From bvillesb6 at sbcglobal.net Thu Oct 16 10:27:43 2003 From: bvillesb6 at sbcglobal.net (Melanie Buchleiter) Date: Tue Mar 23 20:27:08 2004 Subject: [Region4] Fw: LISTSERV: OICA 2004 Legislative Agenda for Children and Youth Message-ID: <002401c393fa$0b5da760$6501a8c0@melanie> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dawn Parton" To: Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 8:32 PM Subject: LISTSERV: OICA 2004 Legislative Agenda for Children and Youth Child and family advocates from across the state met at the Annual Fall Forum in Edmond on October 14-15, 2003. Forum participants heard from a number of experts on poverty, social inequality, and social justice. Forum participants then had the opportunity to learn more about Oklahoma's state budget forecast, the legislative budget process, and Oklahoma's Self-Sufficiency Standard. Finally, workgroups in eight key areas prioritized possible legislative solutions to problems identified by Forum participants. These priority items were then placed on a ballot, and the entire assembly of Forum participants voted to elect the following items: COVERING THE UNINSURED 1. Increase the number of Medicaid providers through liability exemptions and higher rates of reimbursement for those providers by raising the tobacco tax or through other state revenues. PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN AND FAMILIES 2. Support state agency funding requests for programs that support families of young children to ensure a seamless and comprehensive early childhood education, prenatal to school entry, and require collaboration between programs, building on the strength of each. Programs include Children First, Oklahoma Parents as Teachers, Child Guidance, Office of Child Abuse Prevention and the High-Risk Families pilot project at DHS. 3. Provide state funding so that the current structure and benefits of the DHS Child Care Subsidy Program are maintained for low-income working families and their employers. Ensure that the progress made in improving rates and incentives for higher quality child care is maintained. YOUTH DEVELOPMENT/JUVENILE JUSTICE 4. Correct the provision in state law that allows for the jailing of youth on the second violation of county-established curfews. 5. Support the provision of after-care services to youth exiting juvenile facilities and other out-of-home care, and transitioning to independence, including those provided by the Office of Juvenile Affairs, Community Opportunities for Youth, and secondary / post secondary educational opportunities. Explore funding strategies such as the 15% of Governor's discretionary funds from the Workforce Investment Act. MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH 6. Exempt breastfeeding mothers from public indecency statutes. Support legislation to address the needs of breastfeeding mothers in the workplace and public places in order to prevent harassment and discrimination. CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH 7. Expand the Systems of Care Model and its principles statewide through expanded dollars, coordinated by families and child-serving agencies. ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, AND OTHER DRUGS 8. Complete the Tobacco Use Reduction Initiative, to include: increasing the tax on tobacco products by $1 to be used for health-related issues, and strengthening laws to reduce youth access to tobacco. 9. Increase the tax on alcohol products by a nickel per drink and direct the resulting revenues for alcohol and drug abuse prevention, treatment, enforcement and related health care issues. FAMILY ECONOMIC SUCCESS 10. Prohibit exploitative lending practices that drain assets and create unmanageable debt loads; ie. payday lending, predatory lending and Refund Anticipation Loans. These ten items will form the lobbying agenda of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy for the 2004 Legislative Session. Mark your calendars for the Fall Forum Follow-Up, which will be held Wednesday, November 19 in Oklahoma City. At this strategy session, advocates will begin to organize and mobilize to support these issues. Come join us! ABOUT THE LISTSERV The message that you just received was posted to the Early Childhood Work Group listserv, which is a moderated forum. The Early Childhood Work Group is a child advocacy group that exists to support the early childhood legislative agenda of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy. This listserv has been created to allow open communication between individuals across Oklahoma who are interested in supporting early childhood advocacy efforts of all types. This forum is also used to share items of interest to the early childhood professional community across Oklahoma. Your postings are welcome. To post your own message to the list, either reply to this message and change the subject line as needed or send a new email to: Earlychildhoodworkgroup@topica.com To read archives of past postings, visit: http://www.topica.com/lists/Earlychildhoodworkgroup This listserv is maintained by Dawn Parton, Marlo Nash, and Lindsay Ames. Please call 918-595-8039 or email dparton@tulsacc.edu if you have questions or comments about the listserv. --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: bvillesb6@sbcglobal.net EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrFgz.b3nQ5f.YnZpbGxl Or send an email to: Earlychildhoodworkgroup-unsubscribe@topica.com TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html --^----------------------------------------------------------------