For Immediate Release
SACRAMENTO – With the Legislature’s budget now on the Governor’s desk and further budget work in progress, Senator Josh Becker, D-Peninsula, doubled-down on his praise today of the “historic investments made toward the resilience and success of children, families and the state itself.”
“I am especially proud that the $264.1 billion budget the Legislature sent to Governor Newsom also includes $1.1 billion more than proposed in May for Child Care Rate Reform to enable the people who care for the children of working parents to be better paid,” Senator Becker said. “Plus, the Legislature’s budget includes almost $4.2 billion across 2021-22 and 2022-23 to fund 206,500 child care slots.
“As a parent of two who are now in their teens and from my four years of service on the Child Care Partnership Council in San Mateo County, I deeply understand that good, reliable and affordable child care is integral to the success of kids and their working parents, especially working mothers. Women bore the brunt of job loss during the pandemic and were often caught between the competing needs to provide for their families, care for their children and supervise their kids’ remote education. In the meantime, the people caring for the children of working parents -- care providers who, again, predominantly are women -- found themselves working long hours for little pay and often had to meet the needs of their own families as well.
“Our families and our economy cannot recover from the financial turmoil caused by the pandemic without stable, affordable child care in which the providers are adequately compensated so that everyone, from the working parents to the people caring for their kids, can make a living.
“These historic investments are key elements of the budget passed by Legislature, thanks to the leadership of Joint Legislative Budget Committee Chair Nancy Skinner and her colleagues in both houses. As the drill-down into budget specifics goes forward, let’s continue to be bold and innovative as we work to ensure that the measures for resiliency, economic equity and growth remain the mainstays of our budget.”
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Media Contact: Leslie Guevarra, leslie.guevarra@sen.ca.gov, 415-298-3404