Many things have happened this year, and we have won almost all of our priority bills! LOPP-CA’s advocacy this session was important in making many bills into law. We take specific pride in the passing of AB 3070 and AB 3073, as we pushed and fought hard for these bills! Here is the list of our vitories: A law providing guidelines for the pre-enrollment of recently incarcerated persons into the statewide food assistance Calfresh Program, a bill that our office co-sponsored alongside advocacy organization Bread of the World (AB 3073)A law altering and strengthening anti-discrimination procedures within courts in the jury selection process. Discrimination within the jury selection process has been noticed by many, and this legislation is powerful in giving advocates the tools to address systemic racism within the justice system (AB 3070)A law creating a funded campaign for protections and health awareness during COVID-19 for agricultural workers, which includes thousands of migrant workers (AB 2043)A law establishing one of the nation’s first mandatory task forces to study the issue of Slavery’s legacy within the United States and the need for reparations for African Americans; the task force will create proposals of mechanisms that can be enacted to address the need of reparations (AB 3121)A law barring criminal conviction…
Our sustained action every other Monday at 6pm This coming November is a chance to pursue our baptismal calling to advocacy in many ways. In moving in our churches firm commitment to fighting the sin that is racism and building a country that holds all of as children of God, we are having continued advocacy for voting YES on Proposition 16 until the election. We will be meetings every other Monday at 6pm to Text bank California Voters, asking them to vote YES on Prop 16! We welcome all to come and join, even if you haven’t done so before (we will train you!). It is very easy, and all you have to do is follow the directions at the sign up below! Click here to Register
WE. HAVE. WON! There are no words that can truly express how great a victory this is for all. The Expansion of the EITC to immigrant ITIN Tax Filers puts California on the right side of history, and is nothing short of God’s compassion and justice coming into the world. Prior to this week, hundreds of thousands of people were locked out of one of California’s most influential and powerful poverty-fighting measures, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Over 600,000 ITIN number holders were suffering the unjust position of working hard, building economies, paying taxes, but receiving no tax refund. No longer. Vulnerable communities such as migrant workers in healthcare, farming, service work and so much more are now covered in the EITC. This win means so much, and has been a long time coming. The Cal-EITC Coalition, of which LOPP-CA is a proud member, has fought hard and won a campaign spanning more than four years and involving more than 60 organizations. This in means care for the vulnerable. This win means California is the second in our nation to take this step in protecting so many vulnerable non-citizen immigrant communities. This win means God’s love is extended to more of the body of Christ, and for…
*Being updated regularly This legislative session was full of highs and lows, unexpected turns, and strained by a global pandemic, climate catastrophes and more. LOPP-CA has followed multiple bills throughout this time, diligently following legislation that embodies our moral understanding of God’s commandment to run after justice and peace in all ways. “…Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled… Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Excerpts from the Beatitudes Now is the end of the legislative year 2020, and there are five bills we have tracked that have made it past the legislature and currently sit on the Governor’s Desk. The bills and a brief summary of each are below: Food Access: extending God’s table to the most vulnerable AB 826: Emergency food assistance: COVID-19 – This measure creates an one-time fund for emergency food assistance that will help millions of people throughout California find food security during this COVID Crisis; This bill specifically uplifts immigrant communities that have been left out of many pandemic relief efforts. See a bill fact sheet made by California Association of Food Banks here. VETOED AB 3073: CalFresh: pre-enrollment – California is the largest food producing state in the…
Sunday, September 20th: Text Bank advocacy for Prop 16 Sign up link here!!! California is a vast state filled with people that celebrate God’s diversity; sadly our state hasn’t done enough to live into this joy. We are voting YES on Proposition 16 this November so that we can continue the fight for the beautiful wholeness of our Church, so we can work alongside those moving for racial justice all over our country, so we can fight against gender discrimination, and so we as God’s Church can stand by our Baptismal covenant of justice. Ephesians 2:14 says, “for he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility..” LOPP-CA is working with the Yeson16 Coalition to pass Prop 16! We will be running a 1 hour training for our Intuitive Text-Banking system, then jumping into some messaging to California Voters as a group! Don’t worry, we won’t be using your direct phone number, and we will teach you everything you need to know! All you will need is a Laptop (preferred), Tablet, or Phone! SIGN UP ON THE LINK BELOW https://www.mobilize.us/voteyesonprop16/event/322120/ Our training times are: 12pm, 2pm, 4pm (google hang out meeting link upon registration) Our…
For Immediate Release: August 20, 2020 Contact: Regina Banks: regina.banks@elca.org, 916.208.5334Rhonda Rios Kravitz: rhondarioskravitz@gmail.com, 916.712.7169Susan Lange: susanlange.uu@gmail.com, 650.291.4603 Faith leaders host nationwide candlelight vigil in solidarity with detained undocumented immigrants leading hunger strike and other actions to protest inhumane and unsafe conditions in ICE detention facilities The Lutheran Office of Public Policy – California along with faith-based policy organizations across the country condemn deplorable conditions in ICE detention facilities and stand in solidarity with undocumented immigrants on hunger strike at the Yuba County Jail while a majority of those detained at Mesa Verde Detention Facility are currently infected with COVID-19. CALIFORNIA — The nationwide vigil, scheduled for Friday, August 21, will be held in solidarity with detained undocumented immigrants at the Yuba County Jail, who began a hunger strike on Wednesday morning in response to reprehensible conditions at the facility, including arbitrary restrictions and practices that ignore COVID-19 distancing restrictions and common sense practice–and now the Nevada City fire, one of hundreds of fires ravishing California, is just 30 minutes away from the jail. The vigil will also support the demands of individuals held at the Mesa Verde Detention Facility in Bakersfield. These demands include an end to practices ignoring isolation measures as more than half of the detainees held at the facility tested positive…
For Immediate Release: gust 20, 2020 Contact: Juan Prieto, jprieto@ciyja.org, 510-414-0953Yuba: Luis Angel, luisangel@pangealegal.org, 415-635-4931Yuba: Jessica Yamane, jessica@dscs.org , 415-570-8577Mesa Verde: Jesus Chavez, jchavez@centrolegal.org, 510-947-9911 As California fires rage, undocumented immigrants hold indefinite hunger strike and solidarity action at two separate detention facilities as COVID-19 outbreak ravages majority of detainees Immigrants launch indefinite hunger strike at Yuba County Jail condemning deplorable conditions while more than half of those detained at Mesa Verde Detention Facility are currently infected with COVID-19 following previous labor strikes and hunger strikes CALIFORNIA — Despite worsening air quality due to regional fires, detained undocumented immigrants at the Yuba County Jail began an indefinite hunger strike this Wednesday morning in response to deplorable conditions at the facility. From arbitrary restrictions to yardtime implemented by Captain Allan Garza, to the mixing of populations of immigrant detainees with recently detained criminalized individuals—a practice that ignores COVID-19 distancing restrictions and common sense practice—the fires ravishing Northern California are the least of concerns for immigrants detained at the jail 30 minutes away from the Nevada City fire. “We’re already hearing from hunger strike leaders that Captain Garza has begun to retaliate against them by taking hygienic products and even beverages from them,” urges Itzel Calvo, deportation defense organizer with the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance. “Folks…