Senator Anna M. Caballero (SD 12) Announces legislation to bridge the digital divide in rural and underserved communities throughout the state.   

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to center stage what those who have been living in rural or underserved communities have known for a long time. Because internet service providers are private companies delivering services for profit, they face pressures from investors who expect returns on their investments. This pressure leads to lack of services in rural, low-density or low-income areas. 

Governor Newsom signed SB 1409 (Caballero), which requires the Franchise Tax Board to issue a plan to increase the claims of the California and federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), including alternative filing systems to help low-income families that currently miss out on the credit.

The CalEITC is a refundable tax credit that provides money back to working low-income families at tax time. Unfortunately, eligible families failed to claim millions of dollars because they are unaware the credit exists or because they do not file a tax return. For the 2019 tax year, the Franchise Tax Board estimated 1.25 million eligible taxpayers would not claim the money they are entitled to receive.

Groundbreaking legislation is one of a few bills that will provide significant assistance to our small businesses as they struggle with the devastating impacts of COVID-19.

SACRAMENTO – Today, Senator Anna M. Caballero joined Governor Gavin Newsom in signing key legislation aimed at helping to provide significant assistance to small businesses- many of whom are minority and women ownedstruggling due to COVID-19. Senate Bill 1447 provides a direct incentive through tax credits to small businesses who hire employees, including those who previously worked with them for years. At a time when many small businesses are debating whether they will ever re-open or be able to come back to their pre-COVID size, the message is clear: small businesses need our support more than ever.

Today, the California State Senate passed landmark legislation to protect renters across the state from looming evictions from job and revenue loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act will protect renters from evictions due to a COVID-related hardship until January 31, 2021, but still hold them responsible for paying past due rents to landlords. It also provides additional legal and financial protections for tenants, provides statewide consistency on local ordinances, and protects small landlords by extending the Homeowners’ Bill of Rights’ anti-foreclosure protections. Senator Caballero characterized the new agreement as critical for California’s working families.

On August 20, the Chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee killed SB 414, a bill to help disadvantaged communities throughout California who suffer from the lack of safe drinking water due to contamination. 

SB 414 represents three years’ worth of work to construct a pragmatic, thoughtful solution that would have provided the State Water Resources Control Board the authority to order consolidation of small water districts in order to secure safe drinking water for predominately communities of color.

MADERA, Calif. –  Assembly Bill 2040 (R-Bigelow), to provide redress and financial relief for Madera County and its residents, passed from the Senate Appropriations Committee’s suspense file due to the efforts of State Senator Anna Caballero and Assemblyman Frank Bigelow.   

Co-authored by Senator Caballero and sponsored by the Madera County Board of Supervisors, AB 2040 would right a wrong in Madera County that, if not corrected, would penalize the County’s budget by approximately $5 million dollars. 

Last week, the Assembly Judiciary Committee passed out of committee SB 1410, the Senate’s priority legislation to protect renters from evictions and provide financial relief to landlords with mortgages and maintenance bills to pay.

Yesterday, the Assembly Local Government Committee rejected Senate Bill 1385, the Neighborhood Homes Act. This bill provided local governments with the necessary tools to allow residential development on underperforming or vacant commercial retail and office space in order to eliminate blight and create much-needed housing clos to services and transportation routes.