Board of Directors Board President Lois Thompson Partner Proskauer Rose LLP Board Treasurer Chris Hollinger Partner O’Melveny & Myers LLP Board Secretary Cathy Kim Director, Corporate Development Arzon Solar, Inc. Members Tony Blain Principal Blain & Associates Samantha Caldwell Vice President, Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary Health Net Inc. Christa M. Demeke Counsel Roll Law Group P.C. Truc Do Partner Jones Day LLP Mira El Sonbaty Senior Counsel, Privacy Fox Group Legal Theane Evangelis Partner Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Mayra Fornos Founder Fornos Law Firm Victor George Principal Law Offices of Victor George Esra Hudson Partner Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP Shawn Khorrami Principal Khorrami Boucher LLP Edie Mermelstein, Esq. Law Offices of F. Edie Mermelstein Pamela Palmer Partner Pepper Hamilton LLP Laura Petroff Partner Winston & Strawn LLP Interim Executive Director March 17, 2015 The Honorable Hannah-Beth Jackson State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 RE: SB 406 (Jackson) – Support Dear Senator Jackson: On behalf of the California Women’s Law Center (CWLC), I am writing in support of SB 406. This bill will extend job-protected leave to more California workers when they need to take time off to care for a seriously ill family member or bond with a new child. SB 406 will lower the employer threshold under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and extend CFRA protections to align with the recently expanded Paid Family Leave Program to workers who care for seriously ill adult children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren and parents-in-law. CWLC is the first law center in California solely dedicated to addressing the comprehensive and unique legal needs of women and girls. Since its founding in 1989, CWLC has worked to eliminate the barriers that keep women and girls in poverty and advance the potential of women and girls through transformative litigation, policy advocacy and education. CWLC supports changing the current CFRA restrictions on family caregiving to account for the diversity of California households and the importance of caregiving by extended family members. California has the second highest percentage of multi-generational households in the country, and, in a recent study of caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients, over 40% of caregivers were not covered under the narrow definition of family in CFRA. Additionally, we applaud your effort to extend this job protection to the more than 40% of Californians who work for a company that employs 50 or fewer employees. SB 406 recognizes the importance of family caregiving and helps workers caring for family members balance the demands of work and family. CWLC is pleased to support SB 406 and we urge all legislators to join you in supporting SB 406. Sincerely, Betsy Butler Interim Executive Director Betsy Butler 360 North Sepulveda Boulevard, Suite 2070 | El Segundo, CA 90245 Phone: 323-951-1041 | Fax: 323-951-9870 Email: [email protected] | Web: cwlc.org