Sacramento, CA- The following statement can be attributed to Carlos Marquez III, Executive Director of the County Welfare Directors Association of California, on the 2026-27 state budget agreement:

“Today’s budget agreement represents a powerful rebuke against a federally-inflicted hunger and health care crisis under H.R.1. Rather than accepting an unrecognizable future where the working poor are left on their own, California state leaders have chosen to save lives and protect California’s progress through stabilizing investments in the safety net and in the workers who keep it going.

“This budget is a vote of confidence in California’s county eligibility workers; our First Responders to Poverty in communities across the state who’ve demonstrated the know-how for keeping Californians and their families connected to food and health care in crisis moments like this – from the Great Recession to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Governor Newsom and California lawmakers wisely heeded the warning signs from states like Massachusetts, where a failure to bolster the eligibility workforce has left clients stranded with no way to reach help – and in some cases, children going for months without the food aid for which they are eligible. California is now poised to minimize the fallout of H.R.1 on children and families, veterans, older adults, former foster youth, people who are unhoused, and the working poor.  

“CWDA is profoundly grateful to Governor Gavin Newsom, Speaker Robert Rivas, Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón, budget chairs Gabriel and Laird, subcommittee chairs Addis, Jackson and Menjivar, and our champion legislators Assemblymembers Schiavo, Sharp-Collins, and Senator Arreguín for refusing to accept H.R.1’s devastating human toll as inevitable and for prioritizing the county eligibility workforce in reducing the red tape that stands between vulnerable Californians and life-saving health care and food assistance.

“This agreement also minimizes the blast radius of H.R.1 by strengthening other areas of the safety net and blunting future downstream impacts specifically on seniors, people with disabilities, and children and families at risk of unnecessary involvement in the child welfare system, including by:

Protecting In-Home Supportive Services from cuts and cost shifts, at a moment when the needs of seniors and people with disabilities are intensifying – not diminishing.  

Strengthening Adult Protective Services, a critical frontline defense against homelessness among seniors and people with disabilities. 

Continuing to reduce unnecessary involvement of families in the Child Welfare System, and preventing a fiscal cliff in county Emergency Response units that serve as the frontline of our Child Welfare System.

Providing significant funding for Department of Social Services housing and homelessness prevention programs.

“California’s leaders have made a significant, early commitment to shield the working poor from a federal dismantling of the safety net just as the impacts of H.R.1 are beginning to be felt. Hunger and health care needs created by H.R.1 are growing, and CWDA is committed to continuing to work with the Administration and Legislature to sustain these life-saving investments.”