and lifts the call, and ultimately votes the bill out of committee 6-2.
Beth Melanowski — Identified as a witness who will testify, affiliated with S.E. (likely an organization abbreviation).
Beth Melanowski / Beth Malinowski — Testified in proud support of SB 259 on behalf of SEIU California and argued California must strengthen election protections.
AB282 — AB 282 is mentioned alongside SB 259 as part of an election protection legislative package intended to build on prior election safeguarding efforts and increase Californians’ confidence in the state’s election systems.
Angelique Ashby — A brief, repeated mention of 'SB 259 Wahab' appears in the transcript, likely referring to the same bill author despite uncertainty in the text/audio. The references are adjacent and describe the same item without introducing a new topic.
Gail Pellerin — Gail Pellerin is noted throughout the procedural portion of the meeting: she is called present during roll call, later recorded as voting aye, and then referenced as the chair in a motion to call absent members and advance the measure to the Committee on Appropriations.
Natasha Johnson — During roll call, Natasha Johnson was recorded as present and later recorded as voting no.
Steve Bennett — Steve Bennett is called during roll call and later appears in the vote sequence, where the transcript is partially garbled, but he is ultimately recorded as voting aye.
Christopher Ward — During the roll call and opening proceedings, the transcript contains garbled references involving Christopher Ward/Haney, including an attendance-style response and a later note that he was seconded by Haney. These mentions are part of the same brief procedural moment.
Sade Elhawary — Sade Elhawary is called during roll call (with a minor transcription variation in the name), is recorded as present, and is later called again during the vote sequence.
Jose Solache — Jose Solache is first called present during roll call, then appears in the subsequent procedural action as the member making a motion and voting yes/aye, with his name transcribed inconsistently across the record (e.g., Salace, Salachi, Salache).
Stephanie Nguyen — Likely the 'Stephanie' being addressed in the roll call sequence; the transcript is incomplete.
Stephanie Nguyen — Assembly Member Stephanie Nguyen is present and then called to vote, responding 'aye.'