Media Contact: Michelle.Sherwood@sen.ca.gov
 

SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger), released the following statement upon all ten of her bills passing the Senate Appropriations Committee today:

“I am pleased that the California State Senate recognizes the importance of bills to help eliminate barriers, increase transparency among agencies, and help people across the Central Valley and state,” said Senator Melissa Hurtado. “With an unprecedented economic downturn, people suffering at the pump and grocery store--we must do all we can to help alleviate stress and financial burdens. Part of that also includes making sure our food and water supply is secure against bad actors and cyberattacks.”

All ten of Senator Hurtado’s eligible bills got out of the Senate Appropriations Committee today, and are now on their way to the Senate Floor.

SB 847: establishes a grant program, administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development that allows for distribution of funds to homeowner applicants, upon appropriation by the Legislature.

SB 892: requires CalOES to adopt optional reporting guidelines for companies in the food and agriculture, and water and wastewater sectors, if they identify a significant and verified cyber threat or an active cyberattack. The bill requires CalOES to work with the California Cybersecurity Integration Center to develop an outreach plan to assist the food and agriculture sector and water and wastewater sectors to improve cybersecurity, and an evaluation of options for providing grants and potential voluntary actions to improve preparedness. This has a corresponding budget ask to support its implementation.

SB 1023: requires the California Health Workforce Education and Training Council to prepare a report on how to increase medical student enrollment of students from geographically and culturally diverse communities in California to medical school. 

SB 1029: requires the California Department of Public Health and the California Department of Food and Agriculture to establish and develop a framework for interagency coordination to carry out One Health principles and goals. This has a corresponding budget ask to support its implementation.

SB 1066: addresses the impacts of climate change on farmworkers by creating the California Supplemental Pay for Farmworkers Pilot Project, providing eligible farmworker households with financial assistance to meet basic needs. This has a corresponding budget ask to support its implementation.

SB 1084: puts California in control of its food supply chain by preventing foreign governments from purchasing agricultural land, and requiring all purchasers of agricultural land to disclose the acquisition of that land to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

SB 1090: ensures the Family Urgent Response System can serve all children or youth in the various stages of the child welfare system and make other technical fixes to eliminate any confusion about who can access FURS.

SB 1091: requires the California Department of Social Services to fund contracts with community based organization or provide local assistance allocations to counties and Indian tribes or both, to support new or expanded family finding and engagement programs. This has a corresponding budget ask to support its implementation.

SB 1092: makes a variety of reforms to address consumers’ difficulties in navigating the fair hearing process and lack of access to justice. The bill requires the California Department of Developmental Services to contract with the Department of Social Services for the provision of hearing officers and fair hearings. The bill also makes various changes to fair hearing procedure and mandates mediation for a service agency, if requested by the service recipient.

SB 1219: requires the Natural Resources Agency and California Environmental Protection Agency to create a committee to develop goals and recommendations to create a more sustainable water system for all of California.

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

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