On September 18, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 1876, expanding access to the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) to immigrant workers.
The California IAF, including MOC, was instrumental in pushing for this change, providing much-needed relief during the COVID-19 pandemic to immigrants. In April 2020, the California IAF and the California Catholic Conference wrote letters to Governor Newsom, urging him to expand the CalEITC to include ITIN filers, many of whom are undocumented. And on May 5, 2020 over 1,200 California IAF leaders, 10 Bishops, and 7 state legislators converged on Zoom and Facebook Live to demand the Governor and legislature provide immediate relief for essential workers left out of state and federal relief.
Both non-citizen immigrant households, as well as mixed-status families in which one tax filer has a Social Security Number while the other does not, directly benefit from the expansion of California’s anti-poverty tax credits. Governor Newsom’s elimination of the arbitrary exclusion of Californians who file their taxes with a federally-issued Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) from the up to $2,982 CalEITC, and the up to $1,000 Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC) is historic. California is only the second state in the country to take action to address this inequity.
Read more:
The old-school organizers who got it done on Zoom, High Country News [pdf]
Immigrant workers face economic uncertainty during COVID-19 shutdown, America Magazine [pdf]
CA IAF demands justice not charity urges Governor Newsom to help essential workers, One LA IAF