January 7, 2016

Los Angeles, CA—Below is a statement from Peter Manzo, President and CEO, on behalf of United Ways of California (UWCA), regarding the Governor’s proposed budget release: 

United Ways of California applauds the Governor for once again making significant investments in K-12 education. With an increase of $3,600 per pupil in K-12 funding over last year, and a continued commitment to the Career Technical Education Incentive Grant program, California will continue to move toward an improved education system. The Governor’s proposal also makes a very welcome increased investment in Transitional Kindergarten, a vital bridge to helping children enter K-12 schools ready to learn.

We thank the Governor for his commitment to the health of all California’s children by moving forward with the timely implementation of the Medi-Cal Expansion to cover an additional 170,000 undocumented kids in May 2016. After many years, the Governor and Legislature approved this expansion and this budget supports it with $182 million. At the same time, we know access will continue to be challenging and we encourage the Legislature to work with the Administration to ensure a two-thirds votes for the needed MCO tax so access and rate discussions can proceed.

We are very pleased to see the Governor’s commitment to the new State Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is supported in this budget with an investment of $380 million. As we implement this new earned, refundable credit that will greatly benefit up to 600,000 low-income families and individuals, it is important to continue the annual investment while we work to improve and expand this hard earned credit. The new state EITC will not only benefit hard working Californians, it will put needed money back into our local economies.

Finally, we acknowledge and thank the administration and multiple departments for an enhanced commitment to enrolling an additional 400,000 children in CalFresh and a continuum of care model that supports low income families as they transition between programs such as Women, Infant and Children (WIC), CalFresh and Medi-Cal.  

United Ways of California urges the Governor and legislature to work together through the budget process to ensure we secure investments for children and families and we look forward to working with the Governor and legislators to seek ways to sustain and expand these investment in future years.

UWCA is committed to working with the Governor and Legislature to pass a final budget that protects our children, their families, our communities and our future. 

###

United Ways of California improves health, education and financial stability results for low-income California families by coordinating the statewide advocacy and community impact work of 34 California United Ways. California’s United Ways know that success in any one of these areas is affected by progress or lack thereof in the others.