ACR 105 became Law!

ACR 105 was heard in the Assembly today (4-22-10) on concurrence (to accept the amendments made in the Senate). The vote tally was 72 Ayes, 0 Noes. A concurrent resolution does not require the Governor’s signature, so today ACR 105 became law!

Assemblymember and author of ACR 105, Pedro Nava spoke briefly about ACR 105 and recognized the Junior League's State Public Affairs Committee (SPAC) and any Junior League members in attendance. ACR 105 now simply goes to the Secretary of State for chaptering.

Please join the Junior League, the Assembly Health Committee and the California Women's Caucus for a hearing on Perinatal Depression on May 4th at 2:30pm [updated to change time from 1:30 to 2:30pm] at the Capitol room 4202. For more information please call Joy Burkhard: (626) 390-4173.

To capitalize on May being Perinatal Depression Awareness month, the Junior League has developed an awareness campaign modeled after New Jersey's "Speak Up When You are Down" campaign in order to educate women who may be suffering from perinatal depression about symptoms and where to get help. The campaign includes hot pink and brown awareness ribbons and printed resources include posters and pocket cards. To order print materials please contact Goodway Printing at http://www.goodwayprintcopy.com/ To order ribbons go to http://www.ribbonfactory.com/ (order Azalea 3/8" and Brown 3/8" satin ribbons).

Palm Cards:

Posters

SPAC will be meeting in Sacramento this weekend, and we plan to celebrate our many accomplishments. Thank you to Pedro Nava and his staff particularly Jackie Koenig, Caroline Vance and Jillena Eifer, and all of our supporters and partners for helping to make ACR 1o5 a success.

Stay tuned to learn more about the topic selected for SPAC's next piece of legislaiton.

ACR 105 Moves to the Senate, Women's Caucus Hearing, May 4 + Statewide Roundtable

ACR 105 moves to the Senate

ACR 105 has moved to the Senate after being approved on the Assembly Floor consent agenda on April 5. The bill will be heard in the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday. We are asking that it bypass the Senate Health Committee, due to the overwhelming and that it go directly to a Senate floor vote on consent. This means that ACR 105 could be sent to the governor in a few short weeks.

Maternal Health Hearing May 4

Please join SPAC and the California Women’s Legislative Caucus for an Informational Hearing on Maternal Health in California May 4th at 1:30pm in Sacramento (room 4202 at the Capitol) . We anticipate over 40 legislators in attendance including members of the Assembly and Senate Health committees and the women of the Caucus. http://www2.legislature.ca.gov/womenscaucus/ The public is welcome and all stakeholders are encouraged to attend!

Statewide PMAD Roundtable
We are extremely pleased to share that the California Research Bureau (CRB), which is the policy research arm of the legislature has agreed to convene a state-wide roundtable to evaluate Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMAD) issues across the state.


As our followers know, the intent of AB 159, The Healthy Mother's Act which "died" due to fiscal concerns, suggested the State Department of Public Health establish and convene a statewide perinatal mood and anxiety disorder task force to develop a best practices model for public awareness of PMAD and a standard of care for PMAD that may be used by physicians, medical centers, hospitals and other organizations related to the medical field. Therefore, SPAC and our many partners are extremely pleased with this outcome.


Julie Elginer, the SPAC Co-Chair who led most of these efforts had this to say about our recent progress:


"Given that we’ve accomplished all of this with virtually zero funds, I’m immensely proud of the work that we’ve done over the last few months. While our collective advocacy work on this issue is nowhere near finished, we’ve made a very meaningful dent in terms of raising awareness and the profile of PMAD in California. The power of women volunteers! I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes:

'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.' -Margaret Mead"