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Public health director warns of federal grant terminations and seeks one‑time county funding to avert service cuts
Summary
Dr. Barbara Ferrer told supervisors the Department of Public Health could lose hundreds of millions if federal cuts proceed, detailing recent rescissions and asking the board for flexible net county cost and one‑time funding to sustain essential programs and community partners.
Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, told the Board of Supervisors on May 7 that recent federal actions and the president’s proposed fiscal 2026 blueprint threaten core public health funding and programs.
Ferrer said a March rescission eliminated more than $45 million in previously awarded federal grants for infectious disease mitigation, lab capacity, vaccine efforts and substance‑use prevention. She also reported the abrupt termination of a public health AmeriCorps grant supporting roughly 39 AmeriCorps members and related positions.
“LA County could face the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in annual public health funding,” Ferrer said, warning that the county’s ability to maintain prevention, laboratory capacity and community‑based contracts is at risk if the federal changes are adopted.
What public health funds support Public Health’s recommended budget for fiscal 2025‑26 is roughly $1.7 billion; Ferrer said federal funds account for about $912 million (roughly half) and support about 1,500 permanent county positions and contracts with community‑based organizations. She told the board that roughly 60% of federal funds are contracted out to community partners.
Requests to the board Ferrer presented a set of mitigation requests and asked the board and CEO to consider: - Allowing greater flexibility to use net county cost (NCC) funding to plug gaps left by federal cuts. - Exempting the Department of Public Health from a proposed 3% curtailment tied to AB 218 payment plan obligations. - Approving one‑time funding requests totaling about $32 million composed of: $5 million to partially sustain STD prevention and control, $7 million to backfill epidemiology and laboratory capacity grants if injunctions fail, and roughly $20 million for flexible one‑time support to keep core public health services functioning.
Ferrer warned that without new or flexible county funding, the department may be forced to terminate contract staff, lay off permanent employees, cancel community contracts and prioritize legally mandated services at the expense of prevention and innovation.
Board questions and follow up Supervisors asked for staff detail on which public health programs are supported by NCC and which are federally restricted. CEO Fesia Davenport said her office is reviewing departmental NCC allocations and curtailment scenarios to consider enterprise‑wide tradeoffs. Ferrer said the department has begun stakeholder outreach to prioritize legal mandates and high‑impact work and will provide additional prioritization guidance to the board.
Ending note Ferrer urged swift coordination with the board and the CEO’s office to identify short‑term bridge funding and longer‑term strategies should the federal picture not change. The board did not approve the funding requests during the hearing; they were presented as mitigation proposals for further consideration.
