CAPITOL UPDATE #12 March 18 2021

AB-53– Election Day Holiday- This bill would require community colleges and public schools to close on any day on which a statewide general election is held.  The bill would require that state employees, with specified exceptions, be given time off with pay for days on which a statewide general election is held.  The bill would provide that the third Monday in February, also known as Washington Day, is observed only in odd-numbered years.  So, even though there is a push for mail-in ballots, public employees need a paid day off on election day?

SB-39– Fraudulent claims: inmates. This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and counties to provide the names and social security numbers of current inmates to the Employment Development Department for the purposes of preventing payments on fraudulent claims for unemployment compensation benefits, upon request of the EDD. A little too late after tens of millions of dollars were paid to inmates!

AB 443– Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development: International Medical Graduates– This bill creates a new agency whose purpose is to bring “qualified immigrant international medical graduates” into the California health care delivery system. It authorizes necessary changes to health professional licensure and regulation to ensure full utilization of immigrant international medical graduates in the California health care delivery system. The bill would require an international medical graduate integration license to exempt a qualified immigrant international medical graduate from residency requirements for the practice of medicine under the act. The bill would authorize the board to issue an international medical graduate integration license if it determines an applicant is qualified for such a license and the practice of the applicant will be primary care in a rural or underserved area.

SB-17– Establishes the Office of Racial Equity. This bill would establish an Office of Racial Equity, an independent public entity not affiliated with an agency or department, that shall be governed by a Racial Equity Advisory and Accountability Council. The bill would require the office to develop a statewide Racial Equity Framework providing guidelines for inclusive policies and practices that reduce racial inequities, promote racial equity, address individual, institutional, and structural racism, and establish goals and strategies to advance racial equity and address structural racism and racial inequities among the state’s diverse racial and ethnic communities, women, persons with disabilities, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning communities, as specified. This bill has been SET FOR HEARING ON MARCH 23rd at 9 am.

 SB 464– California Food Assistance Program: eligibility. Existing federal law provides for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. This bill, commencing January 1, 2023, would instead make a noncitizen applicant eligible for the California Food Assistance Program if the noncitizen satisfies all eligibility criteria for participation in the Cal Fresh program except any requirements related to immigration status. Commencing January 1, 2023, the bill would eliminate the distinctions based on when the noncitizen applicant entered the country and would eliminate the sponsorship and other listed criteria requirements for eligibility on a noncitizen who entered the country on or after August 22, 1996. This bill has been SET FOR HEARING ON MARCH 23rd at 1:30 pm. Another magnet to draw illegal immigrants!