• Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced $16 million in grants to increase home ownership for farmworkers in California. The grants will support five programs statewide to build or purchase homes for lower-income farmworkers and advance programs that help farmworkers become or remain homeowners through mortgage assistance. “California isn’t California without our farmworkers—not only are they our state’s economic backbone, but they help us produce over a third of our country’s vegetables and three-quarters of the country’s fruits and nuts. Our farmworkers have our backs—now it’s time we have theirs,” Newsom said in a statement. “These grants will help make the California Dream a reality for dozens of farmworkers by helping them become homeowners—and help them lay a foundation for future generations to build upon.” In Santa Maria, People’s Self-Help Housing will receive a little more than $4 million to fund a home ownership development project and technical assistance for self-help housing. The development project will have 49 total homes with 40 of those being affordable for people at 40 to 80 percent of area median income. Of these, 16 homes will be reserved for farmworker families.
• The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States applauded the California state Senate’s recent passage of SB 495: legislation that extends cocktails-to-go privileges to bars and creates a new delivery service permit to allow third-party delivery of alcoholic beverages. “Cocktails to-go continue to be a stable and important source of revenue for California businesses and provide increased convenience for consumers,” Andy Deloney, senior vice president and head of state public policy at the organization, said in a statement. “Allowing bars in addition to restaurants to sell cocktails to-go just makes sense. Adding delivery of these popular beverages provides further opportunities for local businesses to generate revenue and allows adult consumers to easily enjoy their favorite cocktails at home. We urge the California Assembly to pass this measure and send it to the governor’s desk for signature.” Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, 20 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to permanently allow cocktails to-go, and 14 others have enacted laws that allow cocktails to-go on a temporary basis. Numerous states are still considering cocktails-to-go legislation. Currently, restaurants in California may sell cocktails to-go for takeout through Dec. 31, 2026.
• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, along with several other senators and U.S. representatives, introduced the Mental Health Workforce and Language Access Act: legislation to address the severe mental health care provider shortage and improve access to affordable services at community health care centers. The bill establishes a new program that would provide federal grants to community health centers to help them recruit, hire, and employ qualified mental health professionals who are fluent in a language other than English. Community Health Centers are critical safety net providers in areas where economic, geographic, or cultural barriers limit access to affordable health care. About 5.2 million Californians are served by a community health center, at least 36 percent of whom are best served in a language other than English. “We must tackle our country’s mental health crisis head on,” Padilla said in a statement. “The Mental Health Workforce and Language Access Act will help us remove a critical barrier to care by empowering community health centers to recruit, hire, and retain mental health professionals in non-English speaking communities.”
This article appears in Jun 8-18, 2023.
