UDW caregivers started 2016 off with a bang. In fact, we made history.
Overtime pay
On February 1st, for the first time ever, eligible IHSS providers began receiving pay for the hours of overtime we work – a right we fought hard to secure throughout 2015.
Throughout the year, we worked with the state to make sure overtime was a benefit for all providers. With our help, the state developed exemptions to the tough new IHSS overtime and workweek rules that helped prevent unfair disruptions in our clients’ care.
Social Security and unemployment benefits for ALL caregivers
In 2016, we also began our work to win unemployment, Social Security, and Medicare benefits for IHSS providers who care for their spouse or child – an issue that has affected many of us personally, including former IHSS provider Cathyleen Williams from Barstow.
“I was Caleb’s mother, but I was also his home care provider,” wrote Cathyleen in an op-ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Caleb passed away and my job as his home care provider ended, I applied for — and was denied — unemployment.”
With Cathyleen’s and so many other stories to push us, we fought hard to get our sponsored bill, AB 1930, passed through both the Senate and the Assembly. The bill would have convened a committee to look into the financial impact exclusion from basic benefits like unemployment pay has on parent and spouse providers. Although AB 1930 was passed unanimously by the legislature, Governor Brown vetoed it in late September.
“I don’t think I will ever be able to truly put into words the pain of losing a child,” continued Cathyleen. “But I know I want to help lessen this pain for other parent and spouse home care providers who have to navigate the world without their loved one and no social safety net.”
Instead of looking at the veto of AB 1930 as a defeat, UDW caregivers can take solace in the fact that our elected leaders and the public heard us, as we can continue our work to win these benefits in 2017.
$15, paid sick days, and more
In April, we helped win one of the toughest battles facing working people today – the Fight for $15. Because of rallies, marches, lobby visits at the Capitol, demonstrations and more work alongside other low wage workers, our elected leaders agreed to a plan that will raise California’s minimum wage to $15 by 2022 and give IHSS providers paid sick days.
“This a huge victory for all working Californians, but especially IHSS providers,” said UDW President and our fellow home care worker Editha Adams. “We’ve been denied paid sick leave and a livable wage for far too long.”
We celebrated this amazing achievement, but we also used it as a stepping stone. We know the work of IHSS providers is worth far more than minimum wage, which is why UDW caregivers went All In for Care. At the state level in Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties, and at the county level in other UDW counties, we will continue to demand respect, dignity, as well as fair pay and benefits for our work at the bargaining table.
Cuts to the IHSS program have a direct impact our caregivers and our clients. The 7% cut to our clients’ hours of care was restored for one year in 2015. In 2016, we also lobbied and successfully urged our elected leaders to restore our clients’ hours for another three years.
Your IHSS paycheck
As we all know, the current IHSS payroll system is far from reliable. Early this year, UDW caregivers decided that enough was enough. We’re tired of waiting for late paychecks and timesheets, and we’re tired of not knowing if and when we’ll be able to pay our bills.
In May, we testified at a joint Legislative Audit Committee hearing at the Capitol to ask the legislature to approve an audit of the IHSS payroll system. Claire Kaufman, an IHSS provider for her daughter Katie in El Dorado County, was one of the providers who told her story. “Last November, I submitted my IHSS timesheet for the first 15 days of the month and waited for my paycheck,” said Claire. “I waited days and then weeks, unable to get an answer about the delay.” Claire was finally paid just before Christmas in 2015, but her family had to sacrifice their holidays so that she could catch up on their bills.
The committee approved the audit, and we expect to receive the findings in early 2017. UDW will then use them to create legislation that will address and fix the problems with the payroll system.
We didn’t stop at the audit, though, and throughout the year we continued to urge the state to make improvements. Finally, in October, after a lot of pressure from UDW, the state announced it would offer an electronic timesheet option in 2017.
Election Day 2016
In addition to our UDW fights and victories, we elected a new president in 2016, and despite our feelings – good or bad – about the outcome, President-elect Trump will take office in January. The incoming president, his administration, and the Republican led Congress have all expressed opposition to programs on which IHSS providers, recipients, and working families rely.
The election sets the stage for some major fights in 2017:
House Speaker Paul Ryan has long threatened to cut Medicaid, which provides 55% of the funding for IHSS.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said repealing the ACA, which has made an estimated 75,000 UDW caregivers eligible for free or low-cost health coverage, would be “the first item up in the new year.”
The Freedom Foundation
And an anti-home care organization known as the Freedom Foundation has begun targeting UDW caregivers – making themselves a major threat in 2017. The Freedom Foundation tells IHSS providers to quit their union in order to save money. Unfortunately, they don’t tell the full story. As a union, we’ve fought and won big victories, not only this year (see a list of our many victories together here). No one provider could do alone what we do together. The Freedom Foundation wants to weaken strong unions like ours, in order to further their corporate billionaire-backed agenda.
Preparing for 2017
In 2017 we will continue to urge the state to fix the IHSS payroll system once and for all, and we will keep pushing for Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment pay for spouse and parent providers.
It will also be our time to prove that when UDW home care workers stand together, we can fight back against attempts to take our healthcare, weaken IHSS, or weaken us as a union by taking our voice and power. The stakes have never been higher, but we have protected home care and our clients time and time again – if we stand together, next year will be no different.
We look forward to fighting for home care with you in 2017. Happy New Year!
UDW is a union for home care providers by home care providers, which means we are committed to the issues that are important to caregivers and our clients and loved ones. Together, we are a strong voice for seniors, people with disabilities, home care providers, and working families at the Capitol. In 2016, in addition to permanently ending the 7% cut to our clients’ IHSS hours, we’re sponsoring legislation that would start our work to secure unemployment insurance, Medicare, and Social Security benefits for family providers.
Here are the bills UDW is sponsoring, supporting, opposing, and watching in 2016:
BILLS WE ARE SPONSORING
[toggle_content title=”AB 211 (Gomez): State level collective bargaining for IHSS caregivers“]
Would move IHSS providers from negotiating contracts in 58 counties across California to negotiating with the state. State level collective bargaining would give providers a better opportunity to negotiate wages and benefits.
Status: Two-Year Bill
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[toggle_content title=”AB 1930 (Lackey): Equal rights and benefits for spouse and parent providers“]
Would establish the In-Home Supportive Services Family Caregiver Benefits Advisory Committee to study the impact of the denial of state unemployment insurance benefits and federal Medicare and Social Security benefits on IHSS spouse and parent providers. The advisory committee would be required to submit a peer-reviewed report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2018.
Status: Presented to the Governor on 8/30
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[toggle_content title=”AB 2133 (Chu): Appeals process for parents and family child care providers“]
This bill would require the State Department of Education to create an appeals process for parents who receive child care subsidies and for family child care providers who receive child care subsidy payments.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
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[toggle_content title=”SB 1330 (Galgiani): Keeping people with disabilities safer in our communities“]
This bill would clarify an existing law by adding people who are cognitively impaired or developmentally disabled to the current definition of “at-risk” used by the Attorney General’s directory of at-risk missing persons. This bill will keep many home care recipients safer because law enforcement agencies are required to broadcast a bulletin within their jurisdiction when a missing person is identified as “at-risk.”
Status: Senate Enrollment
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BILLS WE SUPPORT
[toggle_content title=”AB 598 (Calderon): Supportive tools for family child care providers“]
Current law requires each family child care home education network to assess the educational quality of the program offered in each family child care home in the network and work with family child care providers to complete a developmental profile for each child. This bill would require that tools used to make these assessments be appropriate to family child care home settings.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”AB 635 (Atkins): Medical interpreters to improve patient care“]
This bill would require the state to seek federal funding to establish a program to give Medi-Cal patients who are Limited English Proficient (LEP) access to medical interpreters when receiving treatment from their doctors or other health care professionals. Medical interpreters are crucial during hospital stays or in emergency room settings, when accurately giving and understanding information is essential to avoiding medical errors.
Status: Presented to the Governor on 9/8
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”AB 1235 (Gipson): Improving housing allowances for Medi-Cal patients in nursing facilities“]
Would establish eligibility and other requirements for providing the home upkeep allowance to Medi-Cal patients living in a long-term care facility. The bill would set requirements for facility residents transitioning back to their own homes.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill.
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”AB 1584 (Brown): Lifting Californians out of poverty by increasing SSI/SSP payments“]
This bill would reinstate the cost-of-living adjustments for SSI and SSP payments and require a maximum aid payment to be increased to an amount that does not equal or exceed 96% of the 2016 federal poverty level based on family size in 2017 or 100% of the 2017 federal poverty level based on family size in 2018. By increasing the state portion of the SSI/SSP grant, California’s most impoverished aged, blind, and disabled adults will have the financial resources to manage the state’s high cost of living.
Status: Presented to the Governor on 8/30
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”AB 1655 (Dodd): Increasing personal needs allowance for qualifying Medi-Cal recipients“]
Currently, medically needy persons are unable to receive health care during a month when their share of cost has not been met. This bill would increase the personal needs allowance for recipients of Medi-Cal living in an institution from $35 to $80 per month, and would require the State Department of Health Care Services to annually increase the allowance amount based on the percentage increase in the California Consumer Price Index.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
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[toggle_content title=”AB 1797 (Lackey): Applying for IHSS online“]
Would allow individuals to apply for IHSS in person or electronically. If a person applies electronically, the county would be required to give them a confirmation number. The bill would require the county to process an application within 30 days.
Status: Presented to the Governor on 8/26
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[toggle_content title=”AB 1978 (Gonzalez): Protecting workers from exploitation“]
Would mandate training on sexual violence and sexual harassment for supervisors and employees in the janitorial services industry. It would also establish a toll-free hotline for reporting complaints and a registry of janitorial contractors. The bill would enact critical labor protections for a workforce more likely to be vulnerable to exploitation.
Status – Signed into law on 9/15
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”AB 2036 (Lopez): Background checks in online child care listings“]
Would require online child care job posting services to include in the posting access to background check information about listed child care providers.
Status: Presented to the Governor on 9/7
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”AB 2150 (Santiago): Protecting working families’ access to quality child care“]
Right now, parents who receive subsidized child care have to report any changes in income, household size, etc. within five days. This bill would protect parents from losing their child care by guaranteeing their eligibility for 12 months, and eliminating reporting requirements during their 12-month eligibility period. This bill will also protect working families from losing their eligibility for child care by increasing the eligibility income threshold. These changes will prevent family child care providers from losing the children in their care.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”AB 2819 (Chiu): Increasing fairness and access to affordable housing“]
Right now, if a tenant is sued for eviction they can find themselves on tenant blacklists even if they don’t lose their case, because they are currently required to win within 60 days. If they don’t make the 60-day deadline, the case goes on the tenant’s credit report for 7 years, even if the they later win or the landlord drops the case. Many tenants also find themselves blacklisted for lawsuits they never knew about and are wrongly deprived of both housing as well as their day in court. Landlords who rely on this information aren’t able to distinguish between a problematic or innocent tenant, and end up screening out worthy applicants. This bill would keep tenant records private unless landlords win either within 60 days of filing eviction lawsuits or at trial after the 60-day mark. This bill will ensure accurate credit reporting and ensure tenants and their families have an opportunity to secure decent, safe, and affordable housing.
Status: Signed into law on 9/13
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”SB 3 (Leno): Increasing California’s minimum wage“]
This bill phases in a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour by January 1, 2022, with a one year lag for small business (25 or less employees). This bill also provides 3 paid sick days for IHSS providers, phased in by 2022.
Status: Passed into law on 4/4
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”SB 22 (Roth): Expanding access to quality healthcare“]
This bill would invest $100 million annually for the next three years in the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training program, which trains additional primary care physicians to care for California’s underserved populations.
Status – Failed deadline, dead bill
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”SB 23 (Mitchell): Ensuring availability of CalWORKS to families in need“]
This bill would repeal the rule that denies families an increase in CalWORKS aid once a child is born into the family.
Status – Failed deadline, dead bill
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”SB 826 (Leno): Budget Act of 2016“]
The Budget Act of 2016 made appropriations for the support of state government for the 2016-17 fiscal year. Among other provisions, the bill extends the restoration of the 7% cut to IHSS hours until July 1, 2019, and includes $3 million in funding for a Medical Interpreters pilot project.
Status – Signed into law on 6/27
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”SB 828 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review): Relating to the Budget Act of 2016“]
This bill includes funding in the 2016-17 fiscal year for child care, including rate and slot increases over the next four years, annualizing to $527 million in fiscal year 2019-20.
Status – Signed into law on 6/27
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[toggle_content title=”SB 899 (Hueso): Ending gender-based discrimination in the pricing of consumer goods“]
Studies show that the cost of women’s products is 7 percent more, on average, than the cost of products for men – with personal care products costing up to 13 percent more. This bill would prohibit gender discrimination in the pricing of consumer goods. Pricing fairness would make it easier for IHSS caregivers, seniors on fixed incomes, and other low-income Californians to afford essential care products.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
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[toggle_content title=”SB 1015 (Leyva): Extending overtime pay for California’s domestic workers“]
This bill would repeal the January 1, 2017, end date of the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights – permanently extending overtime pay for domestic workers in California.
Status: Signed into law on 9/12
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[toggle_content title=”SB 1063 (Hall): Closing California’s ethnic and racial wage gap“]
This bill would help close the ethnic and racial wage gap in California. The bill would prohibit employers from paying employees a wage rate less than the rate paid to employees of a different race or ethnicity.
Status: Presented to the Governor on 8/31
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”SB 1150 (Leno): Fair mortgage practices“]
When a homeowner passes away, a surviving spouse often holds title to the home but is not named on the mortgage note. SB 1150 provides clarity to lenders and mortgage servicers on how to handle these situations, and helps protect surviving homeowners from needless foreclosures.
Status: Presented to the Governor on 8/30
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”SB 1234 (De León): The California Secure Choice Savings Program“]
This bill would require the California Secure Choice Savings Program to implement a supplemental retirement savings program for all workers statewide.
Status: Presented to the Governor on 9/9
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”SB 1377 (Nguyen): Supporting unpaid family caregivers“]
Caregiver Resource Centers (CRCs) provide unpaid family caregivers with respite and counseling services. In 2009, their funding was cut by 74%, nearly eliminating respite services. This bill would appropriate much needed funds to the CRCs to reinstate respite care services to unpaid family caregivers.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
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[toggle_content title=”SCA 8 (Mendoza): Increasing the size and diversity of county Board of Supervisors“]
Beginning with the results of the 2020 census, this bill would require charter counties with a population of more than 2 million to have a governing body of seven or more members. Increasing the size of county governing bodies like the Board of Supervisors (BOS) will ensure that these bodies are more diverse and reflective of their communities. These changes may help UDW members when negotiating contracts with their local BOS. The size of the governing body would not be reduced even if in a future census the county has a population of 2 million or less.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
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BILLS WE OPPOSE
[toggle_content title=”AB 2753 (Grove): Accessing union financial information “]
Would require public employee unions like UDW to post a regularly updated, itemized version of their budget online and give members access to it. Unions would also have to give members a means to ask financial questions, and respond to those questions within a reasonable time.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”AB 2754 (Grove): Choosing public employee unions“]
Would require public employee unions like UDW who represent employees in labor negotiations with a public authority to hold an election every two years, so that members may decide whether to continue being represented by their current union or choose a new union.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”SB 1344 (Stone): Work hour limits for domestic employees“]
Would authorize an agreement between live-in domestic workers or domestic workers on duty for 24 or more hours and their employer that would exclude an eight hour or less sleeping period from the domestic workers’ hours worked. If there is an emergency during the sleeping period, the domestic worker could count the hours worked during the emergency. Without an agreement, the eight sleep hours would count as work hours.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
[/toggle_content]
BILLS WE ARE WATCHING
[toggle_content title=”AB 1319 (Dababneh): Change to Medi-Cal share of cost formula“]
Under current law, certain seniors and people with disabilities who receive Medi-Cal are required to pay a share of cost as a condition of eligibility. Share of cost is determined using a formula to calculate the personal and incidental needs deduction for a person residing in a licensed community care facility. This bill would revise the formula and increase the personal and incidental needs deduction from $20 to $50 per month.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”AB 1727 (Gonzalez): Updating independent contractor law“]
This bill would allow independent contractors working in the on-demand or gig economy to organize and collectively bargain with their employer over working conditions, health care, and retirement.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”AB 2158 (Wagner): Making listing on the registry and training mandatory for IHSS providers“]
Would require an independent IHSS provider to be listed on the home care aide registry before providing home care services to a client. The independent IHSS provider would also be required to complete the specified training required for an affiliated home care aide. The bill would define “independent IHSS provider” as an IHSS program provider who is not employed by a private, 3rd-party agency to provide home care services under the IHSS program.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”AB 2231 (Calderon): Addressing fines for caregivers“]
This bill increases fines and penalties for family child care provider licensing violations. UDW is working with the Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) to ensure the bill impacts providers fairly.
Status: Presented to the Governor on 9/7
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”AB 2662 (Patterson): Increased transparency in the decertification process“]
Right now, to end or change union representation, proof must be provided that shows that at least 30% of the bargaining unit’s members are on board with the change. This bill would require the Public Employment Relations Board to complete and publish the results of the union decertification election within 90 days of the board determining the proof is sufficient.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
[/toggle_content]
[toggle_content title=”SB 1420 (Mendoza): Mandated training for family child care providers“]
Would require family child care providers to attend a one-time, paid, two-hour health and safety training.
Status: Failed deadline, dead bill
[/toggle_content]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 17, 2016
CONTACT: Robin Swanson
(916) 204-6890
Influential California Health Advocates Form “Californians for Coordinated Care,” a Coalition to Bring Together Pieces of Fragmented Health Care System for Patients
SACRAMENTO – Today, a broad range of California health providers, patient advocates and health plans announced the formation of the Californians for Coordinated Care coalition, working to improve care and lower costs through the Coordinated Care Initiative.
The coalition includes CAPG, the Voice of Accountable Physician Groups, Alzheimer’s Association, Service Employees International Union, County Welfare Directors Association of California, California Association of Health Plans, Local Health Plans of California, California State Association of Counties, Congress of California Seniors, and United Domestic Workers of America.
The Coordinated Care Initiative (CCI) strives to bring together many pieces of our healthcare system to improve the quality of life for patients eligible for Medicare and Medi-Cal. At its core, the CCI integrates healthcare for patients, transforming California’s fragmented health and long term care services into a system that is coordinated and provides quality, fully integrated, person-centered care to seniors and people with disabilities.
“Physicians and other medical professionals understand that bringing together all parts of a person’s healthcare is critical to their overall wellbeing and more importantly, to their personal fulfillment,” said Dr. Amy Nguyen Howell, Chief Medical Officer of CAPG, the Voice of Accountable Physician Groups. “We have long fought for clinically integrated, comprehensive, and coordinated healthcare for California’s patients, and continue to do so as a member of Californians for Coordinated Care.”
Studies show that integrating long-term health care services, in-home services and community-based care options not only helps patients, but is a platform for long term payment and delivery reform for integrated care and savings to the state. Californians for Coordinated Care are committed to making this program successful by improving care and lowering costs.
“Our support for the Coordinated Care Initiative stems from our commitment to fulfilling the promise of a more coordinated system,” said Gary Passmore, Vice President of the Congress of California Seniors. “It is our responsibility to continue to work as health advocates for California’s patients and provide focused, encompassing care for them.”
Without the CCI, 1.2 million seniors and people with disabilities would lose the coordinated care teams and other services offered through the program, and face yet another confusing and disruptive transition.
“The Coordinated Care Initiative has transformed the care and support services for more than a million seniors and people with disabilities, and is creating a new foundation for how we care for vulnerable populations,” said Charles Bacchi, President and CEO of California Association of Health Plans. “Health plans are committed to making this program successful by improving care and lowering costs.”
According to a study by the University of California, the majority of Coordinated Care enrollees are satisfied with the health care services they receive in key areas, such as the providers and hospitals available in the plan network, the teamwork of their providers, and the ability to get questions answered about their health care needs.
Follow Californians for Coordinated Care on Twitter: @CA_CCI
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