Santa Clara County officials warn HR 1 will cut more than $1 billion from safety-net programs, threaten hospitals and food aid

Santa Clara County leaders told the Finance and Government Operations Committee on Oct. 16 that the federal law known in the meeting as HR 1 will sharply reduce federal funding for Medicaid and SNAP and produce immediate and growing shortfalls to county services.

Chairperson Betty Young of the Finance and Government Operations Committee said the law, signed July 4, 2025, and related federal actions will produce “more than a billion dollars in ongoing annual cuts to our county’s budget once fully in effect,” and that the county must begin identifying where its operations are being hit and what mitigation options exist.

County Executive James Williams said the county is already seeing impacts this fiscal year. “The cuts and impacts from HR 1 hit us immediately this current fiscal year,” Williams told the committee, summarizing slides that showed about $200 million of impact this year, more than $500 million in the next fiscal year and more than $1 billion thereafter. He said the county has a three-pronged mitigation approach: partnering with the state, identifying internal budget reductions and efficiencies, and relying in part on Measure A, a five-eighths cent sales tax placed on a special election ballot by the Board of Supervisors.

Bert Margolin, an outside federal consultant introduced by county staff, described HR 1 as “the largest cut to Medicaid in the history of the program,” saying the package will reduce special financing arrangements that counties and public hospitals use to make up the gap between…