Gov. Gavin Newsom wants Americans to see him as the antithesis to President Donald Trump. So Santa Clara County officials could be forgiven for thinking he’d shield them from federal cuts to public health care. Instead, they question whether he’s effectively enabling the president’s agenda.
Newsom’s January budget message tosses aside new spending proposals — including ones that could help defend counties from losing funds for Medi-Cal, CalFresh and other social safety net services — in favor of protecting state coffers from deficits. This is despite a higher-than-expected, $42 billion revenue surge softening the state’s $3 billion projected shortfall this year.
County leaders and statewide government experts said Newsom’s budget proposal forces counties to absorb the impacts of H.R. 1, Trump’s watershed spending bill that’s projected to slash $1 billion in hospital and social services funding from the county budget annually. If Newsom’s proposal becomes cemented in state budget talks this summer, counties would be left to backfill the full cost of care for their poorest and most vulnerable residents, putting assets such as public hospitals at greater risk of closure…