Quotes from Kevin de Leon

Many foreign students take their California degrees back to their home countries. They become entrepreneurs that develop products that they sell back to us.

California will not become a cog in the Trump deportation machine.

I worry about civil-rights activists being targeted as black-identity extremists. I worry about the government saying, 'I don't like this progressive blogger' and subjecting them to scrutiny.

Clean air shouldn't be a privilege dictated by where you can afford to live but a right to which we are all entitled.

Recycling more plastics can help local businesses and expand jobs while supporting the goals of sustainability.

When I was elected for the first time in '06 I'd never been elected to any body. City councils, school board, community college boards, trustee, water district trustee, class president, ASB president, senior class president - nothing. I was never elected to anything in my life.

In California, we celebrate our diversity. We celebrate who we are because we're proud of who we are; we're proud of where our families come from.

My name is Kevin de Leon, and I am the president of the most progressive legislative house in America.

We have proven that you can actually move strong, progressive policies, grow the economy, and improve the human condition.

We can't cross our fingers and hope that President Donald Trump can 'learn and change.'

I want you to know that California is your sanctuary. We will always be a place where you can be whoever you are and become whoever you dream of being. California will always stand up for you. That's a principle that's bigger than partisanship, more powerful than any president.

Police chiefs know a thing or two about public safety.

We speak truth to power, and we've never been fooled into believing Donald Trump 'can be a good president.'

What we have done dramatically in California is lead the entire nation. For example, we have created more jobs in clean energy in California than there are coal-mining jobs in all of America.

I think there's no such thing as free trade. I think there has to be fair trade.

If we do high-speed rail, the governor has to be intelligent and invest the dollars at the 'bookends' - San Francisco and Los Angeles.

When people see the healthful impact this is having and all the hard hats constructing, their minds may change about high-speed rail.

I don't like to move abstract theoretical policies that, on a white paper, sound good. If I wanted to do that, I'd be a professor.

Foreign relations should involve human rights, workers' rights, and environmental protection.

Domestic workers allow many people with disabilities to maintain independent, productive lives and live in their own homes - not in institutions.

Our State Senate must lead by example, restore trust and transparency, stop sweeping workplace misconduct under the rug, and do everything we can to protect women who work in and around the Capitol.

I didn't know how to do a press release, so I'd call the local Assembly member and say, 'Hey, can you fax me one of your press releases?' 'Which one?' 'Any one.'

My mother, Carmen, cleaned houses and took care of elderly people.

The days of Democrats biding our time, biting our tongue, and triangulating at the margins are over.