The Water Cooler Bubble Up Report

Women’s Budget Rally

Who/What: Democratic members of the Legislative Women’s Caucus will hold rally/press conference to denounce Governor’s proposed budget, which targets women and children and subjects them to disproportionate harm.

Date: Wednesday, September 8th

Time: 11:30am-12:30pm

Location: West Steps of the Capitol (10th Street Side)

Purpose: Highlighting the need to fund vital programs that support women and children.

Calling on the Governor to stay in the country and continue to work on a budget that is fair and doesn’t target the women and children of California.

The Democratic members of the Legislative Women's Caucus are hosting a rally next Wednesday, September 8 on the West steps of the State Capitol to protest the Governor's/Republican's proposed cuts to CalWORKs and child care. We need to get as many people to the Capitol for this rally as possible. If you are able to join us for this one-hour event, you will be helping to emphasize the importance of these programs to women and children. The Women's Caucus has consistently stood behind our issues, and now is the time we need to stand behind and support their efforts to hold off on any more cuts to child care and CalWORKs and to push for agreement on a state budget. Urge members in your community to join us in our efforts on Tuesday.

If you think you can attend and can get others to join you, please e-mail me and let me know and provide information on approximate numbers. We are trying to keep the staff posted on the number of participants we can bring. Thanks for your continued strength, effort, and energy on behalf of California's children and families.

"Working to Meet Child Care Needs in California"

Campaign to Save Child Care - Statewide Legislative District Visits

On August 20, 2010, Community Voices joined Child Care Providers UNITED (joint local of SEIU and AFSCME) on a statewide legislative districts visit campaign on behalf of Campaign to Save Child Care Coalition.On this day, a coalition of parents, child care providers and child care advocates conducted statewide visits to their local Assemblymembers and Senators asking them to hold the line and protect child care from additional reductions and for revenue solutions to be part of the final budget.Here in Los Angeles, the Community Voices chapter at MAOF spearhead by Claudia Aguilar visited Senator Gloria Romero’s office. Leticia Garcia, who is the Senator’s Education Specialist, listened to our members and advising that the Senator’s support our cause and as her term comes to an end, to also outreach to Ed Hernandez, who will be taking her place.

The Community Voices chapter at Center for Community and Family Services spearheaded by Patricia Walker, also visited Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal, although not present during the visit, Bianca Villanueva, Field Representative, listened to community voices parents’ testimony. Finally, the Community Voices chapter at Pathways, spearheaded by Briseida Gonzalez, visited Assemblymember Kevin De Leon’s office, who’s District Director, Steve Veres, warmly indicated the Assemblymember’s support.

All in all, the visits were successful in carrying out the message to hold the line against any further cuts, to support a budget that protects child care funding, keeps parents and child care providers working and keeps our children learning. One thing that was common among these visits though, was the overall feeling that no one really knew when the budget was going to be signed, which is more of a reason to keep pressuring our elected officials and to keep getting involved and engaged.

Fred Munoz

Community Voices Project Coordinator

AM Alert: Fun facts about late budgets

It's Day 44 of the fiscal year, with no spending plan in place. But Capitol denizens know it's not the latest budget of all time. It's not even close. In fact, we have to get to Day 86 before California can lay claim to a new record.

Quick quiz: Of the five latest budgets in the Golden State, how many were signed by a Republican and how many by a Democrat? The score is Republicans, 4, and Democrats, 1. And now for some other fun facts about the five latest budgets...

Latest budget ever (so far): Fiscal year 2008-2009 Governor: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Date Signed: Sept. 23, 2008

Second latest budget: Fiscal year 2002-2003 Governor: Gray Davis
Date Signed: Sept. 5, 2002

Third latest budget: Fiscal year 1992-1993 Governor: Pete Wilson
Date Signed: Sept. 2, 1992

Fourth latest budget: Fiscal year 2007-2008 Governor: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Date Signed: Aug. 24, 2007

Fifth latest budget: Fiscal year 1998-1999 Governor: Pete Wilson
Date Signed: Aug. 21, 1998

HAVE REPUBLICANS BACKED OFF ELIMINATION OF WELFARE?

August 17, 2010
by Kevin Yamamura (Sacramento Bee)

One of the defining cuts of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed May budget was the elimination of welfare-to-work.

The proposal would make California the only state without a welfare program and cost the state more than $3.7 billion in federal funds to save $1.2 billion in state expenditures. For those reasons, many people considered the elimination a negotiating ploy.

Schwarzenegger and Republican lawmakers still say publicly that the state can't afford CalWORKs, which is heavily subsidized by the federal government but not required. Democrats have used the elimination as a prime example of why they think Schwarzenegger's May budget isn't very realistic.

But in an interview last week, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg suggested that Republicans have backed away from the CalWORKs elimination in private talks. He noted that Republicans are now asking for $500 million in CalWORKs cuts - short of the $1.2 billion CalWORKs elimination.

Steinberg mentioned Republicans are also seeking $500 million in cuts to state-subsidized child care -- thereby also backing off the $1.2 billion child-care elimination in Schwarzenegger's budget.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear wouldn't confirm or deny that the governor has proposed smaller cuts but acknowledged that different ideas have been floated.
"We've offered a number of alternatives in the meetings with Democrats, but they've rejected them so far," McLear said.

Steinberg did not say how Republicans would buy down the cuts, only that their proposal didn't pencil out in his view. Democrats have proposed roughly $4.5 billion in new tax revenues, from delaying corporate tax breaks to a complicated shift in tax rates on sales, vehicles and income.
"We have gone through what they have discussed with us, and their numbers don't add up," Steinberg said. "You cannot get there credibly without some form of revenue to substitute for deep, deep cuts, whether it's the complete elimination of programs or it's half a billion dollars worth of cuts to child care or CalWORKs."

Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth said he hasn't offered the $500 million welfare cut as a budget alternative, though he said such a proposal "isn't impossible" if Democrats target other programs.

"If the Democrats don't want to cut the $1.2 billion that's on the table from CalWORKs, then they need to find other places to cut," Hollingsworth said. "So if they find other cuts that make the budget stable and reach a sustainable level of spending, then a $500 million cut to CalWORKs isn't impossible. I'm just of the philosophical bent that we should not be raising taxes in order to preserve welfare programs that we can't afford in these times."

It appears that the $500 million cut proposal would rely largely on reducing grants to welfare families by 15.7 percent, a proposal that Schwarzenegger offered in his January budget. The governor also wants to eliminate CalWORKs benefits for legal immigrants who have been in the country for less than five years; the federal government does not pay for those individuals.
Frank Mecca, director of the California Welfare Directors Association, said the governor's grant cut proposal would have severe consequences for poor families.

"Right now, in nominal dollars, grants today are exactly where they were 20 years ago," Mecca said. "So we're talking about a cut that would put poor children that much further into poverty. My members are convinced a grant cut of that magnitude would cause widespread homelessness."Read more: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/08/steinberg-republicans-have-bac.html#ixzz0wuS5wZtI