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Last Friday January 10, Governor Gavin Newsom released his proposed 2020-21 budget. The Governor’s budget builds upon last year’s in seeking to address a number of the most critical issues facing low-income Californians, including homelessness and lack of affordable housing, expanding access to health coverage, increasing paid family leave, and moving closer to universal preschool. CFPA is encouraged by the Governor’s proposals aimed at narrowing the income inequality gap by extending more of the state’s prosperity to those who have not shared equally in our state’s economic success.

All Californians deserve opportunities to thrive and the resources they need to be well nourished.
Now is the time to advance bold solutions to urgent problems. We are heartened to see continued and new investments aimed at reducing hunger, alleviating poverty, and promoting public health. These include: new funding to combat rising homelessness, the expansion of Medi-Cal to undocumented older adults, and new investments in K-12 school nutrition. We look forward to working with the Administration and Legislature to ensure that the state makes targeted and effective anti-hunger investments in 2020.

The following are highlights from the 2020-21 Governor’s State Budget Proposal with respect to food security: 

CALFRESH & FOOD DISTRIBUTION

CalFresh Application Assistance:

• The Budget includes $5 million General Fund annually to maintain the

GetCalFresh.org

website, a statewide online application assistance tool that provides a streamlined, user-friendly application experience. The website will be maintained until a CalSAWS statewide online multi-program application portal becomes operational.

CalFresh Administration Budgeting Methodology:

• The Budget holds CalFresh county

• administration funding in 2020-21 to the 2019-20 level, but notes that Administration will continue to work with

representatives of counties and the County Welfare Directors Association of California to develop recommendations for a new budgeting methodology. The new methodology, to be proposed in the May Revision, will aim to determine the annual funding level necessary to support CalFresh administration. CFPA looks forward to working with the Administration, the Legislature, and anti-hunger advocates to ensure that investments in CalFresh program administration result in enhanced customer service for low-income Californians across the state.

CalWORKs and CalFresh Staffing and Resources:

• The Budget includes $3 million

to support increased staffing resources at DSS for the CalWORKs and CalFresh programs to improve program outcomes, services, administration, and oversight.

Emergency Food Programs:

• The Budget includes $20 million one-time General Fund for existing

• Emergency Food Assistance Program providers and food banks to support increased food purchases to partially mitigate the loss of CalFresh benefits due to federal rule changes. CFPA applauds the Administration for buttressing the state’s emergency food network in the face of worsening natural disasters and continued

federal attacks on SNAP/CalFresh

.

STUDENT HUNGER

K-12 School Meal Investments:

To improve the quality of subsidized school meals and encourage participation in the state and federal school nutrition programs, the Budget proposes $60 million Proposition 98 General Fund to increase funding for school nutrition. This funding will be structured as an additional 10 cents reimbursement per meal served. CFPA is very pleased to see the Governor and First Partner recognize the importance of adequate nutrition to students’ academic success, and looks forward to working with the Administration and Legislature to ensure that the impact of new state funding ensures that more students are reached by school meals.

Farm to School:

Additionally, the Budget proposes $10 million Proposition 98 General Fund to provide training for school food service workers to promote healthier and more nutritious meals. The Budget also proposes $10 million non-Proposition 98 General Fund in 2020-21 and $1.5 million annually thereafter for the California Department of Food and Agriculture to establish a Farm to School Grant Program to support California farmers and expand healthy food access by providing grants to schools.

College Student Hunger:

The budget allocates $11.4 million to establish and support food pantries at community colleges and $10 million one-time funding to develop and implement the Zero-Textbook-Cost Degree Program, which eliminates the cost of textbooks for certain degrees and certificate programs.

EARLY CHILDHOOD

Department of Early Childhood Development:

The Budget proposes to establish the Department of Early Childhood Development and transition most early childhood programs out of the California Department of Education to under the California Health and Human Services Agency beginning July 1st, 2021. The California State Preschool Program would remain at CDE.

State Preschool:

The Budget advances the Governor’s priority for universal preschool by funding an additional 10,000 State Preschool slots and opening up the Full-Day Kindergarten Facilities Grant Program to school districts for the construction of preschool facilities on school campuses.

Paid Family Leave:

The 2019 state budget increased Paid Family Leave from six to eight weeks. The 2020 budget proposes to increase the use of the benefit by strengthening job protections for workers.

Child Care:

The Budget proposes modest increases in the number of child care slots through increased funding for CalWORKs child care, general child care, and Alternative Payment Program vouchers.

Early Childhood Nutrition:

Although the Governor proposed new investments in K-12 nutrition, no new investments were made in early childhood nutrition. We look forward to working with the Legislature and the Administration to ensure that previous budget cuts to child care nutrition are restored so every child in preschool and child care has access to a meal.

POVERTY AND HOMELESSNESS

Homelessness:

• • The Budget proposes spending $750 million one-time General Fund to create a new

California Access to Housing and Services Fund,

• • administered by CDSS and distributed through “performance-based contracts” between the state and “regional administrators.”

CalWORKs Grant Increase

• • The Budget includes a 3.1-percent increase to CalWORKs Maximum Aid Payment levels, effective October 1, 2020. $73.6 million in 2020-21 and $98.1 million in 2021-22 from realignment funds are provided for this increase.

SSI/SSP Grants:

• • The Budget fails to include state increase for the state-funded SSP portion of SSI/SSP grants in 2020-21. CFPA and our partners are disappointed by the lack of increase to the grants, which remain below the poverty level for individual SSI recipients and only slightly above the poverty level for couples.

CalEITC and Young Child Tax Credit:

• • The Budget maintains the increased investments in these credits that were made in the 2019-20 budget and does not provide any additional investments. CFPA and our partners are disheartened that the Governor chose not to prioritize expanding access and funding for these programs that provide a vital boost to the incomes of low-wage working families with children. We are particularly disappointed in the Budget’s failure to expand CalEITC eligibility to immigrant families who pay taxes and face increased discrimination, but remain ineligible for the tax credit. We look forward to working with the Legislature and Administration to ensure that those families are included in the final state budget.

HEALTH AND HEALTHCARE

Medi-Cal Healthier California for All:

• • The Budget proposes $695 million, growing to $1.4 billion in 2021-22 and 2022-23 to provide a wider array of services and supports for patients with complex and high needs. The project will build upon the successes of demonstration programs such as Whole Person Care, the Coordinated Care Initiative, Health Homes, and public hospital system delivery transformation. CFPA recommends that this important initiative recognize food insecurity as a key social determinant of health and prioritize improved care coordination to more seamlessly connect our most vulnerable Medi-Cal participants’, such as Californians facing homelessness, to existing supports.

Medi-Cal for Undocumented Older Adults:

• • The Budget includes $80.5 million to expand eligibility for full-scope Medi-Cal benefits to all persons aged 65 years and older, regardless of immigration status. CFPA applauds the Administration for continuing to expand access to affordable health care for all Californians, and recommends that the Legislature and Administration complement these steps forward by considering a similar expansion of eligibility for state-funded nutrition assistance in the near future.

Questions? Contact Jared Call at jared@cfpa.net or 323.401.4972.