California Lawmaker Proposes Fix to Blunt Loss of Food and Health Aid

As a new federal law backed by President Donald Trump threatens to strip millions of Californians of health insurance and food assistance, a state senator has introduced a bill that would use existing data systems to protect eligible residents from falling through the cracks. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025, imposes stricter work requirements and more frequent recertification for Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) and SNAP (CalFresh) recipients.

Starting in 2027, able-bodied adults must work, volunteer, or attend school at least 80 hours per month to qualify, and must reapply every six months—twice as often as before. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new paperwork alone could push more than 2 million people off Medicaid nationally.

In California, the state Legislative Analyst's Office projects that between 1 million and 2 million residents could lose Medi-Cal coverage and about 660,000 could lose CalFresh benefits due to insufficient work hours or administrative burden. State Senator Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento) has authored Senate Bill 1054, which would require employers to report hours worked to the Employment Development Department (EDD) as part of the existing wage-reporting system.

The EDD already collects worker names and wages for unemployment insurance; adding hours worked would allow the state to automatically verify eligibility for Medi-Cal and CalFresh without requiring recipients to submit repeated documentation. The bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee and now awaits fiscal analysis in the Appropriations Committee.

It faces no known opposition and has support from the conservative Little Hoover Commission. If enacted, SB 1054 would take effect on January 1, 2027, just as the federal requirements begin.

Cabaldon emphasized that the bill does not expand eligibility or change the federal funding cuts, but simply aims to prevent eligible Californians from losing benefits due to bureaucratic hurdles. In Butte County, residents can get updated information on Medi-Cal and CalFresh online, by phone, or in person at the Butte County Social Services office in Chico at 765 East Avenue.

The bill builds on California's existing automated eligibility system, which already checks applicants' data for safety-net programs when they apply through Covered California. Without the fix, many who were automatically enrolled might not realize they need to prove their work hours.

Cabaldon called the federal requirements a "manufactured problem" designed to make people fall through the cracks. "We're trying to solve a manufactured problem that was created by H.R.

1," he said. "It's just a bald-faced attempt to have people fall through the cracks by turning the cracks into chasms."