Updates from the New State Budget
On June 27, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the 2025-26 state budget after negotiations with the Legislature. The budget reflects the impacts of our coalition’s advocacy: the proposed trigger-on from the May Revision was removed, and the state’s commitment to expand the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to older adults regardless of immigration status beginning October 2027 has been renewed.
Where We’re At
While we appreciate the Legislature and governor’s continued support of this investment, the planned expansion will continue to exclude hundreds of thousands of Californians below the age of 55, based on their immigration status. As we move forward with our budget advocacy, the Food4All coalition will continue to urge our leaders to protect this expansion and make additional progress towards our long-term vision of food access for all experiencing need.
Thanks to the combined efforts of the Food4All coalition, our legislative champion Assemblywoman Celeste Rodriguez, and our supporters, we succeeded this past year in pushing back against proposals that would threaten our progress towards Food4All.
However, the state budget also includes concerning cuts to Medi-Cal access for immigrants. As a result of the budget, California will begin excluding individuals ages 19 to 59 with unsatisfactory immigration statuses from dental benefits under Medi-Cal beginning on July 1, 2027, add a monthly premium of $30, and freeze full-scope Medi-Cal enrollment for this population beginning on Jan. 1, 2026. All Californians deserve healthy and dignified lives, and this relies on access to food and health care.
For a Future Where All Californians Can Thrive
While Californians are looking to our state’s leaders to address food insecurity and income inequality, the federal administration is pursuing cuts to essential programs like Medicaid and SNAP (Medi-Cal and CalFresh in California). These cruel cuts threaten our collective well-being, especially for those with low incomes, people with disabilities, and immigrants, to fund mass deportation and create tax breaks for big corporations and the wealthy. Our state can, and must, help Californians cover rising food costs and other basic needs by identifying fairer budget solutions that don’t come at the expense of historically marginalized communities.
To protect Californians from harmful federal cuts, state leaders must focus on ideas to equitably raise new revenue, such as ending costly tax breaks for the wealthy and large corporations. This approach will help safeguard vital services and ensure all communities have the resources they need to thrive. State and federal leaders have the ability and responsibility to protect vulnerable Californians, regardless of where they were born.
Ways to Take Action
1. Send a letter to our legislative leaders and the governor and thank them for protecting the CFAP expansion for older Californians, regardless of immigration status.
Use our sample letter to write to our state’s leaders and thank them in just a few minutes! Your gratitude for their leadership will encourage them to keep using their power to protect our communities.
2. Stay connected on Food4All
See our Food4All campaign page for ways to stay engaged.
