Comadres Across California Show Up for the Legislative Throwdown on Education

31May
by La Comadre

A plethora of toxic education bills have been whirling their way through both legislative houses this past couple of weeks.  La Comadre and its partners and affiliates were here for it, and we were called into action and mobilized across the state to stop these bad bills from becoming laws.

Although the writers and the entire administrative team at La Comadre have always informed our readers about bills and policies in Sacramento, this time we took pen to paper to write legislative floor alerts in an attempt to sway legislators to do right by kids and let them know that our network of 1,000,000 + is watching!   

We were able to activate our moms, tías, grandmas, and comadres at large to attend bill hearings, calls legislators, and storm Twitter and other social media with our presence and our voices.  

And just like that the legislative squad of La Comadre was born. While there is still work to do to make sure these bills stay inactive or in some cases a bill does not advance in the Senate, we are so proud of the work we did and the load we shared with like-minded organizations, parents, and education leaders across the state.  

Here is the list of bills we tackled and their current status:

AB 221 (Cristina Garcia) Bill dies, not taken up for a vote 5/30/2019

*AB 1505 (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Kalra, Coauthor: Senator Skinner) passed in Assembly, referred to Senate Education Committee (WE WILL NEED TO FIGHT THIS)

AB 1506 (Kevin McCarty) Bill dies, not taken up for a vote 5/30/2019

*AB 1507 (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Kalra) referred to Senate Education Committee (WE WILL NEED TO FIGHT THIS)

And from my perspective, the worst and most vindictive of the bills:

SB 756 (Maria Elena Durazo) Ordered to inactive file on request of Senator Durazo on 5/29/2019 – Bill dies 5/30/2019
We want to thank the Comadres that gave it their all in this, our first of many I am sure, legislative appearances: Alma Marquez (Los Angeles), Cindy Borbon (Los Angeles), Leticia Chavez-Garcia (San Bernardino/Riverside County), Lisette Medina-Duarte (Los Angeles), Adriana Maestas (Orange County), Lety Gomez (San Jose), Roxann Nazario (San Fernando Valley), Daniela Felix (Oakland), Lexi Lopez (Sacramento/Modesto), Marisol Quevedo-Rerucha (San Diego), Melissa Albarenga (Bay Area), Carmen (with Lety), Desiree Martinez (Los Angeles), Miquitzli Herrera (Los Angeles), Alma Renteria (South Los Angeles), and so many others that were pivotal in our legislative baptism by fire!

*La lucha sigue.  We will continue to fight the good fight for kids who don’t have a seat at the table but who end up as the ones served up on the menu.  The Senate will take up bills in committee starting Monday, June 3rd. Senate calendar includes a summer recess from July 12- August 11. Senate floor sessions will begin September 3-13 with the 13th of September being the last day to approve/deny bills. All bills must be passed and forwarded to the Governor for his signature before October 13th.  October 13th is the last day the Governor has to sign or veto bills.

We will be there.  

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La Comadre

We are Moms, Tias, Ninas and Play-Tias who love children in our lives and we want to help every child succeed in school. Navigating schools and education—from preschool to college—is hard. We want to help each other with this. We are all in this together with you. We want to be a resource for you and for all of the children you love. Whether you need some info or you have info to share, you know where to go…LA Comadre.

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