Chau Bills Pass senate Appropriations Committee

On August 27, the Senate Committee on Appropriations approved three bills authored by assemblymember Ed Chau (D–Monterey Park).  The bills include efforts help establish a process for administering funds from the Federal Housing Trust Fund (HTF), require hospitals to post their language assistance policies online, and prepare the state for dealing with cyber-attacks.

“I am happy to see these bills continue to move through the legislative process as they deal with important issues facing our State and my constituents,” said Assemblymember Chau. “These bills help provide resources for creating affordable housing, ensuring language accessibility in hospitals, and preparing our state to counter the threat of cyber-attacks.”

Assembly Bill (AB) 90 – Federal Housing Trust Fund – would designate the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) as the agency responsible for administering the HTF and requires HCD, in collaboration with the California Housing Finance Agency, to develop a plan for how the funds will be spent on programs that produce, rehabilitate, or support the operation of rental housing and homeownership programs for extremely low- and very low-income households.  Based on estimates, California could receive as much as $40 million by the summer of 2016.

AB 389 – Hospital Language Access – would require hospitals to make language assistance policies available on their website in English and in the other most commonly spoken languages in the hospital’s service area. It also requires the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development and the Department of Public Health to post these policies online.

AB 1172 – California Cyber Security – would create a California Cyber Security Task Force within the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to act in an advisory capacity and develop a comprehensive strategy to asses and enhance the state’s preparedness and response capabilities to cyber-attacks.