Blog posts -- Legislation & policies

The morning of Alliy’s suicide was as normal as any other. The kids were getting ready for school and nothing seemed amiss other than Alliy being overly dressed for a warm day. Before leaving she kissed her siblings and told each one that she loved them. Alliy then told me she loved me and said goodbye as she walked out the door. That was the last time I would ever see my daughter. We were not allowed to watch the video footage from the Golden Gate Bridge that morning confirming Alliy had...

When it comes to treating opioid addiction, most health care experts say nurses have a critical role to play in prescribing the lifesaving medication buprenorphine. Buprenorphine can be prescribed by both doctors and nurses who have taken specific training and received a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration. A study published in the medical journal JAMA in April found that states without a physician-oversight requirement to prescribe buprenorphine have more nurses getting...

Legislation that would significantly expand California’s subsidized preschool program cleared its first committee hearing Wednesday, leaving early childhood education advocates increasingly optimistic that at least the first phase of their long-sought effort will cross the finish line this year. For years, pressure has mounted at the Capitol to increase access to preschool for the state’s youngest pupils. Advocates say expanding early childhood services would have a powerful ripple effect in...

According to several recent surveys, around one in five — or about 400,000 — California community college students has experienced homelessness in the last year. Thousands more are at risk of becoming homeless. Calling that number “shocking, alarming and tragic,” Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, on Tuesday outlined a new bill — AB 302 — that would force community colleges to allow homeless students to sleep inside their vehicles in campus parking lots overnight. “Shame on us if we turn...

Congress is considering giving a $750 million bump in help to comprehensive programs to help the homeless, with agreement from both Democrats and Republicans that it’s an innovative approach to a persistent issue. The bill, introduced last week by California Democrats Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Ted Lieu, would give the grant money to localities, such as local governments and nonprofits, who could then dole the money out to programs that provided housing, mental health services, substance...

The deadline to show your support for the Family Urgent Response System (FURs) is just ONE WEEK away! Please take a couple of minutes to sign on to ensure kids in foster care and their caregivers have the supports and services that are needed to strengthen their bond and create a stable, healing environment. If you're having trouble accessing the link above, copy and paste this URL into your browser:...

Most shelters for people experiencing homelessness still don’t accept pets. But a bill under consideration in the California Legislature aims to make such shelter partnerships more common. Authored by Democratic Sen. Bob Hertzberg of Van Nuys, it would create $5 million in state general fund grants for homeless shelters to offer shelter, care and veterinary services to the pets of people staying there. “If you want to get people off the street—and I see it as an emergency—we’ve just got to...

California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN) CPEHN was proud to sponsor Senate Bill (SB) 1152 in 2017-2018. Thank you to author Senator Ed Hernandez and to all of our community partners who helped lobby for this bill. CPEHN stands committed to seeing a successful implementation of the law surrounding this important issue. Read below to find out more about the changes we will see this year. Beginning January 1, 2019, all hospitals in California must develop a plan for safely discharging...

Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom has made early childhood development one of his signature issues . We at First 5 Los Angeles and First 5 organizations across California stand ready to help him turn that pledge into reality. The new governor’s goal of prioritizing funding for “cradle-to-career” programs gives me hope that in 2019, we will finally see the passage of legislation that makes quality early learning available for all California children. California is a national leader on climate change...

Even before filmmaker Rob Reiner launched Proposition 10 in 1998 — a tobacco tax campaign to fund services for young children in California — he was working to draw the nation’s attention to early childhood development through his I Am Your Child Foundation and a series of “First Years Last Forever” videos on parent-child interaction and early development. “Startling new scientific discoveries have given us insight about the emotional and intellectual development of a child and what we as...

California school staff would be barred from physically restraining K-12 students or isolating them in “seclusion rooms” unless the student’s behavior creates an imminent physical threat under a bill approved by the Legislature this week. The bill, which now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown, also reinstates a requirement that school districts report data on the use of restraints and seclusion to the California Department of Education. And it prohibits certain restraint techniques that are considered...

As California lawmakers struggled this week to address an apparent new normal of epic wildfires, there was an inescapable subtext: Climate change is going to be staggeringly expensive, and virtually every Californian is going to have to pay for it. The day before a special wildfire committee agreed to spend $200 million on tree clearance and let utilities pass on to their customers the multi-billion-dollar costs of just one year’s fire damage, the state released a sobering report detailing...