SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Legislation from a San Diego lawmaker that will provide low-income mothers with state assistance to help them afford diapers was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown today.
Assembly Bill 480, from Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, makes subsidized diapers available to single mothers and other parents who participate in the CalWorks Welfare-to-Work and Cal-Learn programs, and who have children under age three.
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``This is about helping hard-working families take care of the basics,'' Gonzalez Fletcher said. ``This is about much more than diapers. It's about helping a parent keep or find a job, a task that is much more difficult if you don't have child care,'' she said. ``And it's very, very hard to find childcare if you can't provide a day-care facility with diapers for your child.''
She said most day-care facilities require parents to bring a day's worth of diapers with their toddlers. California will be the first state in the country to subsidize diapers for parents in need, she said.
Gonzalez Fletcher has been unable to pass a separate bill through the Legislature to eliminate taxes on diapers. The governor signed another of her measures, AB 1312, that will require sexual assault victims be given a standardized card that explains their rights.
The new law will also require women be provided birth control options after their assault, and that law enforcement agencies preserve all rape test kits for unsolved cases for at least 20 years or until a victim who is a minor turns 40 years old.
