50-Mile Regulation: Assembly Bill Introduced, Public Officials Comment, and Your Voice is Needed

California State Assembly Member, representing the 30th Assembly District, Anna Caballero has introduced the bill AB-1165 Migrant farm labor centers: eligibility for admission.  This is a call to end the 50-mile regulation.

The bill states, "The Department of Housing and Community Development shall not impose upon any individual a requirement that the individual reside, either alone or together with his or her immediate family, outside any particular radius of a migrant farm labor center for any period of time to obtain eligibility for admission to that migrant farm labor center."

The 50-mile regulation is a state regulation (Office of Migrant Services, Title 25 Housing and Community Development Programs, p 701.102) that requires migrant workers who live in migrant camp/housing must move at least 50 miles from the camp in order to reside at the camp/housing the following year.

Because the residents are forced to migrate, their children’s education is seriously interrupted, since they arrive at the camps at the end of the school year in May and are required to vacate their apartments two months into the following school year in November.

The bill introduced by Assembly Member, Anna Caballero, will still take over a year to go in action, if passed.

Center for Farmworker Families still calls for your voice to help fight this systematic injustice and we have reports from officials at the Housing and Community Development Departments they are getting a flood of letters, calls and postcards calling to end the 50-mile regulation. Please keep the pressure on.  

We are also happy to say that John Lepold, Chair Board of Supervisors of Santa Cruz County and Carol Berg, Chairperson and Jennifer Panetta, Exective Director of Housing Authority of the County of Santa Cruz has also added their voice to this issue.  You can read their letters to  Governor Jerry Brown, Senator Bill Monning, and Ben Metcalf, Director of CA Department of Housing and Community Development.

 

Have your voice heard!

Send a message to Ben Metcalf, Director of CA Department of Housing & Community and Governor Jerry Brown, to tell them to protect the children of farmworkers and change the 50-mile regulation.

Download the postcards, to print here: Front and Back

Governor Jerry Brown
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 558-3160
Email Form:
https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov39mail/
Twitter: @JerryBrownGov

Ben Metcalf, Director
CA Department of Housing and Community
Development
2020 West El Camino Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95833
Phone: (916) 263-7400
Email: ben.metcalf@hcd.ca.gov
Twitter: @BenMetcalf_HCD