It’s the last week of session in California, and we have a couple of Western Center sponsored bills that could use your support…
AB 826 – Emergency food assistance: COVID-19 (Santiago): Thousands of Californians are facing food insecurity in the wake of the pandemic. Assembly Bill 826 would provide Californians in need with emergency food aid, because there is no excuse for anyone in this state (the world’s 5th largest economy) to go without food.
→ TAKE ACTION: If you’re on social media, please use this toolkit to let legislators know we need AB 826. Phone calls and emails also work well!
SB 1399 Employment: garment manufacturing (Durazo): Tens of thousands of garment workers in Los Angeles are being paid less than half of the minimum wage. Popular fashion brands profit off low wages and wage theft with no accountability. SB 1399 would eliminate the specific system that allows California garment manufacturers to pay less than minimum wage.
→ TAKE ACTION: Visit this link to sign the petition in support of the bill.
One of our high priority bills, SB 1290 (Durazo, Mitchell) – to end the collection of juvenile fees in California for good, has already passed out of the Legislature and is on its way to the Governor for signature!
In other productive news, thanks to action from Western Center and our partners, the California Department of Health Care Services has committed to fixing an issue we identified over the past several months — Californians getting kicked off or downgraded from Medi-Cal during the pandemic. We believe this means that several thousand people should have seen their Medi-Cal restored by August 24th, and soon will receive a letter informing them of their rights to get reimbursed for out-of-pocket medical costs while their Medi-Cal was cut off. Even more beneficiaries will avoid cutoffs on September 1st and throughout the COVID emergency.
Finally, we hope you will mark your calendar to join us on Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 6:00 PM for our virtual Garden Party! Tune in for an in-depth interview with our new Executive Director, Crystal Crawford, and meet our special guests on the forefront of racial and economic justice in California.
