California’s Children Living in Deep Poverty

The California Budget and Policy Center recently released a data hit revealing a disproportionate share of children living in poverty in California. From 2011 to 2013, an average of 24.3 percent of Californians were children. Of Californians living in deep poverty, 32.7 percent were children. To view the Data Hit and additional information please click here .

Senate Select Committee on Women and Inequality

The Select Committee on Women and Inequality, chaired by Senator Holly Mitchell, convened on Monday, May 4 to discuss strategies to end deep poverty among women and children. The hearing was divided into three panels: 1) Strategies to Impact Poverty and Deep Poverty; 2) Targeted Investments to Reduce Poverty; and 3) Fair Wages and Working Conditions. The hearing agenda and broadcast can be found here .

Health Coverage for Undocumented Immigrants

On Monday, the Senate Appropriations Committee heard Senator Ricardo Lara’s SB 4, to extend health care coverage to undocumented immigrants. According to the committee analysis, there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the fiscal impact to the state; however SB 4 could potentially cost the state up to $740 million. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to place this bill on the Committee’s Suspense File.

Bills placed on Suspense

This week, the Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees placed several bills of interest on the Committee Suspense Files. Bills of particular interest include:

• SB 24, by Senator Jerry Hill, which would extend the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement (STAKE) Act to include the sale of electronic cigarettes and require child proof packaging for cartridges and solutions.
• SB 297, by Senator Mike McGuire, would require county human services agencies to conduct telephone interviews to determine eligibility and facilitate the submission of documents electronically.
• AB 193, by Assembly Member Brian Maienschein, which would authorize a Probate Court judge to recommend a Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (LPS) conservatorship to the county officer providing conservatorship investigations if the court determines, based on evidence and the opinion of a medical professional, that a person for whom a probate conservatorship has been established may be gravely disabled and is unwilling to accept, or is incapable of accepting, treatment voluntarily and is thus eligible for a LPS conservatorship. CSAC opposes this bill.
• AB 430, by Assembly Member Roger Hernández, which would compel Local Emergency Medical Services Agencies (LEMSAs) to contract with independent entities to conduct an annual comprehensive assessment of their regional trauma system. It also gives Regional Trauma Coordinating Committees (RTCCs) the authority to conduct additional assessments. CSAC opposes this bill; and
• AB 470, by Assembly Member Kansen Chu, which would require fees charged for IHSS background checks to be continuously appropriated to the Department of Justice to offset administrative costs. CSAC Supports this bill.

Child Support

Assembly Member Reginald Jones-Sawyer’s AB 610 has been passed by the Assembly Floor and is now in the Senate. AB 610 would expand an existing pilot program to apply to all child support cases and would authorize the local child support agency to administratively adjust account balances for cases if the agency verifies that the obligator is unable to pay due to incarceration.

CSAC supports AB 610 and will continue to monitor this bill as it progresses through the second house.

Additional Bill Information:

For additional information regarding CSAC’s position on health and human services bills and/or CSAC position letters, please see our legislative tracking page.