Democrats Unveil Package of Child Care Bills

Assembly Democrats, in an unusual series of news conferences throughout the state Friday, unveiled a package of child care bills they are sponsoring in an election-year public relations gambit designed to take back some of the ground claimed by Gov. George Deukmejian and other Republicans.

Deukmejian appeared to trigger Friday’s event with an Easter weekend statewide radio speech expressing strong support for child care programs.

Not to be outdone, Democrats came back with simultaneous news conferences here and in San Francisco, Los Angeles and the Monterey area.

They outlined more than 20 bills they have already introduced in the Assembly and used the public relations events to remind those who may have forgotten that Deukmejian in the past has vetoed child care legislation.

“Apparently, the governor has gotten religion,” said Assembly Democratic Floor Leader Tom Hannigan of Fairfield.

Hannigan and Assemblyman Lloyd G. Connelly (D-Sacramento) appeared at the news conference here. It was held at a state-of-art child care facility on the campus of Cal State Sacramento, which allowed them to be photographed in the middle of a group of perky preschoolers.

Connelly said there are 1.4 million California children under the age of 14 whose parents work, but he said there are only about 600,000 slots in existing child care facilities available for them.

In Los Angeles, Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Mike Roos of Los Angeles joined other Democrats for a news conference at the Hospital of the Good Samaritan Child Care Center, a corporate-sponsored facility that they said could be a model for others around the state.

The Democrats’ package includes legislation that would put an additional $42.5 million in child care programs, require private companies with 100 or more employees to make child care part of flexible benefit plans, provide a tax break to firms providing child care and allow a mother or father to take an unpaid leave of up to four months to care for a child.

Deukmejian, in his radio speech, caught the Democrats off guard by expressing strong support for child care programs and urging the Democrat-controlled Legislature to support budget proposals calling for increased financial support.