Families off welfare receive aid
Childcare extension
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has paved the way for families getting off welfare to continue to receive subsidized child care, even as the state has moved to eliminate that support.
“People in this program have worked very hard to get off welfare and back into a job,” Supervisor Don Knabe said. “We have been able to devise a program that can provide support immediately to these at-risk families and without additional administrative costs.”
The end to the child care subsidy was part of nearly $1 billion in line-item veto cuts made by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the state budget.
About 11,700 Los Angeles families who have moved off welfare and into the workforce would be affected, said Knabe.
First 5 LA, which uses tobacco tax revenue to benefit child in that age group, agreed to provide up to $15 million in transitional funding to continue the child care program.
The cuts were meant to take effect last Monday, but an Alameda Superior Court judge issued an order halting the change pending a hearing Thursday. A lawsuit was filed by parents who argued that the move would jeopardize the jobs of parents of 56,000 children statewide, the Sacramento Bee reported.
The vote was 5-0 in favor of Knabe’s proposal.
“The bottom line is that, in this troubled economy, we must keep people working,” the supervisor said.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted today in support of an ordinance that would prohibit parking cars for sale along some county roads and highways.
Supervisor Gloria Molina recommended the ordinance, saying some streets had been turned into impromptu car lots. Pacific Boulevard in Walnut Park is one popular site for these unregulated, unlicensed sales.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a $3.5 million program today meant to create at least 2,200 summer jobs for youths.
The program was recommended by Supervisors Don Knabe and Zev Yaroslavsky to address the 26.9 percent unemployment rate for young people in Los Angeles County.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 today to take direct control of the child welfare and probation departments, which had been run on a temporary basis by county CEO William Fujioka.
Although it seemed a foregone conclusion after last week's 3-2 vote to approve the ordinance underlying the shift, Supervisor Don Knabe made another effort to postpone the decision today.
He argued that the CEO was given control of the departments in 2007 so they could be run more efficiently.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A state commission is suing Gov. Jerry Brown over legislation he signed to shift nearly $1 billion from early childhood programs to close the state's budget deficit, it was announced today.
The Superior Court lawsuit, filed Thursday by First 5 LA, alleges a recently passed bill that diverts $1 billion in Prop. 10 funds is illegal because it redirects money in a way that is not consistent with the proposition's voter-mandated purpose.
A call to Brown's office for comment was not immediately returned.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors said Wednesday it would designate one agency to track information on child deaths from abuse or neglect, and raised new questions about historical data.
The board directed the Department of Children and Family Services on Oct. 12 to provide 30 years worth of information on child fatalities. Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who made the proposal, said the information was an important element in setting policy for the agency.
