California Latino Legislative Caucus Announces 2022 Legislative Priorities
The California Latino Legislative Caucus, led by Caucus Chair Senator María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) and Vice-Chair Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Salinas), today announced the Latino Caucus’ 2022 legislative priorities.
“This package of bills aims to address issues that our communities feel every day - economic inequity, environmental injustices, inadequate healthcare, and the rights of immigrants, to name a few,” said Senator Durazo. “Our mission is to put these inequities front and center and to fight for policies that will create better outcomes for all Californians.”
“Our priority legislation reaffirms our caucus’ commitment to challenging inequity and uplifting our most underserved,” said Assemblymember Rivas. “While other states are making it harder for Latinos to vote, banning Latino and other history in schools, and demonizing our immigrant neighbors, our bills reflect California’s diversity and equity values.”
Members of the Latino Caucus voted to prioritize the following 20 bills for the 2022 legislative session:
Economic Equity/Tax Reform:
AB 2750 (Bonta) State Digital Equity Plan – This bill directs the CA Department of Technology to create a state digital equity plan to identify barriers to digital equity faced by covered populations, document and promote digital equity among covered populations, and assess the impact of increasing digital equity.
SB 860 (Rubio) Young Child Tax Credit Eligibility Expansion – This bill extends the eligibility for the Young Child Tax Credit to households with no earned income including unpaid caregivers with children 6 years old and under.
Education:
AB 288 (Calderon) Ban on Scholarship Displacement Act – This bill prohibits the displacement of financial aid awards due to receipt of private scholarships by students who are eligible for a Federal Pell Grant and/or CA Dream Act financial aid.
AB 1703 (Ramos) CA Indian Education Act – This bill encourages school districts, county offices of education and charter schools to form Indian Education Task Forces with tribes local to their region or historically located in their region.
AB 1746 (Medina) Cal Grant Reform Act – This bill modernizes the Cal Grant program to expand eligibility, guarantee certain access awards, remove barriers for adult learners and support students with dependent children.
AB 2004 (C. Garcia) CA DREAM Loan Program – This bill strengthens the CA Dream Loan Program by requiring loan borrowers to receive financial education, creating loan forgiveness and discharge provisions that mirror federal loan programs, and increasing the amount students can borrow for graduate programs.
AB 2132 (Villapudua) Medical School Tuition for Medical Service Pilot Program – This bill establishes a pilot program that provides up-front funding for the undergraduate, medical school, and residency education for individuals underrepresented in medicine and committed to practicing in rural or medically underserved areas.
AB 2266 (Santiago) Free Community College For All – This bill expands the CA College Promise program to allow all full-time community college students to receive two tuition-free years at any CA community college.
AB 2489 (Salas) Neighborhood Teacher Incentive Grant Program – This bill provides $50 million in grant funds to supplement the pay of teachers who agree to live within the boundaries of the respective priority school they teach at for five years.
AB 2806 (Rubio) Suspension and Expulsion in Early Learning and Care & Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation – This bill prohibits suspension and expulsion in state preschool and childcare programs and it strengthens early childhood mental health consultations (ECMHC).
SB 952 (Limón) Dual Language Immersion Schools – This bill provides $15 million over five years to twenty schools seeking to convert to dual language immersion (DLI) programs.
Environment/Infrastructure:
AB 2108 (R. Rivas) Water Boards: Environmental Justice – This bill requires the State Water Resources Control Board and each of the nine Regional Water Boards to fill one seat with an environmental justice or tribal community member. It also requires the Water Boards to incorporate environmental justice analysis and community outreach into their permitting process.
AB 2238 (L. Rivas) Advance Warning and Ranking System for Extreme Heat Waves – This bill establishes the development of a statewide heat-ranking process, based on their projected health impact and meteorological data.
Health Care Access:
AB 4 (Arambula) *** Health for All – This bill extends eligibility for full scope Medi-Cal benefits to anyone regardless of age, and who is otherwise eligible for those benefits but for their immigration status.
Housing:
AB 2217 (Gómez Reyes) Affordable Homeownership Production Act – This bill authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to set higher per unit and total project caps within the Cal Home program to promote construction of affordable homes in high-cost areas.
New Americans/Immigrant Rights:
AB 937 (Carrillo) *** Vision Act – This bill precludes law enforcement agencies from providing notification of the release of inmates to or facilitating inmate transfers with federal immigration authorities, and prohibits state and local agencies from assisting in the detention, deportation, interrogation, of an individual by immigration enforcement.
AB 1631 (Cervantes) Multilingual Polling Place Workers – This bill requires county registrars to assign polling place workers who speak languages other than English to specific precincts with certain numerical thresholds of voters who speak that other language.
Worker Rights/Workplace Safety:
AB 2847 (E. Garcia) Excluded Workers Act – This bill establishes the Excluded Workers Pilot Program to provide undocumented workers with $300 per week (up to 20 weeks) for each week of unemployment occurring between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023.
SB 951 (Durazo) Paid Family Leave and Disability Insurance Benefits – This bill increases wage replacement rates for lower income workers to 90% of income for the first 12 weeks of State Disability Insurance and all 8 weeks of Paid Family Leave.
SB 972 (Gonzalez) Enhancing Safety of Sidewalk Food Vending – This bill modernizes the CA Retail Food Code to include sidewalk food vendors and updates the Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation and the Cottage Food Operation laws to allow sidewalk food vendors to access these existing programs.
*** Two Year Bill
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CONTACT:
Michael Tonetti
michael.tonetti@sen.ca.gov
(213) 280-6917