Call the Governor at 916-445-2841 and tell him that you support these three important bills.
It’s the middle of September, which means that we only have two weeks before the Governor makes his final decision to pass or veto legislation that has been approved by the State Legislature—the Senate and the Assembly.
As you know, this year we had seven Women’s Policy Institute (WPI) teams working on seven bills that protect the rights of the most vulnerable people in our state: children, immigrants, prisoners and domestic workers, among many.
Over a period of nine months, our 35 WPI fellows researched, wrote and refined their bills. Their bills received attention from the media, policy makers and legislators.
To make it to the Governor’s desk, a bill has to go through many stages of approval, moving painstakingly from one house to the other and many policy committees in between.
This is a difficult process and many important bills “die” along the way.
However, three WPI bills survived this process and are on the Governor’s desk, waiting for his signature. Those bills are AB 1270, AB 2015 and AB 889.
AB1270—Prison Media Access Bill
Our 2011-12 Criminal Justice WPI Team worked on AB 1270 (Ammiano), which would repeal a ban on reporters doing in-person interviews with prisoners.
By allowing often-unheard stories to become public, our fellows are hoping to get better insight into the causes of crime and violence. By deeply understanding what goes on inside our prison system, will we have a better chance to correct system-wide deficiencies and end the cycle of incarceration that has hurt so many communities across California.
Read our blog post about Kim McGill, one of the fellows who worked on this bill, and learn more about AB 1270.
AB 2015—Calls for Kids Act
Did you know that in California’s San Diego and Los Angeles counties alone, there are now some 1,500 children in foster care because their parents were either detained or deported? More often than not, a simple call to a family member or a friend could have prevented the child entering the complex child welfare system.
Our 2011-12 Reproductive Justice WPI Team worked on AB 2015 (Mitchell), better known as the Calls for Kids Act. By enabling detained immigrant parents to make two phone calls, this bill seeks to keep families together and children out of foster care.
Read our blog post about AB 2015, an important bill that will help children and save Californians money. Also, read our interview with Catherine Porter, one of five women who worked on this bill.
AB 889—Domestic Worker’s Bill of Rights
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. This adage applies perfectly to AB 889 (Ammiano and Perez), a bill our Domestic Workers WPI Team worked on last year (2010–11). This bill aimed to give domestic workers—nannies, elder care givers and house cleaners—basic labor protections, such as overtime pay, meal and rest breaks and adequate sleeping conditions for live-in workers.
The bill did not pass last year, but that did not stop our fellows from continuing to press on. This year, the bill got a lot of momentum and support (as seen by the PSA featuring Amy Poehler of Saturday Night Live fame) and is now on the Governor’s desk.
Learn more by visiting the National Domestic Workers Alliance’s website.
Take action: Call the Governor
Help us convince Governor Jerry Brown to pass these three important bills. Now is the time to act!
Call the Governor at 916-445-2841. Tell him that you support AB 1270, AB 2015 and AB 889.