Health4All
AB 4 (Arambula, Bonta, Chiu) and SB 29 (Durazo):
SB 29/AB 4 would provide full-scope Medi-Cal to income-eligible adults by removing immigration status as an eligibility exclusion.
Passed the Senate May 29th and is now in the Assembly waiting for committee assignments.
Child Care and CalWORKS
SB 321 (Mitchell)-Strong Start for CalWORKS Families Act (Sponsors: Parent Voices and Child Care Law Center):
SB 321 is the countdown to a stronger start for families participating in the CalWORKs program. This bill will streamline Stage 1 child care eligibility rules so that all CalWORKs families are afforded the same benefits of stable, reliable, and consistent child care necessary to improve their family's success and end the cycle of poverty.SB 321 provides families who enter the CalWORKs program with quality affordable child care to bring stability to families in crisis. Stage 1 child care will be authorized for 12 months, or until transfer to Stage 2, establishing continuous affordable child care for families. This measure aligns Stage 1 child care rules to all other subsidized child care programs in California, including Stages 2 and 3. Continuous child care will minimize disruptions for children, parents, employers, and child care providers.
Passed the Senate May 29th and is now headed to the Assembly Human Services Committee.
AB 194 (Reyes) Child Care:
AB 194 invests $1 billion to increase the number of subsidized child care slots for the highest need families in California, expanding access to the state’s early childhood education (ECE) programs. There are currently 1.8 million kids on a waiting list. Type of program will be using vouchers and alternative payment programs.
Was held in the Appropriations Committee. Will not pass this legislative cycle.
Supplemental Security Income
AB 1434 (Kalra) public social services SSI/SSP:
This bill would reinstate the cost-of-living adjustment beginning January 1 of the 2020 calendar year. The bill would also require a maximum aid payment provided to an individual or a married couple that does not equal or exceed 100% of the 2019 federal poverty level to be increased to an amount that equals 100% of the federal poverty level. By reinstating the cost-of-living adjustment and by increasing the amount of benefits paid under the SSP, this bill would make an appropriation.
Was held in the Appropriations Committee. Will not pass this legislative cycle.
Housing
SB 48 (Wiener) Homelessness: right to shelter:
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that creates a right to shelter for unhoused residents throughout the state, which would be required to include the navigation center model. The bill would state the purposes of this legislation, including ensuring that every person living on California’s streets has the ability to promptly secure shelter that is safe and supportive. The bill would specify certain elements that this right to shelter would include. The bill would specify that the right to shelter is not intended to be in lieu of prioritizing permanent housing for people who lack housing.
Was held in the Appropriations Committee.
SCA-1 (Allen) Public housing projects:
The California Constitution prohibits the development, construction, or acquisition of a low-rent housing project, as defined, in any manner by any state public body until a majority of the qualified electors of the city, town, or county in which the development, construction, or acquisition of the low-rent housing project is proposed approve the project by voting in favor at an election, as specified. This measure would repeal these provisions.
Set for a hearing on June 4th in the Housing Comittee.
AB-67 Individuals or families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness: definition
This bill would require the coordinating council to compile a list of federal, state, and local funding sources, programs, and services for addressing homelessness, and the definitions of “homeless” and “at risk of homelessness” used for those purposes, and would require state and local governmental entities that provide programs and services to individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, or funding for those programs and services, to provide the coordinating council with the existing definitions of those terms.
Passed the Assembly May 24th and is now in the Senate Rules Comittee waiting for assignment.
SB 329 (Mitchell) Section 8 funding Discrimination: housing: source of income
Current law defines the term “source of income” for purposes of the provisions relating to discrimination in housing accommodations as specified, to mean lawful, verifiable income paid directly to a tenant or paid to a representative of a tenant. This bill would instead define the term for purposes of those provisions, to mean verifiable income paid directly to a tenant, or paid to a housing owner or landlord on behalf of a tenant, including federal, state, or local public assistance and housing subsidies, as specified.
Passed the Senate May 23rd and is now in the Assembly waiting for committee assignments.
Civil Rights
AB 392 (Weber) Reduce police shootings:
Sponsored by ACLU was introduced in the California Legislature that will save lives and prevent tragedies like the one that took Stephon Clark's life. The bill's premise is simple: make sure police officers avoid using deadly force unless absolutely necessary.
The bill passed but was modifide. The new version of the bill says police may only use deadly force when “necessary in defense of human life”—a steeper standard than prosecutors apply now, which says police can shoot when doing so is “reasonable.” It retains the core elements that officers can only use deadly force when it is necessary and that ‘necessary’ includes the actions of the officers leading up to the force. The new version of the bill doesn’t go as far as originally proposed. It removes a section that would have held officers criminally liable in cases of criminal negligence resulting in someone’s death. It also deletes a definition that says a “necessary” use of force is when there is “no reasonable alternative.”
Passed the Senate May 29th and is now in the Assembly waiting for committee assignments.
California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC)
AB-1593 Personal income taxes: earned income credit:
Existing law, in conformity with federal income tax laws, requires the eligible individual and the qualifying child to have a social security number to be eligible for the credit. This bill would require the taxpayer and the qualifying child to have a social security number or a federal individual taxpayer identification number in order to be eligible for the earned income tax credit, would extend the application of the California Consumer Price Index percentages and would double the credit amount allowed to eligible individuals with no qualifying children and would increase the credit amount allowed to eligible individuals with a qualifying child.
Passed the Assembly May 24th and is now in the Senate waiting for assignment.
