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nu ne California Communities United Institute Newsletter
www.CalComUI.org
Activism With A Heart Justice |
June, 2012
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Join California Communities United Institute
To join California Communities United Insitute, click
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Other Legislators Help LGBT Community |
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California Legislature |
California Communities United Institute is supporting 15 state bills that would benefit the LGBT community. Of those, only 4 were introduced by LGBT legislators.
Three of the bills were introduced by heterosexual legislators from the Asian and Pacific Islander community, one was introduced by an African American legislator and one was introduced by a Latina legislator. The rest were introduced by an assortment of heterosexual White, non-Hispanic legislators.
You may see the list of bills by clicking on the following link (and then scrolling down to and clicking on the link called Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex Bills Addressed By CalComUI.org) Here is the link to start:
http://www.calcomui.org/lgbtiissues.html
To read the rest of this article, click here.
Boyce Hinman
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Risking National Security | 
In our April 2012 Newsletter I explored the evidence that our crumbling educational system is putting our economic future at risk. However, it seems probable that it may be putting our national security at risk as well.
Evidence of the failings of that system is found in the fact that 70% of the students entering California's Community Colleges are not academically prepared for college work. Much of their earlier college years are consumed with taking remedial classes.
You may see a link to that April article by directing your browser to the following link:
http://www.calcomui.org/nwslttr040112.html To read the rest of this article, click here. Boyce Hinman ________ |
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State Officials' Pay Cut |
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California Legislature |
Recently the California Citizens Compensation Commission reduced the salaries of legislators, and state wide elected officials, by 5 %.
A member of the Commission, Chuck Murray, said this was done to mirror the 5% pay cut that Governor Brown has suggested for state workers in general. The 5% cut for legislators, and other elected officials, would take effect on December 3, 2012.
Governor Brown has proposed that state employees work roughly 9 hour per day, Monday through Thursday, and then take Fridays off without pay. This means they would work fewer hours per month and their pay would be cut by about 5%.
Do legislators get paid too much?
To read the rest of this article, click here.
Boyce Hinman
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Farm Workers Face Pay Discrimination | 
For many decades state and federal law has said that workers who must work overtime must be payed more for those overtime hours. They must be paid time and a half for each overtime hour. Under those laws the overtime rate applies to every hour worked over 8 hours in a day or over 40 hours in a week.
Oh, but farm workers are specifically excluded from those rules. Farm workers must work over 10 hours in a day, or 60 hours in a week before they qualify for overtime pay.
The central valley in California is the state's primary center of agriculture, where many thousands of farm workers do their work. This valley is among the hottest parts of the state in summer. For Fresno, in the center of that valley, the average high temperature, in July, is 96.6 degrees. The Imperial Valley is another prime agricultural area. Summer temperatures there frequently exceed 100 degrees.
And, according to California's Employment Development Department, farm laborers are among the lowest paid workers in the state. They earn an average of $8.98 per hour.
To read what has been done to try and fix this problem, click here.
Boyce Hinman
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NAACP Endorses Same Sex Marriage
Turnabout Is Fair Play |  On May 19 the Board of the National Chapter of the National Organization For The Advancement Of Colored People (NAACP) called for an end to any bans on the recognition of same sex marriages. And since then, they have taken some heat for making that decision. Several Presidents of state and local chapters have resigned in protest of the decision. Similarly, a few years back the President of the California Chapter of the NAACP attended a hearing at the state legislature. In that hearing she urged legislators to approve same sex marriage legislation. Again, she was criticized by a vocal minority of the members of her chapter. Actually, the NAACP has helped LGBT people in many ways over the last several years. So, do African Americans need help, and should the LGBT community be doing more to help them? To read about the challenges faced by the African American Community, click here. Boyce Hinman ________ |
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