Budget Advocacy
Contact the conferees and let them know about your budget priorities today! Reach out to the conferees as soon as possible, as they will be meeting early next week.
Conferee contact list. PDF
ECE Nutrition Investments The Assembly has proposed a $10 million early childhood nutrition education (ECE) investment in their version of the budget. This critically important investment helps ensure that California's youngest children have access to healthy meals throughout their day. This proposal would support the provision of over 73 million nutritious meals each year; targeting low-income children in high quality child care settings. While the Senate also proposed notable ECE investments, their budget did not include any restorations to ECE nutrition. However, we know that the Senate is still considering and negotiating investments that would improve the quality of child care. CFPA has prepared a few resources, including a phone call script and "leave-behind" document, to help you advocate for ECE Nutrition Investments. Connect with the conferees today and share why a state investment in ECE nutrition is important to you. Sample Phone Call Script. PDF Budget Alert Leave-Behind. PDF Questions? Contact Elyse Homel Vitale at 510. 433.1122 ext. 206
CalWORKs Child Food Benefit The Assembly has proposed a $25 a month child food benefit for all children on CalWORKs. This proposal presents an opportunity to invest in the food security and overall well-being of our most vulnerable children and families. Recognizing that CalFresh is an effective tool to prevent hunger and poverty, and that benefits are generally inadequate, the creation of a supplemental food payment for children receiving CalWORKs will go a long way in ensuring that California families are able to meet their most basic needs every month.
Other Nutrition Related Budget Items Customarily the Conference Committee discusses differences between budget items proposed by the Governor, Assembly and Senate. When specific budget items are included in both the Assembly and Senate budget proposals they will automatically be included in the Legislature's version of the budget which is reconciled with the Governor's May revision. This year, several nutrition related budget items were included in both the Assembly and Senate budget proposals and will not need to be discussed in conference. These include: continuation of the state's Heat & Eat program for CalFresh, modified categorical eligibility for all CalFresh households, creation of 3 positions for the Direct Certification and Medi-Cal pilot, and adjustments to the LCFF process for counting low-income students in Provision 2 schools. These budget items were also included in the Governor's May Revision. Learn more about these specific budget items. link Questions? Contact Alexis Fern�ndez at 510.433.1122 ext. 206 |