Last week marked the end of the California legislative season, and three bills took huge steps forward on their path to becoming law.
Dear John xxxxxx,
Last week marked the end of the California legislative season and three bills on which ARC played a leading role moved forward on their path to becoming law. It is through our policy work and the stories of our members that we change hearts and minds and continue to transform the criminal justice system in California and beyond. Learn about our important policy updates below!
ARC Life Coach Jarret Keith is a student and a taxpayer but unable to vote under current California law. ACA 6 would change that.
* ACA 6, a ballot measure restoring the right to vote to people on parole, passed in the California Assembly and is on its way to the Senate for a vote in the spring. If the Senate passes it, the measure will go into the hands of California voters on the 2020 ballot. This bill is vital to ARC, our members, and California at large. Nearly 50,000 of our neighbors on parole are working, going to school, paying taxes, and raising families. They care deeply about their communities, and stripping them of the right to vote is a form of voter suppression that is deeply out of step with our values. It is time for California to join the growing national movement to strengthen our democracy by ensuring that everyone has the right to vote—regardless of their past involvement with the criminal justice system.
ARC member Heidi De Leon at her USC MSW graduation with her children. De Leon shared her story ([link removed][UNIQID]) in support of SB 394.
* SB 394, a bill that creates a pre-trial diversion option for some primary caregivers of children, passed in both houses of the California Legislature and will now go to Governor Gavin Newsom’s office for review. This bill seeks to protect dependent children and families by diverting eligible primary caregivers into a pretrial diversion program designed to support families. These programs hold primary caregivers accountable and provide them with the tools essential to developing and maintaining a healthy and thriving family relationship. Keeping families together is a vital first step to ending the cycle of foster care and incarceration.
* SB 965, a bill that allows an incarcerated person eligible for a youth offender parole date to earn credits under Prop. 57 to advance that hearing date, passed its final vote in the California Assembly and is also on its way to Governor Newsom. Prop. 57 was intended to incentivize incarcerated people to participate in educational and rehabilitative programming, and to do the work necessary to achieve rehabilitation; this bill expands the reach of this legislation to those who were charged for their offense under the age of 25 and are expecting a youth offender parole hearing.
In addition to these three bills, ARC and partners have passed a resolution addressing prison wages. We know that people who are currently incarcerated are drastically underpaid for their work, and that their wages don’t allow them to fulfill financial obligations, such as restitution, fines, fees, and child support. Many of these workers are firefighters in California--including many ARC members when they were incarcerated-- risking their lives for the safety and wellbeing of our state. A resolution does not mean that there will be any legislative changes on this issue this year. However, it does mean that the California legislature recognizes that this is a problem and plans on working to fix it in the near future. We hope that this resolution will become a bill in the near future.
We would like to give a huge thank you to our partners at other organizations, and to our members who participated in policy trainings and workshops, told their stories online and to the press, and visited legislators to give powerful testimonies. We would also like to thank our allies in and out of the Capitol who supported these endeavors. Follow us on social media to get more updates from our policy team, and learn how you can become involved!
Sincerely,
Kent Mendoza
Manager of Policy and Community Organizing
============================================================
** Donate Now ([link removed][UNIQID])
Anti-Recidivism Coalition
** www.antirecidivism.org ([link removed][UNIQID])
** Twitter ([link removed][UNIQID])
** Facebook ([link removed][UNIQID])
** Website ([link removed][UNIQID])
** Instagram ([link removed][UNIQID])
Copyright © 2019 Anti Recidivism Coalition, All rights reserved.
You're receiving this because you are on our mailing list or signed up via the website.
Our mailing address is:
Anti Recidivism Coalition
1320 E. 7th Street
Suite 260
Los Angeles, CA 90021
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed][UNIQID])
** Facebook ([link removed][UNIQID])
** Website ([link removed][UNIQID])
