Categories
AiQ Education Homelessness & Housing Hunger Issues State

AiQ News: 8/16/23

AiQ has started again now that the legislature is back in session. Some key updates following the legislative recess include:

  • Appropriations hearings are taking place the next 2 weeks. Remaining bills must get out of Appropriations before floor votes in early September.
  • SB 4 (Wiener) and AB 249 (Holden) will be in heard in their respective Appropriations committees during this time.
  • AB 712 (W. Carrillo) was signed into law by the Governor! This new law will now include hot and prepared food access for EBT users.

SB 4 (Wiener), the Affordable Housing on Faith and Higher Education Lands Act, needs our continued support as we approach a floor vote. Please reach out to your Assemblymembers to urge their support!

Other news: AiQ is cancelled next Wednesday, August 23rd. We look forward to seeing you again on Wednesday, August 30th!

Categories
Enviroment Homelessness & Housing State

SB 4 & SB 253 Testimony

Hear Director, Regina Banks, and Hunger Advocacy Fellow, Savannah Jorgensen, give public testimony in support of SB 4 (Wiener) and SB 253 (Wiener) at the Assembly Natural Resources Committee hearing on Monday, July 10th.

Regina & Savannah Testify on SB 4 & SB 253

Categories
Education Enviroment State Updates

Lobby Day 2023 Bill Updates (7/13)

These two bills are continuing to move forward following committee hearings this week as we approach the deadline for bills to make it out of their second house policy committees. The next step is the Appropriations Committee before a floor vote. These bills can use our continued advocacy!

  • SB 4 (Wiener): Affordable Housing on Faith-Based Lands Act. This bill would provide a streamlined process for religious institutions and nonprofit colleges to develop affordable housing on their properties, regardless of local zoning restrictions. This bill also would guarantee by-right approval of projects as long as they are consistent with all objective standards of the jurisdiction and comply with listed environmental protections.
  • AB 249 (Holden): Clean Drinking Water in Schools, Lead Testing. This bill increases the testing and disclosure requirements of school drinking water lead levels. It would additionally allocate funding for testing filters and infrastructure improvements to reduce and ultimately, eliminate, lead in water at schools. Furthermore, the bill establishes the limit on lead levels that the drinking water cannot exceed.

The following bill did not move forward from the Senate Agriculture Committee, however, Asm. Irwin has made it a two-year bill. This means that it will be worked on and considered in the next legislative session. Additionally, there is a federal level bill addressing food date labeling that is moving and can use our advocacy.

  • AB 660 (Irwin): Food Date Labeling Reform, Food Waste. This bill requires the use of uniform terms for food product date labels, i.e., removing ‘sell by’ dates visible to consumers and making ‘best by’ or ‘use by’ dates clearer for consumers. The streamlined phrasing will help consumers understand peak quality and freshness of their food, which will play a role in addressing hunger as well as methane emissions and climate change.

The following bill did not pass through the Assembly Appropriations Committee in May and is effectively a dead bill for this session. This policy idea may be pursued in the future by legislators if there is enough community support.

  • AB 1534 (Irwin): Methane Emissions Monitoring. AB 1534 would have required the utilization of remote sensing technologies to better identify methane emissions with the goal of improved regulations on those emissions from landfills.

Thank you all for your continued advocacy! Our work is not done this year and we need your support to get SB 4 and AB 249 across the finish line.

Categories
AiQ Enviroment Federal Legislation Homelessness & Housing State

AiQ News: 7/12/23

SB 4 (Wiener): Affordable housing on faith-based lands – passed out of Assembly Natural Resources Committee with amendments on 7/10. It next heads to Appropriations.

SB 253 (Wiener): Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act – passed out of Assembly Natural Resources Committee with amendments on 7/10: It next heads to Appropriations.

**Any bills still active as of today will need to be passed out of their respective policy committees by the end of the day on Friday, July 14th to meet the legislative deadline. Bills that do make it to Appropriations will need our support in those committees. From there, we encourage you to start calling your representatives to urge them to support these and our other priority bills on the floor.

Federal advocacy: Please complete the ELCA Advocacy Action Alert on the Endangered Species Act. You can do so here.

AiQ schedule: We will NOT be meeting for AiQ until Wednesday, August 16th on account of the legislative summer recess (July 14th-August 14th).

Categories
AiQ State

No AIQ 7/5

AiQ is cancelled today because of the 4th of July holiday. See you next Wednesday, July 12th!

If you missed last week’s AiQ, here are some resources we shared to discuss the now-passed and signed California budget for 2023-24:

Additionally, here’s a good summary from CalMatters on the passed budget.

Categories
AiQ Immigrant Justice State

AIQ News: 6/7/23

Thank you to those of you who called in last week about AB 249 (Holden)! It successfully passed out of the Assembly and will be sent to the Senate to continue in the policy bill process.

Other hearings are taking place in the next few weeks, but most major legislation is on hold until the state budget is passed. The legislature has until the end of the day on June 15th to pass the Budget Bill.

Federal: Advocates in the D.C. ELCA Advocacy office, along with LOPPCA, are monitoring the illegal and unethical transportation of migrants from Texas and Florida into Sacramento. We will follow-up here and on our social media channels with concrete action steps for how you can help as we organize efforts to assist the migrants.

Categories
AiQ Homelessness & Housing State

AIQ News: 5/10/23

SB 4 (Wiener)- The Affordable Housing on Faith & Higher Education Lands Act of 2023 will be heard in Senate Appropriations on 5/15. Call your senator to voice support for this bill!

NO AIQ ON MAY 17TH!

There will be no AiQ on Wednesday, May 17th as that day is Lobby Day! We look forward to seeing you all at Lobby Day. Join us for AiQ again at noon on Zoom on May 24th!

Categories
AiQ Homelessness & Housing State

SB 4 Testimony

Check out the short video linked below to hear LOPP Director, Regina Banks, testify on SB 4 (Wiener). SB 4 would streamline and make easier the process for nonprofits and religious organizations to develop affordable housing projects on their land. The bill is onto Appropriations and needs our continued support. SB 4 will also likely be a Lobby Day bill!

Regina Banks Testimony on SB 4

Categories
AiQ Enviroment State

AIQ News: 3/22/23

The Southwest California Synod hosted a meeting on World Water Day for celebrations, reflections, and calls-to-action on water and water justice. Here are some bills related to water that LOPP-CA is tracking in the state right now:

AB 1453 (Dixon)- Would require a 5-yr grant program to be established by the coastal conservancy to fund regular cleanups of beaches and waterways

AB 664 (Lee)- Would address safe drinking water in domestic wells at rental properties

AB 249 (Holden)- Would increase testing requirements & disclosure requirements of school drinking water lead levels; would also include infrastructure funding to improve water quality

Join us at AIQ on Wednesdays at 12pm Pacific Time to hear about these and other bills we can advocate around for water justice. Find the Zoom information here.

Remember to register for Lutheran Lobby Day 2023! Water issues fall under our theme of environmental justice and creation care. Register here!

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.