On June 11, 2020, the California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative held a webinar entitled, “California’s Budget & Legislative Landscape Impact of a Pandemic on Child Wellbeing” and heard from special guest speaker, Kelly Hardy, Senior Managing Director of Health & Research for Children Now. This interactive webinar provided an overview of the current legislative and budget situation in California, with a focus on child wellbeing. The state has quickly moved from an expected budget surplus to a significant budget deficit, and legislators have been asked to severely limit the number of bills they are carrying and focus on COVID-19 response. In addition, federal relief funds are being made available, but only for certain issues and programs. Kelly Hardy also led a discussion about what this means for our children, and what key initiatives are still on the table.

Links to documents discussed:

• May Revise
• Legislature's Budget Package

Links to bills discussed during this webinar:

• Lead Bills: 
  • AB 2276: Medi-Cal: Blood lead screening tests
  • AB 2277: Medi-Cal: Blood lead screening tests
  • AB 2278: Lead Screening
  • AB 2279: Childhood lead poisoning prevention
  • AB 2422: Lead testing
  • SB 1008: Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act: online lead information registry
• Pupil behavioral health absences:
  • AB 1838
  • AB 1849
• AB 2112: Suicide prevention
• AB 2366: Pupil health: Trauma, Grief, and Loss Pilot Program

To access the webinar recording and slide deck, please see the attached files below.