ACTION ALERT: February 2, 2004

In this alert:
1) Federal Action: Increase Childcare Funding!
2) Urge Legislators to Pass Genetic Anti-Discrimination Legislation

The Mood
Friday is the first "cut-off" day - all legislation that doesn't have a fiscal impact must be voted favorably out of its committee of origin. Lobbyists, legislators and staff are scrambling to finish up hearings by the end of the week.

Your actions have a result: Last week's alert asked you to contact your legislator to ask for a hearing for Senate Bill 6180 and on Friday 2/7 the bill is scheduled to be heard. Good work! Tomorrow, House Bill 2772 will be heard in the House Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee.

Another important way to help our agenda is to meet personally with your legislators in Olympia. On Monday, Federation board member Ted Daniels spent half of the day in Olympia meeting with his legislators. Government Affairs Director Remy Trupin accompanied him, providing talking points and guidance. The legislators were far more focused on their constituent - Ted - than the lobbyist accompanying him.

Children, Youth and Families
Issue: Child Care Funding Call-In Day – February 4

Background: In the next several months, the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) will be renewed in tandem with the reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. CCDBG provides funding for child care programs targeted at both low-income families and families receiving TANF benefits. The CCDBG funding level has not been increased since 1996, when it was fused to the TANF program. This vital child care funding has two important purposes -- providing child care subsidies to families receiving cash welfare while they work, and; providing child care assistance to low-income working families not receiving welfare benefits but who need help paying for child care. Thousands of families are languishing on long waiting lists for child care assistance and face the prospect of being forced to make unsupportive or potentially unsafe child care arrangements for their children in order to continue working. This money is vital in helping welfare recipients become independent and allows workers to remain independent.

The Senate Finance Committee, responsible for both the TANF program and funding for child care, approved a bill last September to reauthorize TANF and CCDBG. This bill includes only $1 billion in additional guaranteed dollars for child care over a five year period. This negligible increase does nothing more than adjust for inflation. An estimated 430,000 children from low-income working families are expected to lose child care with this limited increase. In fact, in 24 states, child care assistance is already unavailable to newly-applying working families, and the meager $200 million per year increase in the Senate bill is completely insufficient to meet these needs.

To make matters even more difficult for struggling families, the bill increases the state work participation rates for families receiving TANF from 50 percent in 2004 to 70 percent in 2008 and raises the weekly average number of hours of work participation by parents with a child over six from 30 hours to 34 hours; and for parents with a child under six, from 20 to 24 hours. The Congressional Budget Office projects that these increased work requirements will cost states more in increased child care costs than the $200 million per year that is provided in the bill. Because the new funding for child care is so modest and is needed to meet the costs associated with the increased work requirements, the number of children in low-income working families that receive child care assistance will fall drastically.

In order to make it realistic for TANF recipients to work more hours, child care funding must be increased significantly so that parents are not forced to make a choice between going to work and leaving a young child home alone. A significant concern with this limited child care funding is that states will be forced to kick low income working families out of child care assistance programs in order to make room for families who are currently receiving welfare benefits (such as the "Working Families "childcare program in Washington State).

Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), along with several senators, including Senators Dodd (D-CT), Alexander (R-TN), Hatch (R-UT), and Bingaman (D-NM), will offer an amendment when the bill reaches the Senate floor to add an additional $6 billion in child care funding.

Action: Call or e-mail your Senators on February 4th. Please ask your Senators to vote "yes" on the Snowe amendment to substantially increase child care funding in the final bill. Information about child care in your local community would be extremely helpful to Senators deciding how to vote.

Sample Message:
Thank you for your leadership on welfare issues. When the Senate considers legislation to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), I urge you to co-sponsor and strongly support Senator Snowe's amendment to substantially increase funding for child care. Without help in paying for child care, low-income working families cannot get or keep a job. Safe supportive child care not only helps them work but also ensures that their children get a strong start so they can be ready for school. If significant new child care funds are not made available, fewer and fewer low-income families will get the help they need. States will be forced to continue to cut back eligibility for child care assistance, increase co-payments for parents who do receive help, and cut back on reimbursement rates to already low-paid child care providers. Please help the children and families in my state by voting "Yes" on the Snowe amendment.

For Senator Murray, click here.
For Senator Cantwell, click here

Update: As mentioned in "the mood" section, two of the bills are being heard this week. Senate Bill 6180 (Sen. Franklin is the prime sponsor) would prohibit the use of genetic information in employment decisions. This bill will be heard in the Senate Commerce and Trade Committee on Friday, 2/7 at 8:00 AM. House Bill 2772 would bar discrimination using genetic information in employment, life insurance, and strengthen informed consent.
These bills must be voted on favorably and passed out of committee by Friday at 5 PM.

Action: Contact your legislator if they are on the House Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, and ask them pass House Bill 2772.

HOW TO USE THIS ACTION ALERT: Each week, we highlight several key issues before the Washington State Legislature which have a direct impact on our community and community agencies. This Action Alert contains brief summaries of the key issues before the Legislature this week. It also provides you with direct e-mail links to your legislators and Legislative leaders. We provide you with a draft e-mail text which you can directly send or which you can modify to better represent your thoughts on an issue. When you send an e-mail, please be sure to fill out all of the information so that your legislator can directly respond to you.

To see the Jewish Federation's 2004 Legislative Agenda, please click here.

Government Affairs
The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle
2031 Third Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121
Phone: 206.774.2248
Fax: 206.443.0303

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