building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc7 news . welcome to your daily program, getting answers. we are asking experts your questions to get answers. today, a state official will be joining us to ght and the impac agencies start cracking down on water usage. plus, the lieutenant governor of hawaii will join us for updated travel guidelines. let's begin with president biden's first address to a joint session

tonight. lawmakers will get to bring a guest, often time to highlights and issued they care about. is now is nancy pelosi's guest, dr. tennis type. >> thank you for having me here. >> how does it feel to be the guest tonight? >> you know, i guess it didn't hit me yet. i am very honored to be selected. speaker pelosi came to san francisco about a week ago. we did a joint press conference advocating for the covid vaccine as well as the american rescue plan that was passed. i am very honored to accept her invitation to be her virtual gas. >> it is virtual. i can't wait to find out how that works and means to be a

virtual guest. first, i want folks to know more. speaker pelosi's press release says, quote, it is my privilege to have a model to the nation with his work to provide linguistically appropriate services that ensure that all people have access to life- saving care. she is putting the spotlight on northeast medical services. what do you offer and do? >> so, northeast medical services are a community health service that ensures low income patients. we have close to 65,000 patients with 12 clinics through the bay area that we serve. we definitely serve a lot of hard to serve, vulnerable populations. 180% of the population is

chinese speaking. >> have the health is been overlooked or perhaps, you know, due to bias or perception issues, or language issues? >> i think definitely with the covid-19 infection and the recent anti-asian stress, it has been a huge distress to patients and staff. we have staff who are walking down the street to get spit on and so forth. we have patients who were physically assaulted that we treated in the clinic. this is really demonstrating a work in terms of giving vaccines and providing good quality of care to the community. i think it is great that speaker pelosi recognizes the work that we do and we really appreciate her advocacy and representing her constituents in san francisco since one third

of the population is asian- american. >> what does culturally competent health care look like? >> so, as i mentioned before, 80% of the patients are chinese speaking. they really rely on a lot of the staff who are bilingual speaking so they don't need to bring their children or someone to help them interpret. i think that relationship, in terms of primary care relationships, is a sacred relationship. they want to be able to communicate with their primary care providers. we offer primary care services as well as specialty services. more importantly, we offer what we call a one-stop shop so patients can come to see the doctors and we can get their blood tests done, dental cleaning or care done, radiology, mammograms, as well as picking up their drugs. we have ancillary services and

mental health services, especially now, that is an important issue for the asian american community in terms of getting access and really understanding how to really voice our concerns to the public. >> and i know that health centers like yours are key piece of the priority to fixed disparities in healthcare which have been magnified by covid. now, what does it mean to be a virtual guest? normally you see the guest in the house chambers with a nice suit, with your host but normally get that trip to d.c. what does it mean? are you lugging to zoom and are you getting dressed up? >> i think i just got a zoom invite. i believe it is going to go through a zoom. in terms of logistics, i think they're keeping it kind of secretive right now.

again, i will find out more as we go by. >> not sure if there is a group picture or if you have to do a breakout room. >> yes. everything is new to me. i'm very honored. i'm shellshocked right now. >> i can imagine. definitely the chief health officer at northeast medical services. that is who pelosi wanted to highlight tonight. thank you for joining us today. by the way, abc7 news will have live coverage of president biden's address tonight. coverage begins at 6:00 on air and all of the connected tv apps. the speech will be followed by a special edition of abc7 news at 8:00 p.m. thank you, again. you can watch it at home. coming up next, several local water districts are starting to tighten their belts

when it comes to cracking down on wasser use. what is coming next? we will get into this topic

welcome back. the dreaded d word is back. drought. the utility district just declared a stage one drought and is asking customers to cut water use by 10%. the santa clara water district is asking people to pipe by 25%. all signs point to another potentially dangerous drought. joining us to talk about this is the california secretary for natural resources. thank you for joining us today, secretary. >> thank you. >> governor newsom has

announced a drought emergency. we reported a couple days ago that 85% of the state is in extreme, severe, or exceptional drought. what is that mean? >> let me start by saying california experiences mary wet periods and dry periods. so, cyclical drought is actually part of the natural environmental cycle. that being said, our droughts have become more recent years of temperatures have increased both in the winter and summer months. here in california, and across the western united states, we are in the second street dry year. most of the snow and rain falls between october and march. coming out of this winter, we now recognize this as one of the driest winters on record. what that means is there is less snow melting from the mountains that will find its way into the communities and

the reservoirs are lower than they would normally be. >> so, what does that mean? obviously, does that mean higher fire risk? we have already seen devastating wildfires. what about for farming? and just urban water use? tell us what it all means. >> with wildfires, we are looking at another challenging season. we had the most destructive season in state history last year in terms of overall acreage, over 4 million acres burned. we experienced this dry and warmer winter which means we have conditions for challenging wildfire seasons coming up. number one. number two is we have less water than we normally would be able to maintain in reservoirs for supplies in cities and towns. in situations like this, that sector in the central valley

has less water as well. it is important to point out so that drug conditions are the same throughout the state and we are not in a position right now to need to do what happened in the last route which is mandate restrictions. >> okay. what kind of restrictions, if not mandates, what kind of guidance is coming in terms of to us and cutting back on the water use. what else is coming besides the local districts that are asking for voluntary 10% or 25% conducts? >> this is an opportunity to make sure you are being as efficient as possible with your water use. that means, of course, ensuring that your irrigation, if you own a yard, isn't leaking. that you are really dialing it back to only what is needed to keep your plants alive. that you're using water in your

home in the most efficient way. what is remarkable, actually, from the last drought that ended in 2016, we have seen significant compher summation maintained from that drought. believe it or not, californians stepped up and reduced water usage by about 25%. what is remarkable, about 16% of that water usage has stayed constant after the drought. at this point, this is an opportunity for everybody to look around in terms of how they are using water and being as efficient and conserving. if conditions dictate, may be broader measures considered but right now, the message is clear in the bay area and across the state, be thoughtful about your water use and conserve what you can. >> you don't see mandates this year? is that what you're saying? >> yeah. i served governor brown as one of the coordinator's on drought. that drought taught me good

lessons which is not to make predictions. i don't want to suggest or predict in the future in terms of what will or will not happen. we have been clear, governor newsom has been clear, we're going to focus actions on what is needed. so, his announcement two weeks ago identified a drought emergency in the rubber river shed area that serves mendocino, marin county's. they were making sure there is enough water for communities. that is the area that has the most acute drug conditions. other areas are not to that point yet. >> okay. the last drought lasted eight years depending on who you ask. you talk about the cyclical nature but are the drought years getting longer and more sustained? can we expect them to be more

than normal? >> that's a great question. the answer is, yes. drought conditions are getting more complicated or more impactful. what is happening is shows us clearly that the temperature in the state in winter and summer months is increasing. and what that means for drought is drier soils that are absorbing more of the snowmelt in the spring. it is meaning more evaporation in our reservoirs and, of course, our rivers. and in some cases, significantly increased use of groundwater. that creates challenges. much like wildfires, yes, climate change is driving drought to be more challenging. that being said, we have made a number of investments in the last drought so the cities and towns including the bay area are better positioned to

actually weather this drought. >> before i let you go, one thing. i want to give viewers a take away. one concrete thing they can do that is a lot of bang for the buck in terms of conserving water. one simple thing. >> one simple thing is tell your teenager to limit their showers. and i said that was just but really, just be thoughtful. this is a dry time period. >> somebody has a teenager. okay. good to talk to you. thank you so much for the insight and information. take care. >> thank you very much.

welcome back. a popular travel

right now is hawaii, especially for bay area residents. if you're considering booking a flight, what you need to know? the rules are evolving. joining us is to talk about this is the lieutenant governor. >> thanks for having me. >> absolutely. visitors are coming back in a big way. all close to normal volume are you at right now and what you expect for the summer? >> we are about 65% right now volume. although, it has really been picking up. we have the safe travels program which is really what it is. we asked people to be a little safer, getting a pretest has been a part of the plan that i built with the team. ed has kept the numbers really low. we have had the lowest case counts in the country. we will go from 70% to 100% quite quickly over the summer as we evolve the program further. we can't wait to see you guys back here.

we are trying to do it safer so everybody is a great experience. >> i want to talk about the evolving part. by the way, yes, the safe travels program requiring that visitors take that test. get that qr code that allows you to exit the airport and enter paradise. that has been a success where economy and safety, tourism can go hand-in-hand. by the way, experience, lieutenant governor, and has worked out great. how are you changing that? are you working on a vaccine poorest part? do you show that? talks about what is changing? >> as of may 11th, we will open up travel for those who have been vaccinated. it is for everyone it is just meant if you got vaccinated here, you'll be able to travel between the islands without having to show that you got a test, a pretest. and then what will be relevant to california and others across the country will be that the program will evolve and apply

to the main tent. sometime shortly after july 4th, i believe, you will be able to, quote, have your vaccine passport. we call it the exception. in other words, you will have your vaccination completed, both shots plus two weeks. both shots, plus two weeks or the johnson & johnson plus two weeks and then you upload that card. >> did you say july 4th? >> just shortly after -- we hope to have it done on or around july 4th. we will announce it. it is eight to be determined date for now. we are testing it out here starting on may 11th. >> that is from traveling from here to hawaii. let's say you are already there. do you expect what you are's talking about? you're going island hopping. do you expect you won't have to do a covid test what you are in

maui? >> once we have that part people who are vaccinated on the mainland, once that is set up, which will be shortly after july 4th, then, yes. once you have uploaded, you are in the system and that is good. the benefit of that, of course, we expect to reach herd immunity around july 4th weekend. we know that people are making progress on the mainland too. we have done 1.18 million shots out of a population of 1.4 million people. we are about halfway there now. that is the benefit. as we are safer and you are safer, that makes all the sense in the world. >> that makes sense. what about children who are not eligible for vaccines but traveling with parents who are fully vaccinated? any exceptions for them? >> not yet. they will still do the pretest but we are working on that. i do expect the cdc and fda to approve vaccinations to age 12

and a couple weeks. stay tuned for that. there is talk about going to age 5. we just don't know yet. once that is in place, it would apply the same way. >> do you expect to keep the mask mandate? everybody was very diligent about masking up. i did hear some complaints about some tourists not following the rules. what you want to say to visitors? >> we are going to follow the cdc guidance. we are tweaking that right now. i was on with the attorney general today. we are sticking very closely with the guidance. we expect you to be outside. also, if you are in gatherings, no need. if you are in a gathering with people you don't know if they have been vaccinated, the smart thing to do is wear a mask. there is a small probability of spreading covid. >> you are not intending on

enforcement or spot checking to see if people who are not wearing masks, in fact, have been vaccinated? >> we are not mask nazis here for sure. we know we have to be responsible. we are relying on what is referred to as [ indiscernible ] which is caring for the state. that is a hawaii concept. it is of value. we hope that you will [ speaking foreign language ] i know that sounds funny from a transplant but that is what we are about. >> hawaii welcomes all. if you have that spirit, absolutely. i get that. i want to ask you, here is a question from a viewer, tom, about cruise ships. how will anything that you are evolving affect the cruise ships to hawaii? >> we want that same standard. that's a great question. if people are vaccinated, it is

going to be the vaxpass or call it what you will. otherwise, we expect people to get a pretest which is within 72 hours of disembarking the ship are coming up an airplane. once again, we have lowered the rate. that lowered the rate of infection by a huge amount. it was like 88% reduction of covid travel cases because of the pretest. we have been happy with that program. that was one of the first things we work concerned about in march of 2020. >> are you ready to handle the flood of tourists? i paid too much for a rental car. how are you ramping up in terms of services and will hotels be 100% capacity this summer? >> yes. they are eager. we had more tourists than we could believe in the year leading up to covid. we topped over 10 million

people. we love visiting with friends and family. we will be ready. i have talked to a lot of the general managers and ceos, they are seeing very full occupancy. it is amazing. the combo of hawaii having the lowest case rates and a pretty well structured program to safely travel has benefits on both sides. you are not going to catch covid in hawaii. two, you can relax because you are here. they are filling up for summer and fall. and then the provision to go around is really going to open it up wide. that is just a common sense thing. if they don't want to be vaccinated, they can do the pretest. i feel strongly about that. people should choose. i am a doctor and i recommend it and i took the vaccine but, look, if we don't choose to be vaccinated, be safe. wear a mask and definitely get the pretest.

>> the tenant

all right. abc7 news will be carrying president biden's address to congress . coverage begins at 6:00 on air and the connected tv apps. the speech will be followed by a special edition of abc7 news at 8:00. he is going to talk about his priorities, the american families, the american rescue plan. we are going to talk about the preschool that he is advocating for. there is a price tag attached. he will talk about how that will be paid for. mostly from the wealthiest americans and also there will be a republican rebuttal or

response afterwards. interesting because they are keeping the size of the audience limited to about 200. normally, it is a packed house chamber with members from both houses. tonight, new reporting just in. what to expect from president biden tonight. his historic address to congress and the nation. and the developing headline today. the federal raid at rudy giuliani's home. but first, president biden tonight and his address to a joint session of congress. 99 days into his presidency. and tonight, we have just learned some of what he'll say to congress and to the american people. also tonight, how the house chamber will look different, just 200 law makers and dignitaries distanced in this pandemic. the first lady, but no guests. and the history that will b made right behind the president. and the president aware most americans support his handling

of the pandemic. now he tries to sell the next part of his jane day. inf infrastructure, jobs, universal pre-k and paid leave. but tonight, the cost and the