The YWCA's 2017 State Policy Agenda

During the 2017 state legislative session, working in collaboration with our partners and with YOU, we will work to advance the economic empowerment, and improve the health and safety, of all women and girls in our state through the following proactive initiatives. To receive real time alerts so that you can take action on these and other important issues join our email list and select "Action Alerts".

 Health and safety: 

• Ensuring an effective, trauma-informed response to sexual assault victims on college campuses. (We are currently working in opposition to House Bill 51, which will limit the ability of college campuses to address sexual assault. The bill has passed favorably out of the House and is now before the Senate Judiciary Committee.)

• Passing HB 341 (Rep. Reeves, 34th), and SB 104 (Sen. James, 35th), which among other things will renew requirements that certain businesses post a notice with information about how victims can contact a human trafficking hotline. The House bill passed favorably out of the House and is now before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Senate bill passed favorably out of the Senate and is now go before the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee.

• Passing HB 154 (Rep. Cooper, 43rd) and SB 12 (Sen. Unterman, 45^th), maximizing access to preventive dental services for women in safety-net settings, including domestic violence shelters and non-profit clinics, by allowing dental hygienists to work under the supervision of a dentist but without a dentist physically present in the facility. The bills have passed favorably out of the House and Senate respectively and now need to be reconciled.

• Passing HB 279 (Rep. Ballinger, 23rd), providing a safer process for victims of family violence to request a name change for themselves or their children, for example by waiving the requirements that they publish notice of the name change. The bill has passed favorably out of the House and is now before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

• Passing HB 9 (Rep. Blackmon, 146^th), and SB 45 (Sen. Walker III, 20th) making “upskirting”, or secretly videotaping up a woman’s skirt in public, a crime in Georgia. The bills have passed favorably out of the House and Senate respectively and now need to be reconciled.

• Passing HB 86 (Rep. Oliver, 82nd), adding the trafficking of a minor to the definition of sexual abuse for reporting of child abuse. The bill has passed favorably out of the Senate and is now before the Governor.

 Economic empowerment: 

• Enacting family-friendly tax reform that can empower more women to move into the middle class, through the Georgia Work Credit, a state Earned Income Tax Credit that will help working women pay for necessary costs like transportation and child care. HB 329 (Rep. Powell, 171st) is a comprehensive tax bill that among other things includes a 10%, non-refundable State Earned Income Tax Credit. It has passed favorably out of the House and is now before the Senate Finance Committee. SB 172 (Sen. Parent, 42nd) creates a 10% refundable state EITC. It is before the Senate Finance Committee. (Read more here.)

• Passing SB 201 (Sen. Miller, 49th) the Family Care Act, enabling working women, who often serve as primary caregivers, to use their already-earned sick days to care for their sick children, spouses, or elderly parents without the risk of losing their jobs. The bill has passed favorably out of the House Labor and Industry Committee and is now before the House Rules Committee. (Read more here.)

• Expanding access to quality, affordable early learning and child care for working mothers, by increasing state funding for child care assistance for low-income parents through Georgia’s Childcare and Parent Services Program. The Governor's budget proposal, which is being reviewed by the state legislature, includes $5.5 million in program enhancements.