The social determinants of health are conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age.  Children’s well-being is increasingly linked to the social determinants.  For example, nearly a quarter of young children in California live in poverty—a fact that has profound educational, health, and economic repercussions now and in the long term in that they create inequities that are unfair, but that could be mitigated.  For the scope of the Committee’s work, we are defining children to include young adults up to age 26.   

The Select Committee was formed in February 2019 and will be active through the two-year legislative session. The bipartisan Select Committee members will be tasked with presiding over hearings that focus on specific social determinants of health that drive negative outcomes such as housing and homelessness, health access, immigration, poverty and the safety net, land use, and education.  The Committee seeks to understand challenges in the current systems with the various determinants and consider ways to improve outcome for children.  The geographic focus of the work will be on areas with high poverty rates that is inclusive, but not limited to: Los Angeles, the San Joaquin Valley, the Inland Empire, the Central Coast, and Northern Border/Tribal Lands. 

The Committee will study and make recommendations promoting the health of children in California. These recommendations will be posted on the Senate website

Members:

Senator Holly J. Mitchell (Chair)
Senator Patricia C. Bates
Senator Anna M. Caballero
Senator Melissa Hurtado
Senator Richard Pan
Senator Susan Rubio