Assembly Standing Committee on Human Services

Limit testimony to two witnesses in support and two witnesses in opposition. Each witness has two minutes to testify. All additional witnesses will be limited to start stating their name, organization if they and if they represent one and their position of the Bill.

I also want to note that we are accepting written testimony through the position letter portal on the Committee's website. Lastly, I would like to address disruptions during the hearing. Conduct that disrupts or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of this hearing is prohibited.

If disruptive behavior occurs today, you will be removed from the hearing room by the Assembly Sergeants. All right, since we do not yet have quorum, we will begin as a Subcommitee to hear bills and I see Assemblymember Juan Carrillo is here. So if you would like to come up and present file item 4 AB450.

We will begin with your Bill. On. Time clock as always. But since I will be running around today, I will be passing the gavel on to Assembly Member Dr. Jackson if you would like to come take over. You may begin when you're ready.

Chair. Thank you Members for allowing me to present Assembly Bill 450. First I will be accepting the Committee's amendments and thank the Committee for for their work on this Bill.

AB 450 would establish a task force within the Department of Aging to develop policy recommendations on how we can better support undocumented adults who are 55 years or older, an often overlooked yet deeply integral population in our communities.

This task force will bring together subject matter experts and key stakeholders to examine the challenges aging undocumented California's face like housing stability, affordability, access to health and social services and the long term pressures of caregiving. The insights and recommendations developed through this process will be reflected in the 2028 Master Plan of Aging.

California is home to more than 2.7 million undocumented immigrants, including 293,000 who are over the age of 55 and notably over 856,000 have lived in our state for more than 20 years, contributing, working, raising families and building California alongside the rest of us.

As an immigrant myself and as someone who cares for my mother, I understand that this level of care is long term and gets increasingly difficult over time. Driving down the hill and back from Palmdale to my mother's house to spend time with her is just a small part of providing support and care for her as she ages.

And driving down the hill is a term we use in the Antelope Valley to go down to la. So many undocumented older adults do not have access to the safety nets many Others rely on they're aging without the security that comes from retirement benefits, healthcare or long term support systems.

Many still continue to work long past retirement age, whether in rural or urban areas, just to get by. And yet, despite these hardships, undocumented immigrants contributed more than $8.5 billion in state and local taxes in 2022 alone. They have been and continue to be at the forefront when California needs them the most.

From essential frontline work to rebuilding after disasters, this Bill is a modest but meaningful first step towards honoring our commitment to the people who have given so much to our state. My primary witnesses are outside on the big line on Capitol. They're not here yet, so they're not going to be able to testify.

Okay. Do we have any Members of the public in the hearing room to testify in support? Please state your name and affiliation and your position, please.

Thank you. Dr. Jackson. My name is Faith Lee. I'm with Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California. We're in support.

Good afternoon. Rebecca Gonzales with the Western Center on Law and Poverty and support.

Hi. Amanda Kirchner with County Welfare Directors and support.

Do we have any primary witnesses in opposition? Is there anyone who would like to state their opposition now? Is there anyone who. Are there any Committee Members with any questions or comments at this time?

I just want to thank you for bringing this forward and be honored to be accepted as a co author.

Thank you. We will.

Assemblymember, would you like to close? Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Bill helps recognize the long life contribution of agent undocumented immigrants by ensuring they have access to the resources they need to retire with dignity, maintain their health and continue up in our communities and with that I respectfully ask for an vote when you have a quorum.

Absolutely. We'll have motions and seconds once we have a quorum. Ensuring California's aging immigrants are included in the state's planning efforts advances a future where all older adults can age with dignity. I appreciate you working with the Committee on the Amendments and want to thank you for bringing this Bill forward. Thank you so much. Thank you.

I see Ms. Wicks has already taken her seat. So we'll hear the Bill. We'll hear the Bill whether we like it or not. File number seven AB 593. You may begin when you're ready.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I assume since no one was here, I would just come join you in your Committee and this lovely staff Committee staff who are here to hear the Bill. So thank you all for your participation.

My staff also can't get through downstairs, but I'm just Going to wing it and I think we're going to be fine. So thank you for letting me present AB593, which will allow the California Department of Social Services to identify data sharing opportunities with state public entities.

This Bill would additionally narrow the scope of the information that CBSs would be permissible to share, which would include what is necessary for purposes of improving the Administration of and importantly increasing participation of or measuring the impact of CalFresh and increasing access to vital services available to low income folks.

You know, the bottom line is we know that we want to increase participation with our CalFresh programs. This is a sort of cleanup Bill from last year from some work that we've done. I know, Mr. Chair, you are committed to this issue as well.

We want to get as many folks onto our Calvars program as we possibly can and make sure that we're drawing down all those federal dollars and those resources while we still have them. And so with that, would respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Oh, and I'm happy to accept the proposed Committee amendments as outlined in page eight of the analysis.

Awesome. Or do we have any primary primary witnesses? Do you have any witnesses? Okay. Is there anyone in the public who would like to testify in support. Okay. Is there any primary opposition? Seeing none. Is there anyone in the audience would like to testify in opposition? Any questions for Committee Members? Seeing none. Would you like to close?

Would respectfully ask for an aye vote and to keep working with this Committee as the Bill moves forward.

Absolutely. Assembly Member Wicks. Of course, once we have quorum, we will have our votes. Your work on this in terms of food insecurity has been legendary in my view. And the years you've been working on this chipping away. And certainly we're lucky to have you on this issue.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. Staffers, if you have Members who would like to do their Bill even earlier, please find your Member. Come on down. We will take you. Somehow it looks like we have quorum. Wasn't expecting that. That's why I'm checking in. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Real quick. We're going to hurry up and do consent Calendar. Before we lose any Members. We have a number on consent. Is there a motion? And a second. It's been moved. We got a second. Madam Secretary, please call the roll bills.

[Roll Call]

Assembly Member Aguiar Curry, you may come and present your Bill.

I think I lost my people, but we'll be fine.

Do you need some time? No. Okay.

You know, I, I, I feel comfortable about this Bill. Do you?

Yes, I do. File item number 13. You may begin when you're ready.

Great. Thank you. Mr. Chair and Members. California's child care subsidy program is at a critical support for working families. It allows parents to keep working and helps children thrive in safe and stable learning environments. But under current law, families can lose access to subsidized care due to gaps in eligibility rules.

If a parent is not actively working or in training, they can lose their care even if they are on pregnancy leave, caring for a family Member or searching for employment. This is a significant issue that disrupts families.

Access to child care adds incredible stress and prevents families from working, especially for those in temporary situations where they still need Support. I introduced AB904 to ensure families have access to childcare during transitional periods. This Bill will clarify child care eligibility rules to better support families when they are taking leave, family leave, or searching for employment.

It also reduces bureaucratic barriers, making it easier for parents to verify their status and maintain their child care during these important times. By improving eligibility and reducing paperwork, AB904 will reduce disruptions for working families and provide stability for our children. I have two people. I think they're stuck in the elevator line. But I'm willing to assure you they would be very, very good witnesses.

I'm looking at their names now. I think I would agree.

Oh, I found one. Anyone else out there want to come on in? Hi, how are you?

Good, how are you?

You may begin when you're ready.

Great. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Heidi Kaiser, and I'm here on behalf of Child Action in strong support of AB904. For almost 50 years, Child Action has been enrolling families in subsidized childcare. Presently, we are serving over 16,000 children and their families on the program.

California's existing child care eligibility rules are too narrow. We are in support of AB904 because it ensures that families can keep their subsidized childcare during essential transitional periods, like when they're searching for a job, recovering for childbirth, or taking paid family leave to care for a loved one.

Under the current eligibility rules, if a parent is not actively working or in training, even if they're recovering from childbirth or navigating a family emergency, they can lose their career. That kind of disruption hurts kids, adds stress for families and delays workforce re entry. We often contact families from our waitlist who are on maternity leave right now.

They have to wait until they return to school or work or have another approved need to enrol. This Bill would also support families during their recertification month if they were on maternity leave. AB904 fixes this by clarifying the definition of workday, modernising eligibility to reflect temporary medical needs and making it easier for families to verify their status.

Without that red tape, this Bill will make it both easier and quicker for us to enrol families and recertify them on the subsidy program. We often see parents really frustrated by the enrolment process due to that lengthy paperwork requirements. This Bill will ensure that those families have access to child care when they really need it.

We appreciate this common sense Bill that supports working families, promotes maternal and child well being and helps ensure continuity of care when times and stability is most needed. We thank Majority Leader Aguilar Curry for her work on this Bill and we respectfully urge your aye vote. Thank you so much.

All right, you may begin.

Good afternoon Chair and Members and appreciate your patience with me as I was running through outside. My name is Yesenia Jimenez. I'm a senior Policy associate with End Child Poverty California. Proudly standing in support of AB904. Childcare is a critical support that helps parents stay in the workforce and children thrive in consistent nurturing environments.

But under current law, families can lose access to subsidized care during the short term due to important life events like looking for work, recovering after giving birth or taking care of a sick family Member. These are exactly the moments when families need Support the most.

AB 904 addresses this gap by clarifying state law to ensure that transitional periods are recognized as valid reasons to maintain child care eligibility. It also reduces unnecessary paperwork allowing parents to attest to their leave instead of jumping through the hoops to prove it.

This is about protecting family stability, reducing barriers for working parents and keeping kids connected to the care they depend on. It's for these reasons we stand in proud solidarity with Assembly Member Aar Curry for her leadership and urge you to support this Bill. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Are there any Members of the public in the hearing room who would like to testify in support? Please just state your name. Affiliation please.

Hi, good afternoon, I'm Michelle Chambers and totally support this Bill. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Any others? Doesn't seem like it. Is there any primary witnesses in opposition? Seeing none. Are there any Members of the public who would like to speak in opposition? Seeing None. Any Committee Members who would like to any comments? Sing N Would you like to close?

You know I would. And when I sit in front of you today reminds me of how important this Committee is. And it's about people. And we can't leave anybody behind. Even if it's little things that we can do to help out a family or children, we need to do it. And so with that, I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

We will take motions in a second. Is there a motion for this Bill? I'll second it. We're. We're doing overtime around here.

Ensuring that parents can maintain access to child care while long leave supports family stability and promotes equitable workforce re entry. We want to thank the author for this Bill and looking forward to supporting and moving forward. Madam Secretary, please call the roll .

[Roll Call]

It's 1-0 at this time. It's on call.

Great. Thank you very much. Now, good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you. We will now move on to File item number eight. Mckinnor.

Hello. I think my witnesses might be stuck somewhere, so we'll just. I don't want to hold you up.

Not a problem. You may begin when you're ready. Yes. Oh, she's here. Hi.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and Members. AB617 addresses a critical need in California by improving access to rest respite services for caregivers and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Over 21% of Americans are caregivers, yet many face burnout due to a lack of accessibility and affordable respite care.

In California, more than 250 million in home respite hours went unmet in the past two years, and the demand for services continue to grow. AB 617 seeks to expand access to respite by requiring home care organizations providing in home respite to developmental disabled consumers through Regional Centers contracts to be licensed by the Department of Social Services dss.

This will increase the pool of qualified providers and help elevate the DSP workforce shortage. The Bill also adds respite providers to the existing statewide home care aid registry, connecting families with qualified providers and streamlining access to care.

By 2026, all respite providers contracted with the Regional Centers or DDS will be required to be DSS licensed and listed on a registry. In response to stakeholder feedback, we are planning to take amendments to strengthen this Bill. The amendments require that the Department of Developmental Services to adopt policies.

Procedures are written directives necessary to streamline and standardize the vendorization process to increase the availability of in home, respite and personal care service providers.

They also require that the Department of Social Services by January 12026 to designate one or more employees to serve as a point of contact for the Regional Centers regarding vendor application and the approval process. Additionally, in home respite and personal care providers licensed under this Bill will be treated as pre approved vendors for the Regional Centers.

AB617 ensures greater consistency, accountability and accessibility in California's respite services supporting both caregivers and individuals with disability. I respectfully ask for your aye vote. My witnesses today is Tiffany Whiten, California State Council of SEIU and Daphne Dunston, Consumer from Benia, California. Thank you.

Yep, you may begin.

Hello Hi, Good afternoon Members of the Committee. My name is Daphne Dunstan and I've been an IHSS worker in Solano County for more than 10 years. I am also a Member leader of SEIU 2015, California's long term care union. I care for my two adult sons, William and Edward, who both have autism.

Every day I feed them, dress them, bath them and give them their medications. Providing long term care to young men with autism can be exhausting, which is why respite care is extremely important to my family. I'm fortunate to have a family Member provide the respite that I need, but that's not the case for every caregiver.

As a leader in my union, I hear from caregivers all the time about the struggle to find respite. Two of my union sisters, Nicole and Mar, both primary caregivers for their kids with autism, but neither can find a respite provider.

They've said that the current system does not work because they must call every respite agency contracted with the Regional Center just to find one that fits. We need a more transparent process and AB617 will help make that happen.

This Bill will add agencies that provide respite to caregivers caring for developmentally disabled individuals to CDSs existing registry of home care organizations. The registry shows citations, complaints and inspection reports, so including respite care organizations will help primarily caregivers make informed choices.

This Bill will also strengthen employment standards of respite care organizations to ensure that all caregivers can find respite providers they can truly rely on. This Bill will improve access to respite care services so primary caregivers like me can continue to provide love, care and dedication to our developmentally disabled children. For these reasons, I urge you to support AB617.

Thank you,

Thank you Mr. Chair Members Tiffany Whiten with SEIU California representing over 750,000 Members across the state and we are proud co sponsors of AB617 by Assemblymember McKenna AB617 authorizes the addition of respite providers, the existing statewide home care aid registry, and calls for the streamlining of vendorization requirements and licensing requirements between the Department of Developmental Services and the Department of Social Services.

In recent years, reviews of the care delivery system that serve families and their developmentally disabled loved ones have outlined ongoing struggles to reduce barriers to care that would allow families to use more of their allowable respite hours and more consistently make families aware of available respite service options.

A 2023 Little Hoover Commission study highlighted the lack of consistency in the vendorization process and that the 21 Regional Centers can, can and often have 21 different policies driving their processes for service providers to gain entry.

As a Member of the Master Plan for Developmental Disabilities, we talked often about streamlining and standardizing processes to ensure all Regional Centers can provide the same type of services.

As a first step towards standardizing Regional Centers vendorization process, AB 617 removes an exemption to licensing for agencies that provide in home respite or personal assistance to intellectually and developmentally disabled consumers and will require them to be licensed through the Department of Social Services before providing services through the Regional Centers.

By removing this exemption, it is our belief that this may encourage non medical providers are already licensed by DSS as a home care organization to become personal assistants and in home respite providers to developmentally disabled consumers, thereby simultaneously increasing access to care and alleviating the DSP workforce shortage.

Furthermore, a 2023 CMS guidance underscores the importance of direct care worker registries as a tool for increasing increasing people's access to high quality, affordable and person centered care at home and in the community. By placing providers on an already existing registry, consumers will have another tool to assist with locating and connecting with providers.

Over the past few weeks we have met with various organizations regarding their concerns and have appreciated the open dialogue. In partnership with the author, we are exploring ways to address some of their concerns and are committed to those continued conversations.

We sincerely appreciate Assemblymember McKenna for her leadership not only this year but in years past to ensure families have better access to respite. I respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Are there any Members of the public who would like to come and support? Please State your name and affiliation please.

Hi, good evening. I'm Honorable Michelle Chambers and my district would definitely benefit from this legislation. Thank you author for authoring this Bill. We support this legislation.

Hi, Maria Dino from SEIU in support.

Thank you very much. Are there any witnesses, primary witnesses in opposition? Please come on up.

Thank you Honorable Jackson as well as Members too. My name is Alex Mountford. I'm the President of the California Respite Association. We're a trade Association comprised of 60 respite agencies throughout the state serving over 20,000 individuals with developmental disabilities providing respite services. AB 617 has the state intention of expanding access to respite services.

When it does exactly the opposite, it puts superfluous additional oversight that hampers existing providers from recruiting DSPs at significant cost to the state's budget and does not create a clear path for others to become service providers.

The additional requirements of 617 for hiring associated with complying with the certification would increase the wait times for families to start their DSPs.

The registry would also create concerns for those applying for these positions due to the current political climate as 60% of individuals receiving respite services are Hispanic and the majority of the DSPs that are recruited and support them are also Hispanic as well.

617 creates significant costs for the State CRA submitted an opposition letter with additional financial information based on our analysis estimating that implementing this legislation would require $100 million to over $100 million to implement in million annually for ongoing maintenance.

This cost would fall to the state as there is a precedent for any additional certification cost to be covered in the provider rate study. This is the same thing that we see with CARF certifications for employment services.

We do appreciate the author's amendments to help streamline and add more individuals to the vendorization process by completing the certification, but it does still create additional requirements for existing providers and would hamper and limit and limit existing providers abilities to continue to serve and support the individuals that we serve.

We appreciate the intention and we do understand that there is a need to expand access to this critical service, but we disagree on this solution. We look forward to working together to continue to ensure that Californians with developmental disabilities receive the supports and services that they need.

Good afternoon Chairmembers. My name is Emmalynn Chaubard and I'm here with California Disability Services Association. We represent 120 service providers across the state that support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. While CDSA fully supports the stated goal of expanding access to respite.

This Bill as drafted, would create conflicting oversight for service providers, increase administrative burden on workers, and ultimately risk destabilizing an already strained system. Providers vendored through the Regional Center system are subject to oversight by the Department of Developmental Services.

These providers, including those that offer respite services, are required to have program designs that meet the unique needs of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Requiring these providers to register as home care organizations under the Department of Social Services would create confusion about oversight and risk conflicting regulatory requirements.

AB617 would also require direct support professionals providing respite services to register as home care aides through the DSS Home Care Registry.

While we understand the outlined goals of connecting those in need with respite with workers, the registry does not act as a public facing directory and wouldn't be able to connect individuals and their families to workers that they don't already have access to through the Regional Center.

We'd also like to raise that while many provider many providing respite services are families and friends that are stepping up to fill gaps in support, the requirement for an additional background check process and fee may discourage participation and decrease access to respite services just across the board.

We're grateful for the conversations with the author's office and the sponsors and are excited about their commitment to expanding respite services. We look forward to continuing these conversations and collaborating on a solution that strengthens the system as a whole.

Thank you very much. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to testify in opposition? Please come on up. State your name and affiliation, please.

Eric Ciampa, United Cerebral Palsy Association. And we're in opposition. Thank you.

Corey Ayala with California Association of Healthcare Services at Home in opposition.

Shauna Day 24 hour home care in opposition. Thank you.

Norlyn Asprec with Axiom Advisors on behalf of Prime Providers in opposition. Thank you.

Are there at this time any Committee Members have any questions or comments?

Yes. Thank you all for your testimony. I just wanted to provide an opportunity, Assembly Member, to respond to the concerns lifted up about this having the opposite effect than its intention.

Yes, this is the Second Committee that we've brought that we've introduced this Bill to. And I think yesterday was the first day that we got your opposition letter. And so I haven't really had a chance to meet with you guys or address any of your concerns. But I am willing to do that.

I'm willing to come and work with you guys on your concerns. So I really haven't had an Opportunity to really dive into this until there are questions. So I'd love to get an aye vote today and I will go back and make sure that I work with the opposition on this Bill.

Thank you. I appreciate hearing that. Just knowing that a lot of this service is needed in my community. A lot of Members in my community offer this service.

And just you lifting up the climate and Latino communities and the barriers this might present, I also now hearing this just want to ensure that there is going to be collaboration moving forward. So thank you for responding and I'm happy to support this today with the understanding that there'll be more work done.

Yes. And thank you. Respite is very important to me. I had my grandmother, my mother and her sister took care of my grandmother. And we all know that people need a little respite, Right? You take care of your kids or you take care of your loved ones.

And a lot of times, especially people trying to find cultural competent respite workers to fit them. Like you talked about Latino workers. But we have API workers, We have Native American folks, we have African American folks. We have people who might want to be culturally seek someone culturally competent for them.

And so that's what I like about this Bill is that it also can match people. And I always think that when someone could get a background check or screening, especially someone who you don't know that is coming into your home, that's extremely important because now they're coming into your home and you're leaving them with your loved one.

So that's extremely important. But I'm willing to sit down and talk with my opposition going forward. Thank you. Would you like to close? zero, I did. I respectfully ask for your vote unless someone else has any questions.

Do you have any questions? There's a motion. Is there a second? I'll second the Bill. Thank you very much for bringing this important Bill. I also need respite services for myself. Sometimes I just can't stand Corey. But obviously your commitment to working with opposition is very important. So that we have a motion. We have a second.

Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

2 to 0 is on call. Thank you. Thank you very much. We'll move to File item number 19. Assembly Member Arambula, please come on up and you may begin when you're ready.

No, gracias par LA portonidad para presentar. Abe Dos Californians with developmental disabilities deserve the rights to live independent and full lives. Regional Centers of California were established in 1966 to assess the needs of clients and to facilitate access to supports and and services.

Unfortunately, disparities in service and support provided by Regional Centers have continued to persist, especially among Latino, black, Asian and indigenous and non English speaking communities. Currently, Regional Center appeals data to the State Department of Developmental Services, but there is no formal mechanism for us to track those service denials or notices of action.

This lack of oversight hinders our transparency and accountability, allowing disparities to continue unaddressed. AB 1220 would require a Regional Center to document in the individual program plan all of the consumers, denials of services, notices of actions and appeal.

This Bill also requires the Department and Regional Centers to include data regarding denials, notices of actions and appeals in their annual report. Establishing a statewide reporting system would enhance oversight, reduce inequities, and strengthen public trust in the Developmental Services system. Testifying in support is Patricia Albano and Ana Alonso.

Good afternoon everyone. My name is Patricia Albino and I'm a proud parent of a young adult with a developmental disability. I'm an advocate and a Member of the L ARC Coalition. I represent Spanish speaking families who have children with developmental disabilities who face barriers in understanding and accessing the services that they are entitled to.

Families like mine often hear no when we request services and too often these denials are not documented. We're left confused, not knowing why we were denied and without the proper documentation and information needed to appeal. This lack of communication and transparency especially affects Spanish who do not speak English.

AB 1220 helps fix this by requiring the Regional Centers to document all service denials, notices of action and appeals in the client's individual program plan. It also ensures this information is reported so we can identify where the gaps and inequities exist. This Bill is about fairness.

Every family deserves to understand what decisions are being made about their child's care and why. AB 1220 empowers families by giving us the tools we need to advocate for our loved ones. On behalf of my family and many others like mine, I respectfully ask for your support of AB 1220.

It will bring much needed transparency and accountability to a system that impacts thousands of lives. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Good evening. Thank you for having me here. My name? Thank you. Good evening. My name. Thank you for having me here. My name is .... I am the Director for Padres Unidos De Kern. We serve 300 families, but I am also a mother for three individuals they need power.

Today I'm here representing 465,000 individuals who belong to the Regional Center who are also in need of power. As a mother, I know the importance of access to services which make the difference in our lives. Who we love. Transparency. Transparency when services are. Denial is the key to start the change.

AB 1220 will give power to individuals adding transparency and equally for those who are in need because the need is still there even if services are not provided. Documenting these denials we bring a clear picture. The documentation for this in the IEP will improve the quality of services for individuals.

Receiving these services in a timely manner will impact the community with developmental disabilities. If Bill AB 1220 passes access to services with strength hundreds of thousands. I'm in favor of AB 1220. I hope you too. Thank you for listening.

Well, you got some power. Well done.

Are there any Members of the public who would like to come up and add on your support? Please come on up. State your name and affiliation, please.

After hearing this lady, I don't know if I can talk. My name is Berta and I'm an advocate for human rights and I'm here to highly recommend the passage of Bill 1230 which will provide crucial support to vulnerable families with their loved ones. Passing this Bill will make a significant difference in the lives. Please prioritize their well being and pass this Bill. And thank you.

Thank you. Name and affiliation, please. Go ahead. Name and affiliation, please. Gracias. Name and affiliation, please. Gracias. Name and affiliation, please.

My name is Mayra Lopez. I represent 200 families in the Riverside County today. I'm support the AB 1220. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Name and affiliation, please.

Your number? Your name? My name is Glenny Suyoa. We're here from Grupo Communitario Capacidad Differentes from Riverside County and we are here to ask you to please approve AB 1220. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Name and affiliation, please.

Good evening or afternoon. Sorry, My name is Araceli Gonzalez. I'm here representing Ability First, Grupo De Padres Apollo and also several family Members and I support AB 1220. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you. Name and affiliation, please. Hi there. Christopher Arroyo for the State Council on Developmental Disabilities and we support this Bill. Thank you. Thank you. Name and affiliation, please.

Good afternoon, my name is Juan Garcia. I'm from the ARC of Ventura County in the City of Oxnard. I'm here to support AB 1220. Thank you. Thank you. Name and affiliation, please.

Hola, Buenas tardes. Atodos mi nombres Monica mier estoyaqui Representando El grupo De apoyo Murrieta the Riverside much?

Did you say Murietta? Ah. Okay. All right. Gracias.

Hi, my name is Cho Lopez. I'm a freelance interpreter joining today D ARC and I work with communities with disabilities and I support AB 1220.

Thank you. Name and affiliation, please.

Good afternoon. After four flights of stairs, I'm gonna do it here with everybody. Hey, you got your steps in? Yes. Work out the lunch. My name is Grace Huerta. I'm co founder of Exceptional Family center in beautiful Bakersfield City, San Joaquin Valley and I'm here to speak on behalf of early star babies.

We're our early star family resource center. These toddlers, these infants are at risk of developmental disabilities. Data drives awareness and they have rapid growth brain development. Denials equals delays. Please support this Bill. And I'm also here as a mother. I'm here to facilitate for my daughter, Mikaela Huerta.

Thank you.

Hello, my name. Hello, my name is Mikaela Huerta. I'm a wife and a consumer of Kern Regional Center. It should be. It shouldn't be so difficult to get services, but it is. I get denied. It is a barrier to my goals as a productive person. I am one of many consumers who are counting on your support. Thank you.

Thank you. Name and affiliation, please.

Hi everyone. Thank you for having us. My name is Ana Acosta Laura and I am mom of adult with autism. And I'm representing four counties, Napa, Sonoma, Marin and Solano. And I am here to support this low, the AB 1220. Thank you.

Thank you. Name and affiliation, please.

Hello everyone. My name is Patricia Gomez. I'm a parent of a child with a disability. I support AB 1220. I'm here from El Centro, so it's a long drive. Thank you for having us.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, my name is Joe Perales. I am the Director of Alarc De California and I'm here to support AB212. Thank you. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Marta. Hello, my name is Marta. I am the Executive Director and co founder of ganas. We are a nonprofit in Riverside County and I support AB 1220. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Elise and I'm in support of AB 1220. I'm on the spectrum and I have a specific learning disability. As a Regional Center client, I rely on my services to build Independence and access my community safely.

As a self determined client, this Bill empowers me by providing A clear framework to track my progress of approval and denial of services. By shifting accountability from me to the system, it promotes transparency and removes barriers, ultimately enhancing support for myself and fellow clients. The delay in implementing this Bill is limiting access to essential services. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Elisa Duarte. I'm Elisa's mother. She is my daughter. And I also have a son on the spectrum in addition to 11 family Members that are also Regional Center clients. And this Bill would significantly remove barriers to services and improve quality of life. So I support this Bill. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening. My name is Isabel Torres. I'm with Ives Torres Foundation. We represent families from the Inland Empire and Central Valley. And we are here, my son.

I'm Ives. I'm a leader. My name is Ives Torres. I am founder of Ives Torres Digitization.

All right. Javier Torres, Parte De Ivestores Foundation. We are for your support in AB 1220. Thank you.

Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and Members. Jordan Lindsay with the Arc of California and the Arc United Cerebral Palsy California. Collaboration and strong support of ABU 1220. Thank you. Thank you.

Talofa. My name is Tanuve and I'm one of the founders of the Regional Pacific Islander Task Force. This is a human right, folks. So please pass AB 1220. Thank you.

Thank you. Name and affiliation, please.

Considering. Gracias. Es emproyen Fabor telos escapacitados esabilitados De California.

Gracias. Gracias. I apologize. I named the wrong Bill. You've been here.

What are you trying to do? What am I doing? That's a great question. Okay. My name is Joe Perales. I'm the Director of Alarm the California and I am in support of AB 1220. Thank you. I got it. Okay. I guess. Okay.

Good evening. I'm here. My name is Alicia Rico. I'm here representing Podero Naxion California, A nonprofit organization from the San Joaquin Valley, San Joaquin County. And I'm here today representing the 1000 underserved families from the San Joaquin County.

Please hear from a mother who feel the pain to not being served the way that my son was supposed to be. He been taking away his services when he was 7 years old until he is now 24. He started receiving the services and why? Because the barrier of the language.

Now I can say my English is not really good. But I know that I can defend my son. But because 20 years back I didn't have opportunity to defend my son the way that he's supposed to be. Please, I Appeal to your hair, to your values, to please.

Pass this. AB 1220.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. God bless you guys all.

Gracias. Name and affiliation, please. Thank you. Gracias. Name, affiliation, please.

Hi, my name is Maribel Baez. I am part of a group called Padres Unedos of Kern. I am also a caretaker of a few individuals with disabilities, and I'm here to ask you to please vote and help pass this Bill, AB 1220, which will make a great impact in our community. I approve this. Please help us help them. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Are there any primary witnesses in opposition? Is there anyone in the public who would like to state their opposition? Questions or comments from our colleagues? Any Members? Yep.

I just want to thank the author of this Bill, and I will gladly support it. Thank you.

All right. Seeing no one, would you.

I just. I want to just add my gratitude for grounding us. I think a lot of times, especially in afternoons like this where we're running between committees, you know, we study these bills.

But the opportunity to be here and hear directly from folks impacted is just such a good reminder of why we do the work that we do. So I just want to thank you for bringing this and everyone for coming forward today.

Would you like to close?

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to present and for allowing the witnesses here to have a little more grace and space. It's important for us to address these inequities head on and respectfully ask for an aye vote.

It's been moved. We have a second. Madam Secretary, please call the roll file.

[Roll Call]

Five to zero. That Bill is out. Congratulations. Thank you. Give me one second to reorientate myself. I see that once I leave, you guys get so rowdy. You guys are having fun. What's going on here? Let me reorientate where we are. One second.

We'll move on to File item number nine, which is AB752 by Avila Farias. So whenever the Assembly Member is ready, she may come up and present.

All right. Whenever you are ready, please begin.

Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chair and Members, I'm pleased to present AB 752. AB 752 updates state laws to support the development of child care centers across California. It reduces regulatory barriers by allowing child care centers by right in residential zones when co located with multifamily housing or established institution uses.

Accessible, affordable child care is essential for family stability and community opportunity. Yet licensed child care is unavailable for 75% of children with working parents in California. Providers consistently identify zoning restrictions as a costly and burdensome barrier in meeting their needs in the community.

Child care plays a vital role in childhood development, workforce participation, economic growth and and social connection. AB 752 aligns with California's broader efforts to reduce barriers to essential infrastructure, recognizing childcare is as critical to that mission. Joining me in support today is Shelly Mazur on behalf of Low Income Investment Fund. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't get your name. , and Christopher Ramirez is joining us today.

Okay, thank you very much. Two minutes each, please. Thank you.

Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Lee, Committee Members and staff. I'm Dr. Shelly Masur. I'm the Vice President of advisory and state policy at the Low Income Investment Fund. LIIF is a national community development financial institution with the vision that everyone live in a community of equity opportunity and well being.

We achieve that vision by investing in affordable housing and child care facilities. We are pleased to sponsor AB752 to increase both affordable housing and child care facilities. And we are grateful to assemble Member Avila Barias for authoring this Bill.

As a former City Council Member and an advocate for building supply of childcare, I am committed to building communities by building housing and childcare together or co location through streamlining processes for both. Along with the rest of the country, California is facing a child care crisis. It's exacerbated by lack of facilities, workforce shortages and inadequate funding.

We have multifaceted problem that requires multifaceted solutions. AB752 offers one the master plan for Early Learning and Care. California for All Kids states that more than 70% of centers reported their facilities need moderate or major renovations.

And LIIF, as the CO Administrator with CDSS of the California Infrastructure Grant Program saw requests totaling $1 billion for the 350 million the Legislature has allocated. High quality facilities are often referred to as the third teacher and are key to creating the best learning environments for children in work environments for the providers who work in them.

AB752 would help to develop new spaces for children by removing red tape when developers are co locating housing with child care facilities. Modeled after SB234 which gives by right approval to family, childcare and residential zones, AB 752 reflects a similar Bill in Oregon where Lyft is helping co administer a colocation Fund.

As such, we've mirrored a process that we know is effective. One example where this Bill could make a difference is in the Central Valley where partners told us about hotels that have been converted into affordable housing and they could use this Bill to create ground floor childcare more quickly and efficiently.

If you could please wrap up please thank you.

Last sentence across the state we are seeking ways to increase housing and build communities. Co locating childcare and housing is one piece of a complicated puzzle and we respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you very much. Next one is please.

Good afternoon Chair Lee, esteemed Committee Members and staff. My name is Christopher Ramirez. I'm the Director of Real estate development at MAAC a nonprofit established in 1965 committed to helping the San Diego community maximize self sufficiency through high quality programs and advocacy.

I'm here today to express Mac's strong support of AB 75052 as a comprehensive organization that not only develops, owns and manages affordable housing, but also provides vital child development and Head Start programs. Mac understands firsthand the critical link between stable housing and access to high quality early learning.

Mac operates 40 child care centers funded primarily through Head Start, serving over 1200 children and their families annually. Access to childcare is a critical component of economic mobility and the need for high quality early learning. Early learning environments has never been greater.

In San Diego, county, an estimated 91% of infants and toddlers lack access to an affordable child care program, a staggering gap that directly impacts working families in the broader economy.

Our work is centered on creating opportunity rich communities and we consistently see how the lack of convenient, affordable childcare hinders the ability of our residents to achieve economic mobility.

AB752 proposal to classify daycare centers co located with multifamily housing as a use by right is a program is a pragmatic solution to better integrate these essential services directly supporting Mac's mission and the families we serve. This change would significantly enhance our ability to embed child care programs directly within our affordable housing developments Across San Diego. County.

This directly translates into greater stability for families, enabling parents and caregivers to maintain employment or pursue educational goals while ensuring their children benefit from high quality early education right in their own community. Mac believes this Bill is important, an important step forward.

Ensuring that affordable housing developments can move more readily, can more readily include the comprehensive supports like child development programs that are essential for family well being and upward mobility in California. We strongly urge the passage of AB752. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you very much. Now do we have any witnesses in support of the Bill in the hearing room today? Please come to the microphone if you're here in support AB 752.

Hi, Esmeralda Martin Singh with Build Up California and the Low Income Investment Fund. I'm here in strong support of AB752 and I respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mackenzie Richardson with Thriving Families California in. Strong support of AB752. Respectfully asking for your aye vote.

Thank you very much. Now, do we have any witnesses in opposition to the Bill? Any witnesses in opposition to the Bill? Any Members of the public wish to testify in opposition to the Bill, please come to the microphone. Seeing none, we'll bring it back to the Committee. Any questions? Comments? Motions move the Bill.

All right, so thank you so much for bringing this Bill forward to me. I do believe it's so important that we do as much as we can to have more childcare capacity. And I would like to thank you for bringing a land use Bill to this Committee. As you know we.

I care a lot about land use so really fun to have this in my jurisdiction as well. I'm recommending an aye vote and the Bill has been properly moved and second is moved by Senator Jackson and seconded by similar Castillo. Madam Secretary, please. zero, sorry. Actually invite the author to close.

I just want to thank the chair and the Committee Members and appreciate an aye vote.

Thank you. All right. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

That Bill is out. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Assembly Avila Farias, I think you are presenting another Bill for another author. So just making sure. So I believe you will be presenting AB548 item 66 by Solache.

Yes, but I haven't got yet.

I'll give you one second to prepare.

Give me one minute.

All right, well, in that case, while we recalibrate a second, I will let Assemblymember Nguyen. Come up then, since file item 20 AB 1242, since she has been so patient.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right, thank you, Mr. Chair and Members, I'd like to present AB 1242. It's an important Bill that will increase meaningful access to critical state services in California's vulnerable limited English population. It has three components. It establishes the position of Language Access Director within CALHS to coordinate and oversee language access efforts.

It ensures that there is human review when CALHS uses machine online or AI for translation or assistance and it improves the process and the determination of which languages are covered by state and local agencies for their language assistance services.

These populations often face more barriers in health care access and worse clinical outcome compared to limited English proficient populations. Sorry, I meant to say that as you know, California has one of the most linguistically diverse populations in the county.

AB 1242 will help eliminate avoidable disparities in Health Care Social Services, improve overall outcome and reduce costs across the system. Here to testify and support are Natalie with Richmond Area Multi Services Inc. And Cevadne Lee with Orange County API Community Alliance.

All right, thank you. Whichever ones go first, two minutes each, please.

Talofa and Soifu Manuya Committee Chair Lee and Members. I am Natalie Tuālemoso Ah Soon co founder and co chair of the Regional Pacific Islander Task Force founded in 2015 to increase visibility of Pacific Islander needs and uplift the community's assets and strengths.

I am also the Director of Community Engagement and government relations with RAMS, a 50 year old nonprofit mental health organization with expertise in serving Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

The Regional Pacific Islander Task Force is a proud co sponsor of AB 1242, a Bill that will improve language and communications access to state government services and programs for Californians who are English language learners. Approximately 200 languages including English are spoken in our state. Isn't that phenomenal? Language has the potential to heal and harm.

Language access is a health determinant. It improves health outcomes because it is grounded in dignity and respect. COVID 19 magnified the need for language access because there was a lack of health system and overall government preparedness for meeting the diverse language needs of all Californians.

People with limited English proficiency had not received meaningful language access to up to date Covid information like testing, vaccination and other resources to protect and sustain themselves, their families and communities. As such, many battled infodemic leading to confusion, risk taking behaviors and death.

AB 1242 is an unparalleled opportunity to modernize language access and improve language and communications access to state government services and programs. AB 1242 would provide the necessary infrastructure to ensure language access plans are implemented, monitored and updated in accordance with federal and state laws and policies. We appreciate your yes.

Thank you very much. Next witness please.

Good afternoon. We know that health care can be expensive and there are current fiscal concerns about the state budget. I'd like to start with the story of a mental health patient whose health care costs could have saved the state several hundred thousands of dollars if she had language access.

A Vietnamese speaking patient had been living in a residential facility for several years. She had been heavily medicated, almost catatonic, and without any interpretation or translation services. After several years of not knowing what to do, her family sought help at a local nonprofit in Orange County, California because they felt she needed help.

Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community alliance or OCAPICA, is a nonprofit community based organization serving over 80,000 a year in over 20 different languages. Okapica is also the largest behavioral health provider in Oc.

My name is Savanni Lee and I am the Health and Policy Director at OKPICA and serve as a community health worker, interpreter and translator for my monolingual Cantonese speaking parents. Okapica's Vietnamese speaking psychiatrist and mental health clinician were able to speak with this patient in Vietnamese, conduct a new assessment and diagnosis and get her the right medication.

We were able to work with her family to have her exit the facility and move back home where she is now managing her illness independently. She receives services from OCAPICA where she is able to fully function, travels independently to our clinic and has been socially active.

Language access gave her the ability to leave this mental health facility, saving her family and the state hundreds of thousands of medical and SSI dollars. The right care and the right time not only saves money but saves lives.

AB 1242 by Assemblymember Stephanie Wim is vital for the state to be able to better coordinate language access services, support Language access standards across calhs. We don't need another Vietnamese speaking mental health patient to fall through the cracks. Supporting language access will in the long run save the state millions of dollars and lives.

We strongly urge you to say Aye. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Now do we have Members of the public who wish to testify and support? Name and organization please.

Nicole Morales on behalf of Children Now in support

Monica Madrid on behalf of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. CHIRLA in support.

Tu Quatch would pivot the progressive Vietnamese. American Organization and strong support.

Julia Liao Agent Health Services and strong support. Taonu with the Regional Pacific Islander Task Force in support.

Mr. Chair Members Dennis Cuevas Romero with the. California Primary Care Association advocates and strong support.

Good afternoon. Whitney Francis with the Western Center on Law and Poverty and also on behalf of Nourish California and strong support.

Nancy Yap, Executive Director, Center for the Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment and strong support.

Hi. Andrea Mack, L.A. County resident, daughter of a bilingual immigrant household. I am in support of this Bill. Thank you.

Hello. Faith Lee with Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California. We're in support.

Yesenia Jimenez with End Child Poverty in California and strong support.

.. with the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center and on behalf of the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for civic engagement and support.

Hi, Andrew Menor. On behalf of Asian Resources, Inc. The California Transformative Collaborative and the AANHPI Language Access and Health Equity Collaborative in strong support. Thank you.

Hi there. ... to you with the SoCal Pacific Islander community Response Team. In support.

Calvin Chang with the Pacific Islander Health Partnership and strong support.

All right, thank you. Now, do we have any witnesses in opposition? Any Members of the public wish to testify in opposition to the Bill, please come up to the microphone. Seeing none, I'm going to bring it back to the Committee. Any questions, comments, Assembly Member Rodriguez?

Thank you for your testimony and for bringing this forward. If I would love to join as a co author, this is so critical and I would like to move the Bill as well.

Thank you.

Any other seconds and thirds? Any other comments? All right, I'm going to invite the author to close.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and Members. You, you know, as you can tell, language access is not only important to us, but to Californians. We're such a diverse state. I myself grew up speaking Vietnamese as my primary language and then having to learn English in school. But as a young girl, having to do the translation for my parents.

But I'm not the only one. I think many of us had to bear that as well, too. Having the information in language will be helpful to other little girls that have to deal with having to translate documents and the burden and the stress it comes with as well, too.

I feel like I have mental health disorder because I had to go through that as a kid. But I think this is in the right direction when it comes to supporting our community Californians because we're such a diverse state. With that, I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Well, I want to thank the author for bringing the Bill forward. It's a very important Bill and it's been a priority of the API Legislative Caucus for so many times. I'd love to be added as a joint author with you to spearhead this Bill. I've tried several times of course and let's hopefully this will be the time.

But I do think it's important and so great to see such a plethora of the Asian American and the Pacific Islander diaspora here represented today.

We have so many different cultures, stories and of course yes languages out there that we want to make sure all the services offered by California reflect that and people can actually have real fair access to it.

So I really appreciate you doing this Bill and I'm recommending I vote the Bill has been moved by Senator Rodriguez and seconded by Dr. Jackson. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

That has four votes. We'll leave the roll open for absent Members but that is out. Thank you.

All right. Assemblymember Avila Farias are you ready to present Assembly Solache's Bill? Thank you for subbing in For File Item 6 AB548.

Thank you Chair and Members presenting here for our colleagues. Assemblymember Solace this afternoon I'm proud to present AB 548 to continue to improve the accessibility for the enhanced services of the Asylian Vulnerable Non Citizen Program. I commend the Chair and the Committee and staff for their work on the thoughtful analysis of this Bill.

The Enhancement Services for the Asyle and Vulnerable Non Citizen Program was established in 2021 to provide case management support to individuals who have been granted asylum as well as the U and A T visa holders.

It provides a range of support services including assisting recipients navigate the health care system, enroll in benefits, enroll in English learning classes and assist with job placement. The program has been an effective way to support the most vulnerable individuals in our community.

The program unfortunately was set to Sunset in 2024 and just ran out of funds this past month. AB5 4 would continue this critical program as well as improve the eligibility to ensure the program can continue to serve individual to meet the service now more than ever.

AB 548 is critical piece of legislation to help vulnerable immigrants and allies in the state's value that aligns with the state's values in an inclusive and welcoming state to all those who choose to make California home.

Here in support I would like to introduce Cynthia Gomez, Deputy Director of State Policy and Advocacy Coalition for Humane Immigrants Rights and Jonathan Parano, Integral Manager from International Rescue Committee in Los Angeles.

Good afternoon Chair and Members. My name is Cynthia Gomez. I'm the Deputy Director of State Policy for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, CHIRLA. CHIRLA is proud to co sponsor AB548 and thank assembler Salacha as well as Assemblemer Avila Farias for their leadership on this Bill in 2021.

In order to address the disparities in resources and help, and with the help of Assemblymember Calderon CHIRLA helped establish the Enhance the Enhanced Services for Vulnerable Non Citizens or E Saving program which provides case management support to individuals granted asylum as well as individuals with UNT visas.

This program helped Fund 13 organizations that provided services across the state and the top counties where services were utilized included San Diego, Fresno and Merced. The E Program was monumental in providing critical support services to individuals who have endured traumatic life events and have sought refuge in our state.

Through the E Program, case managers provide holistic wraparound services. Services include, but are not limited to, support with job placement, education, enrollment and childcare. According to the program report conducted by cdss, the most utilized support included support in enrolling in eligible public benefits, immigration support and healthcare navigation.

This program has been highly successful in supporting vulnerable immigrants, including creating awareness for immigrants about the resources that they qualify for. But unfortunately, funding for this pilot program ended in 2024 and operations fully ceased earlier this year.

AB 548 would allow us to continue the work done through the E Saving Program and make changes to the existing program that would both make it more accessible to those who might benefit from case management as well as expanding the organizations who could provide these services.

Now more than ever, support for programs such as E SAVE and is crucial as we are seeing rapid changes at the federal level, meaning more Californians are turning to the state for support. We thank you for your consideration of this Bill and respectfully request your support on AB548.

Thank you very much. Next witness please

Chair Lee Members. Of the Committee Good afternoon. Buenos tardes. My name is Jonathan Arifin Proano. As an immigrant myself, born and raised in Ecuador, with 18 years of experience supporting immigrant integration inclusion here in California, I served as the Integration Manager for the International Rescue Committee in Los Angeles and a Member of the California Welcomes Coalition.

I'm here today to urge your strong support of AB548, the enhanced services for Asyleese and Vulnerable Non Citizens program known as as haven. The IRC helps Refugees, Asylees immigrants rebuild their lives across California we see firsthand the immense challenges faced by those integrating and arriving into California.

The saving program provides essential support during a critical transition window offering 90 days of case management to recently arrived and granted asylees and certain vulnerable non citizens such as T and U visa holders. But what does this mean in practice?

It means helping an asylee or another vulnerable immigrant served by this program navigate enrolling their children in school, accessing health care, finding English classes, getting financial capability, training, or taking steps towards stable employment after securing status. And that just means navigating the complex systems that are part of our daily life here in California.

In the United States, it provides a culturally appropriate and client centered lifeline as they integrate into our communities. But this isn't theoretical. Through the very successful Azevent pilot, the IRC and our partners statewide have already provided services to over 2000 vulnerable individuals.

As one partner organization shared in the report, this program allows them to walk with the individuals along their many struggles and give them hope when they have lost it.

S Haven is a proven, impactful program that facilitates integration and inclusion and empower self sufficiency to new Californians to rebuild their lives, achieve self sufficiency and contribute more fully to their communities and the state. We strongly encourage the Committee to pass AB548 and continue this essential investment in new Californians. Thank you for your time and the opportunity to speak today.

Thank you very much. Now, do we have any Members of the public who should testify in support of the Bill? Please come to the microphone. Name and organization.

Hi, I'm Monica Madrid with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. CHIRLA is a proud sponsor. I'd like to also thank Assemblymember Avila Farias for stepping up in the absence of Assembly Member Solache. Thank you. Oh, sorry. And on behalf of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, SoCal.

Good afternoon. Whitney Francis with the Western Center on Law and Poverty in support.

Yesenia Jimenez with End Child Poverty in California in strong support.

All right, thank you. Now, do we have any witnesses in opposition to the spill? Any Members of the public which testify in opposition to the Bill? All right, see, now I'm going to bring it back to the Committee for any questions or comments. All right, I'll invite the author to close then.

Thank you so much, Chairman and Committee Members. And I'm so glad you didn't grill me on questions on this Bill. But I was prepared. I would like to once again thank the Chairman and the Committee staff on behalf of our colleague, Jose Luis Salacha.

Assemblymember California's remains to be steadfast in commitment to providing services to the most vulnerable individuals who who call California home. I respectfully ask for your aye vote on AB 548. Thank you.

Thank you. I want to thank assembler solace for bringing the Bill forward and for Avila Ferris for also presenting the Bill today and also for your personal work in supporting immigrant communities as well.

You know so secret that the Federal Government right now is putting a target on all immigrants no matter if they did it the right way or not. Bless you. So they're targeting our immigrant populations and it's important more than ever that we use our California infrastructure to support immigrants. These are newcomers. These are asylum seekers.

These are the people we purportedly want to support and bring new lives in America especially that have gone through the process. So makes a lot of sense to me and I'm recommending an aye vote. So the Bill has been moved by Assembly. Rodriguez. Seconded by Assembly. Al Hawari. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

4-0. That Bill is out. Thank you. All right. Now we shall move to a similar Celeste Rodriguez file item 5 AB495.

I need my glasses. Good afternoon, Chair and Members of the Committee. AB 495, the family preparedness plan act will reduce childhood trauma in the face of family separation and strengthen tools to preserve familial ties. All over our great state, families are in fear of ICE showing up and tearing their families apart.

At least half of California's children have at least one immigrant parent. I know that some of us here have been raised by an immigrant. I myself have an immigrant parent who watched as his caregiver was detained in front of him at the age of five years old.

Just last month, ICE agents detained a man in front of his two young children as he drove them to school. They were 5 and 14 years old. Luckily, their aunt was able to care for them in their father's absence.

Deportation may come without warning and a child might come home from school or an activity to find their parents or entire family is gone. We must act swiftly to empower mixed status and undocumented families to prepare for their worst nightmare.

AB495 is a comprehensive approach to encourage family safety plans, strengthens legal tools to prepare in case of family separation and establishes protections of immigration information at childcare facilities.

This Bill requires the Attorney General's Office to publish model policies and guidelines limiting assistance with immigration enforcement at child care facilities by April 1, 2026 and requires child care facilities to implement these policies no later than July 2026. Currently, there are no guidelines for child care centers in California.

It requires local education agencies to adopt the latest Attorney General's model policies published February of this year and encourages up to date emergency contact records by distributing the Attorney General's report at local education agencies. This information will educate families who will benefit from family safety plans.

Because we know that possible separation weighs heavily on many families in California, it's critical that our families have the tools and to plan for and arrange supportive and stable caregiving in the event they are separated.

Additionally, this Bill clarifies that the caregiver's authorization affidavit does not require a signature or seal of the court to ensure it is widely accepted at schools and by medical providers. We find that so often children of immigrants are left to enter the welfare system.

The Family Preparedness Plan act creates a new joint guardianship process allowing parents facing any long term separations to designate a short term guardian while preserving their parental rights. I'm honored that AB495 has been selected as a Women's Legislative Caucus priority and Progressive caucus priority. With me today.

Speaking in support are Kristin Power with the Alliance for Children's Rights and Isabel Betran Villanueva, a Member of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, La Chirla Good.

Afternoon, Chair and Members Kristin Power, Vice President, Policy and Advocacy with the Alliance for Children's Rights and along with Public Counsel, a co sponsor of AB495.

Our guardianship and children's court advocacy programs help eliminate barriers and provide free legal services to caregivers seeking legal guardianship in probate court and to individuals who are not entitled to court appointed counsel in dependency court.

Every day we see how family separation disrupts children's lives, causing emotional trauma, instability and barriers to education, healthcare and long term well being. Although there are existing tools and law that give caregivers authority to make decisions for children during a parent's absence, many caregivers still face challenges when trying to use them.

Just to give you an example from one of our clients, our attorneys recently assisted a caregiver who is struggling to obtain medical services for a young person in her care. Despite having a caregiver authorization affidavit, the caregiver filled out the affidavit for her nephew Gabriel after her sister became unable to care for him.

The medical services provider refused to accept the affidavit and instead requested the parents authorization for proof of guardianship delaying medical care for Gabriel. Our attorneys have intervened to ensure compliance and to confirm that Gabriel received the medical care he desperately needed.

AB495 helps ensure schools and medical services providers accept existing tools by standardizing recognition of caregiver authorization affidavits so they're honored consistently. This Bill prevents unnecessary for trauma for children, strengthens family stability, and ensures that schools and agencies are equipped to support families in times of crisis. Respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you very much. Next witness please. And I know there's going to be some translation after too.

Buenas tardes a todos este gracias per. Darmel Opportunidad familiar Ave cuatron aventa Cinco De La cuala Celeste Rodriguez.

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my experience. My name is Isabel Bentran. I arrived to Los Angeles two years ago with my husband and my daughter Clara, who's present with me. We came to California to provide a better life for our children.

I'd like to thank my Assembly Member, Celeste Rodriguez for authoring AB495.

My husband and I are street vendors and every day we drop off our daughter at school Fearing we won't be able to pick her up and never see her again because of the detentions this Administration is carrying out on immigrants, we will never know if we'll be chosen and if the temporary guardianship letter I sent to the school will be sufficient for the school to release my daughter to the person I'm designating.

The Family Preparedness Act, AB495, authored by Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez, would guarantee that guardianship or temporary guardianship information is valid in schools. This would give us relief while we resolve our immigration situation. My story is. My story is just one of millions of families who are going through the situation.

I ask you to support us through this proposal so we can have a little bit of peace of mind. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And thank you for coming to the Capitol to share your story. Now, do we have Members of the public who wish to testify in support of Bill? Name and organization, please.

Monica Madrid with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. CHIRLA In strong support of the Bill. Also on behalf of Catalyst California, in support.

Good afternoon. Justin Andres Reyes, on behalf of the California Undocumented Higher Education Coalition, also known. As CUHEC, in support. Good afternoon.

Purva Bhattacharjee with the California Alliance of Child and Family Services in support.

Good afternoon. My name is Maria Galwan, and I'm organized here in Guichilla and San Fernando Valley. Thank you. And I support AB 495.

Good afternoon. Yesenia Jimenez with End Child Poverty in California and strong support.

Good afternoon. Amanda Kirchner with County Welfare Directors Association in support.

Ann Quirk, Children's Law Center of California, in support.

I'm Patricia Salazar from ... in the Antilope Valley, and in strong support.

Stephanie Jeffcoat, Executive Director of Families Inspiring Reentry and Reunification for Everyone. In support.

Thank you very much. Now, do we have any witnesses in opposition to the Bill? In opposition. Do we have any Members of the public who should testify in opposition to the Bill? All right, seeing none. Let's bring back to the Committee any questions or comments from Committee Members. Assembly Elhawary

I just want to thank the author for just such an intentional Bill in a time of crisis in our country. And the witnesses as well. We are really facing some terrifying times.

And I received a phone call during Trump's first presidency asking if I would be willing to be a temporary guardian for a little girl whose umbilical cord I cut when she was born.

And I remember how scary it was then, but just how important it is now, given how bad this time is and how much this Administration is really instilling fear in our communities. Muchas gracias. Just thank you all so much. It really does make such a difference and in this moment it's. It really is thoughtful legislation like this that makes such a difference for our communities.

All right, well, I want to thank the author for this incredible piece of legislation as well. It's no secret that the Federal Government is using Ayes to terrorize our communities and tear our families apart. I frankly don't think they should even exist anymore. They were created even within my childhood time, so they're not that long standing.

So definitely this is very much needed as a preparation for our communities should the worst happen. And I really do appreciate again your witness for coming ... Love to be added as a co author if I'm not already a co author.

And I'm recommending an aye vote on this measures and I'm going to invite the author to close first.

Thank you all for your comments. AB495 offers multiple options for family preparedness planning so that each family has the agency to choose a family safety plan that works for them. We have to act to make sure no child's left without a guardian and no families torn apart. I'm so grateful if I could receive your aye vote.

In an effort to keep families together and to reunite families in the event of this worst case scenario. I look forward to advancing this important policy to prevent unnecessary additional child trauma and ensure that undocumented families are aware of their options to prevent family separation. I respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Madam Secretary, please call the roll. The Bill has been properly moved and seconded by Senator Jackson and seconded by Al Hawari.

[Roll Call]

4 to 0. That Bill is out. Congratulations, Assembly Member. You have another Bill. Did you want to present that one too?

Oh yes. My witnesses. Yes.

So Assembly Member Celestia Rodriguez will be presenting file item 23 AB 1357. Yes, whenever you're ready.

Okay, thank you. Hello again. I will now be presenting AB 1357, a simple, straightforward Bill that will address poverty and strengthen California's social safety net. Current guaranteed income programs piloted throughout the state, address economic insecurity by empowering Participants with a reliable source of income to meet their most pressing needs.

Guaranteed Income Pilots have improved financial stability, shown consistent rates of full time employment and improved mental health outcomes. I myself helped lead the implementation of Los Angeles Guaranteed Income program Big Leap, which supported families in poverty and saw firsthand the positive life changing impact of these programs.

The current social safety net programs are often in conflict with one another. In some cases, individuals decline guaranteed income payments to avoid jeopardizing their benefits like CalFresh.

AB 1357 fixes this by ensuring that guaranteed income is not counted as income for any state public assistance program including California Food Assistance Program, MEDI, CalFresh, CalWORKS, Cal Assistance Program for Immigrants and AAP. I am pleased to have Devin Gray with End Poverty in California speaking in support of the measure with me today.

Awesome. Thank you so much. Good afternoon Chair Lee, Members of the Committee. My name is Devin Gray. I serve as President of End Poverty in California.

We're an advocacy organization that was started by former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, who many of you know has been a nationally recognized leader on guaranteed income and we're proud to be co sponsors of what I think is a really common sense Bill.

I'd like to thank Assemblymember Rodriguez for your leadership on this issue over many years, as well as our fellow co sponsors Economic Security California, who've also been great leaders in this space too. As we saw in the Stockton Guaranteed Income demonstration back in 2018, we where 125 families receive $500 a month for 24 months.

We know that unconditional cash successfully promotes financial stability, better health outcomes and economic mobility and this has been demonstrated again and again both across California and across the country. And it's a significant win for the state that we have continued to invest in these pilots.

But to ensure that they remain successful, it's crucial that we protect recipients from being penalized or outright kicked off of essential safety net programs like CalWORKS, CalFresh or Medi Cal and many more. We can do that by ensuring that guaranteed income payments aren't counted as income when determining eligibility for these types of safety net programs.

Our organization has spent the last three years traveling up and down the state to speak with Californians living in poverty.

We've reached 23 counties so far inland, coastal, rural, north down to the San Diego area as well, a lot of places in between and in every corner of the state people express to us concern or express their own negative experiences dealing with the so called benefits cliff where you're forced with the choice of marginal increases in your income or being kicked off of a program entirely.

And it's that type of policy design that breeds distrust in government because it makes people feel like government is getting in the way of their journey towards self sufficiency.

So as we continue to make guaranteed income and increasingly central piece of the safety net toolkit, we have to ensure that we're not risking outcomes where people who are already struggling are made worse off by our own efforts.

So I urge for your support of this Bill and in safeguarding of recipients full access to support services while they participate in guaranteed income pilots. Thanks so much.

Thank you. Now, do we have Members of the public who wish to testify in support of this Bill? Please come forward.

Yesenia Jimenez with End Child Poverty in California and strong support.

Good afternoon. Whitney Francis with the Western Center on law and Poverty and strong support.

Thank you. Do we have any witnesses in opposition to the Bill? Any Members of the public who should testify in opposition to the Bill? All right, see, now I'm going to bring it back to the Committee. Questions, comments, motions. All right. I want to thank the author for bringing this Bill forward.

Of course, very common sense measure indeed. We both, and many of us of course, share passion to really realize GBI across the states. And this is one of those things where we really don't want recipients to face that cliff, where we are preventing people from succeeding because these are programs about uplifting people and we don't have artificial ceilings to the same programs. We love to be added as a co author as well.

You have so many great bills that I'm throwing, I guess, so. Love to be added as a co author as well. And I invite the author to close.

Yeah, just. Thank you for coming. Those of you who spoke in support, this is another step in helping address intergenerational poverty and providing financial stability to families and income California. So thank you so much. I. I request your.

I vote also to clarify. Do you accept the Committee amendments? I don't. Yes. Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you. All right, thank you. The bill's been moved by Assemblymember Jackson. Seconded by Elhawary. Madam Secretary, please call the roll file.

Item number 23 AB 1357. The motion is do pass as amended to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Lee. Lee. I. Castillo. Castillo, no. Calderon. Elhuari, aye. Elhuari, aye. Jackson, aye. Jackson, aye. Rodriguez, aye. Rodriguez, aye. Tongapa.

Four to one. That Bill is out. Congratulations.

All right, as we wait for authors, please know that we still have some bills before us. I know many authors are engaged in other committees simultaneously, but if your Member is not able to present, please try to have a folder for someone else to present if possible.

We're still looking for some authors and while we wait for authors, we're going to go through the file to add on to Bill's first. We already had the Dr. Jackson show before, so. So you can wait one part. All right, Madam, if you go through the file for. I believe there's two bills that are still on call.

Right? Or there's two bills that have yet been moved. Right. Could you announce which bills those are? So AB450, item number four. Can I get a motion and second move. Bill is improperly moved and seconded for AB450. File item number four. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Next item is File item number 7. AB 593. Can I get a motion in second for that one? Probably moved and seconded. Madam Secretary, please call the roll on File item number 7. AB593.

[Roll Call]

Madam Secretary can call the ... the role again for the absent Members.

[Roll Call]

All right, I'm looking for authors here. I see that Senator Jackson has a Bill. Final item... Would you like to present that Bill? You may. You have permission to.

Thank you. My witness will come up now. Sorry we're treated better than this usually. Sorry.

Been a day.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Presenting AB 1201, the Reunity act, which would allow family reunification services to be provided to a parent or guardian who have been convicted of a violent felony as long as it is not within the past five years, and provides additional circumstances for that court to consider before reunification services can be denied based on that felony alone.

AB 1201 ensures that courts conduct individualized assessments before denying family reunification services to parents convicted of violent felonies, requiring that courts evaluate each case on the specific facts and circumstances, considering factors such as the nature of the conviction and the current risk posed to the child, rather than making automatic decisions based solely on a parent's criminal history.

With me today to speak on this Bill is Stephanie Jeffcoat with Families Inspiring Reentry and Reunification for Everyone.

Good afternoon, Chair and Committee Members. Today I stand before you as living proof of the very gaps this Bill is designed to close. I'm a mother, a law student and an Executive Director of a nonprofit organization. But before I became those things, I was someone that the system gave up on.

Not because I couldn't be a safe parent, but because it never stopped to ask if I could. In 2016, I gave birth after surviving a sexual assault. Within 24 hours, my child was taken from me. I wasn't met with support. I was seen as someone that just had a pass and my file was closed.

The Reunity act matters because it acknowledges what the current law refuses to that people change. A past conviction does not define present day parenting. That trauma informed, individualized assessments are not radical, they're necessary.

Under our current law, parents like me, those with prior convictions or terminated rights can be automatically denied reunification services no matter how much growth, accountability or transformation has taken place. The door is slammed shut before we're even allowed to knock. Too often reunification services are denied by default based on labels, not lives.

But my life is proof that healing is possible when the right support I've turned pain into purpose. I built programs for justice impacted families, but I live every day with the consequences of a system that decided who I was without ever seeing me.

This year marks nine years since I have last seen my daughter and it does not matter how I've changed. I've never even been given an opportunity to see a picture of her. This Bill acknowledges what lived experience has proven again and again, healing is possible.

A prior felony is not a life sentence against your ability to love, grow or parent. Parents should not be bypassed simply because of their past, especially when their present is full of purpose, stability and accountability. When we automatically deny services, we aren't protecting children. We're denying families the very chance to heal.

Bypassing a parent without an individualized assessment robs families of fairness and robs children of the chance to maintain bonds that are often safe, loving and repairable. It also disproportionately harms black and brown and low income communities who are over policed and under resourced.

This Bill takes a step toward equity by ensuring every parent has a voice and every child has a chance to be raised by someone who has worked to become whole again. AB 1201 doesn't ignore harm, it recognizes healing. It narrows automatic denials.

Ensuring reunification services can no longer be automatically denied solely because a parent or guardian has a violent felony conviction within the past five years. It gives families the dignity of a fair chance. It moves our system away from punishment and toward possibility.

This Bill would ensure courts look beyond assumptions and conduct real evidence based evaluations before denying families the chance to reunify. It's about recognizing redemption, it's about safety and it's about humanity. Let's stop writing off families and start writing them back into their own stories. I urge you today to support AB 1201.

Thank you for your incredible work and sharing your story too. Now there are Members of the public who wish testifying support. Please come up to the microphone. Name and position.

My name is Zachariah Okenda. I'm with Alliance for Children's Rights. And I want to also just say I'm a. I'm an adult of parents who are incarcerated and I want to just speak to another side of this issue where even when there's families out there that want to preempt issues that come up that can cause, that lead to records, that leads to separation, that leads to more trauma, without this kind of measure were left in a place where families feel and kids, and I was one of those kids who felt like they couldn't tell anybody what was going on and ask for help.

Because the system is set up such that if you do that, then these barriers are put in place where families have no chance to articulate or share what that experience is, that connection, the love that exists even when there's chaos. So I just wanted to share that bit of story and in support of this Bill as well.

Thank you. Hello, I'm honorable Michelle Chambers, representing a New Way of Life reentry project in this community of South Los Angeles where We serve over 180 women who are returning from incarcerated facilities. One of our missions is going into the facilities, assisting women with coming home. The resources, access to resources and services.

And this is one of our main services. We thank you, Dr. Jackson, for authoring this Bill. Thank you, Ms. Jeff Coates for your offering testimony and we so appreciate your support for this legislation.

All right, thank you very much. Now, do we have any witnesses in opposition to the Bill? Any witness, opposition.

Good afternoon. Amanda Kirchner, on behalf of County Welfare Directors Association, we're in an oppose unless amended position. And first, I want to thank your witness for telling your story and your lived experience and being here. We agree.

We think this should be an individualized assessment for each of these cases where we're having just some conversations and trying to work out the language is what that assessment looks like. What are the standards? What are the time frames? We've had a couple of really productive conversations over the last few weeks and have submitted to Dr.

Jackson's office some amendments that would remove our opposition. And so we are just looking to continue that conversation and appreciate all of your leadership on this issue. Absolutely.

Thank you very much. Are there other Members of the public which testify in opposition to the Bill? All right, see, now I'm bringing back to the Committee. Committee for questions, comments. Vice Chair Castillo, comments.

I just want to thank the author for bringing this Bill forward. I want to thank the witness for your story.

I just feel reunification is really important, and I don't like those barriers that are put on families when they're trying to do the right thing for stuff that, you know, like you said, there's out of their control something that has nothing to do with the child at that present stage.

If they didn't hurt the child, it's something different. So thank you to the author. I will be supporting this film.

All right. Thank you very much. Assemblymember Elhawary.

I just wanna. I'm so sorry for my voice. I just wanna just uplift.

Like, how incredible it is to see you fighting so hard, to have met you many years ago and to know that you're still pushing and even on this level, to ensure that not only you get a chance to reunify with your daughter, but that so many others who've been in this situation have the opportunity as well.

So thank you.

All right, I'm going to invite the author to close.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you for everyone's comments on this. Thank you to the witness for sharing your story. Thank you to CWDA for continuing to have our conversations. Let's try to figure out what is the right mix as we're going through this process. There's no doubt in my mind we're going to get there.

At the end of the day, one of the first things that I'm taught as I was getting my Master's of social work, is the worst thing you can do is make assumptions. The worst thing you can do is to implement A cookie cutter approach for every single client.

And what we have instilled in our system too many times is automation. And in this automated process, if you don't fit into the right box at the right time, you may not get. You will not. You could be denied services even when you are actually ready for them personally.

And so all this is, is not that parents will be instantly reunified with their child, but they may go through the reunification process, which means additional services are being provided to them. And while they're going through those individual services, they will still be assessed until they are deemed ready to be able to go.

So to deny people, it's one of those things where you say, lift yourself up with your bootstraps, but you're taking away their boots. You're not allowing them to even try.

This Bill is just about individualized assessments, giving them the services that they need so that they can be in the place where they can be reunified with their children. With that, I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Dr. Jackson, for bringing this Bill. As we work so hard to prevent families from being torn apart, it's also important that we tear down systems that are preventing families from being unified. And again, I'd like to thank everyone for coming up to present and continue to work with the opposition as well. I have an I reco on this measure.

And the Bill has Bill removed a second to get a motion. I moved by Assembly Member Castillo. Seconded by Assembly. ElHawary. Madam Secretary, please call the roll. And I have an aye recommendation of course.

[Roll Call]

Five to zero. That Bill is out. Congratulations. I see a similar. Bryan is here, so whenever he is ready. He may present 14. AB 1080.

Good to see you.

Well done.

Powerful words.

All right. Assemblyman Bryan, whenever you are ready.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and colleagues. I'm here to present AB 1080, which continues our state's effort to address the egregious issue of making children and youth in foster care pay for their own cost of care. A little backstory for some of my colleagues who are new to this issue.

Two years ago, we ran a piece of legislation that would stop counties from forcing children to pay for their own cost of care. A specific group of children. If you had lost your parents, you reduced survivor benefits from the Federal Government. Essentially, they paid into Social Security. They paid they won't be able to withdraw it.

You got a portion of that back. Additionally, children with disabilities get SSI benefits from the Federal Government. Both survival benefits and disability benefits are resources specifically for that child not to be used to augment the cost of their care.

We ran a piece of legislation two years ago to end this practice and for cost reasons it didn't make it all the way through. So we split it up and last year we ended the practice forever in California of stealing survivor benefits.

We are back again this year to end the process or end the practice of stealing disability benefits for children who have disabilities who are due this money. It should be set aside for them.

We have counties who are applying for it on their behalf and then just keeping it into the General cost of care, essentially forcing these kids to pay for their own care with resources that should belong to them. I have two incredible witnesses with me. Joining me today are Zachariah Okeda, Okinda. Okenda, Senior policy attorney with the alliance for Children's Rights and Marissa Lopez Scott, Senior attorney with Youth Law Center.

Good afternoon Chair and Members. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this important Bill for California's foster youth. I'm Marissa Lopez Scott, senior attorney at the Youth Law Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization that has worked for four decades to transform foster care and juvenile justice systems so every child and youth can thrive.

YLC is a proud co sponsor of AB 1080 which makes changes to ensure that youth establish and maintain eligibility for Critical Social Security Administration benefits during their time in foster care.

AB 1080 requires that when counties serve as representative payees that they use all SSA benefits including Supplemental Security Income SSI in the best interest of the child or non minor dependent with input from the child and family team for unmet current needs and or to conserve remaining funds in appropriate accounts for the child's or NMD's future use.

These funds could be used on rent, car insurance to allow a youth to get to a job or school or medical expenses that are not covered by Medi. California AB1080 does not require counties to forego IV E foster care payments for IV E eligible youth.

Rather, it requires counties to continue already established processes to maintain SSI by drawing down one month of SSI in every 12 month period to ensure SSI benefits aren't terminated for being in suspense for too long.

For IV e eligible youth, AB1080 would require this one month SSI payment to be conserved for the child or NMD's future use for the thousands of Children and youth with disabilities who must navigate the significant challenges of foster care. SSI and other SSA benefits are a lifeline to a better future.

California has significant work to do to ensure that all eligible youth receive and can access the benefits to which they qualify. This Bill takes steps towards that goal, including the input of the Child and Family Team, to ensure benefits are used in a way that puts youth first. I respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Next witness, please. My name is Zachariah Okenda and I represent Alliance for Children's Rights. Proud co sponsors of AB 1080.

We represent youth in foster care who face extraordinary challenges, not just from the circumstances that brought them into care, which is inherently traumatic, but specifically in this case, a systemic practice normalized across the country of confiscating SSI disability benefits from vulnerable youth by the agencies that are tasked with serving them.

SSI disability benefits are intended to be conserved in support of a youth's stable transition to Independence and adulthood. Instead, too often our clients are not informed that they are eligible for disability benefits, let alone that the county agency has been collecting money on their behalf for years.

By the time these young people learn they were eligible for benefits, it is too late. Counties have already misused the funds and too often allowed the young person's eligibility to lapse during their transition out of foster care. When counties take these benefits and fail to pass them on to youth transitioning to adulthood, the impact can be devastating.

For our clients, it means additional burdens and missed opportunities. This can look like lacking resources for additional care expenses not covered fully by Medi Cal or being unable to afford transportation to work or school.

For many, missing SSI disability benefits means being unable to afford a security deposit on their first apartment or being unable to bounce back from the cost or a loss in an emergency. For example from the recent wildfires, AB 1080 ensures SSI benefits stay with the youth, supporting their immediate and future needs.

It promotes accountability, safeguards essential funds, and respects the dignity and rights of people at the most crucial time of change in their lives. Respectfully ask your aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you. Now, do we have any Members of the public which testify and supported the Bill? Please come up to microphone. Please.

Yesenia Jimenez with End Child Poverty in California and strong support .

Stephanie Jeffcoat again with Families Inspiring Reentry and Reunification for Everyone. Strong support.

Whitney Francis with the Western Center on Law and Poverty and strong support

Ann Quirk, Children's Law Center of California. Proud co sponsor and in strong support.

Corva Battacharji, with the California alliance of. Child and family Services in support. Gregory Kramer on behalf of Disability Rights California in support.

Thank you. Now, do we have any witnesses in opposition to the Bill? Please come up to the microphone or please come up to the desk. No. Okay. Any Members?

Sometimes we have surprise guests, huh? Do we have any Members of the public who wish to testify against this Bill? All right, so, you know, let's bring it back to the Committee. All right, well, I'm going to invite the author to close then.

It's incredibly hard for the youth who are in foster care anywhere in this country. But for our youth who have disabilities, who are due SSI benefits, to have those direct resources misallocated away from them and then used to supplement their own care without their consent is wrong. We should stop stealing benefits from foster children with disabilities.

And I respectfully ask your aye vote.

I want to thank the author for tenacity on this issue and constant champion to make sure that foster children's benefits aren't stolen away from them. We have to make sure we're supporting them with all the resources we can. I'm recommending an aye vote.

And the Bill has been properly moved by Senator Jackson, seconded by El Hawari, and yes, I'm working. I vote. So, Madam Secretary, please call. Please call the roll on this Bill.

[Roll Call]

Hi V0. That Bill is out. Thank you. And now I believe Assembly Addis is here. So whenever she is ready, she may come up to present. File item 18, AB 1208.

Thank you, Chair and Members, I'm here today to present AB 1208, a Bill that shifts California's Developmental Services system towards a more thoughtful and equitable performance outcome measurement system. For a long time, the Developmental Services system has mainly focused on things like how much money is spent and whether programs are following the rules.

But now, both at the federal and state level, there's a shift happening away from just checking boxes and toward actually looking at whether people are getting the outcomes they want through person centered planning and self determination. And maybe I'll move off of my notes and say this is definitely happening at the state level.

It's very likely being rolled back at the federal level, which means it's more important for us to act here in California. But in California, even though we're going in that direction, it hasn't been easy. Even though past efforts were well meaning, they've ended up creating a patchwork of rules and measures that still focus too much on compliance.

And California needs to move towards an outcome based system that values the individual and their needs. And so AB 1208 does that by directing the Department of Developmental Services to create a comprehensive set of outcome, quality and performance standards that will then be used to measure the performance outcomes of the Department, Regional Centers and vendors.

And the goal is to make sure the system has clear, measurable ways to track quality, performance and outcomes.

Whether we're looking at an individual, a service provider, Regional Center, or or the system as a whole, having these kinds of measures in place will help us monitor progress over time and make sure services are consistent, fair and truly focused on supporting choice, Independence and quality of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in their families.

And so we've got two witnesses here today and I'll turn it over to both of you to testify.

Thank you. Two minutes each, please.

Hi Mr. Chairman Members David Panush representing Disability Voices United statewide organization of, by and for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are receiving services from the state's network of 21 Regional Centers.

First, we'd like to express our appreciation to our amazing author, Assemblymember Addis, who's championed our cause of improved transparency, equity and accountability for services that our community is receiving.

Last year, Assemblymember Addis' Landmark AB 1147 that the Governor signed allows Public Records Act requests to be submitted to Regional Centers, opening the door for a new level of transparency. And in our view, that's really the key to restoring trust in the system.

AB 1208, which is before you today, is part of a larger effort to restore trust and improve performance and outcomes for the 450,000 Californians that are receiving Regional Center Services Measures an important vehicle for advancing the priority recommendations of the state's Master Plan on Developmental Services necessary to improve quality, performance and outcome measures.

We're looking forward to partnering with SEIU and other key stakeholders to help us realize the promise of the Master Plan in achieving our common goals. And we thank you for your support.

Mr. Chair Members Tiffany Whiten with SEIU, CA, representing over 750,000 workers across the state, including service providers at Regional Centers and DSPs. AB 1208 requires the development of uniform measures for evaluating quality, performance and outcomes in the services provided to individuals with developmental disabilities.

I was a proud Member of the Master Plan for Developmental Disabilities and applaud all the work that went into developing the recommendations that were released. The Master Plan's recommendations include developing more comprehensive and consistent measures of individual and statewide outcomes and performance enhancing data and technology and technology systems. AB 1208 specifically speaks to that recommendation.

Outcomes will be measured, compared and tracked over time and across the system at various levels. This is extremely important to ensure we are moving to a place of consistency in a place where we can ensure equitable delivery of all services.

While we are moving to this place where we have consistency and transparency that the system needs and deserves, we also strive for a more person centered way to deliver services that provides consumers with true autonomy. AB 1208 also requires a review of current quality measures before creating new ones.

This will ensure that we are being thoughtful in our new measures, being responsible with our resources and it is always truly beneficial to know where we are and what we have tried before before moving forward.

The ultimate goal is to ensure consumers have services and support that need that will give them quality of life, the best quality of life possible, and ensure they have an equitable delivery system. We sincerely appreciate Assemblymember Addis for bringing this Bill forward and respectfully request your aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you and Assemblymember Addis. Just to clarify, you're accepting Committee amendments, correct?

Yeah. Yes we are.