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Committee hears federal and state legislative briefings as Congress and Sacramento reconvene
Summary
County legislative staff told supervisors Congress returned for the 119th session and faces an Jan. 30 appropriations deadline; staff also summarized California Senate leadership changes, potential state revenue measures and a federal judge's order permitting sharing of basic Medicaid data with ICE starting Jan. 6.
County legislative staff provided an overview of federal and state developments that supervisors said could affect Alameda County services.
CJ Lake reported Congress reconvened for the second session of the 119th Congress and faces a Jan. 30 expiration of the continuing resolution for FY26 appropriations, giving lawmakers little time to complete or extend funding. Lake said three appropriations bills (interior/environment; commerce, justice, science; and energy and water) were released on a bipartisan, bicameral basis that morning and could move quickly through the House and Senate.
Emily from the county legislative team flagged a $1,000,000 inclusion by Rep. Eric Swalwell in the House package for the county's Livermore Sewer Extension project and said the congressman's office had contacted Public Works. Staff also discussed the lapse of enhanced premium tax credits effective Jan. 1 and the uncertain prospects for a House-driven three-year, retroactive extension that might pass the House but faces Senate resistance. Emily said a federal judge paused an HRSA 340B pilot program that had been scheduled to start Jan. 1 because officials had not adequately considered impacts on safety-net providers.
Amy Costa of Full Moon Strategies briefed the committee on state developments: the California legislature reconvened, the new president pro tem named leadership and committee chairs (affecting budget and policy chairs), and health policy will be a dominant agenda item as California adapts to federal HR1 changes that could produce large state funding shortfalls. Costa also described circulating revenue measures, including a proposed billionaire tax and other approaches to raise revenue to cover projected losses in health funding.
Costa highlighted a Dec. 29 federal court ruling that, starting Jan. 6, allows the Trump administration to resume sharing basic Medicaid data (citizenship, immigration status, address, phone, date of birth, Medicaid ID) with ICE while barring more sensitive health records; California is among multiple states that sued to prevent data sharing. Staff warned the ruling could undermine trust in Medicaid and reduce access for undocumented immigrants.
Supervisors asked staff to monitor possible freezes or federal actions affecting childcare funding and to track how state revenue proposals and HR1 will affect county programs. Staff said they would follow up with First 5 and continue to provide updates as the appropriations and state budget processes unfold.
No public commenters spoke on the legislative updates.
