DENVER -- As the Biden administration continues to promote its plan to address the nation's crumbling roads and bridges, a coalition of worker advocates say it's time for the U.S. to invest in the nation's care infrastructure.

Ashley Panelli, associate state director for 9to5 Colorado, said the COVID-19 health crisis exposed gaping holes and disparities.

Black and Brown communities were disproportionately at risk to become critically ill with COVID-19, but 40% of people of color have no access to paid leave.

"We just don't have the best care infrastructure in this country," Panelli asserted. "And we are most certainly the only industrialized country that doesn't have a basic paid family- and medical-leave program."

Panelli argued a national paid family-leave policy will help the country weather future crises.

Polling has shown an overwhelming majority of voters, including 86% of Republicans, said all workers should have access to emergency paid sick, family and medical leave.

Some business groups warn a paid-leave program would weaken companies already struggling during the pandemic.

Dawn Huckelbridge, director of the Paid Leave for All campaign, believes all workers should be able to take paid time off for an extended illness, to welcome a new child to the family, or care for a sick family member.

She pointed out when the pandemic began, one of the first things Congress did was pass a temporary paid-leave program. She said now is the time to make the program permanent.

"We must include a comprehensive and permanent federal paid-leave policy to rebuild the care infrastructure in this country, and to have an equitable economic recovery," Huckelbridge contended.

Huckelbridge added it's not just crumbling roads and bridges that need a federal boost, and the jobs that come with it.

She pointed to research which showed universal paid leave would generate two million jobs and more than $22 billion in economic activity per year.

SACRAMENTO, Calif - Hundreds of thousands of Medi-Cal recipients who experienced financial hardship during the pandemic are paying monthly premiums when they don't have to - presumably unaware that the state is waiving the monthly payments during the pandemic.

All people have to do is call the California Department of Healthcare Services and request a waiver. Fatima Clark, senior policy and outreach associate with the nonprofit Children Now, said families are leaving anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars on the table.

"Our estimate is that about 40% of families who could be taking advantage of this program are not, today," said Clark.

A notice about the waiver and the number to call is on the invoices that recipients receive each month.

The waiver is expected to extend at least through the end of this year. What's more, people who've been making payments all this time can request that any payment made since March of 2020 be credited to their account and applied once the payments are required again.

Some Medi-Cal members who were impacted by natural disasters got automatic waivers, but they expired earlier this year, and those people now can apply for the regular waiver.

Clark said she's disappointed that the state didn't just waive the payments for everyone - and instead chose to make families jump through hoops.

"So families have to opt-in to receive the support," said Clark, "when the state could have very easily simply provided the support outright."

Medi-Cal provides health insurance to 14 million low-income Californians, including families with children, pregnant individuals and people with disabilities. Most do not pay any premiums but 750,000 do get an invoice once a month.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Jessica Molina of Perrysburg says she was inspired as a child by the spirit of activism, as she watched her parents participate in rallies and protests advocating for the rights of farm workers. Now, as the principal of the only bilingual elementary school in Toledo, Escuela Smart Academy, Molina volunteers with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee on youth programs.

Most recently, Molina has helped FLOC with COVID-19 vaccination efforts, even opening the doors of the school to provide more space for their clinic.

"It was important for them to make sure that their members had front-row seats to getting the vaccine - which really, they did, because FLOC's clinic was up and running just like the major hospitals," she said. "So, I think it was crucial to for them to show their members they have their back."

For their contributions to helping migrant farm workers, Molina and her parents recently attended a White House celebration of front-line health-care workers and volunteers.

FLOC's work resulted in more than 6,000 people being vaccinated at the south Toledo clinic, with an 89% return rate for the second dose. Molina noted that the clinics were open to anyone in need of the vaccine.

"The clinic was available on the weekends, in the evenings," she said. "We even had a 'vaccine-a-thon,' where we were offering vaccines for 42 hours straight, from sunup until sundown. So, it was a really productive clinic."

Molina said she believes FLOC has set an example of what it means to serve the community in times of crisis.

"They maximized their relationships and their partnerships with other organizations to refocus their work on battling the pandemic," she said. "Fighting COVID isn't a part of their mission statement, but helping the community is."

With such a large percentage of the community now vaccinated, Molina said the school is no longer needed as a clinic site. However, she noted that FLOC continues to connect workers at various migrant farms to health-care services.

MINOT, N.D. -- Many arguments are being floated about legislation before Congress that would bring big changes to U.S. labor laws. The bill has its opponents, but North Dakota unions who back the plan say it's important to look beyond the rhetoric.

Sponsors of the PRO Act said a key goal is to make it easier for workers to unionize. It also would override "Right to Work Laws" in 27 states, including North Dakota.

Opponents say that removes choices for workers who don't want to join a union.

Bob Wolf, organizer for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 714 in Minot, said they can opt out. He argued dues-collection language ensures they contribute to efforts to secure benefits they receive.

"It costs the folks that are members money to negotiate a contract, to fight grievances, and you don't go to a potluck and not bring anything," Wolf asserted.

This month, unions from across the country held rallies in hopes of convincing senators still on the fence about the bill. They said the effort centers around blocking businesses who use intimidation tactics to stall union organizing. Groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce countered the PRO Act would do more harm to workplaces than good, while disrupting the economy.

Wolf contended it goes beyond wages and the ability to hold union elections. He added giving organized labor more tools to operate paves the way for safer working conditions.

"You know, we don't see everything out in the field, and that's where when the members come back and say, 'You know, we're being asked to do this in an unsafe manner or an unsafe way,'" Wolf recounted.

Landis Larson, president of the North Dakota AFL-CIO, said as for prohibiting interference, workers should have the right to openly discuss union possibilities without looking over their shoulder, or being forced to attend company-sponsored informational sessions.

"They call them captive-audience meetings with the employees," Larson explained. "It is very intimidating when you're looking at the people that actually give you your money for a paycheck. It's a real chilling effect."

The House approved the PRO Act in March, but it faces an uncertain future in the Senate.