POLICY
We educate policymakers, community leaders and stakeholders on strategies that help low- and middle-income Californians climb the economic ladder, and break the cycle of poverty that plagues over 9 million residents (24%) across the state. We advance state and federal legislation, based on our 5 policy principles:
- Increase access to safe and affordable financial services, education, and products that help families build assets over a lifetime.
- Expand economic tools and opportunities that help low- and middle-income communities pursue higher education, a secure retirement, healthcare coverage, stable housing, and viable homeownership options.
- Eliminate public and private wealth-stripping practices that exacerbate poverty.
- Strengthen social safety net programs that can help people climb the economic ladder.
- Connect low and middle income communities to sustainable employment and career opportunities that lead to self-sufficiency.
2017 Legislative Agenda
AB 225 (Caballero) Expands CalEITC: to increase the number of Californians earning minimum wage that will qualify for CalEITC and adjusts the CalEITC credit based on minimum wage adjustments.
AB 75 (Steinorth) CalEITC for Self-Employed & Making the Credit Permanent: allows certain self-employed workers to qualify for the CalEITC and would make the credit permanent.
AB 1010 (Ting) Expanding the California Earned Income Tax Credit: CalEITC would be expanded to include all households currently eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit by increasing the income eligibility threshold and including earnings from self-employment.
AB 34 (Nazarian) Children’s Savings Accounts: establishes a universal, at-birth opt-out, statewide 529 children’s savings account program. This will support California’s children and families in foster ing a college-bound identity and practicing education-related financial planning.
SB 2 (Atkins) Home and Jobs Act: creates an ongoing funding source to support affordable homeownership, local government needs and affordable housing needs of farmworkers by instating a $75 document recording fee on real estate transactions, excluding property sales and capped at $225.
SB 190 (Mitchell) Ending Juvenile and Administrative Fees: ends the harmful, unlawful, and costly assessment and collection of administrative fees against families with youth in the juvenile justice system. If enacted, youth will still be accountable to victims through the payment of restitution and to society by court-ordered sanctions.
SB 10 (Hertzberg) Bail Pretrial Release: ensures that people accused of misdemeanor offenses are not held in pretrial detention simply because of their inability to afford money bail unless the court makes an additional finding on the record that there is no condition or combination of conditions that would reasonably ensure public safety.
AB 1109 (Kalra) Safe Consumer Lending: caps APRs at 24% for all consumer loans of $2,500 to $10,000 and covers both unsecured and secured consumer loans. Putting a limit on APRs would level the playing field for lenders that are providing access to safe and affordable loans.
AB 227 (Mayes) CalWORKs education grant: provides a supplemental education incentive grant when a CalWORKs recipient reaches an educational milestone.
Click here for a CABC Letter to Expand CalEITC Reach and Impact.