Senator Limón and Majority Leader Reyes host press conference to push for childcare assistance expansions in California 2023-2024 Budget
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Ahead of the May Revise period in the state legislative calendar, State Senator Monique Limón and Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Gómez Reyes joined parents and child care providers for a press conference on Stand for Children Lobby day.
This press conference follows a February press conference in which Senator Limón and Majority Leader Reyes revealed a proposal to increase childcare provider pay while eliminating fees for families seeking child care.
“For too long child care workers have been relegated to the margins of our policy discussions, resulting in low recruitment, dark classrooms, and parents in need of care,” said Senator Limón on Wednesday. “In order to serve the hundreds of thousands of children without care, we must improve provider pay and increase resources to the families that need it most. As the Legislature awaits the financial outlook in the May Revise, the Assembly Majority Leader and I remain hopeful that California will work to create a care system that values and prioritizes providers, children and families.”
After Wednesday's press conference, Parent Voices held a 'People's Hearing' where community members spoke about how they would transform child care to improve access and compensation.
“Addressing access to affordable childcare is one of the most impactful economic and social actions we can take to support California Families,” said Majority Leader Reyes on Wednesday. “A budget is a statement of your priorities. As we enter a critical point in the legislature’s budget negotiations with the administration, it is imperative that we make clear that we are prioritizing supporting a childcare system that leaves no one behind. I’m proud to stand with our providers and families on behalf of the children who will benefit from a stable child care system.”
This revision period for legislators created an opportunity to voice policy improvements for childcare across California as budgetary priorities are set for the coming fiscal year.
“It seems criminal to me that the state has been subsidizing the cost of child care on the backs of low-paid women of color, either by charging hundreds of dollars per month from families who need child care and cannot afford it or by unjustly paying poverty wages to child care providers. We are thankful that Senator Limón and Majority Leader Reyes are seeking solutions that connect the affordability needs of families with the dignified wages needed by child care workers, they are inseparable,” said Christina Garcia, a mother of four from Marin County.
While the 2023-2024 California Budget is currently in the May Revise window, at the Federal level, the Biden administration issued a recent Executive Order about childcare policy recommendations.
