Advocacy

L.E.A.P Legal Employment Accessing Profit

L.E.A.P offers the following supportive services: job placement, legal services, resume building, interview training, work readiness, system navigation services, and more for formerly incarcerated men and women.

View the L.E.A.P. Flyer

Click here to learn more about our Center
for Advocacy and Leadership Training (C.A.L.T.)

Advocating for Change Training Series

A hands-on, four-module training series designed to help advocates develop skills
to engage and best support policy change efforts.

• Module 1 – Fundamentals of Advocacy Strategies
• Module 2 – Power & Process (Places & Faces)
• Module 3 – Lobbying vs. Advocacy
• Module 4 – Advocacy Evaluation

Advocacy Wins

Prisoners: identification cards. (2019-2020)
AB 2835 – This bill would authorize the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to process original and renewal requests for California identification cards and all licenses contained in the Vehicle Code. The bill would authorize the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to take necessary steps to process original and renewal requests, such as obtaining Department of Motor Vehicles-approved cameras, obtaining documents on behalf of inmates, and administering licensing examinations, as specified. 2019/2020

Criminal procedure: discrimination. (2019-2020)
AB-2200 – This bill would prohibit the state from seeking a criminal conviction or sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin, as specified. The bill would allow a writ of habeas corpus to be prosecuted on the basis of that prohibition. The bill would require the prosecution to disclose, pursuant to a written request, all evidence relevant to a potential violation of that prohibition. By expanding the duties of local prosecutors, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 2019/2020

Corrections: prison credits. (2019-2020)
AB-3160 – This bill would direct the department to use its constitutional authority to award specified credits to inmates who are incarcerated for a violent felony or for a nonviolent second- or third-strike felony and who do not have a specified administrative classification determined by the department at a rate of a one-day reduction in the term of confinement for every day of incarceration. The bill would provide that an inmate receive the credits set forth in the bill unless the inmate is eligible for more credit pursuant to the Penal Code or the California Constitution. (2019-2020)

Bill ends employment discrimination
AB 1008 – This bill was signed by Governor Jerry Brown on October 14, 2017. This bill ends employment discrimination during the hiring process for job applicants with a conviction history. This makes California the tenth state to “ban the box” to private employers. 10/14/2017

Bill reduces low-level felony to a misdemeanor
AB 2765 – This bill was signed by Governor Jerry Brown on September 28, 2016. This bill would extend the period of time in which a person could file a petition or application to reduce their low-level felony to a misdemeanor under Proposition 47 which was passed by voters in 2014. 09/28/2016

Proposition 47 Savings
AB 1056 – This bill will help ensure that the Proposition 47 savings are used meaningfully by providing funding for collaborative, community-based proposals to assist formerly incarcerated persons with housing, behavioral healthcare, drug treatment and other services. 10/2/15

Expanding Alternative Custody Program
AB 219 – This bill was signed into law and codifies and expands access to the existing Alternative Custody Program by enacting a responsible timeline for application review and provide applicants with an opportunity to appeal. 10/10/15

Driver License Restoration
SB 405 – This bill restores a driver’s license if it was suspended for nonviolent offenses and if the driver agrees to a court-ordered debt collection program. The legislation will work in conjunction with Brown’s proposed Traffic Amnesty Program. 9/30/15

Proposition 47
Proposition 47 – This proposition was passed in the November 4, 2014 elections. Proposition 47 reclassifies certain felony drug and property offenses to misdemeanors. Inapplicable to persons with prior serious or violent crime convictions and registered sex offenders. Fiscal Impact: State and County criminal justice savings potentially in the high hundreds of millions of dollars annually. State savings to be spent on school truancy and dropout prevention, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and victim services. 11/04/2014

Healthy Baby Act of 2014
AB 1579 – This bill was signed into law. Known as the Healthy Baby Act of 2014, this bill gives pregnant women access to lifesaving CalWORKs cash and healthcare benefits in their second (as opposed to third) trimesters of pregnancy. It will particularly affect women facing domestic violence because abuse often starts or escalates during pregnancy. 09/2014

Ban on CalWORKS and CalFresh
Lifetime ban on CalWORKS and CalFresh for people with past felony convictions lifted through CA budget. 06/2014

Alternative Custody Program Was Expanded
The Alternative Custody Program was expanded to men and implemented at the county level. 06/2014

California expands Medi-cal
A bill was signed into law that allowed California to expand Medi-cal. 10/2013

Employment Applications: Criminal History
AB 218 – “Employment applications: criminal history” was signed into law. Also known as “ban the box”, removes that daunting question “have you ever been convicted of a felony?” from public employers’ applications. 10/2013

Fair and Equal Opportunity Housing
The housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino changed their policies to provide a fair and equal opportunity for housing persons with past felony convictions. 09/2012

No More Shackles
AB 2530 – The “No More Shackles” bill was signed into law.

Pregnant Women Restraining Bill
AB 2530 – This is a bill to ensure that incarcerated pregnant women are restrained in the least restrictive way possible when being transported to and from a state or local correctional facility (reintroduction of AB 568 and AB 1900). 09/2012

Proposition 36
Proposition 36 – Prop 36 revises the three strikes law to impose life sentence only when the new felony conviction is “serious or violent.” 11/2012