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Jericho TrumpetWinter 2006 Issue:
Families, People with Disabilities, Seniors Lose in BudgetGovernor Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget for 2006-2007 put major new money in education, prepayment of loan obligations, reduction of student fee increases and other public works improvements. It does not include major cuts or program expansions in health care and it shortchanges aged, blind, and disabled Californians and families in the CalWORKS program. The budget proposal includes several options to increase the number of insured children. It focuses on outreach, enrollment and retention of children into Medi-Cal and Healthy Families coverage. The budget grants money to counties with high quantities of children
who are eligible but not enrolled in Medi-Cal or Healthy Families Program
and will make it easier for families to renew health insurance for their
children by broadening access to electronic applications and providing
outreach to parents about what is available. The proposed Budget includes reduction to the CalWORKS Program – including Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) for families needing assistance – reduces funding in county administered health and social services programs and further delays passing through the federally funded COLA for SSI/SSP grants received by seniors and Californians with disabilities. The SSI (Supplemental Security Income) Program is a federally funded program which provides benefits in the form of cash assistance to persons aged 65 or older, blind or disabled and to certain qualified blind or disabled children. The SSP (State Supplementary Payment) Program is California’s cash supplement program which augments SSI. Both SSI and SSP benefits are administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). Carla, age 44, was severely injured in a car accident and cannot work because of chronic and debilitating fibromyalgia. Edgar, 55, suffers from mental illness, lives in a downtown hotel, and for the most part takes care of himself. Carla and Edgar are two of the 1,213,258 Californians who depend on SSI/SSP benefits of about $812 a month for all their basic needs.
2006 Session Includes Health Care, Human Trafficking, WagesSenator Sheila Kuehl’s SB 840, the California Health Insurance Reliability Act (CHIRA) is waiting in the Assembly Rules Committee until March ’06 – having made it through the Senate and Assembly Health Committee this past year. A companion bill which outlines the financing mechnism is being introduced this session, but at press time it has not been given a number. SB 840 would create a state wide health care system that puts all Californians into one insurance pool to share the risk and replace money currently going to administrative costs in private insurance programs. The new health system would use federal, state and county monies already being spent on health care in addition to payroll and individual taxes that replace premiums and co-payments currently paid. Eligibility is based on state residency rather than on employment or income. One in ten children is without health coverage. SB 437 (Escutia) and AB 772 (Chan) establish a California Healthy Kids program which coordinates existing children’s health insurance programs – Healthy Families and Medi-Cal for Children – and enables all uninsured children access to health insurance by lowering the qualifications for coverage with a new premium tier for the children of families with incomes between 250% - 300% of the Federal poverty level. AB 772 was passed by the Legislature this past year, but vetoed by
the Governor. It was reintroduced this year.
This session Senator Sheila Kuehl will introduce a follow up bill to AB 22 which will provide much needed services to trafficking victims including psychiatric and health care. It will also provide training in life skills and help in getting through the immigration minefield to attain their T-Visa which was granted them through AB 22 as temporary asylum. Incarcerated Women Minimum Wage AB 1835 (Lieber) would increase the wage to $7.25 in July 2007 and then to $7.50 in July of 2008. AB 1844 (Chavez) would do the same. Both of the bills index the minimum wage to inflation and would increase by that percentage each year. SB 1162 (Cedillo) would create an increase to $7.25 in September 2007 and to $7.50 in 2008. It includes indexing with the "method to be decided." Senator Perata introduced SB 862 as a "place holder" for an increase but does not specify an amount or index. SB 1167 (Maldonado) would increase the minimum wage to $7.25 in September of this year and to $7.50 in July 2007. It does not include indexing. Advocates believe that indexing is a critical way in which low-wage workers have a chance to keep up with rising costs. Business is concerned that indexing will make future labor costs unpredictable.
EditorialThis month I accompanied one of our sisters to New Orleans where she will work in Katrina recovery efforts for several months. From my few days there, the deepest impression with which I left was an overwhelming sadness at the unimaginable extent of damage and the fact that after six months there is so little recovery. I imagine you, as I, followed the daily unfolding of the aftermath
of Katrina. The faces of those left behind are indelibly imprinted somewhere
in our psyches. The pictures of destroyed houses and aerial views of
neighborhoods gave a taste of the dramatic destruction – brought
on, not so much by the storm itself, but by the levy breaches that followed. As I was waiting in line to board the plane home, a voice from behind me asked her friend, "Why should a farmer in North Dakota have to pay for Katrina recovery?" The question startled me because it aimed at some of the most basic values I hold as a person of faith and as an American. I thought about it a good deal of the way home. Why is a family more than an individual? Why is a community more than just a sum of families and individuals? Why are we as states united as one country? I wondered if the question was reflective of the times we live in –
a product of the so-called "me" society. Then I remembered
a question from the Hebrew Scriptures: Am I my brother's keeper? –
and I realized the question goes much further back. -- Sister Marti McCarthy, SSS Health Care Reform EffortsA majority of Californians, when asked, support universal health care. It has been a goal of JERICHO’s efforts for the past 19 years and the subject of our workshops over the past four years. What we know from the research – and our own experience in the workshops – is that, although there is support for the goal of universal health care, there is no consensus regarding the methods of achieving universal health care in our state. With a grant from Blue Shield Foundation JERICHO has continued our
work on this important issue. In the summer and fall we re-worked the
material from our previous Health Care Reform workshops, conducted interviews
of people who represented various viewpoints on the issue, and developed
a new format with a more focused outcome. This year we are looking for those elements within each model that generate consensus – or conversely, which elements are seen as so objectionable as to cause rejection of the model. We will collate responses and give feed-back to workshop participants and interested parties, including the Legislature. We believe that this information will be useful in moving along the public discourse towards viable solutions. If your group would like to host a workshop or if you are interested in participating in one, please contact us. November Ballot Workshops Clarified IssuesDuring September and October we facilitated 10 workshops around the state on the November ballot measures and the initiative process. We were outspoken regarding our opposition to Proposition 76 because of its serious implications for programs that assist low-income people. We tried (even with Proposition 76) to present a balanced presentation on the initiatives in the belief that well informed people will make better decisions. We reached Republicans, Democrats, and Independents and provided opportunity for a good exchange of ideas. It seems that there are fewer and fewer “safe places” wherein citizens can explore their differences—even though that exploration is the basis of a healthy society. We will offer workshops this fall for those who request them.
Oregon’s Minimum Wage Boost Helps Low-Wage Workers Without Hurting EconomyContrary to the doomsday predictions of minimum wage opponents, Oregon’s annual cost-of-living adjustments in the minimum wage have not dampened job growth. Measure 25, adopted by voters in 2002, increased Oregon’s minimum wage to $6.90 on January 1, 2003 and established annual adjustments based on official cost-of-living calculations. On January 1, 2006 the annual adjustment increased the minimum wage to $7.50 an hour, up from $7.25 this year. At $7.50 per hour a full-time worker will gross $15,600 over the course of the year, or $1,300 a month. According to the Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP), Oregon added 91,500 jobs between January 2003, when the minimum wage was first increased, and November 2005, the latest data available. Oregon’s percentage growth in jobs over this period is the nation’s ninth fastest. OCPP analysis also indicates that restaurants and farms have seen particularly rapid job growth since the passage of Measure 25. Restaurants and farms each have lobbying associations that have been outspoken critics of the annual inflation adjustments in the minimum wage and both industries have large concentrations of minimum wage workers. Restaurant jobs increased by 7.7 percent between the first quarter of 2002 and the first quarter of 2005 - the latest data available - compared to a 4.1 percent gain for overall non-farm payroll employment. Total agricultural employment in Oregon was up 6.5 percent between 2002 and 2004, the OCPP found.
Meet Our New Staff Member: Lisa LopezElizabeth “Lisa” Lopez joined JERICHO staff this past summer and is continuing as Public Policy Coordinator. Lisa is an experienced labor and employment attorney who comes with a commitment to improving the lives of people living in poverty. She is enriching our work this year. Interfaith Legislative Issues Briefing March 27-28Senator Richard Alarcon will be the keynote speaker at the California Interfaith Coalition’s Annual Legislative Issues Briefing on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 from 8 am to 3 pm at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, 11th Street and the K Street Mall, Sacramento. His talk on the Master Plan to End Poverty in California will be followed by workshops on legislation and issues pending before the State Legislature and voters including health care, the death penalty and the 'Three Strikes' law, the impact of the initiative process, living wage, and immigrants. Afternoon lobbying will include visits to legislators representing key budget and policy committees in Sacramento. Cost for the all-day event including materials and lunch is $35. The student rate is $20 to encourage youth to participate in this event. Tuesday, March 27 from 6 pm to 8:30 pm, CIC will offer its second pre-briefing dinner with guest speaker Anuradha Mittal from the Oakland Institute. Ms. Mittal is a world-renowned authority on global hunger who recently returned from the World Trade Organization meetings. She will speak on the impact of globalization on world food distribution and hunger. For information contact the California Council of Churches at 916.488.7300 or email to sholes@calchurches.org. SAVE THE DATE:JERICHO’S 19th
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