For Immediate Release: June 21, 2022

Media Contact: Elizabeth.Hess@sen.ca.gov

HURTADO RELEASES STATEMENT AFTER “FAMILY AND SERVICES CONNECTION SUPPORT PACKAGE” BILLS PASS OUT OF ASSEMBLY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) released the following statement after her bills, SB 1090 and SB 1092, bills in her Family and Services Connection Support Bill Package, passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee. The Family and Services Connection Support Bill Package consists of three bills, which will help families trying to navigate California’s oftentimes complicated and sometimes convoluted services systems. 

“With SB 1090 and SB 1092 advancing out of Assembly Judiciary today, part of my Family and Services Connection Support Bill Package, we are one step closer to making sure that our existing support systems and connection resources work better for the people that need them most, when they need them most,” said Senator Hurtado. “Institutional barriers have made it harder for many in our vulnerable populations to access support and connective services and delayed when they received them. As Chair of the Senate Human Services Committee, I believe we must and can do better, and am happy that with this vote we are moving in that direction.”

Families navigating California’s existing developmental services and child welfare services systems face multiple barriers when it comes to receiving care. In many cases, they have to navigate bias, and complex systems that lack coordination with other agencies and organizations, while not meeting families where they are. These barriers prevent many families from accessing much needed services.

Senate Bill 1090 provides needed improvements to the Family Urgent Response System. The Family Urgent Response System (FURS) provides current and former foster youth and their caregivers with immediate, trauma-informed support and other alternative solutions to promote healing, for both families and youth, and stability for current and former foster youth, including youth in extended foster care. SB 1090 expands the definition of who is a current or former foster youth, so those youth in a transitionary period remain eligible for FURS, ensuring youth remain connected to the services they desperately need.  

SB 1092—the Equitable Access to Services Act, will help individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families more easily navigate the fair hearing process. Individuals with developmental disabilities and their families have a right to receive the necessary supports and services required to live independently in the community under the Lanterman Act. Families navigating California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) fair hearing processes report having a lack of access to mediation and other informal dispute resolution processes. SB 1092 reforms the existing system to address their concerns and increase equity and access within the DDS system.

About Senator Melissa Hurtado

Senator Melissa Hurtado represents a new generation of Latina leaders, as the youngest woman ever elected to the California State Senate and as a product of immigrant parents. Senator Hurtado represents the 14th Senate District and focuses on rural community issues that often go unheard — access to clean air and water, food insecurity and poverty, inequities in environmental policies, agriculture and access to health care. In July 2020, she was appointed to the national Biden Latino Leadership Committee alongside former Labor Secretary and current Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis – the only two California Latinas on the Committee.

For more information, visit Senator Hurtado’s Website here or find her on Twitter at @Senator_Hurtado

###