FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2016
Sacramento – The 2016 UDW/AFSCME Local 3930 (UDW) Legislative Scorecard is now available. This year, state legislators and Governor Brown were scored on their support for policies that impact the nearly 98,000 In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) caregivers represented by UDW and the estimated 118,000 home care recipients who receive their care. This year’s scorecard also includes the overall career scores of the legislature and the governor dating back to 2009, when UDW began publishing legislative scorecards.
“This year, your votes supported policies that will keep people with disabilities safer in our communities, provide a path to retirement security for working families, increase the state’s minimum wage, and shed light on the inequality faced by more than 90,000 family caregivers who are not eligible for Social Security and other basic safety net benefits,” said UDW Executive Director Doug Moore.
This year, legislators and the governor were scored on home care related bills, including:
- SB 1330: A bill that will update the current Be On the Lookout law to include individuals who are cognitively impaired or developmentally disabled in the definition for “at-risk,” so that if they are missing, law enforcement is in a better position to bring them home safely.
- AB 1930: This bill would have taken the first step towards extending unemployment pay and Social Security benefits to IHSS caregivers whose home care clients are their spouse or child.
UDW thanks the dozens of Assemblymembers and Senators who voted with UDW 100 percent of the time this year, and looks forward to building on those victories and protecting home care together in the coming year.
Read the full UDW 2016 Legislative Scorecard here: http://www.udwa.org/2016/12/2016-legislative-scorecard.
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United Domestic Workers of America (UDW)/AFSCME Local 3930 is a home care union made up of over 97,800 in-home caregivers across the state of California. UDW caregivers provide care through the state’s In-Home Supportive Services program (IHSS), which allows over half a million California seniors and people with disabilities to stay safe and healthy at home.
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
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[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
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[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.
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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California has taken an important step forward in increasing vital services that save lives. This week, the governor signed into law a budget that includes $3 million dollars to fund medical interpretation services for non-English speaking Medi-Cal recipients.
For several years, UDW has partnered with Interpreting for California and others to raise awareness on this issue. A lack of medical interpretation services in the state has led to unnecessary treatments, injuries, and even deaths.
Julio Perez is one Californian who knows how difficult a family crisis can become without access to a medical interpreter. When his little brother Aldo was rushed to the emergency room in Long Beach, CA, Julio was asked by medical staff to interpret in Spanish for his mother and father as his brothers’ condition became critical.
Julio was just a teenager at the time, and when his little brother died of sepsis, he felt a tremendous amount of guilt. He had struggled to understand the medical terminology, and to help his parents make informed decisions. When it came time to tell his family that Aldo had died, Julio didn’t know how to describe what had happened.
Vanna Nguyen works as her grandfather’s home care provider in Orange County. Her grandfather’s primary languages are French and Vietnamese. As his caregiver, she’s able to see to his day-to-day needs, but she worries about what would happen if he were ever admitted to a hospital or seen by a new doctor that doesn’t speak the languages her grandfather understands best. She worries that he could have trouble understanding and being understood.
“If my grandfather ever needs to go to a hospital, he should be able to understand the doctor’s plan like any other patient,” said Vanna. “And he should have an interpreter who can help him communicate his needs to the doctor as well.”
Vanna’s grandfather is not alone. An estimated one in five Californians speak English less than “very well”, and without quality interpretation in their primary language, they’re at risk of being unintentionally harmed in a place where you should get better, not worse.
“With the help of qualified medical interpreters, people like my grandfather would be able to communicate their health needs, understand their treatment plans, and avoid dangerous accidents that can arise from miscommunication,” said Vanna.
This year, UDW caregivers joined medical interpreters across California to demand action. We wrote hundreds of letters to Governor Brown asking him to create language access and access to medical interpreters in California.
Almost half of the individuals who receive Medi-Cal speak a language other than English. But qualified medical interpreters are in short supply: last year, the state had only 738 certified medical interpreters, and with millions of Californians in need, that just won’t cut it.
This budget victory means taking a step toward making sure the care of many of our neighbors, home care clients, family members, and friends doesn’t get lost in translation.
