Join the California Consortium for Urban Indian Health at Alliance for Girls’ 3rd Annual Conference: Building A Girls Agenda, Raising Our Voices to Change Girls’ Lives in San Francisco on Wednesday, May 20th from 9 am – 4 pm, followed by a reception. Alliance for Girls is an alliance of 81 members working with more than 216,000 girls across the Bay Area. CCUIH is proud to be a member, because together, we are forging a growing movement of girl-serving organizations that are more connected, more effective, and better able to prepare today’s girls to be the leaders, agents of change and thriving women of tomorrow.
May 20th will be a day to remember. Hundreds of girls’ champions including parents, direct service providers, funders, advocates, politicians, businesswomen and girls will convene to develop a community action plan for preparing today’s girls for future success.
The conversation will be informed and guided by inspiring speakers such as Teresa Younger, the new CEO of the Ms. Foundation, and extraordinary young women such as Liana Thomason, who is leading a local movement to change sexual harassment policies within Berkeley Unified School District. By the end of the day, attendees will have developed a Bay Area-wide Girls Agenda that will be graphically recorded and broadcast across the region, the state and the nation.
Register today and be a part of this historic event: http://www.alliance4girls.org/2015-conference.
Improving the lives of Urban Indian girls is a priority for CCUIH. See below to read about active legislation that can particularly impact girls, or visit our California Legislation Tracker.
AB 1357: Assemblymembers Chiu (District 17) and Rendon (District 63)
Children and Family Health Promotion Program
Summary: Establishes the Children and Family Health Promotion Program. Provides for a competitive grant process for grants to counties, cities, nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations, and licensed clinics that seek to invest in childhood obesity and diabetes prevention activities and oral health programs. Authorizes a grant to any entity that will use the funds to support programs that use educational, environmental, policy, and other public health approaches to achieve specified goals.
Last Action: 4/29/15 Read second time and amended.
For more information on this bill please check the Official California Legislative Information site here
SB 118: Senator Liu (District 25)
School-Based Health and Education Partnership Program
Summary: This bill would provide funding for the expansion and renovation of existing school health centers. The bill would change the amount of the sustainability grants that are available pursuant to the program to between $50,000 and $100,000, but would make those grants available on a one-time basis and would revise the purposes for which they may be used. The bill would also authorize population health grants in amounts between $50,000 and $125,000 for a funding period of up to 3 years, as specified.
According to the author, there are currently 231 SBHCs in California that serve over 242,000 students with a range of services that meet specific needs of the local student population. These centers have proven to be an effective anchor for a broader community school strategy. A community school is both a place and a set of partnerships between the school and other community resources that integrates services and supports into the educational strategy of the school. This approach improves student academic achievement, increases attendance, reduces dropout rates, improves behavior, and promotes parent engagement. These outcomes benefit families and communities by generating increased stability and public safety. SBHCs typically piece together funding through a variety of sources including: third-party billing reimbursement, such as Medi-Cal, in kinddonations from schools and community agencies, grants, and local revenues. The PSHCSP has existed in statute for eight years yet has never been funded. It is time for this program to be updated and funded, as it will expand the availability and scope of medical and mental health services available to students. This perfectly complements the LCFF emphasis on addressing the needs of at-risk students and building community resiliency.
Last Action: 2/27/15 Placed on suspense file.
For more information on this bill please check the Official California Legislative Information site here
AB 50: Assemblymember Mullin (District 22)
Nurse Family Partnership
Summary: Requires the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to develop and implement a plan to ensure that Nurse-Family Partnership and other evidence-based nurse home visiting programs are offered to Medi-Cal eligible pregnant women.
According to the author, this bill is necessary to increase accessibility for nurse led home visiting and help improve efficiency on this piece of our system of care. This bill helps to address the rising costs of Medi-Cal and potential burdens of rising Medi-Cal enrollment. With increased Medi-Cal enrollments come the societal savings, care coordination, case management, and healthcare outcomes that NFP and other evidence-based nurse home visiting programs, provide for the consistent solutions resonating among stakeholders. These measures will help improve HEDIS measures, access to services, and reduce costs while further increasing savings. It is the responsibility of the Legislature and in the best interest of all California citizens to prioritize efficiency and effectiveness in the consideration of fiscal expenditures.
Last Action: 4/22/15 Re-referred to Committee on appropriations.
For more information on this bill please check the Official California Legislative Information site here
AB 775: Assemblymember Chui (District 17)
Reproductive FACT Act
Summary: This bill requires licensed clinics that provide family planning or pregnancy-related services to provide a specific notice to consumers regarding public programs whereby patients can access reproductive health services, but exempts federal government clinics and clinics participating in Medi-Cal and the Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment Program (FPACT) from notice requirements. Also requires unlicensed facilities that provide pregnancy-related services to disseminate and post a notice informing consumers that they are not a licensed medical facility. Specifies penalties of $500 for the first instance of noncompliance, and $1,000 for subsequent noncompliance, and authorizes the Attorney General, city attorney, or county counsel to bring an action to impose penalties.
The purpose of this bill is to provide consumer protection and disclosure for women seeking pregnancy or family planning-related services. The author contends there are nearly 200 licensed and unlicensed clinics known as crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) in California whose goal is to interfere with women’s ability to be fully informed and exercise their reproductive rights, and that CPCs pose as full-service women’s health clinics, but aim to discourage and prevent women from seeking abortions. The author concludes that these intentionally deceptive advertising and counseling practices often confuse, misinform, and even intimidate women from making fully-informed, time-sensitive decisions about critical health care.
Last Action: 5/5/15 Re-referred to Committee on Appropriations
For more information on this bill please check the Official California Legislative Information site here
AB 990: Assemblymember Bonilla (District 14)
Women’s Health.
Summary: This bill requires the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to include information regarding the increased risk of breast cancer associated with obesity in any literature regarding breast cancer they produce or update on or after January 1, 2016. It also clarifies that CDPH does not need to dispose of, or refrain from disseminating existing published literature solely for the purpose of complying with these provisions.
Last Action: 4/29/15 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Committee on Appropriations with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 19. Noes 0.) (April 28). Re-referred to Committee on Appropriations.
For more information on this bill please check the Official California Legislative Information site here
AB 1174: Assemblymember Bonta (District 18)
Women’s Health.
Summary: This bill requires the State Department of Public Health to develop a coordinated state strategy for addressing the health-related needs of women, including implementation of goals and objectives for women’s health. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health to report to the Assembly Committee on Health and the Senate Committee on Health the state strategy, goals established, and progress made toward achieving those goals on or before January 1, 2017, and biennially thereafter.
Last Action: 4/28/15 In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
For more information on this bill please check the Official California Legislative Information site here
AB 47: Assemblymember McCarty (District 7)
State preschool program: report
Summary: This bill expresses the intent of the Legislature that no later than January 1, 2017, the State Budget shall include an appropriation for the California State Preschool Program (CSPP) sufficient to provide all children who are eligible for the program, and whose parents wish to enroll them, the opportunity to enroll in the program in the year before they enter kindergarten.
Studies have shown that high-quality preschool significantly improves children’s school readiness and school performance, that quality preschool provides a return of $15,000 for every child served, and that investment in high-quality preschool will result in savings in prison expenditures. The bill further expresses the intent of the Legislature that all low-income children have access to either a state preschool program or a transitional kindergarten program and to provide funds to expand the CSPP to provide full day, full year preschool for all eligible low-income children.
Last Action: 4/23/15 Re-referred to Committee on Education
For more information on this bill please check the Official California Legislative Information site here
SB 277: Senator Pan (District 6)
Public Health: Vaccinations
Summary: This bill would eliminate the personal belief exemption from the requirement that children receive specified vaccines for certain infectious diseases (including diphtheria, hepatitis B, haemophilus influenzae type b, measles, mumps, pertussis, poliomyelitis, rubella, tetanus, and chicken pox) prior to being admitted to any public or private elementary or secondary school, child care center, day nursery, nursery schools, family day care home, or developmental centers, and would make other conforming changes. This bill would specify that this mandatory vaccination requirement (for which the bill would only leave a medical exemption) does not apply to a home-based private school or a student enrolled in an independent study program. This bill would, in certain circumstances, permit a child to be temporarily excluded from the school or institution until the local health officer is satisfied that the child is no longer at risk of developing or transmitting a communicable disease for which immunization is otherwise required by law. This bill would add to existing notifications that school districts must give to parents, the immunization rates for the school in which a pupil is enrolled for each of the immunizations required.
Last Action: 5/5/15 Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Committee on Appropriations
For more information on this bill please check the Official California Legislative Information site here
SB 792: Senator Mendoza (District 32)
Day care facilities: immunizations: exemptions
Summary: This bill prohibits a day care center or a family day care home from employing any person after September 1, 2016, who has not been immunized according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s schedule for routine adult immunizations. It specifies circumstances under which a person would be exempt from the immunization requirement, based on medical safety and current immunity. The bill also makes conforming changes to statute defining the qualifications for day care center teachers and for licensure as a family day care center.
Last Action: 4/30/15 Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Committee on Appropriations
For more information on this bill please check the Official California Legislative Information site here