Statement: Governor Newsom’s May Revision of his 2025-26 California state budget proposal

SACRAMENTO - Senator Caroline Menjivar (D- San Fernando Valley) released the following statement in response to cuts to health and human services in Governor Gavin Newsom’s revised 2025-26 California state budget proposal.

“At a time when the federal government wants to justify deporting immigrants who are at work, in school, or in the hospital, California cannot allow them to be further vilified by taking away their health care and long-term care, thrusting them into homelessness or overburdening emergency rooms. While President Trump is forcing us to make hard decisions on what to fund, we cannot balance the budget on the backs of the working poor while we continue to give grotesque tax breaks to corporations.

What we need to evaluate is why social services, like Medi-Cal, are leaned on so hard in our state. Requiring employers, who in our current system are essentially subsidized by the state, to pay a living wage, increase full-time positions, and provide health insurance to employees is a common sense long-term fix to our over dependence on Medi-Cal.

The Governor says freezing enrollment in the Medi-Cal expansion and instating Medi-Cal premiums are not tactics to keep people off the program, but isn’t that the obvious consequence? The Governor is asking the Legislature to approve kicking undocumented seniors out of skilled nursing facilities, removing their at-home support service and dental, while also reinstating Medi-Cal asset limit tests for seniors and disabled adults. He goes further with his attack on vulnerable communities and reneges on our promise to provide a cost-of-living adjustment for child care workers, drastically decreases funding for reproductive health care providers, and adds trigger language to the foster care tier rate structure.

I have faith that my fellow Legislators and I will counter with a budget that aligns with California’s principles of equality and opportunity. Any reversals of our commitments to critical programs, while allowing corporations to continue to exploit working people, are a slap in the face to Californians and democracy.”

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