Senate Bill 227 in the California State Senate seeks to provide new benefits to undocumented workers.
Undocumented workers in California are an important part of the state's economy, a situation that remained the same during the pandemic despite not having the same benefits as legal workers. For example, undocumented immigrants do not have access to unemployment insurance, so many families have been forced to use their savings to continue covering their basic needs.
California is the fourth largest economy in the world and this is largely due to the work of immigrants, in fact, 78% of immigrant workers work in jobs that are considered critical and essential to the economy. Despite this, they do not have benefits that protect them against adverse situations.
In this sense, Senator María Elena Durazo introduced the bill SB 227, in California legislation, to include undocumented workers in benefits from which they have remained excluded.
SB 227 would establish the Safety Net for All Workers Act, which would create an excluded worker program, which would be administered by the Employment Development Department.
This program would provide workers who are excluded from Unemployment Insurance solely because of their irregular immigration status with $300 per week, for up to 20 weeks, for each week they are unemployed between January 1 and December 21, 2025.
This law would also require the department to prohibit the disclosure of personal information obtained through this program, so as not to put undocumented workers at risk.
Learn more about this proposal at the following link: https: //leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB227
CBS NEWS
LEGISLATURE CALIFORNIA
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB227
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