Padilla Secures California Investments: Boosting Workplace Safety and Mental Health Care in Bipartisan Funding Package
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) March 23 announced that he secured over $30 million for 27 community projects across California in the second and final FY 2024 appropriations package, which supports American families by lowering child care costs, protecting workers’ rights, and providing funding for disaster preparedness and response agencies. The package contains provisions Padilla pushed to improve access to mental health support services, strengthen educational opportunities for students, and help reduce workplace heat stress injuries.
The appropriations bills passed by the Senate include the Defense; Financial Services and General Government; Homeland Security; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; Legislative Branch; and State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations bills. The package will now be sent to President Biden to be signed into law.
Legislative priorities Sen. Padilla secured in the second appropriations minibus bill include:
Language to promote and support collaboration between Hispanic-Serving Institutions or HSIs and local educational agencies that serve a significant number or percentage of Hispanic or Latino students, in order to create a stronger K-12 to higher education pipeline. Padilla is co-chair of the first-ever Senate HSI Caucus, and pushed for a similar grant program through his Hispanic Educational Resources and Empowerment (HERE) Act. The legislation aims to provide Hispanic and Latino students with the necessary tools and resources to help close the enduring higher education achievement gap.
Language directing the CDC to research heat stress and the relationship between heat stress and workplace injuries. Last year, Padilla introduced the Asunción Valdivia Heat Stress Injury, Illness, and Fatality Prevention Act to protect the safety and health of workers who are exposed to dangerous heat conditions in the workplace. He and his colleagues also led 112 members of Congress in calling on the Biden Administration to implement an Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA workplace federal heat standard as quickly as possible, modeling the standards after Padilla’s bill.
Language to help increase student awareness of mental health resources. Specifically, the bill directs the Department of Education to include phone numbers for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and campus resources in materials and documents routinely provided to students. Sen. Padilla is a co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Mental Health Caucus.
Language highlighting the importance of diversity in the STEM workforce. Specifically, the bill emphasizes strong support for increasing opportunities for underrepresented, early-stage researchers. In 2022, the Senate adopted Padilla’s bipartisan resolution to express support for increasing the number of Latino students and young professionals entering careers in STEM.
A $103 million increase for the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission or IBWC. This funding will help repair the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego to address transborder water pollution in the area. The bill also contains a provision allowing other federal agencies as well as state and local governments to contribute funds to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the plant.
Padilla secured funding for critical local projects throughout California, including the following in Los Angeles.
Homeboy Industries’ Trainee Program in Los Angeles County — $2 million: This funding will support career pathway training and social services to formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated individuals.
Los Angeles County Mental Health Urgent Care Center — $1.5 million: This funding will help build a replacement mental health urgent care center on the LAC-USC Restorative Care Village, which will provide a robust mental health continuum of care for residents of Boyle Heights and the surrounding community.
Save the Children’s Food Security Initiatives — $1 million: This funding will increase access to food and educational resources for children facing income and educational inequities in Fresno, Tulare, Los Angeles, Kings, Kern, and Madera County.
Trauma-Informed ACES Screening Program at Gateways Hospital and Mental Health Center in Los Angeles — $500,000: This funding will expand a program to provide trauma-informed care for adolescents in Los Angeles County.
A full list of community projects Padilla secured funding for is available here.