Arambula Focus - June 2007

Just a reminder, you are important to us and we don't want to lose contact with you. Please take a few moments and provide me with your current contact information by visiting my website at http://www.assembly.ca.gov/a31, and selecting E-mail Assemblymember Arambula. If you have already provided this information, I appreciate your help.

On May 17 Assemblymember Juan Arambula asked an Assembly budget panel to keep the Fresno Medi-Cal field office open in light of the strong opposition that has arisen to the office's proposed closure.

"Keeping the Fresno Medi-Cal office open will save the state money and help provide better and more efficient service," Arambula told the panel.

In response to Arambula's appeal, Assembly Budget Subcommittee #1 (covering Health and Human Services) approved a motion to prevent the Department from leaving the Fresno area.

Last November the Department of Health Services (DHS) announced plans to close the Fresno office by November of this year, and move Fresno operations to Sacramento and elsewhere.

Arambula has challenged the DHS to explain why it makes sense to close the Fresno office - where case backlogs are the shortest, employee vacancies have been filled the most quickly, lease space is the cheapest, and the cost of living is the lowest among the state's six Medi-Cal offices.

"Today's resolution marks a victory for those in the Central Valley who receive Medi-Cal services. Now hopefully no patient will have to worry about long delays in approval for the care and treatment they need," Arambula said after the hearing. "Additionally, it means keeping good state jobs in the San Joaquin Valley".

"However, I caution everyone that this is the first of several victories we will need in order to be successful in the end," Arambula added.

Language preventing the closure of the Medi-Cal office now needs to be conformed to the Senate budget subcommittee. Then the issue will head straight to the Governor for approval with the rest of the budget. Diligent advocacy by interested parties from the San Joaquin Valley in coming weeks will be crucial to ensuring that the Governor retains the Fresno language in the budget.

For the latest on the Fresno Medi-Cal office, please contact Elliott Balch in Assemblymember Arambula's office at (916) 319-2031.

AB 452 - Voter Registration Fraud: This bill requires a notice be given to voters when their party registration has been changed, and requires the Secretary of State to develop procedures to promptly fix a voter's registration when an error or fraud has occurred. By improving this notification process, the bill improves voters' confidence in their registration status and encourages essential participation in local and state elections.
Sponsor: Author
Status: Senate Rules Committee, awaiting committee referral

AB 1223 - Account Aggregation for Agriculture: This bill allows electricity consumed and generated by an agricultural operation to be considered as a single unit, rather than multiple independent accounts, for solar and wind net metering purposes. The bill would encourage further use of renewable technologies by agricultural operations.
Sponsor: Agricultural Energy Consumers Association
Status: Senate Rules Committee, awaiting committee referral

AB 905 - CalWORKs Child Care Services:This bill addresses the childcare concerns of seasonal agricultural workers in the San JoaquinValley by authorizing the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to extend the eligibility period for childcare by an additional 60 days if he or she determines that granting the extension is in the public's best interest.
Sponsor: California Latino Child Development Association
Status: Senate Rules Committee, awaiting committee referral

AJR 7 - Federal Freeze Relief: This resolution urges support of federal aid legislation to provide $1.7 billion in relief and assistance to California agricultural workers, producers and processors that have suffered significant losses from this January's severe cold weather. In addition, the resolution requests the federal government to act swiftly in enacting legislation providing relief and assistance to freeze victims, and specifically encourages support of the relief bills introduced by Senator Boxer and Representative Nunes and supported by a bipartisan group of California's Congressional Delegation.
Sponsor: Author
Status: Senate Rules Committee, awaiting committee referral

AB 377 - FLC Pay Stubs: This bill addresses a serious loophole in state law relating to wage statements provided to agricultural workers. Existing law provides that all wage statements shall include information such as the hours worked, pieces produced (for those paid on a piece rate), the dates of employment, and the legal name of the employer, which is often the farm labor contractor. AB 377 would add one additional item to pay stubs for workers employed by farm labor contractors: the name and address of the legal entity that secured the contractor's services.
Sponsor: California Rural Legal Assistance
Status: Senate Rules Committee, awaiting committee referral

AB 448 - Liquidated Damages: This bill adds clarifying language to ensure that workers receive the same relief for minimum wage violations, regardless of whether they pursue their claims administratively or through the courts. By establishing this measure of equity, the bill reduces the incentive to file lawsuits in a burdened court system and improves protections to hard-working Californians.
Sponsor: California Rural Legal Assistance
Status: Senate Rules Committee, awaiting committee referral

AB 1722 (JEDE Committee) - International Trade Strategy: This bill requires the Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency to provide the Legislature with a copy of the approved international trade policy by February 1, 2008.
Sponsor Author
Status: Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee, awaiting hearing

For more information on any of these events, please contact my district office in Fresno.

Assemblymember Arambula has partnered with the United Health Centers to get preschoolers ready for kindergarten and comply with AB 143, the Student Oral Health Assessment Requirement. A free dental screening is scheduled for Sunday June 3, 2007 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley, 517 S. Madera Avenue, Kerman California. Call Jennie Mendez at (559) 846-6330 in the dental department to make an appointment.

The United Way of Fresno County is offering two FREE grant writing workshops this summer. State and Federal Grant Writing is scheduled for Saturday June 2, 2007 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Grant writing for beginners or those who feel like beginners is June 20-22, 2007 from 8:30 a.m. to noon each day. Both workshops will be held at the United Way Office 4949 E. Kings Canyon Rd. Fresno, CA. For more information contact Ann Vermel at (559)243-3668 or avermel@unitedwayfresno.org.

The Fresno County Workforce Investment Board (FCWIB) will provide mentoring and job shadowing opportunities to assist youth in evaluating their career interests and to prepare them to compete in the job market. This program is a great opportunity for businesses to provide a four to eight week job shadowing experience to help shape the future of youth who are capable and anxious to explore various career fields of interest. Those interested in becoming sponsors can call (559)230-4062.

In response to the severe shortage of nurses in California, last year ALL Student Loan established a loan forgiveness program to help low-income students pursue a career in nursing. The program, Taking Care of California, helps students in California obtain their Bachelor's of Science in Nursing (BSN) by forgiving up to $2,500 of their Stafford student loan debt with ALL Student Loan. Students can get more information and download the application at www.takingcareofcalifornia.org.

The Board of Directors for the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) has issued an open call for Request for Proposals (RFP). The first deadline is June 30, 2007 when Organization Profiles and Concept Proposals are due. The RFP can be found at www.cetfund.org under Investments.   You will be asked to register prior to downloading the RFP.

The California Emerging Technology Fund is very concerned about the future facing members of underserved communities. CETF's priority consumer communities are:
1.      Rural and Remote Areas that lack the broadband infrastructure.
2.      Urban Disadvantaged Neighborhoods that lack the computers and affordable connections to the Internet with relevant applications.
3.      People with Disabilities that lack accessible technology.

CETF prefers to support efforts that emphasize prevention and transformational approaches rather than intervention. The California Emerging Technology Fund encourages projects that are well informed, have clearly defined objectives, demonstrate strong community ties, and promote values such as responsible parenting, compassion, inclusiveness, tolerance, positive youth development and civic participation.

CETF wants to support local initiatives working to strengthen families, improve neighborhoods, and build healthy regional economies in California. In most cases, it is expected that grantees will concentrate their social change efforts on behalf of and in conjunction with those populations which face substantial risks for serious and lasting problems, e.g., the poor and working poor, minorities, immigrants, families, and children in foster care.

CETF will consider investments to encourage adoption in the program applications as described in the Strategic Matrix to Guide Grantmaking. All Proposals will be reviewed first to determine if they meet the CETF Program Guidelines and if they are consistent with the CETF Strategic Action Plan, whether or not they include a focus on one of the three priority consumer communities and if they align with the approaches set forth in the "Strategic Matrix to Guide Grantmaking".