• On Monday, Aug. 15, and Tuesday, Aug. 16, at her Santa Maria office, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) was scheduled to host a meet-and-greet with local families and individuals who were assisted by Capps’ office to resolve difficult immigration cases.
Capps’ district offices help about 100 people every year who upon entering the United States legally, face barriers with family or relative petitions, citizenship and naturalization, waivers, work permits, renewing their residency, obtaining appropriate health insurance or life-saving care services, and qualifying for benefits for which they are eligible.
Participants in these meetings were set to share with Capps their various experiences and the impact of her office’s assistance with their situation.
• A California Legislative Women’s Caucus priority bill to give job-protected new parent leave to more Californians is being resuscitated in the final weeks of the legislative session with the help of Assembly and Senate leadership.
Senate Bill 654, as proposed to be amended, will be authored by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), chair of the Women’s Caucus. Identical to a prior version of the bill heard earlier this year in both houses, the New Parent Leave Act will require that companies of 10 employees or more guarantee 12 weeks of job-protected maternity and paternity leave upon the birth or adoption of a new child.
This would allow these employees to access the state’s Paid Family Leave Program, which these employees already pay into through payroll deductions, without fear of losing their jobs.
“Thanks to the assistance of Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, and his strong leadership and support of the Women’s Caucus and California women and families, as well as the unwavering support of Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, this important measure is being given a second chance,” Jackson said in a statement. “No one should have to choose between caring for a newborn and keeping their jobs. And yet, because of an inequity in our job-protection laws, mothers and fathers who work for companies of 49 or fewer employees could be fired for utilizing our state’s Paid Family Leave Program to bond with their new child, even though they already pay into the program.”
An identical, prior version of the bill, SB 1166 (Jackson), was heard in full committee hearings in the Senate and voted off the Senate floor, but died in the Assembly Labor and Employment Relations Committee, then chaired by Assemblymember Roger Hernández, in June.
This article appears in Aug 18-25, 2016.