State Budget Priorities

The Legislature passed a revised budget bill yesterday afternoon, reflecting the final agreement reached by the Governor and the Legislature on the 2023-24 budget late Tuesday. Also passed were 18 of the approximately 25 budget trailer bills. The Legislature is expected to pass the remaining trailer bills in the coming days. The Governor signed the main budget bill last night and will sign the remaining budget-related bills over the next few days in time for the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.

The County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA) continues to respectfully request $35 million General Fund (GF) to increase recruitment of human service workers to meet the growing demands to provide safety-net services and economic supports to California’s children, youth, families, older adults and persons with disabilities. As California faces a potential economic slowdown and increased demand for safety net services, having an adequate human services workforce is even more critical.

The County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA) and Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC) urge the Legislature to support foster children who are highly traumatized and have unmet complex needs. CWDA and CPOC are jointly requesting $43.7 million General Funding (GF) in FY 2023-24 to stabilize foster youth and youth at risk of foster care with acute and complex needs, to better enable California to realize the goals of the Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) effort, as adopted pursuant to AB 403 (Stone, Ch. 773, Statutes of 2015).

The County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA) respectfully requests $35 million General Fund (GF) to increase recruitment of human service workers to meet the growing demands to provide safety-net services and economic supports to California’s children, youth, families, older adults and persons with disabilities.

The County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA) respectfully requests an additional $240.2 million General Fund (GF) for county administration of the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Program to address critical and longstanding underfunding of IHSS program operations. This funding is needed to ensure IHSS social workers have manageable caseloads to perform essential functions of the IHSS program that enable older adults and persons with disabilities to remain in their homes and avoid costly institutionalization.

County human service agencies are facing critical staffing shortages across all program areas. Competition for staff is fierce both within the county (across programs and services as well as the private sector) and across county lines. This proposal would provide funding and resources, as well as reduce barriers, to address these significant workforce shortages. 

CWDA Workforce Proposal Fact Sheet

The state has experienced an unprecedented number of emergencies and disasters in recent years, including but not limited to record-breaking wildfires and the pandemic. Most recently, widespread and sustained storms created flooding, mudslides and power outages. Counties, particularly human services departments, are at the front line of disaster response and recovery efforts, and support is needed to ensure these tasks do not interfere with the day-to-day operations of the critical safety net programs counties also operate.

CWDA Disaster Response Proposal Fact Sheet