BPW of Nevada County – Public Policy Advocacy
ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR 2021
*Legislation we helped get enacted:
- COVID-19 Supplemental paid sick leave (AB 84)
- Extending COVID-related flexible procedures for telehealth, such as remote enrollment in Family PACT and Medi-Cal, and continuing payments for telehealth visits (budget provision)
- Providing prenatal and infant supplemental assistance payments for pregnant foster youth (budget provision)
- Requiring free menstrual products to be provided in public schools and colleges (AB 367)
- Starting up a Compensation Program for women who were forcibly sterilized (budget provision)
- Addressing the disparate maternal mortality rates of black and indigenous communities (SB 65 and budget provision)
- Addressing skyrocketing rates of STDs in CA (SB 306)
- Ensuring that there is no reduction in the percentage of wage replacement for taking family or disability leave under CA law in 2022 (budget provision)
*Advocacy in CA courts:
- Joined in amicus brief in support of release of Chelsea Becker, a woman imprisoned for a stillbirth while addicted to drugs. Her murder charge was later dismissed, and Becker was released.
- Supported commutation by the Governor, in the similar case of Adora Perez, charged with murder for the loss of her pregnancy. She had pleaded no contest when faced with the possibility of life in prison and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Her sentence was overturned in March, 2022 when the court voided her plea agreement as unlawful.
Other policy advocacy:
- Supported restoration of the Title X family planning program, which had been drastically altered and limited by the Trump-era administration with a “gag rule” banning counseling or referring for abortion. New administrative regulations issued on October 4, 2021 restored the program to its intended purpose: providing funding for quality, affordable family planning to low-income individuals.
- Monitored U.S. Supreme Court cases involving abortion bans enacted in Texas and Mississippi. The six-week Texas ban went into effect September 1, 2021, enforceable by private citizens, with the Court refusing to stop it (Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson and U.S. v. State of Texas). Arguments were held before the Supreme Court in the case of Mississippi’s 15-week ban December 1, 2021 (Dobbs v. Mississippi).