For Immediate Release: June 28, 2022

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

HURTADO RELEASES STATEMENT AFTER THE FARMWORKER’S DROUGHT RESILIENCE PILOT PROJECT PASSES THE ASSEMBLY HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE 6-0

SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) released the following statement when her bill, Senate Bill 1066—the Farmworker’s Drought Resilience Pilot Project passed the Assembly Human Services Committee 6-0:

“Right now, farmworkers are experiencing a heatwave that is reducing their hours of work. At the same, time, they are at home struggling to pay for the food they help produce for us all to enjoy,” said Senator Hurtado. “We have a moral obligation to help by passing SB 1066.”

Senate Bill 1066 will create a state-funded supplemental pay program that will provide cash assistance to eligible farmworkers. The bill directs the Department of Social Services to develop and implement the program, ensuring they have the flexibility they need to carry out the pilot project, while also meeting the needs of the farmworker population.

Last session, Senator Hurtado introduced Senate Bill 464, the Comida Para Todos (Food for All) Act. This bill will provide greater food security to low-income immigrant workers by expanding eligibility for state funded nutrition benefits to anyone ineligible for CalFresh due solely to their immigration status. The bill received implementation funding in the 2021-2022 State Budget, and funding to provide a targeted age-based expansion of the program to Californians 55 years and older in this year’s budget.

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 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

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