Earlier in the month, President Trump issued an  executive order   requiring federal departments (including USDA) that administer public benefit programs to review programmatic regulations and submit a report to the White House identifying opportunities to strengthen work requirements and tighten eligibility criteria, particularly for immigrants. USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue  issued a statement   echoing the White House's language on dependency. The executive order follows a USDA  comment period   seeking public input on how to "promote work" in SNAP, as well as the Administration's grant of a waiver permitting work requirements in  Kentucky's Medicaid  program. Although the Administration is already signaling that  SNAP and Medicaid   are the primary focus of this executive order, other programs like WIC must be included in the reports to the White House. 

The Farm Bill, introduced last week in the House Agriculture Committee, is generally passed every five years to reauthorize both farm subsidies and certain nutrition programs, including SNAP, ( page 223 ). WIC is authorized separately through Child Nutrition Reauthorization. WIC families also depend on SNAP, however, and proposed changes would negatively impact children and their families through restrictions in categorical eligibility .  Other changes include imposing harsher work requirements and redirecting funding from food assistance to job training programs. Secretary Perdue suggested that the draft legislation last week aligned well with the farm bill principles he released earlier this year. The bill still faces markup and a House vote, and the Senate's farm bill is likely to look very different than the House version. Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee,  made it clear  that they will work in a bipartisan effort on their version. ACTION: Read the National WIC Association's  full analysis of the Farm Bill.  Read about categorical eligibility limitations impacts on CA and call California House members of the Ag Committee and tell them to oppose the Farm Bill's SNAP changes.

California Work & Family Coalition  is partnering with  Human Impact Partners   on a  research project  focused on California's unpaid family caregivers. This is the first phase of a longer campaign to meet a goal of making sure that State and workplace policies - including Paid Family Leave - flexibly support working caregivers who provide care and assistance to seriously ill and disabled family members. The research findings will help all of us - advocates, community leaders, and policymakers - understand the real needs of family caregivers. ACTION: Please share with members, colleagues, and friends who work and care for loved ones. If you are a family caregiver yourself, please take a few minutes to complete the  survey , also available in Spanish .

Released each year by the Children's Advocacy Institute , the annual Children's Legislative Report Card identifies California legislators' voting records in key areas including education, foster care and welfare, poverty, health and well-being, child care and juvenile justice.

A week from today, CWA's 26^th  Annual Conference & Trade Show will be in full swing, and we are expecting to see over 900 of your smiling faces! Be sure to check the  final agenda  ahead of next week to plan which sessions you'll attend and also download the presentation materials submitted so far. For those of you not able to make it, you can check out the materials, of course, and accept our gratitude for keeping the doors open for WIC families back home. ACTION:  If you haven't registered yet but would still like to attend, you can register on site starting Sunday, April 29. Follow us on  Instagram  and Facebook  and get ready to participate in our eWIC Go! Scavenger hunt.

The selected MIS has been used in more than 10 state WIC or tribal agencies, including Michigan, New York, and Florida. California's version of the system will be based off of New York's system and configured for California-specific needs. In addition to streamlining daily work functions, some advantages of the new system are being able to issue food benefits via a magnetic stripe EBT card (similar to a debit card), load participant benefits remotely, capture electronic signatures, and provide helpful reminders for local agency staff to perform required tasks. The system will also be able to print various screens for families, such as graphical growth charts, and offer a web portal for participants! If you're attending the CWA 2018 Annual Conference and Trade Show, there will be an opportunity to learn more about the features of the new system that is expected to be available statewide by April 2020.