A $115.4 billion budget deal would make California the largest state in the nation to offer state-subsidized health care to children who are in the country illegally while expanding other social welfare programs, Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders said Tuesday.
Still, advocates who had pressured the Democratic governor to expand programs were disappointed. Brown rejected proposals to allow child care workers to unionize, kept a cap on welfare payments meant to discourage low-income women from having additional children, and rejected Medi-Cal payment increases to doctors and dentists.”This budget doesn’t do anything to stop punishing poor children,” said Mike Herald, legislative advocate with the Western Center on Law and Poverty.
