Senate Committee Hearing Notes - February 13, 2012
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February 13, 2012 The Senate Majority Caucus has compiled the following summaries of oversight hearings conducted in the first half of February, 2012. Senate Human Services Committee and the Assembly Budget Committee No. 1 on Health and Human Services with the Legislative Women’s Caucus and the Commission on the Status of Women Joint Legislative Audit Committee Senate Select Committee on Asian Pacific Islander Affairs Joint Legislative Hearing on Emergency Management Senate Human Services Committee and the Assembly Budget Committee No. 1 on Health and Human Services with the Legislative Women’s Caucus and the Commission on the Status of Women California's economic downturn quickly resulted in severe negative impacts on working women. Particularly hard hit are single women supporting families. In addition to work hours being cut, state budget reductions eliminated essential services for many women and their families. The findings of a recent report released by the California Budget Project were so compelling, that it attracted the combined attention of the Senate Human Services Committee and the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services. Joining them were the Legislative Women's Caucus and the Commission on the Status of Women. At the joint hearing, Judy Patrick, the President and CEO of the Women's Foundation of California called the collision of job loss, stagnant wages and massive state budget cuts the "perfect storm" that threatened the economic security of women and their families. The Women's Foundation of California report found that single women were the hardest hit by the economic downturn; state budget cuts to childcare and preschool programs hinder the ability of low income parents to keep their jobs; and, additional budget cuts to education make access to higher education more difficult for women. Further budget reductions to CalWorks effect women disproportionately as well. Eighty percent of CalWorks enrollees are children, with many from single-mother households. Jean Ross, Executive Director of the California Budget Project testified that low income single parents and older women have experienced a significant rise in poverty. While older women were less likely to lose employment, they have seen their retirement savings erode. This group took the brunt of state budget cuts with deep cuts to Medi-Cal resulting in increased out of pocket healthcare expenses for poorer women and their children. Although California is recovering from the great recession, men are getting jobs, women are not. In 2010 fewer than six out of ten women had jobs and their work hours have dropped by two hours per week, further reducing their purchasing power. Sandy Gleysteen, Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women, testified that women earn 84 cents on the dollar in comparison to men, with Latinas earning even less at 59 cents on the dollar. Further inequities include the lack of female executives in the economy. She pointed out that there are only 13 women CEOs in publically held companies and women hold only 10 percent of the 3,200 corporate board seats. Additionally, the number of women elected official is diminishing nationally. Helpful Links Related Press Joint Legislative Audit Committee The Joint Legislative Audit Committee explored the reasons why the cost of college textbooks is outpacing the cost increases in college tuition. At the hearing, Elaine Howell, the State Auditor, provided testimony based on results of a 2008 audit report which found that on average, textbooks represented 13 percent of the cost of a UC education, 22 percent of a Cal State education and 59 percent of the cost that community college students pay for their education. The audit found that the average bookstore mark up was 25 to 43 percent, mainly to cover overhead and some student programs. Representatives from the University of California, California State University and the Community Colleges responded to the audit and indicated that since its release, more books are now available in digital formats where students are finding them on websites at lower costs in both digital and printed versions. Michelle Pilate, Chair of the Academic Senate of California Community Colleges, testified that the average cost of textbooks is $862 per year, which is out of the financial range of many students. She recommended using a combination of book grants and e-books in her report to faculty and administrations. James Postma, Chair of the Academic Senate CSU, testified that, in the past, faculty were unaware of the cost of books, with book selections based on content only. He reported that this practice has changed among faculty with many now taking price into account. However, due to budget cuts, faculty often do not know until the last minute which classes they are teaching, making early selection of books difficult. This results in an inability on the part of the bookstores to negotiate better rates and increases the overall shipping costs. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Creative Commons, Course Smart, the American Publishers, and former Senator Dean Florez from the Twenty Million Minds Foundation offered their experience on business models, digital formats, and licensing for e-textbooks that the State could utilize to meet President Obama's pledge to have e-textbooks available to every student by 2017. Helpful Links Senate Select Committee on Asian Pacific Islander Affairs In 2010, Senator Leland Yee carried legislation addressing the production and sale of rice based noodles. Rice based noodles must be either consumed or thrown away within four hours after being made, pursuant to the terms of SB 888. The Senate Select Committee on Asian Pacific Islander Affairs held a hearing in Monterey Park to hear concerns from noodle manufactures related to their effort to comply with the law. While the four hour window worked for Northern California food producers, however, travel time for Southern California producers still proved challenging. Many Los Angeles area manufactures sold to the San Diego, Fresno and Bakersfield areas and their drive times limited the shelf life of the noodles. As a result, many retailers were forced to destroy thousands of dollars in product. Working toward a solution, the Select Committee has created an ongoing relationship between state and local departments of public health and the rice noodle manufacturers. The different parties will work together to seek a variety of options in the next few months. One of the major tasks for manufacturers is to create a more sanitary environment so that the initial level of bacteria in noodles is very low. The California Department of Health agreed to help set up the criteria for a challenge study to test whether the noodles are safe beyond the initial 4 hours from manufacturing. The Select Committee will monitor the progress and report back to the community and affected businesses. The outcome will determine whether a Legislative fix is needed. Helpful Links
Joint Committee on Emergency Management The Joint Committee on Emergency Management held an oversight hearing on management of the Southern California windstorm outage. This hearing was prompted by a power outage caused by severe wind conditions on November 30 and December 1, 2011. Approximately half a million residents in Southern California were without power through December 8, 2011. The Committee heard testimony from representatives of investor owned and public owned utilities, and regional, local and state emergency response agencies. Helpful links
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