audit of u.c. revealed $175 million in hidden funds. we talked with republican state assemblywoman catherine baker, vice chair of the higher education committee, one of three committees that held the joint hearing on the audit's findings. kqed senior politics editor, scott schaefer, has more. senator baker, thanks for coming in. >> scott, good to be here. >> let's talk about the audit. janet napolitano was on the hot seat in sacramento this week. what troubles you the most about the audit, the findings, and how she responded to it? >> sure. the audit had many troubling findings. first was the undisclosed off-budget funds that was not disclosed to the region, either the spending or its existence. and that that fund was being amassed or built up within the office of the president at the tame time they were asking for tuition increases from students taking campus assessments away. dollars that could have been spent on our california students. that was very troubling. the good news is, they've agreed to take all the budget recommendations of the audit report. that's good. very troubling was the tampering that appears to have happened between the office of the president and the communications that were supposed to go to the auditor confidentially to give us unfiltered, unadulterated information. they interfered with the investigation the auditor had. that, to me, is troubling, and the response that the president had. i don't believe she was fully forthright. i know she wasn't in the hearing. that has gravely concerned me. >> you and some of your republican colleagues are asking to subpoena some records, budget records, invoices, those kinds of things. what are you looking for? do you feel like there may have been some -- some law broken perhaps, or what? >> i really -- for me, i want to get to the facts. that's the first part. the office has had a problem with candor, both in terms of the financial documents. there are still a lot of unanswered questions that the auditor was unable to get information about. we need to get that out there. secondly is this issue of how the university office of the president interfered with the communications. they actually took some of the input that was supposed to go to the auditor, crossed it out, and edited it to make it sound better and gave it forward. that was directed at the highest level from president napolitano, something that she did not agree with at the hearing. that to me is troubling. i do believe the best way to deal with it is fact-finding subpoenas. get the full information in a disciplined way so we have the facts. >> could you see this leading to her resignation? >> i will leave that up to the regents and president. i tell you, this is the most troubling audit i've seen. the auditor said in her testimony on wednesday, in her 17 years, she has never seen that type of interference in this type of audit report. that should cause everyone to look and see what's the appropriate action. >> quickly so we can move on, though, do you support rolling back the tuition increase that the regents approved earlier this year? >> absolutely. the day that this audit report came out, i had a one-hour briefing with the auditor to go through it first and make sure i understood the findings and called for a freeze in the tuition increase and the salary increases, the benefit increases, and the administration costs. we owe it to california students to do that. >> let's move on to health care. i was in the kcapitol yesterday when the vote was going down in the house of representatives. a lot of offices had the tv on watching. california, of course, stands to potentially lose billions of dollars if the medicaid expansions are pulled back, that kind of thing. do you support the bill as it was passed in the house this week? >> first of all, california went all in with cover california and the affordable care act. we stand to lose billions. what's probably a better reflection of my belief on what should happen with health care at the federal level is h.r.28, which i was the only republican to vote for in the state assembly -- of course, this vote was in the house of representatives -- it was a reflection of how should we best maintain coverage and also choice for californians. that's probably a better reflection of what i think is the policy and where we should go. >> given what's happening in congress, what -- it now goes to the senate? i mean, would you like to see them start over, or are there things about w what passed this week that you like? >> one thing that i know for sure is it's going to be winding through a complicated process. it's got to get through the senate, get to the president's desk. i think it needs to maintain choice, and it needs to maintain access including for pre-existing conditions. >> you said california was all in. >> yeah. >> on the aca. do you think california went too far in expanding medicai medicaid/medical? >> i agreed with the governor -- we did expand way beyond medical. the problem is we don't have enough money to provide quality, accessible health care for californians here now and needing meneed ing medical, and we expanded it and don't have the budget for it. i believe that's a problem that will make it difficult to respond to what happens at the federal level. >> transportation, s.b. 1 passed. the governor signed it. a $52 billion revenue generator or ten years for roads and public transit. you vote against it. >> i did. >> a lot of commuters in your district rely on the roads. what was your fundamental opposition to it? >> fundamentally, if we're going to even think about taking more tax dollars and revenue from californians, we have got to show we're making the reforms necessary to spend it better. we have to do that first. the bill had virtually zero reforms to modernize caltrans, to be more efficient with those dollars. and of the 107 pages, there was one page that mentioned caltrans. it was six lines that set a goal for better operations, and that was it. we could have done more. >> that's the bill that was before the legislature. are you saying that doing nothing would have been better than what passed? >> i think doing the right thing, do the reforms with any kind of conversations about revenue. but zero conversations about reform happened. zero parts in the bill. and unfortunately, californians, i think, deserve better. if we're asking for more money, the highest gas tax in california history, a gas tax that continues year after year after year and we do nothing to spend it better, that's the wrong way to go. >> california, of course, has become sort of the center of resistance to the trump agenda. and i'm wondering as a republican, do you -- how do you feel about what the legislature is doing and specifically the sanctuary state bill, s.b. 54 that passed the senate, in your house? >> it's all the way over in the senate. i probably won't get to vote on it until it's on the assembly floor. it's keenly important to people in my district and i think californians. i support a welcoming immigration policy including for refugees. we have to keep everyone safe. whoever's here and how they got here, we have to keep them safe. the main thing i'll look at with that bill is does it allow law enforcement to keep people safe? if not, it's not a good bill. >> quickly, there's no endangered species list for politicians or republicans. you'd be on it if there was. >> i have to think of it as a seed that grows. >> why do you think republicans have had such a hard time with their message? certainly in the bay area in particular. in the state? and again, i apologize but we're short on time. >> that's okay. you know, i think that the california republican party has had challenges for last two decades. i think we're listening more to californians than i think you're seeing the majority agenda in sacramento. what people need to improve their quality of life. if we keep on that path, i think we'll ton do better and better. >> all right. assemblywoman baker, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. now for a closer look at the university of california's finances, on tuesday, u.c. president janet napolitano apologized for how her office handled the audit that found millions in hidden reserve funds, even as u.c. raised tuition across its ten campuses. u.c. has long enjoyed autonomy in governing itself. now the audit is affecting trust in u.c.'s leadership as questions emerge about whether that autonom should continue. joining me now is bay area news group higher education reporter emily dury. nice to have you here. >> thanks for having me. >> how significant is this audit? >> it's fairly huge. i mean, explosive is a word that has come up. they found that there's $1 75 million in what the auditor at one point called a slush fund. secret reserves that weren't disclosed fully to the board of regents that oversees the u.c. system. you have people saying where is this money going, why are you raising tuition, what's going on here? >> so then the reaction among parents and students, i would imagine, is they're pretty upset. >> you have people really upset. you have students coming forward and saying that the tuition increase, about 3%, raises in-state tuition from about $12,300 to $12,600. you have students saying that's hard for some people in? families. >> this on top of another audit this year showing that thousands of out-of-state students with lower grades and test scores than the in-state students were being admitted, primarily to raise cash for the u.c. system. >> right. and you have california taxpayers saying we're funding this, and i'm having to send my kid to oregon or to arizona. and why can't they go to the u.c. system that we've been paying for? >> what has been the response from president napolitano? >> napolitano's office has been fairly defensive. she's been somewhat apologize tick, but she seems to be -- apologetic, but she seems to be apologizing for the optics of this. they've said the $175 million isn't fair. nays they say it's $38 million. it's for cybersecurity, protecting student data. the auditor said, no, i'm not buying it. the auditor said napolitano's office hasn't shown proof that that is the case. >> the auditor, who's been doing this for 17 years, and we should point out elaine howell has also said that in her 17 years she's never seen the level of interference. she's referred to criticism that napolitano's office perhaps encouraged some of the u.c. campuses to come back and change their responses to audit surveys to make the president's office seem more favorable. >> right. that is one of the more shocking allegations here and not even allegations. i've seen emails, and there's some proof there that campuses sent in their responses to a confidential survey -- what was supposed to be confidential, to the u.c. president's office. the president's office offered what they're calling suggestions to make those responses more favorable. the president's office said we need to make sure everybody's on the same page. the responses changed dramatically. some of the criticisms of the u.c. president's office were cut out. what got submitted to the state auditor was very different than what some schools initially wrote. >> now we have some lawmakers who are asking for subpoenas of those documents, including assemblywoman katherine baker. also some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are asking for a cancelation of the tuition hike. >> right. you have people like gavin newsom coming toward. absolutely both sides of the aisle. and newsom is saying, you know, we can't raise tuition in light of this -- this audit and these findings. and we need some transparency around how u.c. is spending its money, what the budget looks like, and we can't hit students and families with that hike. >> how likely do you think that will happen, that the hike does not happen? >> not necessarily likely. i think we need to wait and see. but the regents oversee the u.c. system. the chair, monica lazano, has been fairly defensive of napolitano and of the way that u.c. is run. so i don't know how likely it is that they'll freeze the tuition hike. >> okay. now you have the u.c. president's office, the board of regents which oversees the president's office. who overseens the regents? how much impact or -- or oversight does the legislature have on the system? >> great question, and not a lot. the state -- the california constitution essentially says that the u.c. is somewhat autonomous and that state lawmakers can make recommendations to the u.c. system. but the regents don't necessarily have to take those. that's very different from something like the california state university system where lawmakers can pass statutes scoop -- and the csu system has to take those into account. u.c. can say thanks, but no thanks. >> bottom line, do you think the audit could lead to u.c. losing some if not all of its autonomy? >> possibly. i don't know how likely that is. but possibly. and you've seen some people calling for state lawmakers to really get in there, do an investigation, and potentially handle some of the budgeting process. i spoke with the head of the largest u.c. employee union, and her comment was we really need some sunlight in there. she wants state lawmakers to handle some of the oversight because she's not thrilled with what she's seeing. >> we know that the regents are meeting in san francisco starting may 17th. i am sure this will be on that agenda. >> a lot more then. >> emily dury, bay area news group, higher education reporter, thank you for being he here. >> thank you. we move to a state lawmaker who has a lot of influence over how our taxpayer money is spent. state senator holly mitchell from los angeles has made fighting for the poor her life's work. she was elected to the state assembly in 2010 and to the state senate in 2014. she's now chair of the powerful senate budget committee, with the governor's revised budget due next friday. we get a preview from senator mitchell about what to expect. kqed has more. >> reporter: thank you so much for coming in, senator holly mitchell. >> it's my pleasure. great to be here. >> you're chair of the budget committee in the senate. we're expecting next week the governor to unveil his may revise, where we get a better idea of what he's proposing. i'm curious where you see the big budget showdown this year and if you think the two houses which are both controlled by democrats are going to be united in their priorities. >> you never know until you know. we'll see. may revise -- is there opportunity to look at a real budget, in my opinion, after the may -- the april numbers come in from everyone paying their taxes. we'll have a better idea of what the state's income really is. and i think i've begun to have preliminary conversations with my colleagues in the assembly. i think that there are some kind of above-the-fold issues that are resonating with all of us. the coordinated care initiative, the issue about in-home supportive services and whether we kick the can down to the counties or we continue to pay them at the state level. i'm glad to see we just got rid of -- we handled the infrastructure issue with s.b. 1. that's a big, big piece. there will be any number of critical issues that we have to look at -- health care, childcare. there are a number of issues that resonate i think with leadership in both houses. >> so one of the big legislative fights you've had in the assembly and senate was a repeal of the maximum family grant rule for welfare recipients, how it works. i want you to kind of lay out what that was. tell us why that was so important to us as somebody who comes from -- as an activist in poverty and childcare issues. >> you know, i worked in the legislature many years ago and was an advocate with the western center law on poverty. i remember picking up and reading "the sacramento bee" the date that event-governor pete witch -- that then-governor pete wilson signed it. you know, it was one less case of beer a month. it was this cavalier attitude about the life and struggles of poor people that never left me. >> explain what it is. >> maximum family grant. it was a budget deal during his administration that basically said if you're on cal works, you're receiving welfare, cash aid for your family, that if you have another child while you're on cash aid, your grant wouldn't be adjusted. it was a national kind of effort led by the republican party, who operated on the assumption that poor women had babies to increase their cal works check. and as i have said publicly repeatedly, i don't know a woman and i don't believe she's been born yet who would have another baby for an additional $109 a month. it was a failed policy. 15 states have overturned it over the last 20 years. and all it did in california was push already marginalized, poor families deeper into poverty. so it took us a number of years, but i'm very proud to say that we've removed it. >> it seems like your big legislative push is more around criminal justice issues. i notice among a package you introduced with colleagues includes reforming the juvenile justice system. can you tell me about maybe a couple of those bills? >> i think the general voting public understands that building prisons and incarcerating people for longer periods of time doesn't -- is not helpful. it doesn't work. it doesn't necessarily make our communities safer. it costs a great deal of money. so we've seen the reverse. i'd not seen that same attitude in public policy shift when it comes to juveniles. and that's been made apparent in the policy committees that we've heard some of these bills so far. so we've got bills that say that if you're a minor, you can't waive your miranda right. that we don't believe it's appropriate for children under 12 to go to jail. and so there's some fundamental issues where we say children are not pint-sized adults. they have different ages and stages of brain development. and we need to treat them accordingly. >> so another issue we've seen a lot of focus on in sacramento this year is protecting immigrants. and particularly undocumented immigrants given what's happening again in d.c. and i'm wondering when you go out to your community, is that a concern you hear? >> no question. i representppli mid city los angeles, little ethiopia. large areas of my district are latino residents and immigrants from other parts of this world. and i think fundamentally my constituents and i recognize the value that the immigrant community brings to california, from our work force and in terms of our diversity. >> are you hearing about tradeoffs in terms of spending or also the threats we've mentioned about federal funding? are people worried about money? >> people are worried about the threat. people are worried about living in california, living in a country that's based on the sweat equity of immigrants and what our country now looks like in the world's view. people are worried when they hear about i.c.e. raids in courthouses and i.c.e. raids at elementary schools. i co-hosted with the black social workers a "know your rights" workshop with aclu. the diversity of the people in that room looked like california. people were asking questions on behalf of each community. and so people are, i think, have been shaken to their core about really not feeling connected with the new national focus on what it means to be an american. and our -- and are thrilled that the california legislature and leaders are stepping up to defend basic human rights. >> another big issue that you have been involved in is climate change policy. again, some of that is under attack by president trump. there's also been this interesting sort of debate that's come up. it used to be business versus environmentalists, right? how it there's concerns about environmental justice. that places in the inner city or more rural areas have really felt the effects of pollution and other problems. >> when i first ran for office, i have a son who's now 16, was 10. when i was making my decision, he was about 8. and he made the most profound, had the most profound aha moment that public policy is not black and white. it's not a -- you know an if this then that equation. we need jobs. we need communities that are disproportionately impacted by bad air by trucking or what have you, we need all of that to work in a symbiotic relationship. and so it's not if this, then that. and so the manufacturers are coming together with the environmental justice and the traditional environmental groups to have a different kind of conversation. and that is thrilling to me, based on the district i represent. and so it's just not that elementary. we've got to come together and have meaningful conversations to target communities that have been disproportionately impacted, as well as recognize that those are the same communities that need the jobs the most. >> thank you again for coming in today. >> it's been my pleasure. turning now to stockton. a city 80 miles east of san francisco that made national headlines when it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. this november, the city made national headlines again when it elected michael tubbs as its first african-american mayor. at 26, tubbs is also the youngest mayor ever to lead a large u.s. city. his hometown is struggling with one of the highest crime and unemployment rates in the state. joining me is stockton mayor michael tubbs. nice to have you here. >> thank you very much for having me. >> you have quite an impressive resume. you graduated from stanford with bachelor's and master's degrees, a host of leadership awards, an internship at the white house. and you probably could have chosen to go anywhere. yet, you chose to go back to stockton, why? >> i'm born and raised in stockton. growing up, so much the narrative about being successful meant i had to leave stockton. so that's what i did. but then when i was interning in the white house and intergovernmental affairs, every day my job was to work with mayors and council members nationwide. i saw at a local level people were making a difference. i thought, okay, it's important to donate to good candidates locally, but i didn't think i'd move back to stockton. then while still there, my co cousin was murdered. and going home and dealing with the pain, anger, and hurt, but realizing that for a lot of families -- especially families from neighborhoods like the one i came from -- that was almost a normal or part of life experience. i thought that all this -- all the awards, all the education had to be for something bigger than me. that's why i decided i would go back to stockton and run. >> and your own family background was pretty challenging. you were born to a teenaged mother. your father was incarcerated for much of your life. in fact, he's incarcerated now. tell us about that experience. >> i would say growing up that way is why i'm interested in policies. i realize oftentimes when we had talk about people nationally or locally that are poor or that might have criminal backgrounds, that we -- we deny their humanity. we miss nuance. we miss that people are incredibly resilient. i watch my mom work hard and not make excuses, with nuances like poverty and criminality, i think i have lived with those issues. we need different policy prescriptions than i would have had i just studied them at stanford, for example. >> did you ever visit your father in prison? >> once when i was a child, around 12. i visited him two weeks before my mayoral kickoff. >> why just two times? >> i spend a lot of time in prison speaking and things. for me, visiting, it's a very emotional experience. it's very heavy. because when you go in, sometimes the guards treat you like you're a criminal, like you're a bad person. you have to go through searches -- it's -- it denies humanity in my opinion. the leaving is hard, you spend an hour or 30 minutes with someone you love. you're left and on the bus back to the car, it's mothers and children crying, who are hurt, who are upset. loved ones. it's emotional jarring. it takes a lot for me to go and visit. >> so how has that experience shaped your goals for your own life? >> i think for me it really gave me a real determination as a child to make sure that i wasn't a "statistic." as i got older, i realized there were ways in which policies and government decisions flounced the choices that individual actors make. i thought if i could help reconfigure the system so instead of pipelining people to prison or having neighborhoods red lined and filled with poverty and lack of opportunity, that we could create opportunities in the communities so people could make the right choices. so if it wasn't for those experiences, i don't think i walk drown to government. but it's -- would be drawn to government. but it's the most marginalized and poor folks that rely on government to work most efficiently. so i feel a special responsibility to do all i can to make sure it does that. >> and you were on the city council before you became mayor. and boy, talk about getting a ringing endorsement. oprah winfrey sent in a donation. how did that happen? >> being in the right place and at the right time. i feel incredibly blessed by god and -- so my senior year while i was running, she happened to visit. at a luncheon, i studied abroad the previous year in south africa. she had girls from her south african leadership academy. and we were having a conversation. one of the deans mentioned i was running for city council. she was like, who? and they were like, him. she spent ten minutes grilling me about stockton, interview style, who supports you, who doesn't? how much have you raised? at the end, she said, how do i write a check? a month later a check came from miss winfrey, an incredible blessing. gave us a lot of momentum, a lot of attention. happened early, in march. months before the primary in november. for her to be an early investor and believe that early gave us a lot of momentum moving forward. >> stockton certainly has its challenges. it's been out of bankruptcy for only a couple of years. it has high crime and unemployment rates. what are your top three goals to accomplish as mayor? >> number one, on the violent crime front. 80% of our violent crime is done by less than 1% of the population. i have a couple of strategies in place. one is a cease-fire. another is for the 87 guys who drive the violent crime rate, what besides jails can we offer them with an understanding that transitioning from a life of criminality and violence is not easy. oftentimes, they're perpetrators but also victims. they've had trauma, lost people. figuring out as a community what resources can we provide in terms of housing, employment, and social services for those who want them so they can transition out. number two, on homelessness. looking at improving the housing first solution in collaboration with the county looking at zoning codes, offering tiny houses, and finding out how to make the transition from transitional housing to permanent housing easier. three are the economic development. figuring out the skills gap in terms of the peoplive who w.h.o. li -- officer the people who live in the cities, how do we make sure to have pipelines between our education system. and employer so when kids graduate they are college and career readi. >> much luck to you, stockton mayor michael tubbs. thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you very much for having me. that does it for us. for more of our coverage, go to kqed.org/newsroom. i'm thuy vu. thanks for watching. ♪ >>what path might you take in your quest for total health? >>...optimum health that encompasses mind, body and spirit. >>so join us now as we head to the frontiers of integrative health and well-being >>with judy brooks, >>roy walkenhorst, >>and michele bernhardt, our inner world guide >>on healing quest. thanks so much for joining us. >>in today's show michele has an inspiring inner world story about a young woman who's triumphed over trauma. and understanding how she did that could help all of us deal with bad things. >>we also have an easy way to start your day in a new way that could bring really good things in your direction. our nutrition segment brings us a delicious healing recipe for a powerful pea soup. >>and our healing moment takes us into a mystical mountain landscape. ♪

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