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.
“2026 began with a punch to the gut for low-income and working families with an unlawful, anti-family funding freeze to vital childcare and cash assistance by the Trump Administration, and the callous decision by Congress to allow life-saving healthcare subsidies to expire. Taken together with the Trump Administration’s signature legislative achievement – kicking people off SNAP and Medicaid – these wanton federal actions are dismantling a safety net that took a century to build in a matter of months, putting enormous stress on California’s families, and placing previously unimaginable strain on our state budget and the county-run systems that serve our most vulnerable.
“But in the fourth largest economy in the world, not all has to be lost. We need our Governor and Legislative leaders to step into the breach by boldly investing in a well-trained, battle tested county eligibility workforce that has time and time again defied expectations, enrolling and retaining healthcare coverage and food assistance for low-income individuals through the Great Recession, a once-in-a-century global pandemic and COVID-19 unwinding, and helping California realize the vision of the Affordable Care Act by dramatically reducing uninsured rates. If properly resourced, the county eligibility workforce can again be the difference-makers between retaining life-saving food and healthcare for as many Californians as possible, and some 500,000 Californians losing CalFresh, and upwards of 3 million losing their Medi-Cal coverage. We must fund this work now.
“County human services agencies and our eligibility workforce offer a clear pathway for state leaders. CWDA looks forward to working with Governor Newsom’s administration and Legislative leaders to invest in the workers who will make the difference between an unmitigated healthcare and hunger crisis and keeping as many people fed and covered as possible.”