Categories
Health Care Immigrant Justice Poverty Racial Justice

State Budget Adds Sweeping Cuts to Medi-Cal Access for Immigrant Adults 

On June 27, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the new state budget for Fiscal Year 2025-26 that makes sweeping cuts to Medi-Cal access for immigrant adults as a way to offset the state’s $11.8 billion dollar budget deficit. A handful of legislators led efforts to oppose these harsh cuts with us and our work continues to urge all of our state representatives to equitably invest in and support immigrant Californians.

The budget decisions at the state and federal levels will exacerbate the harms immigrant communities are already facing in their communities. The deployment of federal immigration agents, the military and National Guard for indiscriminate raids in Southern California and the Central Coast have created fear and chaos and resulted in the kidnapping of thousands of community members. 

Despite these challenges, we cannot give up! The fight for healthcare access is not over. Several groups remain committed to fighting against the Medi-Cal rollbacks and won’t stop until we win. 

Categories
AiQ Events Immigrant Justice Racial Justice

Yuba Detention Closure Celebration!

Join LOPP-CA and other partners for an afternoon celebrating the ending of the ICE contract at Yuba County Jail! The event will take place on Sunday, March 19th, from 1-3 pm outside of Yuba County Jail. More details, including the link to RSVP, can be found on the flier below.

Categories
AiQ Events Immigrant Justice Racial Justice

AIQ News: 3/8/23

Join us for the celebration of the end of the ICE contract at Yuba County Jail on Sunday, March 19th from 1-3 pm! RSVP & register for transportation at www.bit.ly/YubaClosure

Registration is open for Lutheran Lobby Day 2023! Register here: Lutheran Lobby Day 2023 Sign-up and invite your friends, congregations, family, everyone!

Committee hearings for some of the bills we are monitoring will be coming soon. Hearings of note:

SB 253 (Wiener, Gonzalez, Stern)– Climate Corporate Leadership & Data Accountability Act; hearing set for March 15

AB 1128 (Santiago)– YCTC expansion; can be heard in committee March 18

AB 1498 (Gipson)– CalEITC minimum amount; can be heard in committee March 20

SB 245 (Hurtado, Rubio)– Food4All; hearing set for March 20

Categories
AiQ Events Poverty Racial Justice State

Press Conference on AB 1128

An important piece of legislation will be announced on Monday, February 27th starting at 8 am from Los Angeles. Assemblymember Santiago, joined by the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) Coalition, will hold a press conference on AB 1128.

AB 1128 (Santiago) would expand the $1,083 Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC) to one million more families who are eligible for the CalEITC, helping fight poverty amid record costs in the state.

If you’re in the area, you can come out to show support for this bill at Central City Neighborhood Partners, 501 S Bixel St, Los Angeles, CA. For those not in the area or unable to attend, tune into the press conference from home and make a note of AB 1128 for your advocacy efforts!

About the CalEITC Coalition (LOPP-CA is a member!): The California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) Coalition is a broad group of 35+ advocacy and community and faith-based organizations, including policy advocates, low-income service providers, and labor organizations across the state of California committed to expanding access to the CalEITC and other cash-back tax credits.

Categories
AiQ Immigrant Justice Racial Justice

ICE Contract With Yuba County Jail to End!

it is with joy that we announce that the last U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract with a California county’s jail has been terminated.

The Yuba County Jail has had a more than three-decade-long contract with ICE for a detention center. On Friday, officials announced that the contract would be ending within in the next 60 days. The news comes after years of public outcry over substandard and dangerous conditions in the facility. This is an answer to prayer!

Categories
Immigrant Justice Poverty Racial Justice State Uncategorized

Five Thousand Attend the Rally at the End of the Farm Worker Rights March!

Categories
AiQ Health Care Homelessness & Housing Hunger Issues Poverty Racial Justice

AIQ News for June 22, 2022

Call the Governor’s Office and urge him to sign the budget! Then enjoy your summer until the first week in August when we meet again!

Categories
AiQ Children's Issues Homelessness & Housing Hunger Issues Poverty Racial Justice

LOPP-CA Legislative Priorities

Bill Priorities for LOPP-CA 2022 for the 2022 Legislative Session:

 SB 854 (Skinner), the HOPE for Children Act. This bill would establish California’s first baby bond program for children  who lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19 and eligible foster youth. The bill also lays the groundwork so one day California can expand the program             to all children living in low-income circumstances.

AB 2180 (Wicks), The Children of Incarcerated Parents and Caregivers Taskforce. This bill would establish the Taskforce for Children with incarcerated parents and caregivers as California lacks a statewide entity that focuses on identifying and addressing the needs of system-impacted children. Asm. Wicks will be including this bill in her working class families package of bills as an emphasis to the disproportionate impact mass incarceration has on working class families, especially women, and the destabilization that leads to.

AB 2589 (Santiago) This bill will would provide a 1-time payment of $2000 per child dependent to California residents who made less than $30,000 in 2021 and file their taxes.    Increase the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) minimum tax credit to about $255 per eligible tax filer. AB 2589 would benefit approximately 5 million Californians, including 2 million children.

AB 1615 (Ting) Foster Youth Housing: This bill would extend housing assistance for former foster youth to 36 months.

Categories
AiQ Children's Issues Homelessness & Housing Hunger Issues Racial Justice State

AIQ for 02/23/2022 Introduced Bills related to Ending Childhood Poverty in California

These are 3 bills LOPP-CA may be supporting during this legislative session.

This bill would establish California’s first baby bond program for children who lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19 and eligible foster youth. The bill also lays the groundwork so one day California can expand the program to all children living in low-income circumstances. I’ve attached the support letter template for more details. 

  • AB 2180 (Wicks), The Children of Incarcerated Parents and Caregivers Taskforce 

This bill would establish the Taskforce for Children with incarcerated parents and caregivers as California lacks a statewide entity that focuses on identifying and addressing the needs of system-impacted children. Asm. Wicks will be including this bill in her working class families package of bills as an emphasis to the disproportionate impact mass incarceration has on working class families, especially women, and the destabilization that leads to. 

  • AB 2589 (Santiago) This bill will would
  • Provide a 1-time payment of $2000 per child dependent to California residents who made less than $30,000 in 2021 and file their taxes. 
  • Increase the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) minimum tax credit to about $255 per eligible tax filer. 
  • Together, AB 2589 would benefit approximately 5 million Californians, including 2 million children.
Categories
AiQ Federal Legislation Racial Justice

Support the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act!

ELCA Advocacy is urging all of us to contact our senators urging them to support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. If you have friends or relatives in states other than California, especially urge them to contact their senators. This is crucial to saving our democracy. Here is a link to an ELCA Advocacy contact form. https://support.elca.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1426