In the first four months of 2026, providers have been building and flexing our collective strength to make real progress in Sacramento and our efforts are making a difference. Every email we send to a lawmaker, every legislative panel we testify on, and every time we show up to speak out during public comment, it makes a difference. Our organizing and collective strength are how we’ll address the true cost of care, secure a state budget that increases both provider pay and available slots, and make sure family child care is a safe, sustainable profession for providers and parents.

Here’s how we’re making a difference in recent weeks:

Assembly Bill 1981 

• Launched in March in partnership with California Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, this bill is designed to help providers meet the True Cost of Care and is considered a priority bill by the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.
• Members unleashed a firehose of calls and letters in support of this bill to state lawmakers, participated in press conferences, and spoke up in legislative hearings to advocate for the bill. 
• “As a young girl I watched as my mother and fellow providers fought for basic rights and recognition as providers – and today I carry the torch on her behalf and on behalf of the more than 70,000 providers across the state. My community needs me to keep my doors open and I need to pay the bills; AB 1981 is a critical step toward making that possible,” Miren Algorri, a family child care provider from San Diego County, said at a press conference announcing the legislation.
• What happens next? Now that AB 1981 has passed the Assembly, it will move to the Senate for committee and floor votes in the coming weeks.
• What you can do: continue contacting your legislators to tell them how critical this bill is as it makes its way through the Senate next and, eventually, to the Governor’s desk. 
  • Child care providers can visit ccpu.click/ab1981 to send an email.
  • You can ask your friends, neighbors, and the parents of children you care for to visit ccpu.click/support so they can do the same.
  • Reach out to your organizer to join local lobby visits with your elected officials so they hear more from providers like you in greater detail about the crisis providers are facing until we reach the cost of care.

State Budget Blueprint

• • This month, the State Senate released its budget plan, which includes significant investments in child care including 44,000 new child care slots. Paired with the Governor’s proposed cost of living increase, this represents significant progress in keeping provider doors open and meeting families’ needs. We are organizing to ensure a final budget adds more child care slots–funding families use to pay for child care in our homes and elsewhere–and higher pay for providers.
  • Over one weekend, nearly 500 CCPU members sent letters directly to California Senate leadership and shared our support on social media.

• “My costs are higher than the subsidy rates, but I know families cannot pay these additional costs I could charge them, so I absorb nearly $400 a month. It is reflected when I have to buy less materials that could have helped me provide a richer educational experience for all of the children in my care. The bottom line is that children are missing out,” Ana Fonseca, a family child care provider from Hayward, told Senate Budget Subcommittee 3 during a hearing on April 23.

• During May and June, providers will have many opportunities to make sure the final budget that passes prioritizes issues key to child care providers, including increased pay, more slots, fixes to the 80/20 temporary absence rule, and funding for providers impacted by the LA fires. 

Assembly Bill 2379

• • Launched in March in partnership with California Assemblymembers and authors José Luis Solache, Jr. and Juan Carrillo, this bill is designed to ensure consistent access to Know Your Rights information and training for child care providers so that if ICE comes to our doorstep, we know how to protect ourselves up and down California. 
  • CCPU members proudly testified in hearings with the Assembly Human Services and Assembly Judiciary committees to share their stories. 

• “As family child care providers, our homes are more than just businesses. They  are safe havens for the children we nurture. AB2379 is vital because it gives us the professional training to understand our Fourth Amendment rights. No provider should ever have to feel intimidated or face an unwarranted search while a child is in their care. This bill ensures we have the tools to keep our doors open and our families safe,” said Natasha Finister, a child care provider from Los Angeles.
• The bill, which has been prioritized by the California Latino Legislative Caucus, passed out of both committees and is headed next to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

The stories we share matter, and it’s important that our lawmakers never forget them. Together in our union, we have a proven track record of organizing and winning on the issues that matter most to California’s child care providers and families. Let’s keep organizing, let’s keep sharing, and let’s keep winning.