An important update on AB 3029:

 

Friends,

 

We must postpone our celebration of legislation to reduce food stamp paperwork hassles.  The bill, AB 3029, had passed both the Assembly and the Senate.   Last night (8/30) the bill passed the Assembly on concurrence.  Normally, the bill would be delivered to the Governor at this point. However, in a prudent move, Assembly Member Laird, will hold the bill from being delivered to the Governor.  There have been lots of discussions with the administration about the bill.  From these discussions it seems pretty clear that the benefits to the state of reducing paperwork in the Food Stamp Program are widely acknowledged.  However, it was also clear that issues surrounding the estimated impact of the bill on CalWORKS costs could not be resolved before the end of session.  The Governor’s office and Mr. Laird have agreed to resolve this issue in the next session. 

 

This delay, in itself, will not have a negative impact on food stamp recipients, as the implementation date for the changes contained in the bill was not until 2009. So while the lack of resolution this year is disappointing, we are very hopeful that the progress and commitments made this year will lead to a speedy resolution of the issue next year.  With 46 other states already enjoying the benefits of this red tape reduction we must not allow further delays.

 

We are asking supporters of AB 3029 to direct their energy to pushing the two other food stamp bills, AB 2205 and AB 2384, that are headed to the Governor’s desk.  We will be having a statewide call-in day on these bills and other nutrition legislation on Friday, September 8^th.  Stay tuned for more details or check out www.cfpa.net by the end of the week. 

 

Thanks for all you have done and continue to do.  Onward!