tonight on kqed newsroom, president biden is in california today addressing concerns over soaring inflation and a looming recession. we talk about economic concerns and big hearings on capitol hill plus access to abortion and gun control remains a serious concern for californians and are special guest state senator nancy skinner here's the latest on legislation. >> we visit a community farm in albany in this week's look at something beautiful. coming from you from kqed at

san francisco this friday, june 10, 2022. >> hello and welcome to kqed newsroom. i am priya david clemens. major economic news today. the consumer price index hit a 40 or hyperinflation as prices rose 8 1/2% from a year ago and stock markets dropped sharply with the dow falling 880 points and 2 1/2% response. there are increased concerns about a coming recession and the world bank is warning for a mix of low growth and high prices and president bin spoke this morning at the port of los angeles about these economic concerns. >> make no mistake. i do understand that inflation is a real challenge to american families. today's inflation report confirms what americans already know that the price hike is hitting america harden gas prices at the pump and energy and food prices account for half of the monthly price

increases. >> all of this news is playing out against a political backdrop of primary elections and hearings on capitol hill. joining us now is the washington correspondent via skype and marketwatch san francisco bureau chief jeremy owens. thank you both for being with us. these financial concerns are playing out with real effects in our everyday lives in the price of gasoline seems insane compared to what we are used to seeing and historic high and rising food costs and give us a picture of what we are looking at economically in california. >> we are dealing with and inflation we have not seen in 40 years and we saw another report on that this morning and we also have consumers feeling this inflation in a way that it plummeted to a record low when it was expected to increase we do see consumers react to what is happening and the world ba this week warned about stagnant growth and inflation combined

and we haven't seen that since the 70s and that is going to be felt and affected by tech companies and we have survived it and sustained all along on these high-grwth tech companies we have already seen layoffs increase in april and may and do we do seek companies really cut costs and they even rescinded job offers for people they have already offered who quit other jobs or turned down other jobs to go to coin base and some of those people are in danger of being deported out of the united states. and they also started cloud computing and that ripples through the fall of these tech companies and consumers are cutting back their spending because of inflation, we will be really hard to avoid a recession. >> how do you see these significant inflation concerns playing t in the political sphere? >> i will tell you, republicans think thatanything the

democrats say will help them in the election coming up in november and republican say fat chance if they're looking at inflation and gas prices like this and really know if you talk to any politician these days who will tell you it doesn't matter. republican say that with the approval ratings of president biden going down and the situation happing under the watch that they will take control of congress and you th s carnsoe arma ould favor sh democrats. but democrats say that they do have a plan to address this and republicans don't really have anything to offer other than criticizing democrats but especially over the next few months as we move into november, you will see a lot of jockeying on this issue but historically, and when voters are feeling this much pain on the home front and when they are having trouble making it through the month on their budgets and when they have these kind of pain points like

at the gas pump and grocery store, it is really hard for any incumbent elected official to overcome that sentiment. >> it is very similar to what we saw in the late 70s with jimmy carter and president biden is dealing with inflation and gas prices since we have not seen since then and he will be hard-pressed to get the midterms and moving to the next presidential cycle with what is happening right now. >> let's turn to a major hearing yesterday by the january 6 commission and we want to listen and now to a particularly compelling moment from those hearings from one of the capital police officers. >> what i saw was a war seem and it was something like i had seen out of the movies. i could not believe my eyes and there were officers on the ground. they were bleeding and they were throwing up.

i mean, i saw friends with blood all over their faces and i was slipping and people's blood. >> what are you watching for as these hearings unfold? >> first off, we should say these are incredibly important hearings. we will get probably the fullest picture we have gotten to date on what happened on january 6 of 2021, which was truly a grave serious threat to our democracy that happened and i was not there but i had friends who were in the press corps and obviously there were politicians there and it was a dangerous situation and it is important for the public to understand that. and that said, there is a real question as to what these hearings are supposed to accomplish. and it sort of depends on who you ask. there is a al question in my mind how much of the public doesn't already have a sort of baked in the opinion of what

happened. people who are already recognizing that that is a pretty horrible day are probably going to have that front by these hearings and there is a raw chunk of the population who has made up their mind that they won't take this seriously, and i don't know how you reach that. one of the interesting things worth remembering about these hearings is the trump supportive wing of the gop passed on their opportunity to participate and they decided to boycott the committee and they were vetoed by pelosi and some of them pulled out and the two republicans on the committee are really in line with the democrats on the committee in terms of the threat to democracy. so these hearings unlike many in washington have no counterprogramming. they are highly choreographed by the people in the committee, and there really is not any

sort of surprise factor for the people laying out the case. so for the next week or so, we will see a very detailed presentation d a very robust picture of the event that happened on january 6 but i don't know if it will necessarily change many people in america's minds. >> yes. we will expect to be hearing from some leading tech companies and facebook and google have been subpoenaed by the committee and what do you expect to hear from them? >> we had reports this week that twitter has given over its internal slack messages so what they are able to give the committee and what they say will be two different things in what they are looking for. and executives constantly say we are not the problem here but we are a free communications platform and that may be an issue, but we really have to see what they find in the subpoenas that they put out before we know what they can say. >> sort of thinking back on past hearings and we sort of expect them to say not a

responsibility and whatever it is that happened this is just a platform. >> the politicians will try to beat them up because it is a popular position to be against big tech at this point in time. >> let's take a quick look at what happened in the primaries. the san francisco attorney was voted out by 20% and the mayor is expected to appoint the replacement in july and governor newsom and senator padilla and rob fonda were top vote getters by wide margins and you have been tracking some key congressional races. result of tuesday's vote and a what you'll be looking for. >> i don't think we have any real surprises in terms of who is advancing to november. and for the most part, favorites to be in the top 2 largely across the board appear to be on track for that.

and it is important to remember with the way california counts votes and the amount of ballots that could still be outstanding which is a number we don't know , some of these reasons could shift and many of them won't change significantly. but a few points in either direction could make a big difference in how we interpret results from some of these races and there are a few really interesting swing seats that could be surprising. josh harder in the central valley who is an incumbent democrat he went through a pretty bad midterm election last cycle for some swing seat democrats and he weathered that fine. he is running in a new district that should be better for him and the results right now don't look great. i think the democrats are lagging the republicans in vote totals and conversely in palm springs barbara boxer is it heavily involved in something and right now democrats are getting more votes than the

incumbent and that is supposed to be a safer seat. we will have to see where these go and then course we will have to see how different this electorate is and it was a pretty boring primary and there will also be some ballot measures that could be really motivating for certain groups in november. so a lot of tea leaves still some races that seem close in november. >> some in the national media and locally have portrayed this loss as a backlash for criminal justice reform and you see this differently? >> look at the east bay. in alameda county, we had a progressive da candidate whole well and a progressive sheriff's candidate poll well and in contra costa we had that is a flat win of the race and we don't even need a runoff. we did see a lot of people move out of san francisco into the

east bay and i don't see thoughts on progressive crime approach has changed and the people have changed a bit and it shouldn't be written larger than that. >> i do want to go to some other legislation that is happening on capitol hill and congress is taking up gun- control. the house passed bills to restrict purchasing of semiautomatic of weapons and the agent that you can buy them and restricting the capacity of magazis as well as passing a rag -- red flag bill and what you expect from that? >> it is sort of a truism in washington that forever frustrates the house but it doesn't really matter what the house does. the truth is is that nothing can get past in washington unless it gets passed to the senate and right now there are gun talks happening among a handful of democrats and a handful of republicans in the senate and they seem to be

going better than pretty much anything has in recent memory. and that is not to say that they are locked. it never is. but there is some cause for optimism and it will be a package much smaller than what the house passed without a doubt but if the talks go somewhere, that will be what happened. and that said, there is a real push by advocates of gun violence prevention for the administration to do more through executive action. interestingly, when she was running for president herself, vice president harris had a pretty robust set of proposals that she and her team thought tht the president could actually expand background checks and close loopholes with legislation by regulation and there were a few other proposals and this administration has not adopted those in president biden was on jimmy kimmel this week and was asked about this and said he believes that his predecessor,

donald trump, way over used his executive authority. and he won't do the same. he basically shut down those proposals. so you will see a lot of frustrated advocates on that front. >> thank you both. over the past several weeks, many californians have been rallying to support access to abortion and as we await a final supreme court decision that could rollback abortion rights for many states across the nation. in the wake of the tragic mass shooting in texas, gun control is heavily debated again and the state senator has co- authored a proposed state constitutional amendment to protect access to abortion and has been supporting bills to fast-track gun safety legislation in california. senator skinner joins me now. welcome. we have been focused on gun laws and not only because what happened in texas but in our

own backyard and just yesterday a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed with a high-powered rifle and we think of ourselves here in california as a national leader and can you tell us the situation in terms of gun control in california? >> gun violence is academic but it is lower in california and lower because we have very good gun safety laws and gun violence prevention laws and this debt -- 10 states with laws like us have the lower per capita gun deaths west texas and florida wait exceed us. when i say epidemic proportions just this year alone we are talking 2022 there have already been 240 what has been defined as mass shootings and that is where four or more people are killed by a gun and the reason we do have fewer in california is we have an assault weapons

ban and a really thorough background check and a waiting period before you can get the gun and we have the red flag law which allows us if we know somebody close to us who is making credible threats of violence ainst themselves or others then you can get a restraining order quickly and get guns out of their hands temporarily to help prevent gun violence and that could have been done for the uvalde shooter and so many people and i first initiated that law in 2014. >> there are a few more bills making their way through the legislature right now that you are supporting and in addition there is more funding being proposed by the legislature and above and beyond what the governor proposed. >> in addition to our laws, we front what we call the armed prohibited persons list so in a background check there are various categories where you are not allowed to purchase weapon or possess one. so you may already own it, but then you become on the armed pribited persons list and the

department of justice, we fund them to go take those guns out of the homes and that is part of our expenditures and we fund gun violence prevention were folks like in oakland there is a group called youth alive and they show up at the hospital when a gun violence victim shows up and they help that family because a lot of gun deaths are revenge shootings. they intervene and help support that family and support that gun violence victim to demotivate any type of revenge shootings. >> there is also a lot of money for gun buybacks and prevention services and victim programs. >> if you are a victim of gun violence because a gun owner doesn't have to carry insurance and all of those costs, your hospitalization and all of that is carried by you and i and if we can reduce those costs,

obviously, we will have left cost for you and i in the text. but the victim, the end up paying for it all themselves. so the victim services program and am carrying a bill right now to increase the dollars we provide the victims because the trauma from a gunshot wound affects the entire family and the person and we want to help them recover. >> let's turn to th or.e suise there is a large slate of bills making its way through the legislature right now, 14 of them, one of which you are the co-author, the constitutional amendment. tell us about that one in particular and maybe touch on some others. >> the leaked decision by the supreme court which threatens to overturn roe versus wade a sickly undermines all privacy. in california, your and my ability to legally have an abortion and our right to an abortion is based on california's privacy rules in

our constitution. given that the supreme court seems to be willing to rip out privacy, we have to make abortion rights explicit in our constitution so the head of our state senate from san diego has authored that constitutional amendment, which i am confident our legislature will pass and it will be put on the ballot and that the governor would sign and it will be put on the ballot in november for californians to vote squarely a >> we are also looking at expanding services for people who come out of state but even here in california, and we see abortion as remaining legal, there are barriers to access for many people. >> we have a huge state. you live in certain rural counties, you may have to drive the whole day to get to a clinic where you can get an abortion. there are a lot of costs involved in that so i am carrying another bill where we

set up a website with information about what your rights are because abortion is legal in california and will stay that way but where you can get the services and associated with that website would be a fund or you can apply for practical support if you needed it. if you needed childcare costs are travel costs and we would leave that open for anyone. >> you spoke last month at a rally at lake merritt and you are pretty heated there. let's take a listen. >> men making laws about women's bodies. who decided that that made sense? like most people i have an unexpected pregnancy and who hasn't. it happens. and i was able to get my abortion at a safe and legal clinic.

>> would you feel comfortable sharing more about your personal experience and how that has shaped your perspective as a lawmaker? >> absolutely. i can't believe that we would be at the point in time where any of us would be required to carry a pregnancy against our will. to me that his criminal. when i was a kid, i grew up in a very large irish catholic family and i have eight brothers and sisters. we were antiabortion and that was the religious belief and my mother would even go to big rallies at the cardinal that they ran at the coliseum against abortion and i thought i'd never thought i would have an abortion but it wasn't a practical thing or something that i faced. and then i was in college and i got pregnant unexpectedly and this is something that wasn't in my life plan and especially not with that particular person that i have sects with. i got an abortion and i was

able to get that legally and medically safe and i have no regrets. >> was it hard for you at that time? >> it was interesting to me when i confronted it. it was really about my life. and it was a simple decision because i was thinking about -- i have no income and i had no ability to really care for or support a child and i didn't know what career i would have and the person that i had sects with was not prepared in any way to be a father. so when you think about it from that point view, it made total sense to not proceed with that pregnancy. that is why the decision was, again, not a difficult one for me. i was so thankful to be able to go to a safe, good medical clinic and legally do that. >> let's turn now to money and it is a very sharp turn but over to this enormous a budget

surplus we have in california with almost $100 billion and you are the chair of the senate and budget committee. tell us about how this budget surplus will play out and has it passed on education and will we see more teachers and schools? what can students and parents expect. >> california has a very progressive income tax system where the very wealthiest in our state and we do we have a lot of billionaires and they pay the highest taxes. and many of us didn't do so well in the pandemic but many of us did well so those upper income earners, that is why california has so much money right now. this surplus isn't really something we can count on every year into the future so we are constrained to use it for what we call one time purposes and those are things like infrastructure and at schools it's for fixing the buildings, for example or getting new

buses or that kind of thing. but because the overall budget has increased and not just the surplus, we will have the highest amount of funding per pupil in california history so the schools will do well and it may mean more teachers but certainly at her classroom supplies and better learning opportunities and i think kids and their families will do very well. >> in the last minute i want to touch on a topic that the governor and legislature differ and this is some stimulus relief and a funding back to individuals from this budget surplus especially to help pay it the gas pump and the other costs and the governor's proposal is a one-time refund based on car ownership and if you have a vehicle you get $400 and there is money for free public transit for about three months. in your proposal in the legislature is to have cash payments for individuals that

will be $200 per person and this would be for people who are earning under $250,000 filing jointly or under 125,000 if you are filing alone and why is your plan better? >> we are different because the governor as you mentioned, he wants to give you the money based on the number of cars you own an independent of how much you make. we have families and low income people who have no cars and we have large families with only one car so they only get $400. we feel the people who are really suffering from these high costs are the middle and low income people. and our plan would cover about 90% of californians. we want to give $200 to every individual and their kids. >> thank you for being here, senator. >> really appreciate it. >> this week something beautiful is a bright and bustling community farm and

albany and this is where farmers work alongside students and families to produce healthy, locally grown food. >> ♪

>> what a lovely spot to get your hands in the earth. that is our show for the night and you can find us online on twitter and you can reach me on social media. thank you for joining us and we will see you back here next friday night. have a great weekend.

♪ john: good evening. i'm john yang. geoff bennett is away. tonight on "pbs news weekend." senators say they've made a bi-partisan breakthrough on gun reform legislation, and we look ahead to this week's january 6th hearings. then, skyrocketing home prices and rents are creating a housing crisis in parts of the country. and, drought, famine, and starvation. the costs of climate change take a toll on the people of somalia. feisal adan ibrahim: we've never seen six or more consecutive months of high malnourished patients before. this never used to happen. john: all that and more on tonight's "pbs news weekend."