Welcome to the July 21, 2021 edition of Just 3 Things, the weekly social action newsletter of the Office of Human Life & Dignity. If this email was forwarded to you, and you'd like to receive it each week, please click here. 

Valerie Schmalz

Director

Office of Human Life & Dignity

Archdiocese of San Francisco

California is poised to pay reparations to women who were forced to be sterilized during most of the 20th century and in some cases as recently as 2010.  While California sterilized more than 20,000 people before its law was repealed in 1979, only a few hundred are still alive. California’s proposal is unique because it also would pay women the state coerced to get sterilized while they were in prison, some as recently as 2010. First exposed by the Center for Investigative Reporting in 2013, a subsequent audit found California sterilized 144 women between 2005 and 2013 with little or no evidence that officials counseled them or offered alternative treatment. More background here. The state has set aside $7.5 million for the reparations program, part of its $262.6 billion operating budget that is awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.

California's legislature solidified its budget before heading out July 16 for a months long recess. The budget also now officially includes $5.2 billion for the rental relief program, providing renters with up to 100 percent of back rent and up to three months of forward rent. The state’s renter’s eviction moratorium is set to expire Sept. 30, when the renter will be liable in court for eviction for past due rent. For more information on how to apply, visit www.housing.ca.gov.

The Catholic Climate Covenant’s Ladauto Si’ website, GodsPlanet.us, is now live. The project, named We’re All Part of God’s Plan(et), is an awareness and engagement campaign for U.S. Catholics to live out Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical, Laudato Si’, On Care For Our Common Home.