7.1.2016On June 27, Governor Jerry Brown signed the 2016-17 budget package, including the budget bill and companion trailer bills. This state budget goes into effect on July 1 for the fiscal year. The Governor signed the budget package that the Legislature approved on June 15 without any blue pencil (line item) eliminations.
The 2016-17 budget includes $122.5 billion in General Fund spending, including constitutionally required increases in K-14 education, the state Rainy Day Fund, and debt repayment. In line with Governor Brown’s focus on fiscal restraint, the budget makes additional deposits into the state’s reserve and provides funding for repair of state buildings. Notably, the budget package repeals the unjust Maximum Family Grant CalWORKS rule, which for decades has denied benefits to children born into CalWORKS families and drives children deeper into poverty. The budget also makes modest yet significant investments in other key areas of hunger and poverty alleviation, thanks to the robust and effective advocacy of grassroots and statewide organizing.
CFPA praises Governor Brown and the Legislature for key investments in nutrition and human services that will positively impact the lives of struggling Californians. CFPA will continue to advocate for access to high-quality programs and services that increase access to nutritious and affordable food.
The 2016-17 Budget & Nutrition for Californians in Need
School Nutrition
School Breakfast: CFPA-led advocacy resulted in a great win for school breakfast this year! The education omnibus trailer bill provides an additional $2 million dollars in grant funds for public schools to startup or expand after-the-bell breakfast programs. These funds, available over a two-year period (school years 2017-18 and 2018-19), will improve access to school breakfast on hundreds of campuses for tens of thousands of low-income students. The new funds prioritize grants for after-the-bell breakfast in high-poverty schools, and were allocated to expand an existing grant program available for schools to start or expand any type of breakfast or summer meal program.
In total, the Budget Act and the education trailer bill appropriated a total of $3.017 million for child nutrition start-up grants. Improved access to school breakfast means California kids will be better prepared to learn, grow, and achieve at their fullest potential. Read more about this investment in school breakfast here. link
Water in Schools: Thanks to the advocacy of the Drinking Water Advocates Coalition, which includes CFPA, the budget provides an increase of $9.5 million one-time Prop 98 funds to create a grant program that will improve access to safe drinking water for schools located in disadvantaged communities. The program will be developed and administered by the State Water Resources Control Board in consultation with the Department of Education. The budget also includes $1.3 million and new staff positions at the Water Board to assist schools and water systems with safety testing and reporting. Read more about the Drinking Water Advocates Coalition budget platform. link
CalFresh & Food Assistance
The enacted budget includes CalFresh investments included in the Governor’s January and May budget proposals, including $2.0 billion ($693.1 million General Fund) for CalFresh administration in 2016-17. The budget maintains investments in the CalFresh program to provide five new positions within the CalFresh Branch of the Department of Social Services with the goal of enrolling an additional 400,000 children in CalFresh over the next two years. The budget also includes $4.24 million ($1.48 million General Fund) in 2016-17 to address automation changes needed in SAWS to implement the CalFresh ABAWD time limit rules which will come back into effect after the statewide waiver expires December 31, 2017.
Nutrition Incentives: The budget agreement includes $5 million General Fund over two years to support the Nutrition Incentive Matching Grant Program, also known as Market Match. Market Match supplements CalFresh and WIC benefits to allow participants to purchase additional produce at farmers’ markets.
Food Assistance: The budget includes a one-time appropriation of $2 million General Fund for the State Emergency Food Assistance Program to purchase and distribute food to households in poverty. The budget agreement also includes a one-time augmentation of $2 million for the Department of Aging to supplement the home-delivered meals program for eligible seniors.
Poverty Mitigation
Maximum Family Grant Repeal: The budget agreement takes a historic step by repealing the punitive and discriminatory Maximum Family Grant (MFG) rule, which drives CalWORKS families with children deeper into poverty. This policy change- effective January 1, 2017- will benefit approximately 130,000 children born into poverty by allowing their families to receive a modest increase in cash assistance to help cover basic living expenses. The MFG repeal will initially be funded with General Fund dollars as well as funds from the Child Poverty and Family Supplemental Support Subaccount of the Local Revenue Fund, which supports various health and human services programs operated by counties. By 2019-20, the entire annual cost of repealing the MFG rule is expected to be funded by this Subaccount.
SSI/SSP: SSI/SSP grants help 1.3 million low-income seniors and people with disabilities to pay for rent, food, and basic necessities. SSI/SSP grant benefits, which are funded with both federal (SSI) and state (SSP) dollars, were drastically cut during the Great Recession. At that time, state policymakers eliminated the annual state COLA and cut the SSP portion of the monthly grant to the minimum levels allowed by federal law- from $233 to $156 for individuals and from $568 to $396 for couples. This budget package includes a 2.76 percent COLA to the state’s SSP portion effective January 1, 2017, which will provide an increase of $4.32 per month for individuals and $10.94 per month for couples.
CalWORKS: The budget package also includes 1.4% increase in CalWORKs grants that will raise the maximum grant for a family of three by $10 per month, effective October 1, 2016. This grant increase will be paid through the Child Poverty and Family Supplemental Support Subaccount, at an estimated cost of $35.4 million in 2016-17 and $47 million in 2017-18.
Homelessness: The 2016-17 budget package takes some notable steps toward addressing California’s affordable housing crisis, and reflects $3.6 billion in state and federal funding and award authority for affordable housing and homelessness programs. However, state policymakers have not yet reached agreement on major proposals that aim to reduce homelessness and to speed up local approval of development projects that include affordable housing units. The increased General Fund spending includes allocations for CalWORKS rapid rehousing and emergency homeless shelters.
Minimum Wage: The budget allows for a General Fund increase of $39 million in 2016-17 to support the implementation of SB 3, which will incrementally raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 per hour. The 2016-17 budget reflects an increase in the minimum wage by fifty cents an hour on January 1, 2017 to $10.50 per hour.
Early Childhood
The 2016-17 budget makes a multi-year commitment of over $500 million in additional funding to support early learning and child care for working families. The budget package rejected Administration proposals to consolidate funding into Block Grants and a voucher-based system. Instead, the agreement makes a modest investment in early learning programs in 2016-17 and assumes that this investment will increase in subsequent years.
Nearly $147 million is allocated in 2016-2017 to raise reimbursement rates so that child care and preschool providers can continue to keep up with the cost of ensuring quality care and California’s increasing minimum wage. The 2016-17 investment also includes funding to increase access to the state preschool program by almost 3,000 spaces, with nearly 6,000 more slots expected to follow in the next few years. As a result, thousands more young children enrolled in state preschool will benefit from nutritious, free or low-cost meals that meet federal nutrition standards.
The budget package does not increase child care slots or raise the income eligibility limit for subsidized child care. The agreement also does not include an Assembly proposal to establish a 12-month certification period for families who qualify for subsidized child care. Future advocacy should seek to expand access to subsidized child care placement and ensure that children in family child care homes are served nutritious foods during their hours in care.
Drought Relief
The historic drought, and drinking water quality issues exacerbated by the drought, continue to place an undue burden on Californians in disadvantaged communities. Ensuring access to safe potable water is the foundation of health and food security. The 2016-17 budget includes $109 million General Funds allocated to alleviating the state drinking water crisis.
These allocations include $10 million to the Department of Water Resources to provide drinking water assistance in small disadvantaged communities; an increase of $26.7 million for the Office of Emergency Services to provide emergency drinking water response; an increase of $5.4 million General Fund and $16 million Cleanup and Abatement Account to provide water support and grants for emergency drinking water projects; and an increase of $18.4 million General Fund for the Drought Food Assistance Program, which delivers food boxes to the most impacted communities.
Read the 2016-17 Budget Summary. link
Read the detailed 2016-17 budget. link
Questions?Contact Tracey Patterson at tracey@cfpa.net or 510.433.1122 ext 101.
