July 8, 2019
For those that have been following our organization’s journey alongside other formidable Fil Am CBOs, nonprofit agencies, small businesses, and student groups this past year, we have produced no shortage of articles and posts on the privilege we had in co-leading this past April’s 2019 Fil Advocacy Day.
With 12 other organizations on Tuesday, April 30th, 2019, we spent the day in California’s Capitol meeting with 25 legislators and staff on the three legislative items:
- Assembly Bill (AB) 331 which would authorize an Ethnic Studies pilot program in 11 school districts, with the intention of mandating Ethnic Studies as a CA public high school graduation requirement in the 2024-25 academic year.
- $5M to found a Domestic Workers Outreach & Education Fund for CA’s 300,000 domestic workers that are pushed to the margins daily with respect to much-needed resources, services, and support.
- Tenant Protections & Anti Rent-Gouging Bills (ABs 1481 and 1482).
During the time (April 30th) that we were in the Capitol, all of our advocacy items were either facing definitive votes in committees, jumping significant political hurdles, or being suspended by other procedural barriers. Our advocacy and presence of ~60 students, seniors, adults, and families made the difference in directly speaking with legislators.
We’re proud to share some critical updates and outcomes from this past year’s 2019 Fil Advocacy Day platform. Since April 30th…
- The Governor signed into the 2019-20 budget the granting of $5M to establish a Domestic Workers Outreach and Education fund! See the full press release from the California Domestic Workers’ Coalition (CDWC) here. We couldn’t be happier for such a victory for our community! Thank you to Megan and the CDWC team for helping educate our network on the urgency of forming a fund for our workers!
- A $1 million budget request was made by Assemblyman Rob Bonta to support the Carlos Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies at UC Davis! Thank you to Assemblyman Rob Bonta for your support.
- AB 331 passed out of the Assembly and Senate Education Committee. The bill currently awaits its second hearing date in the Senate’s Fiscal Committee, which is another substantial hurdle to clear.
- AB 1481 (merged with 1482) cleared the Assembly and is currently awaiting its hearing date in the Senate’s Judiciary Committee. More updates to come. Thank you to Christian Ollano with PICO CA for providing our network with valuable legislative updates.
We truly could not have done this work, nor made this statement, without our 2019 Fil Advocacy Day partners — and for all of you being so down for this work, we thank you.
July 12th is a critical deadline for ABs 331 and 1482, as the Legislature has till July 12th to hear and report bills during this legislative session.
We will share updates as they come.
Sulong!
LEAD Filipino