California NOW

Monday's Action Checklist

This week we're all about legislation here in California.  We are spotlighting three bills authored by Holly Mitchell.

First up is AB 2348 which will allow registered nurses in community clinics to provide birth control under a standardized procedure. That makes perfect sense in today’s world, especially given the safety of birth control and its wide use. Access to birth control is a critical public health issue and an essential component of women's health care.  Millions of women have safely taken the pill since the FDA approved it back in 1960. By passing AB 2348, California will expand women’s access to reproductive services. While elected officials across the nation are passing laws to defund reproductive health services and restrict women’s access to reproductive care, California can continue to be a leader in expanding access to essential women’s health care services by passing this bill.

AB 2266 would create “health teams” – including social service and housing providers to offer coordinated care to frequent users.  This bill would transform our Medi-Cal system from a ‘treat the illness’ to a ‘treat the person’ approach.  Overwhelming data on supportive housing, which offers the type of services this bill would fund, show that AB 2266 could save Medi-Cal between $7,500-$29,000 per participant, per year.  Most importantly, it would save the lives of potentially thousands of Californians, getting people off the streets, out of hospitals and into decent, appropriate care.

AB 2015 (Calls for Kids) gives parents in California the ability to make arrangements for their child at the moment of an immigration raid or an arrest.  Imagine the parent who is arrested and wants to ensure their child is with a relative or friend, but is prevented from making a phone call.  Once separated, bringing families back together and avoiding legal separation becomes more difficult. It is more expensive for state and local governments when children are unnecessarily placed in the custody of child protective services or foster care. Let's take care of families at the point of arrest and save unnecessarily cost and heartache in the future.  Right now, Calls for Kids has been sent to the Suspense Fille.  Let's ask the bill's author, Holly Mitchell, what we can do to make sure children don't end up in child protective services if they have another option.

Take Action NOW:  Call Assemblymember Mitchell's office and ask how you can help: 916-319-2047

 

Monday's Action Checklist

American Reclamation is a family-owned recylcing and solid waste company in El Monte.  However, Teamsters Local 396 who has been helping the employees form a union says employees are badly treated and that management is fighting unionization.  Dozens of employees of the city-contracted trash-hauler are rallying for change in what they say are dismal working conditions and environmentally detrimental and illegal practices.  Workers say rats and roaches are in the company's bathrooms and break areas. They also allege that the management team ignores employee safety hazards and have detailed the lack of adequate training and safety features on trash trucks.  Take Action NOW: Click here to watch a video and learn how you can help.

31 Republican Senators - all men - voted last week against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act.  We cannot simply ignore those 31 votes against women.  Voters need to know the names of these 31 and MoveOn has made it super simple for us to do just that through social media.   Take Action NOW:  Click here to ensure that the names of those 31 senators are spread like wildfire through our social media channels.

Parents have enough on their plates; we shouldn't need a degree in chemistry to pick safe toys and safe food for our children. That’s why we need comprehensive chemical reform today.  Scientific studies demonstrate that toxic chemicals we are exposed to every day can significantly increase the risk of developing childhood cancers, infertility, and learning and developmental disabilities.  Take Action NOW:  Click here to sign the petition urging senators to pass the Safe Chemical Act.

Monday's Action Checklist

The Supreme Court could very well repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act.  And unfortunately, too many women don't understand what's at stake.  There's so many benefits to women and the more people know about what's in the bill, the more likely they are to support it and use those great new benefits.  Right now - when healthcare is in the news - we need to share these facts with all the women we know.  Take Action NOW:  Click here to read the top 5 health care benefits for women and then share the list with everyone you know through social media.

What are all those chemicals in your lipstick and in your child's shampoo? Some of them are linked to cancer, birth defects, infertility and other health problems. We need your help to convince Congress that the beauty industry needs a safety makeover!  The Safe Cosmetics Act (H.R.2359) gives consumers, parents and environmental health advocates a real chance at national legislation that will eliminate harmful chemicals from the products women, men and children put on their bodies every day.  Take Action NOW:  Tell your Representative that safe cosmetics are important to you and ask them to support the Safe Cosmetics Act.

Farm workers are still dying from heat. In fact, since California issued its 2005 heat regulations to keep farm workers from dying of extreme heat, preventable farm worker deaths have continued at about the same pace as before. Since the state has failed to enforce its heat standards, we're joining the UFW in supporting AB 2346 (Butler) , the Farm Worker Safety Act. This allows farm workers themselves to be able to enforce mandatory shade and drinking water requirements by taking delinquent employers to court.  The measure would also make growers jointly liable along with farm labor contractors they hire if contractors fail to supply farm workers with shade and water when temperatures soar.  This bill does not impose any costs on taxpayers.  Take action NOW:  Click here to sign a letter to Labor and Employment Committee Chair Sandre Swanson asking him to support this bill.

"Pink slime" is a term used to describe a food additive made from spare beef trimmings that are treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill off E. Coli, salmonella, and other possible bacteria. Until women spoke out, it was in grocery stores, school cafeterias, and restaurants across the nation. In fact, an article published just a week or two ago noted, "ABC cited a former U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist in saying that 70% of supermarket ground beef contained the additive."  Although some stores like Kroger and Safeway have stopped selling pink slime and many schools have said they'll stop purchasing meat containing it, pink slime is still unlabeled and being sold in many grocery stores. Take Action NOW:  Tell the USDA and FDA to get pink slime out of ALL ground beef now, or at very least to require labels to list it as an ingredient so that we can decide whether or not to buy it for our families.

Cesar Chavez was instrumental here in California, leading the historic non-violent movement for farm worker rights with Dolores Huerta where they built a movement of poor working people that extended beyond the fields and into cities and towns across the nation.  Cesar inspired farm workers and millions of people who never worked on a farm to commit themselves to social, economic and civil rights activism.  His legacy, like the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., continues to educate, inspire and empower people from all walks of life.  Take Action NOW:  Support proposed legislation to make his birthday observed nationally on the fourth Friday of every March as "Cesar E. Chavez Day."

Lobbyists, Guns and Money

New York Times Op/Ed Piece by Paul Kruger

Florida’s now-infamous Stand Your Ground law, which lets you shoot someone you consider threatening without facing arrest, let alone prosecution, sounds crazy — and it is. And it’s tempting to dismiss this law as the work of ignorant yahoos. But similar laws have been pushed across the nation, not by ignorant yahoos but by big corporations.

Click here to read the full post.

Monday's Action Checklist

This week we're spotlighting two important videos that come to us from San Francisco NOW.

The first one is an impassioned personal video from Linda, a breast cancer survivor herself, who talks about what cancer is and what it is not.  She made this video in response to the decision by Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation to politicize the disease by discontinuing their grant program to Planned Parenthood who provides breast cancer screenings throughout the country.

After watching the video, we hope you'll visit BreastCancerAction.org where you can learn about another problem - that of the "pink" products associated with breast cancer which have absolutely nothing to do with finding a cure.  This site discusses the corporate politics behind breast cancer and helps you understand how important it is to "Think Before You Pink."

 

The second video we're spotlighting this week also comes from San Francisco NOW and talks about GMO Labeling - an issue that is not discussed as often or as widely as it should be, especially since it affects every single one of us.

To learn more about this important issue, please visit LabelGMOs.org