State Budget Priorities

Overview

State Budget Priorities

Each year, CWDA works with its Board of Directors and its committee members to set budget priorities that will improve the well-being of children, families and individuals served by the human services system and to align public policy with the needs of populations and communities across the state.

Click on the sections below to find an overview of our budget priorities, periodic budget updates and more specific information on budget priorities contained in budget memos and fact sheets.

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BUDGET FACT SHEET: First Responders to Poverty First Responders PREVENT HUNGER & to Poverty PROTECT CALFRESH FROM H.R. 1 CUTS
Investing in County Eligibility Workers Will Keep Californians Connected to Food Benefits

Beginning June 1, 2026, at least 1 in 5 CalFresh recipients are at risk of losing life-saving food assistance due to onerous new work requirements imposed by H.R. 1, which requires proof of 20 hours per week of work, job training, education, or community service. Work requirements are proven as a failed strategy to improve employment, while denying eligible people from accessing assistance, increasing costs to taxpayers, and pushing vulnerable populations deeper into poverty.

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BUDGET FACT SHEET: PREVENT HUNGER & PROTECT CALFRESH FROM H.R. 1 CUTS
Investing in County Eligibility Workers Will Keep Californians Connected to Food Benefits

Beginning June 1, 2026, at least 1 in 5 CalFresh recipients are at risk of losing life-saving food assistance due to onerous new work requirements imposed by H.R. 1, which requires proof of 20 hours per week of work, job training, education, or community service. Work requirements are proven as a failed strategy to improve employment, while denying eligible people from accessing assistance, increasing costs to taxpayers, and pushing vulnerable populations deeper into poverty.

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BUDGET FACT SHEET: First Responders to Poverty First Responders PREVENT HUNGER & to Poverty PROTECT CALFRESH FROM H.R. 1 CUTS
Investing in County Eligibility Workers Will Keep Californians Connected to Food Benefits

Beginning June 1, 2026, at least 1 in 5 CalFresh recipients are at risk of losing life-saving food assistance due to onerous new work requirements imposed by H.R. 1, which requires proof of 20 hours per week of work, job training, education, or community service. Work requirements are proven as a failed strategy to improve employment, while denying eligible people from accessing assistance, increasing costs to taxpayers, and pushing vulnerable populations deeper into poverty.

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BUDGET FACT SHEET: PRESERVE HEALTH CARE & PROTECT MEDI-CAL FROM H.R. 1 CUTS
Investing in County Eligibility Workers is Critical to Keep Californians Connected to Health Care Benefits

County eligibility workers are responsible for processing, verifying, and redetermining eligibility for applicants and Medi-Cal enrollees in California.
The county eligibility workforce helped enroll millions of low-income
adults who became newly eligible for Medi-Cal under the Affordable
Care Act (ACA) beginning in 2014, contributing to near universal
health care coverage in 2022 and 2023 when the statewide uninsured
rate dropped to a historic low of 6.2%.

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PREVENT HUNGER & PROTECT CALFRESH FROM H.R. 1 CUTS & RISKS

The County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA) respectfully submits this memorandum to highlight three significant programmatic changes and emerging risks affecting CalFresh administration that will require targeted relief and strategic investments to ensure Californians can continue to access critical food assistance without disruption. 

Budget Priority

PROTECTING MEDI-CAL COVERAGE IN THE FACE OF H.R. 1

The County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA) respectfully urges the Legislature to protect Medi-Cal coverage for 4.6 million impacted low-income Californians by investing in the county eligibility workforce as the State prepares to implement new federal Medicaid requirements under H.R. 1. If adequately funded, well-trained, and fully staffed, the county eligibility workforce is an upstream approach to mitigate downstream, system-wide impacts of H.R. 1, impacts that would increase uncompensated care costs.

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State Budget Update #1 – Governor’s Proposed 2026-2027 Budget
Budget Update #1 for FY 2026-27 Governor’s Budget

Overall Budget Picture

California’s overall economic picture has performed better than projected compared to the Budget Act of 2025. The Governor’s Budget proposes a $348.9 billion balanced budget with
General Fund expenditures of $248.3 billion. The stronger-than-anticipated performance of the economy, stock market, and cash receipts have contributed to an upgraded revenue
forecast, with General Fund (GF) revenues coming in higher by approximately $42.3 billion, or 6.7 percent, across the budget window (FYs 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27). The revenue

Press release Carlos Marquez III

California Leaders Must Step into the Breach and Protect Vulnerable Children, Adults and Families in the State Budget
County Eligibility Workers Make the Difference Between an Unmitigated Healthcare and Hunger Crisis and Families’ Preserving Ongoing Access to Life Saving Food Assistance and Healthcare Coverage

Sacramento, CA – The County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA) of California issued the following statement from Executive Director Carlos Marquez III today on Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2026 – 2027 Budget Proposal. 

Budget Priority

State Budget Update #4
Final 2025-2026 Budget Agreement- Amended

On June 24, 2025, the Budget Bill Junior (AB/SB 102) and various trailer bill (TBL) omnibuses reflecting the vast majority of the Administration and Legislature’s agreement for the three­ party budget deal went into print. We note, as of distributing this update, an official announcement on a final budget deal has yet to be released by Legislative leadership or the Governor’s Office. 

Budget Priority

State Budget Update #3
Legislature's Budget Plan

The California Assembly and Senate have released their two-party budget agreement. It is expected that the Budget plan will be reflected in the 2025-26 Budget Bill (likely SB 101) and heard in Budget subcommittee hearings this week, with Assembly and Senate votes taken by Sunday, June 15. In the coming days, the Legislature and Governor will ramp up discussions to finalize athree-party agreement.

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Medi-Cal: Comments On May Revise Proposals

The attached memo provides the County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA) response to proposals included in the May Revision regarding the proposed changes to the Medi-Cal program and our assessment of the feasibility of the timelines for those changes. 

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Vulnerable Populations To Lose Access To Key Housing And Homelessness Programs

The County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA) continues to urge the Legislature to maintain funding for critical county-administered housing and homelessness programs, including Bringing Families Home (BFH), Home Safe, the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) Housing Support Program (HSP), and the Housing and Disability Advocacy Program (HDAP). We understand May Revise presents challenges to either continue funding or to fund augmented levels of these programs.

Presentation

State Budget Update #2
May Revision 2025-26 Budget

Governor Newsom released the May Revision to his proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-26 Budget on Wednesday May 14. The attached budget update summarizes what we know so far about the proposals and issues of interest in the health and human services area. CWDA staff will continue to keep you updated in the coming days and weeks as we learn more details and as budget actions are taken in the Legislature. 

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Child Welfare Services: May Revise Proposals

The attached document provides the County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA) response to proposals included in the May Revision that would reduce critical supports to foster children and their caregivers. CWDA also urges legislative action to stabilize foster family agencies in light of recent changes in the insurance market, as this issue was not addressed in the May Revision. 

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CALWORKs: May Revision Response

Attached is a budget memo from the County Welfare Directors Association, the Service Employees International Union, the California State Association of Counties, the Urban Counties of California, and the Rural County Representatives of California.

This memo serves as our response to the CalWORKs-related proposals in the May Revision. We continue to urge the rightsizing of the CalWORKs Single Allocation. Specifically, we request a one-time investment of $245 million in FY 2025-26 and a long-overdue update to the administrative budget methodology beginning in FY 2026-27. 

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Housing & Homelessness Programs Budget Memo

The attached is a budget memo on human services housing and homelessness programs from the County Welfare Directors Association. 

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Child Welfare Services (CWS) Budget Memo

The attached is a budget memo on Child Welfare Services (CWS) budget proposals from the County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA). This is a follow-up budget memo to our original budget memorandum dated March 6, 2025, to provide additional comment and response based on discussions held in the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 hearing on March 12, 2025. 

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IHSS Admin Budget Memo

The attached is a budget memo on the critical need to fully fund administration of the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program from the County Welfare Directors Association and California State Association of Counties. 

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Federal Safety Net Threats

Congress is considering unprecedented cuts to county administered safety net programs, including nearly $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid, $230 billion to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and a 10% cut to the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant. These cuts would decimate the state’s safety net as California draws down a disproportionate share of federal funds; 14% of all TANF block grant funding and 11% of SNAP funding, nationally, supports California’s most vulnerable.

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CalWORKs Coalition Budget Memo – CalWORKs Administration Funding

Attached is a budget memo from the County Welfare Directors Association, the Service Employees International Union, the California State Association of Counties, the Urban Counties of California, and the Rural County Representatives of California.