Child Care Providers United - California Lobby Day


2101 Webster Street #1850 • Oakland, CA 94612 • 866-336-9333 • www.ccpunited.org 3055 Wilshire Boulevard #1050 • Los Angeles, CA 90010 • 866-574-8907 • www.ccpunited.org
	PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Friday, May 1, 2009		Contact: Joe Wilson, 510-663-3939 o 916-325-7858 c

Child Care Providers to Rally at State Capitol
Against Propositions 1A & 1D
New Poll Finds Registered Voters Support Public Services

SACRAMENTO, CA—Family child care providers, parents, and their supporters will deliver nearly 2,000 signatures from registered voters who have pledged to vote down Propositions 1A and 1D at a noon rally at the state capitol on May 4.

Invited state legislators include Assemblymembers Tom Ammiano and Tom Torklakson and Senator Denise Ducheny.

“Propositions 1A and 1D will have long-term consequences for California's working families,” said Margie Stokes of San Francisco, a member of Child Care Providers United (CCPUnited) of California, which organized the rally. “These measures make temporary budget cuts permanent and shift voter-approved revenues away from much-needed local programs for families with young children.”

The action by CCPUnited follows a new field poll, which has found that a majority of registered voters support state funding for public education, health care, and subsidized child care.

This news comes about three weeks ahead of California’s May 19 special election, in which voters will be asked to decide on six ballot measures dealing with the state’s budget deficit.

Of the six measures on the May 19 ballot, Proposition 1A is the most controversial, for it would create a permanent revenue shortage by locking in state spending at unrealistic levels and empower the governor to make unilateral budget decisions.

“This is scary stuff,” said Joe Wilson of the American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), another event organizer. “Too much power in one person's hands is anti-democratic.”

Proposition 1D would divert another $1 billion from early childhood development programs to balance the state budget.

“Once these funds are taken, our kids won't get them back,” said CCPUnited member Nancy Wyatt of Los Angeles. “This kind of ballot-box bait and switch shortchanges our children and prolongs the economic woes working class communities already face. Enough is enough.”

With offices in California and Pennsylvania, CCPUnited is a union formed by child care providers for child care providers that advocates for early education and quality care for all families who work for a living.

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