LWC in the News

Sacramento Bee Op-ed: California makes progress on child care, but more to do

Jun 25, 2015

Over the past two years, the women’s caucus has helped restore more than $500 million into these programs, reinstating child care and preschool for more than 45,000 children.

Even as we are making progress, it is remarkable how far we still have to go. When policymakers mention states doing groundbreaking early childhood education work, Oklahoma and Georgia are often lauded. California may be the world’s seventh-largest economy, but we are serving less than a quarter of all eligible children through state-supported child care.

Sacramento Bee: Family Leave Expansion Bill Sparks Clashes

Jun 24, 2015

Two efforts to expand paid and unpaid “family leave” for California workers – a major cause for the Legislature’s Women’s Caucus – generated sharp clashes Wednesday among powerful interest groups, but both survived committee votes.

One of the clashes was a surprise to members of the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee – a late-blooming and rare division among labor unions.

Sacramento Bee Op-ed: Child Care Looms As Big Spending Issue in California

May 18, 2015

The state Democratic Party’s weekend convention in Anaheim began just a day after Gov. Jerry Brown released his revised 2015-16 state budget.

One might expect a Democratic governor to use the occasion to trumpet an expanding economy, a multibillion-dollar cornucopia of new revenues and his plan to spend them. But Brown made only a token appearance, then vamoosed.

Brown’s reluctance to take the spotlight may have reflected what happened after he left.

KCRA: Gov. Brown to Propose $380 Million Tax Credit for Working Poor

May 13, 2015

Gov. Jerry Brown will propose offering a $380 million tax credit for the working poor as part of his revised budget Thursday.

Information provided by the Brown administration says the tax credit would help as many as 2 million people who earn up to $13,870 a year for a family of four.

Brown has been under pressure from fellow Democrats and social welfare groups to spend some of the surplus revenue pouring into state coffers this year as California rebounds from the recession.

KQED: Gender Equality Debate Gives New Life to Old Ideas in Sacramento

Apr 01, 2015

Are you a liberal Democrat who supports increased welfare payments or expanded access to subsidized child care or paid family leave?

Your best bet may just be to frame it as gender issue — not a way to fight poverty.

That’s the tactic many Democrats in the California Legislature are taking this year as they push bills that, in many cases, have failed in years past.

Sacramento Bee: Isn't It Time for Movement on Women's Inequality?

Mar 28, 2015

To talk about income inequality in 2015 is largely to talk about women. In California – as in all but four other states – women account for the majority of workers making minimum wage.

About 2 out of 3 of those female low-earners support families, either wholly or partly. Four in 10 are the struggling sole breadwinners in their households. Women and their children constitute the majority of Californians living in poverty.

SF Gate: CA Bills Target Gender Pay Gaps, Child Care

Mar 24, 2015

The California Legislative Women’s Caucus announced a package of bills Tuesday aimed at improving the lives of working women by requiring employers to justify pay gaps among male and female employees and increase state-subsidized child care by $600 million.

The bills would also create more stability in work schedules and eliminate a rule that prohibits additional CalWORKS benefits for children born while a family is already receiving welfare assistance.

Capitol Public Radio: Women's Caucus Prioritizes Work, Child Care Bills

Mar 24, 2015

The caucus is focusing on bills that they say support equal pay, access to childcare, creating family-friendly workplaces and addressing poverty. Democratic Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson chairs the caucus. She says she’s been fighting for some of these issues for decades and that it’s time to act.

"Women are absolutely critical to a strong and vibrant economy and we are at an important juncture for California and California women," she says, "a place where we can both make a difference and recognize that a difference needs to be made."

LA Times: California's Women's Caucus Pitches Bills on Pay Equity, Child Care, Poverty

Mar 24, 2015

Democratic members of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus on Tuesday announced a package of legislation aimed at providing pay equity on the job, expanding access to child care, creating family-­friendly workplaces and addressing poverty.

“Women continue to increase our role and our impact on our economy,” Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D - ­San Diego) said at a Capitol news conference. “It’s vital we pursue the policies that help ensure opportunity and equality. These actions will help more California woman not only participate in the economic recovery but also in building our economic future.”