SACRAMENTO, Calif. (NV) – California women, families and children will see expanded rights or services under a group of bills signed Thursday by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The bills, supported by the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, allow for the following:
- New parents who work in businesses with a minimum of 20 employees are eligible to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid maternity or paternity leave. Previously, that benefit was available only to employees of companies with 50-plus employees.
- The expansion of the crime of extortion to include demands for sexual activity and the distribution of photos that are sexual in nature on the internet.
- A requirement for public schools with a high population of low-income students to make feminine hygiene products available at no charge to girls in grades six through 12.
- Employers can no longer ask for salary history information from applicants. Additionally, employers are required to provide the pay scale for the position applied.
- Parents enrolled in English as a Second Language or high school equivalency courses can receive subsidized child care.
- An allowance of $30 per month for low-income mothers to buy diapers for children under age 3.
- CalWORKS homeless benefits will be available to victims of domestic violence.
- Evidence from unsolved sexual assault cases, such as rape kits, must be kept for at least 20 years.
- Women must receive information about gene mutations relating to breast cancer.