The purpose of this page is to provide you with a variety of information relevant to the issues of concern to the People of Color community. It will include lists of California state legislation, press releases and articles relating to Latinos, Latinas, African Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islander Americans, immigrants and others in the People of Color community, the score cards of California state legislators and the Governor of California on People of Color related California state legislation and other related material.
This web page is designed to be of use to those interested in People of Color and immigrant issues and to community activists interested in these issues. People are encouraged to make suggestions as to what material should be added to these pages. Anyone may do that by sending a message to b.hinman@calcomui.org with a suggestion.
To see lists of People of Color bills addressed by CalComUI click on any of the following four links.
Here are some of the thinks you can find when you open these lists.
Want to talk to the author of a bill found in the list? Click on the author's name found just below the bill number in the list. That will bring you to the legislator's home page with all his or her contact information.
Want to see a full copy of a bill that interests you? Click on the bill number and then click on "HTML" under the words "Bill Text." If the bill has been amended, the top line under bill text has an HTML link to the most recent version of the bill.
Want to see how legislators voted on a bill? Click on the bill number and then click on "HTML" under the word "Votes." If the bill has been voted on more than once, the top line under Votes has an HTML link to the most recent vote on the bill.
Want to see an analysis of the bill by a staff member of the legislature? ( Often these analyses provide useful insight into the purpose and cost of the bill.) Just click on "HTML" under the word "Analyses."
You can begin by clicking any of the four links below.
For an easy way to write your legislators, join our E-Activism Team
Find out who represents you. Get all the contact information on the President, the Governor of California and of the legislators who represent you in the US Congress and the California legislature by clicking on the following link:
Health Care Service Plans and Health Insurance Companies Required To Provide Free Translation Services
On January 1, 2009 a bill of great importance to language minorities (SB 853) took effect in California. This bill will do much to help immigrants, and others from the People of Color community, who speak limited English, to overcome the language access barriers they face during visits with their doctors and other medical care providers.
SB 853 requires most health care services plans in California to provide free language translation assistance to their patients who speak limited English. Many immigrants to this country speak limited English. This makes it difficult for them to have useful conversations with their doctors about their medical history, or about their current health problems. SB 853 helps with this problem by requiring health insurance companies, and health care services plans to provide free translation services to patients who speak limited English.
The law covers Health Care Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) in the state. These organizations are regulated by the California Department of Managed Health Care.
The bill also covers health insurance plans which are regulated by the California Department of Insurance.
Sometimes undocumented immigrants are the subject of domestic abuse, or are forced into prostitution or unpaid labor. Often their abusers threaten their victims saying they will turn the undocumented immigrant in to the Immigration Service if he or she runs away or complains to the police. So the immigrant feels trapped. Many of the people in this situation are from the People of Color Community.
To resolve this problem, both the California state government and the federal government have passed laws to provide services to undocumented immigrants in these circumstances. The services make it possible for these victims of abuse to escape the abusive situation without the fear of immediate deportation. For a report on these services, click on the following link:
AB 540 In State College Tuition For Undocumented Immigrants
Several years ago, the California legislature approved AB 540 and then this legislation was signed by the Governor.
In brief, this law allows certain undocumented immigrants to attend California's pubic colleges and universities and pay in-state fees rather than the much higher fees that are \paid by students living in other states who desire to attend California's public colleges and universities.
To qualify for the in-state fees these undocumented immigrants must fit the following conditions:
1. They must have attended high-school for three years in California. 2. They must have obtained a high-school diploma or some equivalent of a high school diploma. 3. They must file an affidavit that they have applied for legal immigration status or will do so as soon as they are eligible le to do so.
To see a student guide, on this issue, click on the following link:
We acknowledge, with gratitude, that the following score cards are made possible by Capitol Track. (http://www.capitoltrack.com)
The purpose of the score cards below is to tell you the scores that California Communities United Institute (CalComUI) has given to the voting records of California's state legislators on People of Color related legislation. To see the scores we have assigned to each legislator, click the links below.
The legislator's tables below will tell you how each legislator voted on each bill. In all cases, CalComUI supported the bill. So, a score of "1" for a bill means the legislator voted for the bill, a score of "0" means the legislator voted against the bill, and a score of "0.5" means the legislator was absent or abstained from voting on that bill.
The legislator's scores for each bill in the following tables is assigned on the basis of a legislator's vote on the floor of the Senate or Assembly. We did not score legislator's votes in committees.
You can look at the tables to see how your Senator and Assembly Member voted on the bills. If you don't remember who they are, links near the top of each table will enable you to find out who they are.
If you have Excel on your computer, you can download any of the following tables and sort them in any way you like. For example, you might want to sort them by Party and then do an average score for the legislators in either or both parties. By contrast, you can sort them by score to see which legislators had the highest scores and which the lowest.
Legislators are fund raising for their next election. If a legislator comes to you for a donation, you may want to check his or her scores on the tables below to see if you want to support that legislator. The score cards may also help you to decide whom you want to vote for.
To see the score cards, click on the links below. (Note: Please be patient. Some of the Score Cards open slowly.)
Then copy and paste the following URL into the dialogue box that says "Page Address:" and type your E-mail address into the dialogue box that says "Send Alert To:"
Note: If this is your first time using this service, after clicking on the above link, click on "Sign Up" in the upper right corner of the resulting page.
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To promote the social, economic, and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals, couples and families; people affected by HIV/AIDS; People of Color; people on limited income; and women. We do this by urging elected officials to enact and support legislation that accomplishes this goal.
