process of law. >> so many people come to california because they see it as eden. it's heaven. and of course television has it because ask anybody. released of the rockies they think all californians drive convertibles, go to the beach have the big dog in the back of the car and sit all day and drink there. that's what california is all about. that's what commercials have been about for many years but that's not what california is about. if you know anything about california and i have studied this state for 50 years or more,

you realize that this state is so topsy-turvy is like a rollercoaster gone bad. it can be a boom state economically one year. it can be in a hole 30 billion dollars the next. it's a state that embraces immigrants as it has in the past at times. it can be a state that is absolutely encouraged to make immigrants feel uncomfortable. it's a state where there is nothing but flowing water and enabling everybody to grow and use for reference purposes and can be a state five or six years later where there's nothing to drink. there are so many extremes in california and just when we think we are getting on top of things they fall down. so that's why i say the rise and fall.

it comes and goes, up and down but at the end of the day it is certainly i think the most exciting place to be. the rise of courses the up-and-down. it's not just one ascendancy. california had an incredible boom of the gold rush. that's what started it all. all these people came to california and of course they basically stole the state. obtusely some historians would put it more gently but that's what happened. by that time mexico had been running california and that's why they called it the revolt. about six shots but the idea was relatively few white men all who had come here and believe me it was hard to get here, it became an easy thing to do once mexico sign the treaty of what he lupe

hidalgo, ending the mexican-american war. so that sort of sets the stage for the bear were bold as it's called and the stages boomed during the gold rush. they couldn't get here fast enough. it's also a point in time when we saw the post immigration wave they were coming to california to help the next segment of the boom and that was a transcontinental railway. for those 30 years or so there was an awful lot of hustle and bustle in the state. it was changing left and right and it became more diverse and people with money came into the state and the railroad owned the state put all these things happened in 30 years or so that you could argue, wow we were going up, we were going way up. then something's changed not be had to go all the way down.

the gold rush and did abruptly it seems and it became sort of an agrarian state. after world war ii the va was very important here. all these people who work, rosie the riveter types as well as the military guys coming home. they all got va loans. in the late 1940s the men were going back to school and all that kind of stuff and california had a history wants it developed its highway system making college free. it was free during the 50s and 60s when they put together its higher education or a-gram, university colleges and it didn't last long as far as i'm concerned. mid-60s when reagan became governor in 66th that's when he and the board of regents began to install tuition and the

csu followed and college is not so much. that was the golden. and then there was a lot of manufacturing here. all the parts that go with automobiles and other manufactured in california. the 70s and 80s were difficult. the pulse wasn't beating quite so hard and quite so fast and quite so loud. they began to go into a very serious period of discrimination and particularly against immigrants and people don't remember this anymore but are in the 80s and the 90s we passed some of the harshest anti-immigrant legislation they ever imagined. one constitution prop 187 tonight it was called at the time the illegal immigrants any

benefits in the state. that suit was thrown out by the federal courts. another prop made english the state's official language. another proposition ended affirmative action. we were one of the first and affirmative action so people don't remember this but during the late 70s, 80s and 90s the state really went backwards in terms of up a number of the social issues that people talk about today. this is part of california now and it has all turned around. immigration you saw during the 70s, 80s and 90s he wouldn't recognize today. this is one of the most pro immigrant states in the country. why? all you have to do is look at the fact that nonwhites are a majority of the population and their members have moved up and

are in local offices. because of that incredible growth of these various -- the state of become much more sensitive and for undocumented immigrants now they can go to college and get loans these undocumented immigrants can't. sanctuary cities popped up everywhere and the state the legislature is on the verge of making california the first full sanctuary state aid the changes that go on here are in waves. only the waves don't always go in the same direction. they battle things one way and the battle things the next. it's part of the acceleration of the state and for some the heartbreak of the state. when he went to central valley which was afforded files long

the richest land you'll find anywhere and the only basic ingredient is water and there have been some water wars well they made movies out of them. water wars were larger than just that little area. 80% of the water goes to agriculture. 80% for agriculture related activities. at least 20% including rest of the state including people who like to drink it. after that 75% of the water in the state comes from northern california, the sierras and the rain in northern california. 25%, two-thirds, excuse me two-thirds. one third of the water is generated in southern california southern california has two-thirds of the population in

northern california which by the way is very generous. a lot of people are just north of the patch of these -- tehachapis. as far as they are concerned we are all urban but the fact is most of the water is in northern california and most of the cast of -- population is in southern california. add to that the agriculture sets up an incredible competition and the fight really between farmers and environmentalists coupled with urban users. so the bottles here are endless. you are not going to find more water in california. you're just not. if you are lucky you get it decent year. the snowpack alone accounts for

one third of our water. no snow, you are in trouble. you have to draw from the california aquifer and aquifers in the central valley and it's now been drained thanks to the drought. the environmentalists are we saying water retake especially from adults of the water coming down the river you circumvent that important to agriculture the more you are endangering fish and other species. that is a headache we have had here for the last 40 years. it's kind of funny right now because you talk about president trump and his saber rattling and talking about denying california money as a sanctuary state and cities that don't cooperate. the fact of the matter is california as a donor state. the state contributes billions of dollars more to the federal government than we get back.

a donor state thomas one of the largest donor states around. in the south they are recipient states. the states in the midwest, the same thing so it's ironic the poorest states get the least -- the most from the federal government. i will say having somebody like nancy pelosi as speaker and minority leader has been helpful to this day. two senators for the longest time dianne feinstein and until recently barbara boxer had great seniority in those matters. we have 53 members of the house the largest delegation by far although rarely do they actually vote together. they can and when they do their voting counts for a lot. and we have got the brains here. that's not to say there aren't rains trained other places but

there's such a concentration of talent here. such a concentration of so many smart people who do so many things. innovation is one of those things that happens all the time and no it doesn't always work. it does what it does. changes everything. there are wacky things all over the place. i saw this sign on a white wall, fail first and ask for forgiveness later. washington this is the way we have done it and this is the way we are always going to do it. california is the wild west and so there's a culture differential to begin with. i think that sometimes causes tension. it depends on the administration. bill clinton and barack obama

saw a great benefit from california managed to get congress to funnel its money for mass transit, for r&d to help but h-1b programs, other federal funds. there's a lot of talent here. he pretty much didn't understand it. i blame him. and trump, now some people are always pulling their hair out excess trump hates california. i'm not so sure he hates california, maybe he does but let's remember we have kevin mccarthy who is the majority leader here and we have got some pretty sharp people, republicans and democrats in congress who are able to exercise a lot of common sense. i'm not so sure even someone

like president trump would be able to turn this state upside down but it's definitely going to be a different era. california matters because so often the first and a if not the first is really among the first. if you look like things like compartments was him and by the way republicans. arnold schwarzenegger will go down in history for a lot of things but in governor h.b. 32 california developing a larger and larger percentage of its power from alternative energy. way ahead of everybody else, way ahead and what we call and trade which basically taxes companies that use too much fuel. this was pretty amazing so

environmentalism. the women's movement was big here. one third of our congress are women, female. that's about double the national average. minority rights have become big here. one third of our congress membership are minority which also is close to double the national average. the state in so many ways has set the trend. not always the right direction for some people but a trendsetter. you can view this as a country, it's the state largest separated from the nation and the sixth largest country in the world in terms of economic development. only five nations are more powerful than us in terms of the economy. so we use that leverage in lots of ways to move ahead and a lot of states have emulated and some

of the states have come to loathe us. my hope would it's very fast-paced. not fast paced like new york city but so many things come and go in so many develop and to rise fall in so many innovations come and change the world, not only the country. i'd like them to realize that the perplexity of the state in the diversity of the state is also the bounty of this state. there's so much we learn from each other in california. it's a state where everybody somehow can get representation depending on what group or groups they belong to. they are competing values in the state. there's a place for everybody. the far right has its regions in california believe you me and

the left of course does as well. it's a state where there's so much action and so much activity, so much energy. i think for that reason it can be tiring, it couldn't be exhaustive. trying to figure out what the legislature is doing and not doing and there are all kinds of problems here but problems are not it's a state that looks to me most of the time forward, sometimes not that it's a state that looks to move and never rest on its laurels. you know, it's a pretty exciting place to be.