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Committee advances bill to index infant supplement for parenting foster youth
Summary
AB 349 would index the infant supplement payment for parenting foster youth to inflation and include a one‑time increase; the committee voted to pass the measure as amended to Appropriations after testimony from the sponsor and children's service providers.
Assemblymember Semler Dixon presented AB 349 and said she would accept committee amendments to increase the infant supplement by a one‑time amount and to index the payment to inflation effective 2026. She said the infant supplement is one of only two foster care payments not indexed to inflation and that the rate has not been updated since 2016.
Jill Dominguez, CEO and president of Mary's Path, described the program that serves pregnant and parenting teens in foster care and provided program statistics during testimony: "We are one of only four organizations statewide that serve this population," Dominguez said. She said the average age of birth at Mary's Path is 15 and that the program serves predominantly low‑income youth: "100 percent are from very low income communities." Dominguez also told the committee the supplement rate has not been increased since February 2016 and that local program costs have risen sharply.
Several county and service‑provider organizations registered support, including the Orange County Board of Supervisors, EspiritNet, the California Alliance of Child and Family Services, and the Association of Regional Center Agencies. The committee passed the bill as amended and referred it to the Assembly Appropriations Committee; the recorded committee vote in the minutes was 6 to 0 in favor.
Action details appear below.
