NEWS RELEASES:

CAI Announces 2001 Price Child Health and Welfare Journalism Award Winners

Children's Advocacy Institute Sponsors Foster Care Legislation

CAI Releases 2000 Children's Legislative Report Card

CAI RELEASES CALIFORNIA CHILDREN'S BUDGET 2000-01

Children's Advocacy Institute Releases Children's Legislative Report Card

Child Advocates Challenge the Governor

Children's Honor Roll Announced at Breakfast of Champions

Children's Regulatory Law Reporter Fills Information Gap

Journalists Honored For Advancing Children's Issues

Fifth Annual California Children's Budget Released

California Children Deserve Health Care Coverage

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:

Elisa Weichel, Administrative Director, CAI

George Decker, Director of Publications 619.260.4806 619.260.4097

Children's Advocacy Institute Names 2001 Price Child Health and Welfare Journalism Award Winners

Dec. 10, 2001, San Diego-The Children's Advocacy Institute of the University of San Diego School of Law has announced the winners of the Price Child Health and Welfare Journalism Awards for 2001.

The first place award is shared by two entries. The Fresno Bee's special report, "Hall of Shame," written by Barbara Anderson, George Hostetter and Lesli Maxwell, and photographed by Kurt Hegre, exposed poor conditions at the Fresno County juvenile hall. The (Long Beach) Press-Telegram's series titled "Homeless Kids, Invisible Victims," reported by Wendy Thomas Russell and Ralph De La Cruz, and photographed by Brittany M. Solo and Steven Georges, chronicled the plight of homeless children. In addition, the Children's Advocacy Institute has selected Cheryl Romo of the Los Angeles Daily Journal for a special award in recognition of her impressive compilation of compelling articles on the foster care system and the innocent children who are victims of its failures.

The Price Child Health and Welfare Journalism Awards are presented annually for excellence in journalism for a story or series of stories that makes a significant impact on the well being of children in California, and advance the understanding of child health and welfare issues in this state. The Council for Children, a distinguished group of professionals from throughout California that advises the Children's Advocacy Institute, will hold a special luncheon on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2001, to honor the Award recipients.

The Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI) is an academic research and advocacy center dedicated to promoting the health and well being of California's children.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 17, 2001

CONTACTS: Lupe Alonzo (916) 444-3875

CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY INSTITUTE SPONSORS FOSTER CARE LEGISLATION

Sacramento. The Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI), a non-partisan academic center and statewide advocacy group based at the University of San Diego School of Law, is sponsoring legislation aimed at improving the lives of children in foster care. Assembly Bill 636 (Steinberg) and Assembly Bill 1330 (Steinberg) bring accountability to the foster care system and provide foster children a family-like home, respectively.

California is responsible for caring for all children placed in foster care - about 130,481 children. Children are placed in foster care when their parents or legal guardians are unable or unwilling to care for them. Each year, there are over 500,000 reported cases of maltreatment and almost 25% of reports are found to be substantiated. Most children are removed from their home due to neglect (77%).1

According to CAI Senior Policy Advocate Lupe Alonzo, "California has not been successful at caring for its most vulnerable children - foster children. It is time the state took its parental obligation seriously. The state is not doing a good job of recruiting and retaining foster family homes. Children need to be placed with a licensed foster family, the placement that most resembles a family. If the state continues to treat its most vulnerable children this way, California will be responsible for perpetuating a long-standing travesty; two years after emancipation: 50% have not completed high school, 45% are unemployed, 35% are arrested, 30% do not have access to health care, 25% are homeless, 60% of women have already given birth, and less than 20% are self-supporting."

California will undergo a comprehensive evaluation of its foster care system by the federal government. The first review is in September of 2002 and the second one is in 2007. Failure to comply with prescribed criteria may result in the loss of federal funds.2

AB 636 brings accountability by creating the California Child and Family Service Review System to review all county child welfare systems.3 Currently, there is no formal mechanism to evaluate how the state is caring for foster children. The state needs to evaluate its programs and services to ensure that it is caring for its children in a manner that puts them first. "Right now, we wouldn't get a passing grade," notes Alonzo.

AB 1330 provides a 5% per year rate increase for licensed foster families for the next four years. This rate increase, a phased-in "catch-up COLA," merely gets licensed family home rates back to just under what they would have been with periodic cost-of-living adjustments since 1990 - getting those rates back in line with the actual cost of providing care. With the exception of a 6% increase in 1997-98, there have been no other COLAs to this program since 1990. This increase is absolutely necessary to increase the supply and professionalism of licensed foster families.

Currently, counties are experiencing a severe shortage of licensed foster families, especially important for infants and very young children. Licensed foster families are the placement of choice of child welfare agencies, but counties increasingly must rely on the far more expensive foster family agency and group homes for placement of these children, regardless of their treatment needs, simply because that is where there are available beds.

"The U.S. Dept of Agriculture estimates that it costs a family $20 a day to raise a child. It costs over $20 a day to put a dog in a kennel yet the state pays licensed foster families less than $14 a day raise its children," states Alonzo.

AB 636 and AB 1330 will be heard in the Assembly Human Services Committee on Tuesday, April 17 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 437.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 For every 1000 California children, there are 38 children touched by the child welfare system.

2 California receives funds for its foster care from Title IV-E of the federal Social Security Act. Penalties may be similar to those paid to the federal government for the state's noncompliance of child support. California is currently fined over $52 million for non-compliance of child support regulations.

3 The review will evaluate child protective services, foster care, adoption, family preservation, family support and independent living.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 30, 2000

CONTACTS: Robert Fellmeth (619) 260-4806

Kathy Dresslar (916) 444-3875

CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY INSTITUTE RELEASES

2000 CHILDREN'S LEGISLATIVE REPORT CARD

The Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI), a non-partisan academic center and statewide advocacy group based at the University of San Diego School of Law, today released its 2000 Children's Legislative Report Card, which shows how California legislators voted on 23 child-friendly bills considered by the Legislature in 2000. The 2000 Report Card includes a narrative description of major child-related issues considered by the Legislature and detailed descriptions of child-friendly bills in the areas of economic security, child support collection, health care, injury prevention, child care, education, and child abuse prevention and intervention. The Report Card also includes a chart documenting legislators' floor votes on these bills. Because this was the final year of a two-year session, this issue of the Report Card also includes each legislator's cumulative score for the entire 1999-2000 legislative term.

"Through their votes on important bills, legislators can make a real difference in the lives of California's children," said Kathy Dresslar, CAI Senior Policy Advocate. "All too often in the political arena, legislators `take a walk' rather than stand up for children - and children suffer as a result. The Report Card provides a record of children's policy progress in the legislative session, and the votes that made it happen."

CAI is pleased to announce that 31 legislators received 100% marks for the bills graded in the 2000 term. Of those 31 legislators, the following eighteen received 100% marks for the entire two-year legislative session: Senators John Burton and Hilda Solis, and Assemblymembers Elaine Alquist, Ellen Corbett, Martin Gallegos, Robert Hertzberg, Hannah-Beth Jackson, Sheila Kuehl, John Longville, Alan Lowenthal, Kerry Mazzoni, Kevin Shelley, Darrell Steinberg, Virginia Strom-Martin, Helen Thomson, Tom Torlakson, Antonio Villaraigosa, and Scott Wildman.

The Report Card also discusses the difficulty in commanding accountability in the legislative process because of the use of the "suspense" file. "Many significant child-related bills are not part of the grading process. Legislative leaders held these important bills captive in the suspense files of the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees, refusing to allow the bills to even come up for a vote - thus killing these measures without having to vote against them publicly," said Robert C. Fellmeth, CAI Executive Director. "The suspense file policy of setting aside policy items with major cost implications until the Budget Act is passed and revenues are accounted for is fiscally sound. But suspense file decisions should ultimately be made in a public forum with public votes for accountability."

Fellmeth noted that many of the most significant bills for the most vulnerable children failed to make the priority list for release from the suspense files of the Assembly and Senate. He also noted that just a handful of legislators draft those priority lists (the Speaker of the Assembly, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, minority party leaders, and the chair and vice chair of the Appropriations Committees), after considering the personal and political priorities of individual bill authors. Many of the bills killed on suspense files passed on bipartisan votes with wide margins in policy committees and in prior floor votes.

"No one truly expects the legislative process to be free of politics, but official actions must be subject to public accountability," said Fellmeth. "The suspense file system allows legislators to kill important bills without getting their hands dirty. As such, it is an affront to the democratic process." CAI is an academic center at the University of San Diego School of Law, with offices there and in Sacramento. CAI advocates for the health and well-being of children before the courts, the Legislature, and the state's regulatory agencies.

EMBARGOED

until June 27, 2000 at 10:00 a.m.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:

June 27, 2000 Robert Fellmeth (619) 260-4806 (SD)

Kathy Dresslar (916) 444-3875 (Sacto)

(Fellmeth in Sacramento on 6-27-00)

CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY INSTITUTE RELEASES

CALIFORNIA CHILDREN'S BUDGET 2000-01

SACRAMENTO - The first impression of California's 2000-01 budget is one of a $12.4 billion surplus invested in education, social programs, and tax relief for all Californians. In fact, the budget constitutes an eleventh straight year of disinvestment in children most in need, yet again neglecting a developing underclass of impoverished children projecting to over one-third of the future population.

The Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI), of the University of San Diego School of Law, today releases its eighth annual California Children's Budget. The California Children's Budget 2000-01 is a 650-page analysis of recent condition indicator data (with 2,000 endnotes specifying sources); legislative and court developments; major child-related federal/state/local spending from 1989, adjusted for inflation and population; the Governor's proposed levels as revised in May; and recommended spending. According to the report, the budget sent to Governor Davis reflects three continuing flaws:

(1) Impoverished children are not a major investment priority, even with available funds.

(2) The tax base feeding the general fund continues to be eaten away year after year through deductions and credits now amounting to over $32 billion; by 2002, the new budget will increase the deductions and credits by another $2.2 billion, only18% of which is child-related.

(3) Much of the new money directed toward children is "one time only" spending, because of the Davis Administration's stubborn antipathy to "adding to the base."

The budget does include some important benefits for children, including increased funding for K-12 education (including important incentives and investment in teacher supply and quality), overdue increased physician reimbursement rates, child health enrollment outreach, some higher education additions (including substantial Cal Grant funding increases), and increases to child care help (including a refundable tax credit).

But it is important to look at the empty part of the glass, to consider what portion of it is being filled, and how much of that investment will continue. Accordingly, the report's findings include the following:

The 2000-01 overall investment in children, as a percentage of Californians' personal income, is significantly less than that made twenty years ago. "The source of most child spending is the general fund; if we collected the same percentage of total personal income for it as did our parents, we would have $3.5 billion more-above and beyond our $12.4 billion surplus. Although the Governor rejects most additions to the future spending base, he and the Legislature do not hesitate to subtract from the future revenue base," noted CAI Executive Director Robert C. Fellmeth. "Tax benefits generally continue forever unless affirmatively ended, and that requires a two-thirds vote. They are magnets for special interest advocacy and can sacrifice long-term investment in children for short-term gain by voter blocs-a priority different than that of our parents and grandparents," Fellmeth added.

"During the past ten years, California has allowed its commitment to the children of this state to slip away," said Senator Martha Escutia (D-Montebello), who hosted the official release of the report at the State Capitol. "I was hopeful that with the multibillion dollar surplus this year, the Legislature and the Administration would make a renewed commitment to protecting the most helpless and innocent victims of poverty."

In addition to gradual reduction of the general fund itself, the proportion of general fund spending going to children has gone from 84% in 1980-81 to 76% in the 2000-01 budget. About 20% of the surplus will directly address the most important child-related needs. "In sum, we would be spending $9 billion more on children if we accepted the same burden and priority of our parents," stated CAI Senior Policy Advocate Kathy Dresslar.

Although the K-12 education base has been increased by more than the token amount for 1999-2000 (which was one-quarter of 1%), it still remains well below the national average, especially when one subtracts the "one-time expenditures." Items such as the teacher supply, incentives, and low-performing school investment are welcome, but California remains at second from the bottom of the nation in student class size for grades 4-12.

The budget has a welcome $195 million for refundable child care credits for the working poor, but the need here is five times that level. "We also need tax incentives for quality and supply increase in communities where more child care is needed," Fellmeth stated.

The budget includes no Earned Income Tax Credit targeted to the working poor and most in need of a boost toward self-sufficiency (unlike Minnesota, New York, and other states). Meanwhile, basic safety net support is down to 73% of the poverty line, and many children of thoseleaving TANF rolls remain below the poverty line and are hungry.

The budget includes funds for "Healthy Families" outreach; however, only 4% of California's kids who are uncovered are ineligible for public medical coverage. Fellmeth noted, "To bar that 4% from receiving medical services, we have over fourteen fragmented programs with separate barriers. Under the adopted budget, over one million eligible children will remain uncovered. We have $4.3 billion in federal Children's Health funds (at a 2-1 match), and 80% of it will be sent back to D.C.-the largest give-back of federal money in the nation's history." The California Children's Budget 2000-01 proposes that California cover all children, providing universal preventive care, and if a child of a parent earning over 300% of the poverty line receives substantial medical services, bill the parent post hoc on a sliding scale. The state could then use remaining federal funds and red tape savings on tax credits to employers for part of their contribution to private coverage of dependents under 300% of the poverty line.

The budget does not include adequate funding for prevention: a needed crusade through advertising, public education, and parenting education in our schools. California should use the skills of Madison Avenue to promote respect for each child's basic right to be intended by two parents. The 30% unwed birth rate has leveled, but remains near historical highs, and contrary to perception, the vast majority of those births are to adult women. On the paternal side, although child support reforms have almost doubled collection, the average amount collected for almost four million California children is $24 per month per child owed support by an absent parent (of which government keeps $10).

Although the budget adds new funds for higher education, it is not increasing capacity beyond population growth from 1990. "We must `add to the base' significantly beyond population growth so our children will have jobs in the future international economy," Fellmeth declared.

"Big steps were made in both education and child care," Escutia said, "but there's still a tremendous unmet need for resources for adequate nutrition, housing and aid to poor families."

Tom Brokaw's book about "The Greatest Generation" notes their sacrifice for their children, today's adults. This budget reflects the eleventh year of the baby boomer generation's neglect of its obligation to "pass it down the line." The attached list indicates another year of California avoidance of recommended budget investments for children.

To obtain a copy of the California Children's Budget 2000-01, contact the Children's Advocacy Institute at (619) 260-4806. The document will also be available on the World Wide Web at www.acusd.edu/childrensissues.

Children's Advocacy Institute's

14 Major Proposed

Investments in Children6

Recommended 2000-01 Augmentation to General Fund over 1999-2000 Budget

(in millions)

Extent to which Item Included in California's Budget Act of 2000-01

(in millions)

Poverty

#1: A continuing public and school-based education campaign on the right of a child to be intended and planned for by two parents

$270

$0

#2: An assured safety net for children

$595

$35

#3: Refine CalWORKs/child care for meaningful employment

$1,090

$4307

#4: Give poor children a lift up to self-sufficiency

$1,050

$0

Health

#5: Medically cover all children

$650

$1358

#6: Increase funding for environmental safety and injury prevention, with particular attention to lead dangers, vision/hearing screening, and dental disease prevention

$60

$5

Child Care

#7: Tax credits for child care providers

$290

$0

#8: Triple regulatory oversight budget for child care over a three-year period

$56

$6

Education

#9: Reduce class sizes in K-12 grades to below 20, phased with facility development

$2,100

$09

#10: Community college and vocational school capacity expansion

$1,300

$120

#11: University education capacity expansion

$2,250

$144

Child Protection

#12: Foster care improvements: provider rate increases, adoption and emancipation enhancements

$306

$37

#13: Substantially enhance prevention spending, including early intervention, parenting education, and other initiatives

$60

$0

Juvenile Justice

#14: Early intervention

$130

$0

TOTAL:

$10,207

$91210

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (in Sacramento on 12/15)

CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY INSTITUTE RELEASES

1999 CHILDREN'S LEGISLATIVE REPORT CARD

The Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI), a non-partisan academic center and statewide advocacy group based at the University of San Diego School of Law, today released its 1999 Children's Legislative Report Card, which presents California legislators' votes on 28 child-friendly bills considered by the Legislature in 1999. The 1999 Report Card includes a narrative description of major child-related issues considered by the Legislature (including California's child support reform legislation) and detailed descriptions of child-friendly bills in the areas of economic security, child support collection, health care, injury prevention, child care, education, and child abuse prevention and intervention. The Report Card also includes a chart documenting legislators' floor votes on these bills.

"Through their votes on important bills, legislators can make a real difference in the lives of California's children," said Robert C. Fellmeth, CAI Executive Director. "All too often in the political arena, legislators `take a walk' rather than stand up for children - and children suffer as a result. The Report Card provides a record of children's policy progress in the legislative session, and the votes that made it happen."

CAI is pleased to announce that the following 25 legislators scored a perfect 100% on the 1999 Report Card: Senators Dede Alpert, John Burton, Betty Karnette, and Hilda Solis, and Assemblymembers Elaine Alquist, Ellen Corbett, John Dutra, Marco Firebaugh, Martin Gallegos, Robert Hertzberg, Hannah-Beth Jackson, Wally Knox,Sheila Kuehl, John Longville, Alan Lowenthal, Kerry Mazzoni, Jack Scott, Kevin Shelley, Darrell Steinberg, Virginia Strom-Martin, Helen Thomson, Tom Torlakson, Antonio Villaraigosa, Edward Vincent, and Scott Wildman. An additional 29 legislators scored in the ninetieth percentile on the 1999 Report Card.

CAI is an academic center at the University of San Diego School of Law, with offices there and in Sacramento. CAI advocates for the health and well-being of children before the courts, the Legislature, and the state's regulatory agencies.

CONTACTS:

Robert Fellmeth (619) 260-4806

Kathy Dresslar (916) 444-3875

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (in Sacramento on 12/15)

CHILD ADVOCATES CHALLENGE THE GOVERNOR: MATCH THE INVESTMENT IN CHILDREN OF OUR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS

The Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI), a non-partisan academic center and statewide advocacy group based at the University of San Diego School of Law, today released data revealing the percentage of personal income publicly invested in children by our parents and grandparents one generation ago. In 1980-81, Californians publicly invested 6.35% of their personal income in children; in the 1999-2000 budget, Californians are spending 5.37% on children, almost $10 billion less than what would have been invested at the 1980-81 rate. CAI Executive Director and University of San Diego School of Law Professor Robert Fellmeth notes, "our parents and grandparents made a greater investment despite a much lower standard of living, a sacrifice largely responsible for our current affluence." During 2000-01, California will have to spend $64.3 billion on children to match the commitment of our predecessors. CAI asks the Governor to do so, and to include CAI's "Children's Budget" recommendations in his January proposed state budget.

According to Fellmeth, "the disparity in these numbers represents the legacy of both Proposition 13-which favors older homeowners-and twenty years of tax credits and deductions, mostly for the middle class and wealthy, which have shredded the general fund upon which children rely. Unlike the spending on children, these sums, now at $28 billion annually, are not examined each year, but rather continue automatically unless affirmatively ended, which only happens on a _ vote of the Legislature."

CAI today re-released its Children's Budget 1999-2000 recommendations, which lists the major accounts and areas where serious additional investment is needed. Originally proposed by CAI in June 1999, virtually none of the recommendations were incorporated into the 1999-2000 state budget. CAI asks that these investments be included as part of the Governor's 2000-01 budget proposal. The recommendations deserving high priority include: (1) a substantial public campaign on the rights of children to be intended by two parents, and on the reality of child support obligation; (2) parenting education- including a campaign specifically aimed at young men; (3) measures to move the working poor into self-sufficiency, including seamless child care and a state earned income tax credit; (4) the genuine roll-out to scale of eight effective children's programs almost always funded at "boutique" public relations levels (e.g., foster care upgrade, adoptions reform, truancy prevention, school technology, and delinquency early intervention); (5) a "presumptive eligibility" format for Healthy Families coverage to assure success and the use of federal monies; and (6) the beginning of two major investments in education-one to reduce class size throughout K-12, and one to increase enrollment capacity for vocational, community college, and university education necessary for future jobs.

Fellmeth contends that "the California State Budget for 2000-01 will be a major test of this generation's commitment to its children. Nationally, the Republicans propose to take the $1 trillion in projected budget surplus funds over the next decade, and lower inheritance taxes for the wealthy, and provide benefits for middle class adults. The President's counterproposal is to spend 88% of it on three accounts: medicare, social security, and private pension subsidies. Our senior citizens, today's adults in a few years, would take almost all of it." CAI Senior Policy Advocate Kathy Dresslar asked, "Will the `bridge to the 21st century' the President refers to be open to our children to pass through?"

California has been near the bottom of the nation in many indices of child commitment: classroom size, uninsured children, child poverty, test scores, child abuse reports. The state's record of private dedication to children includes a continuing 32% unwed birth rate (over 80% of which involves adult women) and the extraordinary child poverty associated with it. Male dedication remains at a low ebb. The 4 million children owed child support by absent fathers outside of family court receive an average of $23 per month per child in assistance. Surveys havefound that over half the children born today are not intended by their parents. Fellmeth contended: "That single change in adult private behavior, marrying and intending the children we create, would help children more than anything the state can do."

But CAI pointed to the state's role in carrying the message of private responsibility, its role as a backstop safety net and reliance on it for education opportunity. The group contends that the 1999-2000 budget failed to add appreciable new investment in children. Dresslar noted that "only ¼ of 1% was added to K-12 above the bare minimum required constitutionally in the current year; California remains in the bottom 10 in per pupil school spending; and the state is not moving strongly to reduce class in grades 4 through 12, notwithstanding evidence that it makes a difference." Fellmeth emphasized: "Perhaps most important, the state is not increasing higher education slots enough to accommodate the job demands of the next century. It is not even matching straight population increases from 1990. Our nation's niche is not on assembly lines or on farms, but in technical services. That means higher education for almost all of our youth, from vocational to university. But we are not shifting toward it."

CAI presented for the 2000-01 state budget a supplemental children's budget consisting of the additions which the legislature failed to add in the current year, including $7.6 billion above last year's spending to invest in children. Fellmeth noted, "Due to population and inflation increases, that amount should be just over $8 billion now."

The Governor has acknowledged the unexpected $4.3 billion from the continuing recovery in May of last year. He suggested that we cannot afford increases which "add to the base" in case there is a downturn. Dresslar responded: "So let's be clear. If we do not have the funds to invest, we must sacrifice and children must wait. If we do have the money we cannot spend it because we may lose it in the future." Fellmeth added: "This timeless rationalization forgets a central fact: these children are our base. That rejoinder is not a catch-phrase, but a simple truth. The base of state resources comes from the taxation of our citizens, depending upon their health, skills, and employability. Our children will be feeding the base, or not, depending on our investment decisions now."

Reprinted below is the unadopted Children's Budget for 1999-2000. CAI asks that children be included in 2000-01 at least at the levels undertaken a generation past.

CONTACTS:

Robert Fellmeth (619) 260-4806

Kathy Dresslar (916) 444-3875

2/19/99 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Children's Honor Roll Announced at Breakfast of Champions

Legislators who were "there for children" in the 1997-98 legislative session will be recognized on a Children's Honor Roll, to be unveiled at the first annual Breakfast of Champions on Wednesday, February 24, 8:00 - 10:30 a.m., in the State Capitol. The event, sponsored by the Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI), honors legislators who scored 90% or higher on the Children's Legislative Report Card (Report Card). CAI publishes two Report Cards for each legislative session, an Interim Report after the first year and a Final Report after the second year.

"Through their votes on important bills, legislators can make a real difference in the lives of California's children," said Robert C. Fellmeth, CAI Executive Director. "All too often in the political arena, legislators "take a walk," rather than stand up for children -- and children suffer as a result. The Report Cards provide a record of children's policy progress in the legislative session, and the votes that made it happen."

Seventeen out of the 120 state legislators received perfect final grades of 100%. Thirty-nine more received final grades in the ninetieth percentile. All 56 will be named on the Children's Honor Roll and will be recognized at the Breakfast of Champions. (The list of Honor Roll members is attached.)

The Children's Legislative Report Card, Final Report includes the average score of each legislator on 1997 bills important to children's well-being (the 25 bills were described in the Interim Report released last May); an average score on key 1998 bills (31 additional bills described in the Final Report); and a final percentage grade (an average of the two scores) reflective of each legislator's total "votes for children."

CAI is an academic center at University of San Diego, School of Law, with offices there and in Sacramento. CAI advocates for the well-being of children through the courts, legislature and regulatory agencies.

Contacts:

Robert C. Fellmeth, Executive Director, Children's Advocacy Institute

619-260-4806 (in Sacramento on 2/24: 916-444-3875)

Margaret A. Dalton, Project Director, Information Clearinghouse on Children, San Diego office

619-260-4279

Kathryn Dresslar, Senior Policy Advocate, Children's Advocacy Institute, Sacramento office

916-444-3875

The Children's Advocacy Institute is pleased to announce the members of its

1997-98

Children's Honor Roll

and would like to thank the following Legislators who were there for children when it counted:

Senator Dede Alpert

Senator Ruben Ayala

Senator John Burton

Senator Leroy Greene

Senator Tom Hayden

Senator Teresa Hughes

Senator Patrick Johnston

Senator Betty Karnette

Senator Bill Lockyer

Senator Jack O'Connell

Senator Richard Polanco

Senator Herschel Rosenthal

Senator Adam Schiff

Senator Byron Sher

Senator Hilda Solis

Senator Mike Thompson

Senator Diane Watson

Assemblymember Elaine Alquist

Assemblymember Dion Aroner

Assemblymember Joe Baca

Assemblymember Debra Bowen

Assemblymember Valerie Brown

Assemblymember Cruz Bustamante

Assemblymember Tony Cardenas

Assemblymember Dennis Cardoza

Assemblymember Gil Cedillo

Assemblymember Susan Davis

Assemblymember Denise Moreno Ducheny

Assemblymember Martha Escutia

Assemblymember Liz Figueroa

Assemblymember Martin Gallegos

Assemblymember Sally Havice

Assemblymember Robert Hertzberg

Assemblymember Mike Honda

Assemblymember Fred Keeley

Assemblymember Wally Knox

Assemblymember Sheila Kuehl

Assemblymember Ted Lempert

Assemblymember Diane Martinez

Assemblymember Kerry Mazzoni

Assemblymember Carole Migden

Assemblymember Kevin Murray

Assemblymember Grace Napolitano

Assemblymember Deborah Ortiz

Assemblymember Don Perata

Assemblymember Jack Scott

Assemblymember Kevin Shelley

Assemblymember Virginia Strom-Martin

Assemblymember Mike Sweeney

Assemblymember Helen Thomson

Assemblymember Tom Torlakson

Assemblymember Antonio Villaraigosa

Assemblymember Edward Vincent

Assemblymember Carl Washington

Assemblymember Howard Wayne

Assemblymember Scott Wildman

FEBRUARY 17, 1998 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHILDREN'S REGULATORY LAW REPORTER FILLS INFORMATION GAP

The Information Clearinghouse on Children at the Children's Advocacy Institute, San Diego, has released a new publication, the Children's Regulatory Law Reporter (Reporter), which tracks the regulatory actions of key California agencies whose decisions have particular impact on the lives of children.

"The material in the Reporter is important information for policymakers, journalists, advocates and others interested in this part of the legal process as it affects children," said Margaret A. Dalton, Editor of the publication and Project Director of the Information Clearinghouse on Children. "We are pleased to add to the public's knowledge of the regulatory law process."

Editorial staff, which included law student clinic interns, reviewed the 1997 regulatory actions of five agencies -- the Department of Health Services, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Education, the Department of Youth Authority and the Board of Control's Victims of Crime Fund.

"This new publication focuses on an area of law which is little noticed but can have great impact on people's lives," said Robert C. Fellmeth, Director of the Children's Advocacy Institute. It will be published twice a year, in winter and summer.

The Information Clearinghouse is funded in part by The California Wellness Foundation and by The Maximilian E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation, Inc. It is a project of the Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI), part of the Center for Public Interest Law at the University of San Diego School of Law.

For more information or additional copies of the Children's Regulatory Law Reporter, call 619-260-4279 or view the document at www.acusd.edu/childrensissues.

OCTOBER 22, 1997 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JOURNALISTS HONORED FOR ADVANCING CHILDREN'S ISSUES

Journalists from two southern California newspapers, The Bakersfield Californian and The Orange County Register, recently shared the 1997 Aaron Price Child Health and Welfare Scholarship and Journalism Award, which recognizes excellent journalism that advances the understanding of child health and welfare issues in California.

Funding for the annual Award, administered by the Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI) at the University of San Diego School of Law, was made possible by the friends and family of Aaron Price whose memory they honor.

Each year, a selection committee reviews submissions from a range of California print media. This year, CAI presented two awards:

The Bakersfield Californian, "Innocents Lost," reporters Bob Christie, Lisa Friedman, Chris Harrison, Leonel Martinez, Javier Erik Olvera and Denise Zapata, and photographer Ed Homich.

The Orange County Register, "Deadbeat Parents: Everybody's Burden," reporters Jim Mulvaney, Ernie Slone and Bonnie Weston, and photographers Michael Goulding and Mindy Schauer.

JUNE 3, 1997 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FIFTH ANNUAL CALIFORNIA CHILDREN'S BUDGET RELEASED

Public and Private Investment in Children Decreasing as Economy Rebounds

The Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI) has released its fifth annual California Children's Budget, which analyzes eight areas relevant to the status of children: child poverty, nutrition, health, special needs and disability, child care, education, abuse and neglect, and delinquency.

The California Children's Budget 1997-98 found that state spending on impoverished children is in a long and steep decline. "What is most distressing about these numbers is not only where we have been, but where we are going from here," remarked author Robert C. Fellmeth, Price Professor of Public Interest Law and director of CAI, a statewide academic and advocacy center based at the University of San Diego School of Law.

"Welfare cut-offs for legal immigrants will begin in several months, plunging tens of thousands of children in affected families into deep poverty -- even though these families have done it 'the right way,' to quote recent political terminology. They will be followed within two years by one million non-immigrant California children, sinking further into poverty when their parents are cut from aid even though the jobs they are supposed to find are largely unavailable."

The California Children's Budget 1997-98 summarizes selected "condition indicators" of child well-being and analyzes 60 major state spending accounts impacting children. "California has cut general fund spending as a percentage of personal income by almost $10 billion since 1989 -- all the while maintaining that same level would give us first-rate schools, keep children safe and well, and give poor children a decent chance in life," said Fellmeth.

"Instead, we are embarked on a continuing course of disinvestment in our children. While the fate of children rests with an accumulation of private as well as public decisions, government is a potent force which inevitably influences all of these decisions. The real bottom line must be our children, or we will all pay the price."

CAI was founded in 1989 as part of the Center for Public Interest Law at the University of San Diego School of Law. CAI's program includes academic courses and clinical training of law students in child advocacy; the Information Clearinghouse on Children, a resource and research service on emerging children's issues, which assists journalists, public officials, community organizations and academicians; policy advocacy on behalf of children in the legislature, state agencies, and the courts; and legal and budget research on issues relevant to child protection and child health.

For more information or to receive a copy of the report, contact Margaret Dalton, J.D., Project Director, Information Clearinghouse on Children, 619-260-4279.

March 17, 1997 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CALIFORNIA CHILDREN DESERVE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE

The nation's health care crisis is very real to California children -- more than 1.7 million of them lack any health care coverage. California now places 42nd out of the 50 states in the rate of children without health insurance. Yet children are relatively inexpensive to cover (about half of the cost of covering an adult), and dollars spent on preventive services in early childhood are highly cost-effective.

To remedy this problem, the Children's Advocacy Institute is sponsoring AB 112 (Escutia), which would provide health care coverage for uninsured children in California. "There is no excuse for children in California to lack basic health coverage," said Professor Robert C. Fellmeth, J.D., Director of the Children's Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law. "Over 80% of these children come from the working poor, families where at least one parent is employed. Most of the rest -- about 400,000 -- already are eligible for Medi-Cal, but have not been enrolled by the state."

AB 112 would:

Expand Medi-Cal coverage to children through age 18 where the family's income does not exceed 200% of the federal poverty line, and to limited other children (in families up to 300% of the line) on a sliding scale;

Require California Department of Health Services (DHS) to streamline and improve the Medi-Cal application process for children, including simplifying and shortening the application form, permitting a mail-in application and developing a quick-response verification system; and

Require DHS to provide preventive health services coverage for any uninsured child under 18 years of age who is not eligible for Medi-Cal.

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Children's Advocacy Institute

University of San Diego School of Law

5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110

Telephone: 619-260-4806

Fax: 619-260-4753

Email: childrensissues@acusd.edu

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926 J Street, Suite 709

Sacramento, CA 95814

Telephone: (916) 444-3875

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