After failing to secure a pivotal endorsement this week, Carl DeMaio desperately tried to change the subject by pretending to be on the side of California women. Unfortunately, DeMaio cannot hide his anti-women record of proposals to end health coverage for new mothers, undermining the 40-hour work week and losing Planned Parenthood’s endorsement.
“Carl DeMaio is having a bad week, and he’s only making it worse by desperately trying to mask his anti-women record,” said Emily Bittner of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Carl DeMaio loves to take others’ ideas and call them his own, but no matter how hard he tries to rewrite his record, he can’t hide his Tea Party agenda that would make life harder for California women and undermine their rights.”
BACKGROUND:
DeMaio said he would Propose the Working Families Flexibility Act in Congress. “DeMaio’s second proposal, which is called the Working Families Flexbility Act, would allow companies, if an employee agrees, to give compensatory time for extra hours worked instead of paying premium overtime rates. ‘I want to put more options on the table so that working families can balance a good career with raising a family,’ he said. The legislation, which stalled in Congress last year, has been criticized by Democrats as something employers could use as leverage to force employees to agree to give up overtime pay.” [San Diego Union-Tribune, 9/04/14; HR 1406, Vote #137, 5/08/13]
Center for Economic and Policy Research: Bill Would “Undermine the 40-Hour Work Week” and Would Provide “Employers With a Powerful Incentive to Increase Workers’ Overtime Hours.” According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research: “The proposed legislation undermines the 40-hour work week that workers have long relied on to give them time to spend with their kids. The flexibility in this comp time bill would have employees working unpaid overtime hours beyond the 40-hour workweek and accruing as many as 160 hours of compensatory time. A low-paid worker making $10 an hour who accrued that much comp time in lieu of overtime pay would effectively give his or her employer an interest-free loan of $1,600 – equal to a month’s pay. That’s a lot to ask of a worker making about $20,000 a year. Indeed, any worker who accrues 160 hours of comp time will in effect have loaned his or her employer a month’s pay. This same arithmetic provides employers with a powerful incentive to increase workers’ overtime hours.” [The Hill, 4/08/13]
National Partnership for Women and Families: “You Have No Ability to Take That Leave When You Need It. The Employer Can Decide.” In a statement to the Chicago Tribune, a senior advisor for the National Partnership for Women & Families said: “It should be called the Employer Flexibility Act, because at every turn here, the employer gets to decide… It pretends to provide a set of options to employees. But even if they elect to take the comp time instead of wages, when they can take it is fully at the discretion of the employer. You have no ability to take that leave when you need it. The employer can decide.” [Chicago Tribune, 4/22/13]
DeMaio Proposed Cutting Over $117 Million from Health Care for Low-Income Infants and Mothers, Effectively Eliminating AIM Program. In 2003, as part of his Citizens’ Budget plan for California, DeMaio proposed cutting $117,488,000 from the Access for Infants and Mothers (AIM) Program, which would have effectively eliminated the program. The AIM program provides “low-cost, comprehensive health insurance coverage to women with family income between 200 percent and 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). DeMaio proposed “suspend[ing]” the program’s funding for two years and opposed extending it to include families with incomes up to 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level because it was “not sustainable.” [2003-2005 Citizens’ Budget, p131; 2003-2004 CA Governor’s Budget Summary, p119]
Proposed Cutting $445,000 from a Commission Helping Women and Girls. In 2003, as part of his Citizens’ Budget plan for California, DeMaio proposed cutting $445,000 from the California Commission on the Status of Women (CCSW). The CCSW is a “nonpartisan state agency [that] works in a culturally inclusive manner to promote equality and justice for all women and girls” and advocates for “access to health care[,] including reproductive choice, violence against women[,] and other key issue areas… significantly affecting women and girls.” DeMaio proposed cutting the program and “request[ing] all relevant government programs factor in special needs for women into their services.” [2003-2005 Citizens’ Budget, p122; California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls website, accessed 6/17/04]
Refused to Answer Planned Parenthood Questionnaire on Women’s Health Care Right. In 2012, DeMaio refused to fill out a Planned Parenthood questionnaire detailing his position on women’s health care rights. As a result, Planned Parenthood endorsed DeMaio’s mayoral opponent Bob Filner. [San Diego Free Press, 10/03/12; Planned Parenthood Voter Guide, 11/06/12]