WCLP Legislative Updates and Notes

80,000 Homeless Families in LA if CalWORKs Eliminated

Mike Herald — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:28:15 GMT

80,000 Homeless Families in LA if CalWORKs Eliminated
06/15/2010--0 comments

Article Disputes Whitman Claim That California Spends Too Much on Welfare When Compared to New York Read More..

Conference Committee Watch

Mike Herald — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:05:07 GMT

Conference Committee Watch
06/10/2010--0 comments

Republicans Play the "Victim" Card Read More..

Budget Committees Reject Cuts - Propose Revenue

Mike Herald — Fri, 28 May 2010 22:22:53 GMT

Budget Committees Reject Cuts - Propose Revenue
05/28/2010--0 comments

House Passes TANF ECF Extension Read More..

Assembly, Senate Budget Committees Reject CalWORKs Elimination

Mike Herald — Wed, 26 May 2010 21:24:30 GMT

Assembly, Senate Budget Committees Reject CalWORKs Elimination
05/26/2010--0 comments

Elimnation Costs Taxpayers $700 Million and Leaves $4 Billion in TANF in DC Read More..

Congressional Republican's Big Lie on Welfare

Mike Herald — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:29:23 GMT

Congressional Republican's Big Lie on Welfare
05/24/2010--0 comments

"You Cut" Proposal to Eliminate TANF Stimulus Program Roundly Defeated Read More..

The Governor’s Proposed Budget Would Decimate California’s Safety Net for Poor Families and Put Medi-Cal Health Services Out of Reach

Luis Cid — Fri, 14 May 2010 22:36:37 GMT

The Governor’s Proposed Budget Would Decimate California’s Safety Net for Poor Families and Put Medi-Cal Health Services Out of Reach
05/14/2010--0 comments

Click here to download the pdf report. Read More..

A California Without CalWORKs?

Mike Herald — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:48:08 GMT

A California Without CalWORKs?
05/14/2010--0 comments

1 Million Children May Lose Their Cash Assistance Read More..

Sacramento Update

Luis Cid — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:24:24 GMT

Sacramento Update
05/12/2010--0 comments

Sacramento budget fight heats up. Click here for WCLP's latest blog on the topic. Read More..

Administration's Bogus CalWORKs Grant Claims

Mike Herald — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:54:22 GMT

Administration's Bogus CalWORKs Grant Claims
04/29/2010--0 comments

New Analysis by WCLP and CBP Shows Administration is Exaggerating When it Claims CalWORKs Grant Costs Are High Read More..

Deep Poverty in Children to Rise If CalWORKs Eliminated

Mike Herald — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:23:03 GMT

Deep Poverty in Children to Rise If CalWORKs Eliminated
04/12/2010--0 comments

190,000 Children Will Fall Into Deep Poverty Read More..

Homelessness Rising Sharply Among School Children

Mike Herald — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:02:04 GMT

Homelessness Rising Sharply Among School Children
04/12/2010--0 comments

60,000 More Children Fall Into Homelessness in 2008-9 Read More..

The Governor’s Proposal to Eviscerate Medi-Cal to the Federal Minimum Would Cut More Than 1.7 Million Poor People From the Medi-Cal Program.

Luis Cid — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:33:28 GMT

The Governor’s Proposal to Eviscerate Medi-Cal to the Federal Minimum Would Cut More Than 1.7 Million Poor People From the Medi-Cal Program.
03/08/2010--0 comments

Western Center released a report showing that under the Governor’s proposal to cut Medi-Cal eligibility to the federal minimum more than 1.7 million poor children, parents, seniors, and people with disabilities would lose their Medi-Cal health coverage. Read More..

Recovery Act Roundup

Kim Wade — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:11:00 GMT

Recovery Act Roundup
02/23/2010--0 comments

A roundup of updates on the Recovery Act's one-year record of creating jobs and protecting the safety net -- and the advocacy needed in Washington to extend this investment in our economy, families, and state budget. Read More..

The Recovery Act: Happy Tax Credit Awareness Day

Kim Wade — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:23:02 GMT

The Recovery Act: Happy Tax Credit Awareness Day
01/28/2010--0 comments

The Recovery Act is delivering larger tax credits to more working families this tax season and next -- but more needs to be done to help families connect to free tax assistance sites. Read More..

The Recovery Act: SNAPping back from the Recession

Kim Wade — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:00:42 GMT

The Recovery Act: SNAPping back from the Recession
01/21/2010--0 comments

The Recovery's Act boost to SNAP (formerly Food Stamps) is working to help families and the economy -- but there are problems in California Read More..

Protecting Consumers from Dental Credit Card Abuse: AB 171

Luis Cid — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:23:07 GMT

Protecting Consumers from Dental Credit Card Abuse: AB 171
07/31/2009--0 comments

Low-income consumers are falling victim to the predatory marketing of credit for dental care with high interest rates, sometimes under unscrupulous circumstances, including: Read More..

Looking for Budget Language and Information? Try Here

Elizabeth Landsberg — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:34:37 GMT

Looking for Budget Language and Information? Try Here
07/23/2009--0 comments

Since the "cone of silence" descended on the Capitol once again, it's been hard to get concrete information on the budget proposals or review actual language. The Senate Republicans have posted some of the budget trailer bill on their website: http://cssrc.us/blog.aspx?id=6499 Read More..

Assembly Issues an Analysis of the Governor's June 2009 "Reform" Agenda

Elizabeth Landsberg — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:13:28 GMT

Assembly Issues an Analysis of the Governor's June 2009 "Reform" Agenda
07/08/2009--0 comments

Governor Proposes Further HHS Cuts and Reforms and Western Center Responds

Elizabeth Landsberg — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:46:51 GMT

Governor Proposes Further HHS Cuts and Reforms and Western Center Responds
06/29/2009--0 comments

Several times over the weekend the Governor met with Democratic leaders to discuss the budget. Saturday the Governor proposed new cuts ato nd "reforms" of health and human services programs including CalWORKs, Medi-Cal and IHSS. Attached are summaries of the three proposals. The Governor is prop... Read More..

Welcome to the Bottom of Grover Norquists Bathtub

Mike Herald — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:10:38 GMT

Welcome to the Bottom of Grover Norquists Bathtub
06/25/2009--0 comments

Governor Proposes Complete Defunding of Child Welfare and Foster Care Read More..

WCLP Urges Passage Of Conference Committee Report

Mike Herald — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:17:47 GMT

WCLP Urges Passage Of Conference Committee Report
06/19/2009--0 comments

Please find attached our letter to the Legislature urging support by legislators for the Budget Conference Committee Report. As our letter explains, while we have many concerns with the budget plan, it largely protects the safety net, is more balanced and equitable than the Governor’s proposal and ... Read More..

Conference Committee Completed Action on Human Service Issues

Elizabeth Landsberg — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:45:32 GMT

Conference Committee Completed Action on Human Service Issues
06/16/2009--0 comments

The conference committee has just completed action on human service actions. The committee rejected almost all the Governor's proposals but did make more than $300 million in cuts. The big action was relaxing welfare to work activities for 2 years for families with small children. Read More..

Conference Committee Takes Action on Remaining Health Items

Elizabeth Landsberg — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:52:14 GMT

Conference Committee Takes Action on Remaining Health Items
06/15/2009--0 comments

Today, the Budget Conference Committee reconvened and went through open items on a number of the subject-matter agendas, including health. Some of the actions taken by the committee in the health arena are: Read More..

Health Legislative Report as of June 10, 2009

Luis Cid — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:41:21 GMT

Health Legislative Report as of June 10, 2009
06/12/2009--2 comments

Til Death Do Us Apart

Mike Herald — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:05:56 GMT

Til Death Do Us Apart
06/10/2009--1 comments

This morning the Budget Conference Committee is taking up the human service budget. The Committee has been mostly closing small items and leaving big ticket items open and we anticipate more of that today though it is possible the conferees will reject some proposals. Yesterday's hearing was pun... Read More..

Conference Committee Continues through Health Agenda

Elizabeth Landsberg — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:13:08 GMT

Conference Committee Continues through Health Agenda
06/09/2009--0 comments

This morning the Budget Conference Committee continued through the health care agenda. The following actions were taken by the committee: Read More..

Budget Conference Committee Begins Votes on Health Issues

Elizabeth Landsberg — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:44:49 GMT

Budget Conference Committee Begins Votes on Health Issues
06/08/2009--0 comments

This afternoon the Budget Conference Committee delved into the agenda on health care issues. Some highlights include the following actions (and inactions) by the committee: Read More..

Budget Conference Committee in Hearings

Elizabeth Landsberg — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:59:29 GMT

Budget Conference Committee in Hearings
06/05/2009--0 comments

The Budget Conference Committee finished hearing public testimony and has begun voting on some items. Wednesday evening the committee voted to eliminate the state agencies, such as the Health and Human Services Agency. The committee has fallen behind its original schedule. They were supposed to ... Read More..

Ventura County Star Editorial: Governor Can't Lead

David Willcutts — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:44:27 GMT

Ventura County Star Editorial: Governor Can't Lead
06/04/2009--0 comments

We wanted to point people to a recent editorial piece by the Ventura County Star that is well worth the read. It takes issue with the Governor's view that there area no choices but to make these cuts. The editorial proclaims "The governor is wrong. He has plenty of choices and so do Californians.... Read More..

Conference Committee Resumes - Focus on Education and Child Care

Mike Herald — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:18:16 GMT

Conference Committee Resumes - Focus on Education and Child Care
06/01/2009--0 comments

Round Three of May Revise is now available. Read More..

Governor Announces $2.8 Billion in New Cuts - Child Welfare Spared

Mike Herald — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:23:06 GMT

Governor Announces $2.8 Billion in New Cuts - Child Welfare Spared
05/29/2009--2 comments

Eliminating CalWORKs is "Reckless" Says Santa Clara County Welfare Director Will Lightbourne

Mike Herald — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:35:21 GMT

Eliminating CalWORKs is "Reckless" Says Santa Clara County Welfare Director Will Lightbourne
05/28/2009--2 comments

There were many pwerful witnesses at yesterday's Budget Conference Committee on the elimination of CalWORKs. One of the more moving moments was testimony by Will Lightbourne, the director of the Santa Clara County CalWORKs program. Here are his comments courtesy of the County Welfare Director... Read More..

Western Center's Testimony Opposing Health Cuts

Elizabeth Landsberg — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:19:17 GMT

Western Center's Testimony Opposing Health Cuts
05/27/2009--1 comments

Today the Budget Conference Committee held an all-day hearing on the Governor's proposed May Revision budget proposals affecting health and human services programs. The first segment was on Medi-Cal and Healthy Families. Dozens of speakers discussed the devastating impact the proposed cuts would ... Read More..

Robert Greenstein Issues Statement Opposing Eliminating Welfare

Mike Herald — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:58:15 GMT

Robert Greenstein Issues Statement Opposing Eliminating Welfare
05/27/2009--1 comments

Robert Greenstein the executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has issued the following statement on Governor Schwarzenegger's proposal to eliminate the CalWORKs program for poor families: Read More..

The legislative Budget Conference Committee is holding an overview hearing with the Dept. Of Finance on the Governor's new cuts.

David Willcutts — Tue, 26 May 2009 23:29:52 GMT

The legislative Budget Conference Committee is holding an overview hearing with the Dept. Of Finance on the Governor's new cuts.
05/26/2009--3 comments

The legislative Budget Conference Committee is holding an overview hearing with the Dept. Of Finance on the Governor's new cuts. The committee was very critical of the proposed elimination of CalWORKs. Senator Lowenthal called it, 'the corner grocer cut.' Senator Ducheny called it a recipe for ho... Read More..

Governor’s May Revise - CalWORKs, CFAP and CAPI Eliminated, $4.3 Billion in Federal Funds Forfeited, SSI Cut to Minimum

Mike Herald — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:51:50 GMT

Governor’s May Revise - CalWORKs, CFAP and CAPI Eliminated, $4.3 Billion in Federal Funds Forfeited, SSI Cut to Minimum
05/26/2009--12 comments

Governor Schwarzenegger has updated his May Revise budget in light of his decision not to pursue $5.5 billion in borrowing and the state’s worsening cash position. He has chosen to make draconian cuts to state services by eliminating the state’s welfare program, CalWORKs, along with Healthy Familie... Read More..

Governor’s May Revise 223,000 Children Cut off CalWORKs, $285 Million in Stimulus Funds Forfeited, SSI Cut to Minimum - CFAP and CAPI Eliminated

David Willcutts — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:21:49 GMT

Governor’s May Revise 223,000 Children Cut off CalWORKs, $285 Million in Stimulus Funds Forfeited, SSI Cut to Minimum - CFAP and CAPI Eliminated
05/15/2009--16 comments

Governor Schwarzenegger released an early edition of the May Revise budget prior to the May 19 th election that makes unprecedented reductions to cash and food assistance for the most vulnerable Californians. The Governor’s proposals are on top of the significant cuts to CalWORKs and SSI that w... Read More..

The May Revision: Proposed Cuts to Medi-Cal and Other Programs Serving Low-Income Californians

David Willcutts — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:34:52 GMT

The May Revision: Proposed Cuts to Medi-Cal and Other Programs Serving Low-Income Californians
05/14/2009--2 comments

On May 14, 2009 Governor Schwarzenegger released his May Revision of the 2009-10 budget year. For the proposal go to: http://www.dof.ca.gov/ . The budget package signed by the Governor in February 2009 has already been determined to be out of balance due to declining revenues. Acc... Read More..

Legislature Should Restore CalWORKs Grant Cut - State Forfeiting $117 Million in Stimulus Funds

David Willcutts — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:50:58 GMT

Legislature Should Restore CalWORKs Grant Cut - State Forfeiting $117 Million in Stimulus Funds
05/05/2009--16 comments

The Legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger should restore the CalWORKs grant cut set to take effect July 1, 2009. California will lose $117 million in federal stimulus funds and the significant economic impact from human service spending if it does not act. If the cuts are allow... Read More..

The State Budget’s Impact on the Medi-Cal Program and Other Services for Poor Californians

David Willcutts — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:27:35 GMT

The State Budget’s Impact on the Medi-Cal Program and Other Services for Poor Californians
04/16/2009--1 comments

After the longest Senate session in California history, on Thursday, February 19 the California Legislature approved a massive budget plan that addresses shortfalls in both the current year budget and the upcoming 2009-10 budget. The Governor signed the package of dozens of bills on February 20. ... Read More..

Poor Californians Are Slated for Severe Health & Human Service Cuts July 1, 2009

David Willcutts — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:39:41 GMT

Poor Californians Are Slated for Severe Health & Human Service Cuts July 1, 2009
04/03/2009--2 comments

The Legislature and the Governor agreed to a sweeping 18 month budget "solution" in late February but it did not complete the work on the budget. The agreement included an additional $947 million in program cuts set to take effect July 1 along with a $1.8 billion tax increase set to take effect on... Read More..

Health Care Legislation Affecting Low-Income Consumers

David Willcutts — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:49:53 GMT

Health Care Legislation Affecting Low-Income Consumers
03/16/2009--0 comments

The deadline to introduce bills for the regular 2009-10 legislative session was February 27, 2009. Some bills are still in “spot bill” form – without specific language. Following is a summary of some of the legislation affecting low-income health consumers. Following is a summary of some o... Read More..

Letter to: Treasurer Lockyer and Director Genest Re: SB 3X 16 (Ducheny) Determination of Sufficiency of Federal Stimulus Funds

David Willcutts — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:58:19 GMT

Letter to: Treasurer Lockyer and Director Genest Re: SB 3X 16 (Ducheny) Determination of Sufficiency of Federal Stimulus Funds
03/16/2009--1 comments

Western Center is writing related to the determination that the Treasurer and Department of Finance (DOF) must make in Government Code Section 99030. This section requires a public hearing by the two entities prior to April 1, 2009 and if the Treasurer and DOF determine that there are sufficient ... Read More..

Proposed Medi-Cal Cuts Jeopardize the Health and Safety of California’s Most Vulnerable Populations and Risk the Loss of Billions of Dollars in Feder

David Willcutts — Mon, 04 May 2009 23:03:43 GMT

Proposed Medi-Cal Cuts Jeopardize the Health and Safety of California’s Most Vulnerable Populations and Risk the Loss of Billions of Dollars in Feder
01/30/2009--4 comments

The Governor’s 2009-10 budget proposes deep cuts to the Medi-Cal Program including: Reducing eligibility for working parents. Reducing eligibility for Medi-Cal for seniors and persons with disabilities and requiring them to pay for more of their care. Requiri... Read More..