Due to the overwhelming response to the Mission, the morning program on Tuesday April 29th has been moved from the Sheraton Grand Sacramento (1230 J Street) to The Grand Ballroom (1215 J Street), directly across the street. 

As the Grand, we will hear Assemblymembers John Laird (Chair, Assembly Budget Committee) and Mike Villines (Republican Assembly Leader) speak on the ongoing budget crisis.  We will also learn about our legislative agenda and break out into our lobby groups for pre-meeting preparation. 

We will then return to the Sheraton Grand Hotel (Gardenia Ballroom) for our lunch program where State Controller John Chiang will keynote. 

For the fully updated schedule, please click here to download a PDF and here to download a Word document. 

JPAC Statewide Advocacy Day

Monday, April 28 - Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sheraton Grand Hotel
1230 J Street
Sacramento, CA

 Schedule of events

Monday, April 28, 2008

5:30 p.m.:  Legislative Reception (Sheraton Grand Hotel)

8:00 p.m.:  Dinner to honor various Legislators for their work on behalf of JPAC, No Host (Location TBD) 

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

8:00 a.m.:  Registration and Breakfast (Sheraton Grand Hotel)

9:00a.m.:   Opening Session (Sheraton Grand Hotel)

                    Welcome remarks
                    Nancy Goldberg
                    JPAC Chair   

                    “The Legislative Landscape in a tough budget year”
                    Assembly Member John Laird
                    Assembly Budget Chair

                    Assembly Member Mike Villines
                    Assembly Republican Leader*

10:00 a.m.:  Advocacy & Issues Briefing (Sheraton Grand Hotel)

                     Cliff Berg
                     President, Governmental Advocates, Inc.

                     Gia Daniller
                     Government Relations Consultant, San Francisco JCRC

                     Caron Spector
                     Government Relations Director, Los Angeles JCRC

11:30 a.m.:  Lobbying Group Breakouts - Preparation Time!  (Sheraton Grand Hotel)

11:45 p.m.:  Lunch Program (Sheraton Grand Hotel)

                     Keynote Address
                     The Hon. John Chiang
                     California State Controller

                     Earl Raab Award Presentation

1:30 p.m.:  Legislative Appointments (State Capitol Building)

4:30 p.m.:  Closing Session/Wrap-up (Sheraton Grand Hotel)

* Invited, not confirmed

DOWNLOAD  

Registration form (Word, PDF)

Schedule of events (Word, PDF)

For more information, please email us.

Annual JPAC Mission to Sacramento

April 28 - April 29, 2008

Sheraton Grand Hotel

Sacramento, CA

Join with us and other Jewish activists from around the State to make for another successful Annual Mission to Sacramento.

For more information, please email us.

In May of this year, it was discovered that the 2008 State Tournament is scheduled for April 18-20, dates that unintentionally conflict with the first nights of Passover, among the holiest of religious observances for the Jewish people. The conflict was brought to the attention of the CHSSA’s Executive Council by several Jewish community organizations that requested that CHSSA reschedule the event so that a large portion of the tournament’s participants and coaches would not be excluded from this extraordinary educational experience. With great respect and admiration for the skills that CHSSA fosters both within the curriculum and as extracurricular activities, we had hoped that with ample notice – over 10 months – the organization would move to change the dates of the event. The majority of these requests were ignored.  

Representatives of the Jewish community were subsequently allowed to attend a September meeting of the CHSSA Executive Council to formally present our concerns. At that meeting, a reasonable request seeking a two-week investigatory period – time to consider the matter and explore the feasibility of changing the tournament’s date – was struck down.  

Isn’t it ironic that an organization dedicated to fostering debate and understanding amongst members of a diverse society was so quick to cut off of discussion?

TAKE ACTION

1. Please call or email the CHSSA’s Executive Council to voice your opposition to their refusal to change the 2008 competition date.

Contact information is available by clicking HERE.

2. Contact your local school board and ask them to weigh in on the matter.

Los Angeles Unified School District : Click HERE (scroll down to find your Board Member).

Beverly Hills Unified School District: Click HERE.

Culver City Unified School District: Click HERE.

Las Virgenes Unified School District: Click HERE.

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District: Email brd@smmusd.org or call (310) 450-8338.

3. Join the coalition of community organizations working together to resolve this conflict:    

Contact Caron Spector of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles at (323) 761-8163 or CSpector@JewishLA.org to add your organization’s name to the growing list of groups involved, including:

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC), the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, the Board of Rabbis of Northern California, the Los Angeles Council of Religious Leaders, and other s.

4. Ask leaders of other faith communities to register their concern by contacting the CHSSA and joining the community coalition.

TALKING POINTS

Time to Act

• With nearly seven months remaining until the debate, there is still time to move the dates of the event in order to allow participation by all the hard working students and coaches throughout California.
• There are precedents for changing dates on short notice for such major events for students. For example, the Fremont Union High School District changed the date of a statewide band competition scheduled to take place in the district on a date that conflicted with a Jewish high holiday. The Superintendent at that time, Joe Hamilton, and the Board said that the District could not in good conscience knowingly eliminate Jewish students from the competition. At another time, many schools in the San Francisco Bay area changed the first day of school so as not to conflict with the date of an important Jewish Religious observance ( Rosh Hashana) and cause Jewish students to miss the first day of school.

Prevent Future Conflicts

• The Jewish community is aware that it can be difficult for schools and school-related organizations to schedule important events and avoid conflicts. That is why many Jewish communities regularly send multi-year calendars of major Jewish religious observances to school superintendents and school principals. With thoughtful consideration for the diversity that makes California so unique, conflicts like this CAN be avoided.
• CHSSA should adopt a formal policy or amendment to their by-laws stating that tournaments will not conflict with religious observances. No faith groups should be excluded from these extraordinary educational experiences.

Respect for Religious Observances

• Passover is a major religious observance for the entire spectrum of Jewish families. Passover is a time that families come together to acknowledge the privations of their people’s history as slaves, and to affirm their commitment to justice for all peoples, everywhere.
• If the dates of the California Speech Association’s Championship for 2008 are not changed from April 18-20, Jewish students throughout California who have worked hard all year to have the honor of participating, and many of their coaches, will not be able to participate.

Yesterday morning, the State Assembly concurred with the Senate’s amendments, unanimously passing the revised bill making California the third state in the nation to pass Iran divestment legislation.  The bill now heads to Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk for his signature. 

Introduced by Assemblyman Joel Anderson, AB 221 will prohibit the state’s public pension funds from investing in companies with business ties to Iran’s petroleum, natural gas, nuclear, or defense sectors.  Depriving Iran of investment in these sectors of their economy will send a clear message to Tehran that they must give up their nuclear weapons program. 

HELP US THANK THE LEGISLATURE 

Please call your State Senator and Assembly Member in Sacramento to thank them for voting for the California Public Divest from Iran Act (AB 221).  Visit http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html to look up your State Senator’s contact information.

Assemblyman Joel Anderson (R-El Cajon), the author of AB 221, should be thanked for introducing the bill and for leading the effort in the Legislature to ensure the bill’s passage.  Assemblyman Anderson can be reached at (916) 319-2077. 

Senator Darryl Steinberg (D-Sacramento) should be thanked for his leadership on AB 221 in the Senate.  Senator Steinberg can be reached at (916) 651-4006.

Votes

The following State Senators voted for AB 221:

Aanestad, Ackerman, Alquist, Ashburn, Battin, Calderon, Cedillo, Cogdill, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Denham, Dutton, Florez, Harman, Kehoe, Kuehl, Lowenthal, Machado, Maldonado, Margett, McClintock, Migden, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Padilla, Perata, Ridley-Thomas, Romero, Runner, Simitian, Steinberg, Torlakson, Wiggins, Wyland, Yee

The following State Senators were not present for the vote:

Ducheny, Hollingsworth, Scott, Vincent

The State Assembly passed AB 221 unanimously.

Senate President pro Tem Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez were joined by representatives from Children Now, California Children’s Health Initiatives, First 5 California, and Governor Schwarzenegger, as well as Senator Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Member John Laird, the authors of SB 32 and AB 1 respectively, to make one last push for reform in this legislative session.  The focus seemed to be on expanding coverage for children rather than a wholesale overhaul of the health care system.

Whether that package will be in the form of Perata and Nunez’s comprehensive stand-alone health care reform bill AB 8 or Steinberg and Lairds’ SB 32/AB 1 (identical bills to provide a “bridge” between Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families program by covering all children up to 300 percent of the FPL) remains to be seen.

Aked about funding sources, Nunez replied that AB 8 would require a General Fund contribution, but that the plan would pay for itself eventually with realized savings.  The Speaker also said any new reform would not kick in until July 1, 2008, because funding is simply not available in the 2007-08 budget signed last week by the Governor.

Steinberg and Laird estimated their bills would require $225 million in General Fund dollars, but that the plans can get off of the ground with less.  They went on to add that AB 1 and SB 32, which do not contain any funding sources in their current form, can either start with full funding or just year one funding.

At the press conference, First 5 California pledged $20 million toward a statewide effort to cover all children in California. 

Perata stated that he was weary of these press conferences and was ready to take action and develop “something that the Governor can take pride in signing.”

Nunez reiterated his belief that something can be accomplished, stating that, “we have time for kids in the next eight days,” and that “insuring all kids is a starting point.” He also held out hope that additional future funding sources — more federal dollars, a hospital fee, etc. — might ease the General Fund obligation.

The Governor continued to urge a full-blown reform proposal over a piecemeal approach, stating that “we don’t need a little solution to a big problem.” He deferred questions about a possible special session, and said that he and the legislative leaders were going to sit down and “add our ideas to AB 8.”

Further questions about funding were unanswered as were questions about the Bush administration’s recent crackdown on SCHIP funding and whether Republican legislators would vote for health care reform in any form.

As you may recall this program has never been fully funded, so fewer senior citizens the ability to have a place to call if they are being abused by a caretaker or family member.  This program was intended to help seniors by having additional resources to help investigate complaints and stop the abuses from happening again. 
 
The Governor also vetoed money for the Naturalization Services Program, bringing its funding level back down to the original dollar amount that he included in his January budget.   This program was funded at $3 million and we were successful at getting an increase through the subcommittee process of $2 million for a total of $5 million.  We had been able to get it funded in both houses, keeping it out of Conference Committee.

With the Governor’s $2 million cut, our NSP programs will not serve nearly as many immigrants as we could have with the additional funds.  
 
As we are able to better analyze the budget we will send out another update.

Though we have no idea where the cuts will be, we believe it will be close to the list that the Republicans put forward in late July which included cuts to Adult Protective Services and Naturalization Services Program, two programs that we a strong interests in protecting.

The Adult Services Program was fully funded at $12 million for the first time since the the program’s inception and the Naturalization Services Program will likely see a cut from $5 million to $2 million.

We will know more when the Governor signs the budget.

Our efforts have paid off as UC President Robert Dynes has begun the process of changing the move-in days, which would have fallen on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur.

“I’m pleased that President Dynes heard our message loud and clear and took action to prevent future conflicts,” Assemblymember Levine said. “Incoming Jewish freshmen should not be forced to choose between their religion and their first few days of college life. Moreover, it is not necessary that they choose. The UC’s action today proves that it is perfectly able to change its freshman residence hall move-in days to dates that would not conflict with the Jewish High Holy Days.”

• Educate and build consensus in the Jewish Community
• Represent the Jewish Community to public entities and the media
• Engage in building bridges in inter-faith and inter-group settings

You can download the job description here.

For more information or to send us your cover letter and resume, please click here to email us.