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State budget deal would cut billions, county staff outline Medi-Cal fixes and seek support for AB 350
Summary
County received a state legislative update describing a legislative leadership budget plan that uses reserves and borrowing to close a roughly $12 billion shortfall while modifying Medi-Cal and IHSS proposals; the county health department requested committee support for AB 350 (fluoride treatment coverage).
At its Personnel Administration and Legislation Committee meeting, Alameda County staff and a contracted lobbyist reviewed a newly released legislative leadership budget deal and asked the board to consider supporting Assemblymember Rob Bontas AB 350, a bill to provide coverage for fluoride treatments.
Amy Costa of Full Moon Strategies told supervisors the legislature met House of Origin deadlines and that legislative leaders had reached a two-party outline to address a roughly $12 billion ongoing shortfall. Costa said the leadership plan would rely on a mix of revenue, borrowing and drawing down reserves "about $7.1 billion" from the rainy-day fund plus other cash-reserve actions, and included a one-year reduction of about $3.5 billion, growing to roughly $12 billion ongoing.
Costa described several specific program changes in the legislative outline: restoring the Medi-Cal asset limit to $130,000; narrowing a proposed Medi-Cal enrollment freeze to some adults with unsatisfactory immigration status beginning in January 2026 and creating a six-month reenrollment grace period; lowering a previously proposed Medi-Cal premium from $100 to $30 per month for certain ages beginning in 2027; rejecting the governors proposed IHSS overtime caps and allowing a six-month continuation for an IHSS residual program while counties would share reassessment penalty costs in 2026.
On housing and homelessness, Costa said the plan reduced the governors Encampment Resolution Fund by $100 million but proposed $500 million for the next round of Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) funding, $500 million in supplemental state low-income housing tax credits, $300 million for a California Dream for All program, and $120 million for deeply affordable multifamily housing construction.
Chair Tam said Alameda County Health requested the committees support for AB 350 to cover fluoride treatments. "We have a request to support Assemblymember Bonta's bill, AB 350," Chair Tam said; the request came from the Alameda County Health Department. The committee also advanced two informational items and sought support to move those items to the full board.
Several staff members who were participating online identified themselves on the record. There were no public comments on the state update and the committee adjourned.
