Sacramento Report

Housing Policy Advocacy. WCLP was successful in helping to insert $1.45 billion for affordable housing in the June ballot infrastructure bond package, which unfortunately failed. We continue to work on including housing funds for a potential November bond.

WCLP is sponsoring AB 1169 (Torrico, D-Newark), which would restore 60 days' notice for a "no-fault" eviction for long-term tenants. The prior law expired January 1. The bill seeks recognition that 30 days notice is simply not enough time for a 21st century California family to move, especially a low-income family. It is strongly opposed by landlord groups.

WCLP is also sponsoring AB 2922 (Jones, D-Sacramento), which would make several reforms to redevelopment law in response to the US Supreme Court's controversial 2005 decision in Kelo v. New Haven. Among its provisions, the bill would require redevelopment agencies to increase the "tax increment" revenue set aside for housing development to 50%. Redevelopment funds are one of the largest sources of affordable housing in the state.

Welfare Policy Advocacy.

Now that Congress has passed a five year extension to the TANF block grant with new conditions imposed on states, the state of California must make critical decisions about how to respond. (See full article changes to our welfare program for details.) WCLP will be working to ensure that the federal law changes are not used as an excuse to unravel the commitments that California made to CalWORKs families in 1997. We’ll be advocating for the preservation of critical supportive services that are prerequisites to the program’s success: (1) a guarantee of child care for all families in the welfare-to-work program; (2) education, training and support services to help families succeed; (3) permitting families to accumulate some earnings so they have incentive to continue working and a meaningful chance at self-sufficiency; and (4) ensuring children receive benefits even if their parents become ineligible.

Health Policy Advocacy.

The implementation of Medicare Part D's prescription drug program has been a primary focus of our health policy efforts for the past year, but especially so since the January 1 effective date. More than 200,000 low-income seniors in this state were at risk of imminent serious illness and/or death when glitches in the new program rendered them unable to obtain critical medications. WCLP's health team has been working with other health advocates around the state on this issue to protect clients from harm and promote systemic fixes. We had been highlighting problems and discussing options in urgent discussions with the Administration, which took decisive action in January to help our clients. The Governor declared a state of emergency and placed low-income seniors back into the Medi-Cal program. Since that time, the emergency declaration has been extended several times and WCLP is one of the primary advocacy groups pursuing permanent safety net coverage for this population.