The Legislative
Committee of the Commission for Women is charged to help women develop a
collective voice to influence public policy and affect positive changes in
their lives. To this end, the Committee advocates for women in
Contra Costa County to representatives regarding pending legislation
that supports this mission.
PENDING ACTIONS
CEDAW - The
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) is an international human rights treaty adopted by the United
Nations General Assembly in 1979. Although 165 countries have
ratified CEDAW, the United States has not. President Carter signed
CEDAW in 1980. President Clinton stated that he considered ratification
of this treaty a high priority. CEDAW is supported by more than 100
U.S. organizations.
CEDAW specifically mandates
ending discrimination against women and girls in political and public
life, status of nationality, education, employment, health care, financial
endeavors, sports, cultural life, marriage and family relations. It
recognizes the role of culture and tradition and aims for substantive
gender equity.
In April 1998, San Francisco became the first city in this country to adopt an ordinance implementing CEDAW
locally. It also established a Task Force which works with the Commission and City departments to identify
discrimination against women and girls, and to implement human rights principles.
On October 26, 1999, as a
direct result of the Soroptimists of USA efforts to support CEDAW, the
Board of Supervisors of Contra Costa County passed a unanimous vote for
Resolution No. 99/551 in recognition and support for CEDAW.
On December 19, 2000 the
Commission for Women proudly and unanimously passed a resolution in
support of CEDAW. Click here for a copy of the CEDAW
resolution.
The Commission for Women is
focusing on local implementation of CEDAW. Ms. Krishanti Dharmaraj,
Executive Director of Women's Institute for Leadership Development for
Human Rights (WILD), will be speaking at our monthly Commission Meeting,
February 20, 2001. WILD has been instrumental in supporting and
collaborating with other organizations in implementation of CEDAW
resolutions and ordinances. Please join us for the February meeting.
For details regarding CEDAW
- go to these links...
State
Commission for Women
SF
Commission on the Status of Women
WILD
WAND
Soroptomists
of USA
For an agenda for our
January meeting please contact Linda Douglas 925-370-5149.
Keep watching our web
site for more information as we move forward with this initiative.
LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
The Women’s
Commission supports the following legislation.
If you need more information or would like
to support specific legislation, please contact Linda Douglas.
TAKE ACTION -
Contact your local representatives to let them know your thoughts or
concerns regarding current legislation.
The President and
Vice President
George W. Bush (R), The
White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., 20500; phone:
202-456-1414 (fax - 202-456-2461); email: president@whitehouse.gov
Dick Cheney (R), The
White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., 20500; phone:
202-456-1414 (fax - 202-456-2461); email: vice.president@whitehouse.gov
House of
Representatives
George
Miller (D)1333 Willow Pass Road, Concord, CA 94520-7931, phone:
925-602-1880; email:george.miller@mail.house.gov
Ellen
Tausher (D) 1801 N. California Blvd., 103, Walnut Creek, CA 94596, phone:
800-859-9900 (fax- 925932-8159; email: ellen.tauscher@mail.house.gov
United States Senate
Barbara
Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery Street, 240, San Francisco, CA 94111, phone: 415-403-0100; email:senator@boxer.senate.gov
Dianne
Feinstein (D) 525 Market Street, 3670, San Francisco, CA 94105, phone:
415-536-6868; email:senator@feinstein.senate.gov
California State
Senate
Tom Torlakson (D),
1948 Mount Diablo Blvd., Walnut Creek, CA 94596; phone: 925-280-0276
(fax - 925-280-0299) email: senator.torlakson@sen.ca.gov
Don Perata (D), 1515 Clay
Street, No. 2202, Oakland, CA 94612, phone: 510-286-1333 (fax -
510-286-3885); email: senator.perata@sen.ca.gov
California State
Assembly
Lynne C. Leach (R), 800 S.
Broadway #304, Walnut Creek, CA 94596; phone: 925-988-6900 (fax -
925-988-6922) email: lynne.leach@asm.ca.gov
Joseph Canciamilla (D),
815 Estudillo Street, Martinez, CA 94553; phone: 925-372-7990 (fax -
925-372-0934) email: joe.canciamilla@assembly.ca.gov
The Commission focuses on
access to health care, gender equity in education and employment, family
law, and child and other dependent care.
New
California Laws Affecting Health Care
In October
2000, Governor Gray Davis signed into law a number of Assembly Bills (AB)
and Senate Bills (SB) that may impact you health plan coverage. Most
of the legislation will take effect on January 1, 2001. This is not
a comprehensive list and does not detail all the provisions of the
laws. For more information, visit either of these web sites: www.leginfo.ca.gov
and click on "Bill Information" or www.ca.gov
and click on "Government".
Affecting
Health Coverage
AB 525 -
Notice Concern Family Planning Services. The intent of this bill is
to inform members that some providers do not provide a full range of
family planning and contraceptive that you or your family might need.
AB 2168 -
Confirmation of Specialist Care for HIV and AIDS. This bill ensures
that individuals with HIV or AIDS have maximum access to providers with
demonstrated expertise in treating a condition involving a complicated
treatment regimen with ongoing monitoring.
Protection
of Your Personal Health Care Information
AB
2414 - This bill prohibits a health plan or contractor
that administers disease management from disclosing patient medical
information without patient authorization.
SB 129 -
This bill establishes within the Department of Consumer Affairs the Office
of Protection, the purpose of which is to protect the privacy of
individuals' personal information by identifying consumer problems and
facilitating development of fair information practices.
SB 1903 -
This bill applies provisions of the Confidentiality of Medical Information
Act, which prohibits healthcare providers and health plans from sharing or
selling a patient's medical information to corporations such as insurance
companies, banks, brokerages, and their subsidiaries and affiliates.
TENTATIVE
LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR - 2001-2002 Regular Session
January 2001 -
Legislation reconvenes
February 23,
2001 - Last day for bills to be introduced
June 8, 2001 -
Last day for bills to be passed out of the house of origin
June 15, 2001
- Budget bill must be passed by midnight
September 14,
2001 - Last day for each house to pass bills
October 14,
2001 - Last day for Governor to sign or veto bills
The
list below reflects only those bills on the Year 1999-2000 legislative agenda.
The list will be updated pending the start of the new legislative year
2001 in February.
Child
and Other Dependent Care
- AB 212 (Aroner)
would establish the California CARES (Compensation and Retention Encourage
Stability) Matching Fund Program to promote the retention of teachers and
directors in the child care field.
Status: Senate
Appropriations
- AB 2160 (Cunneen/Mazzoni)
would authorize reimbursing providers of child care and extended day care
services at a rate in excess of the standard reimbursement rate.
Status:
Senate Appropriations
Education
- AB 908 (Alquist) would
create a grant program to train teachers in strategies and techniques for
promoting gender equity in their classrooms.
Status:
On the Governor's desk
- SB 1618 (O’Connell)
would extend the sunset date for the California Interscholastic Federation
until January 1, 2004 and establish a process for resolution of gender
equity complaints.
Status: Assembly Education, July 5th
Family
Law
- AB 1995 (Aroner)
would establish a one-time amnesty program for those who owe child support
arrearages to the State.
Status: Senate Health and Human
Services, July 5th
- SB 857 (Peace)
would authorize a lifetime benefit for former spouses from the Judges’
Retirement System in cases where the divorce or separation occurs
post-retirement.
Status:
Senate Appropriations
- SB2124 (Figueroa)
would prohibit court-appointed mediators from submitting recommendations
to the court regarding child custody or visitation unless parties involved
reach agreement during the proceedings.
Status:
Senate Judiciary
Health
Coverage and Access to Care
- AB 525 (Kuehl and Thomson)
would require health plans, disability insurers, and Medi-Cal managed care
plans to provide full disclosure to enrollees or prospective enrollees
about potential restrictions on reproductive health care services imposed
by hospitals and other health care providers.
Status:
Signed by Governor in
September
- AB 2038 (Alquist) would
establish the "Inclusion of Women and Minorities in Clinical Research
Act." To ensure that women of all ages, and members of minority
groups, are included in clinical research projects.
Status: Senate Floor
- AJR 42 (Alquist)
would request Congress to enact and implement the Voluntary Medicare
Prescription-Drug Benefit contained in the President’s Fiscal Year 2001
Budget.
Status:
Senate Appropriations
- SB 370 (Burton) would
repeal sections of the Penal Code that make it a crime, subject to
imprisonment in state prison, for a woman to see or a physician to provide
an abortion.
Status:
Assembly Appropriations, July
5th
- SB 500 (Solis) would
expand the Family PACT Program to include preventative health care to all
uninsured women with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level; also
expands eligibility to uninsured women up to age 64.
Status: On the Governor's desk.
- SB 1338 (Figueroa)
would make the Community Challenge Grant Program, which provides teen
pregnancy prevention services, permanent.
Status: Assembly Appropriations,
August 9th
- SB 1479 (Figueroa) would
expand the list of required disclosures to clients by a licensed midwife.
Status: Assembly Appropriations
Employment
- AB 1096 (Romero)
would provide for registration and regulation of the Interior Design
profession.
Status: Senate Appropriations
- AB 1856 (Kuehl)
would hold perpetrators of sexual harassment personally liable for
damages.
Status: Senate Judiciary
- AB 2052 (Aroner)
would create a Welfare-to-Work account in the State Transportation Fund
for the development of transportation projects and services to assist
CalWorks recipients.
Status: Senate Health and Human
Services, July 5th
- SB 892 (Chesbro)
would authorize the Trade and Commerce Agency to issue micro-enterprise
grants to organizations that assist low-income entrepreneurs.
Status: Assembly Appropriations
- SB 1149 (Speier)
would, among other provisions, apply the California Family Rights Act (CFRA)
to employers who employ 20 or more employees.
Status: Assembly Floor Inactive File
Violence
- AB 557 (Nakano)
would require any person convicted of burglary in the first degree to
submit a DNA sample for inclusion in California’s DNA database for
purposes of helping law enforcement reduce rape and other violent crimes
associated with burglary.
Status: Senate Public Safety
- AB 578 (Honda)
would require the State Office of Child Abuse Prevention to provide
information about domestic violence and sexual assault prevention programs
and services to school districts and county office of education.
Status: Senate Appropriations
- AB 1917 (Jackson)
would require the Department of Education to adopt a course of study that
includes age-appropriation instruction in domestic violence prevention for
grades 1 to 6 and 7 to 12.
Status: Senate Education, July 5th
- AB 2357 (Honda)
would enact the Victims of Domestic Violence Employment Leave Act,
prohibiting employers from discharging, discriminating against, or
retaliating against an employee who is a victim of domestic violence and
who takes time off from work to seek medical attention, legal assistance,
shelter services, psychological counseling, or to prepare a safety plan to
protect against further abuse.
Status: Senate Appropriations
- AB 2589 (Cardenas)
would require that the appointment of a certified interpreter in domestic
violence proceedings for individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired, or
who are not proficient in English.
Status: Senate Judiciary
- ACR 148 (Correa)
would designate the month of April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Status: Senate Rules
- SB 1198 (Solis)
would appropriate $25 million to the State Department of Health Services
for expansion of the shelter-based services grant program for battered
women’s shelters.
Status: Assembly Human Services
- SB 1318 (Alpert)
would extend protections of the Address Confidentiality for Victims of
Domestic Violence Program (CALCAP) to victims of stalking.
Status: Assembly Appropriations,
August 9th
- SB 1340 (Solis/Alpert)
would establish the California Domestic Violence Court Task Force and
allocate $10 million dollars for funding domestic violence courts.
Status: Assembly Appropriations
- SB 1425 (Figueroa)
would create an advisory committee to develop and adopt a standard state
form for use in collecting forensic evidence in domestic violence cases.
Status: Assembly Appropriations,
August 9th
If you need more information or would like
to support specific legislation, please contact Linda Douglas.
