The 2026-27 Budget: Food Assistance Programs

Feb 18, 2026 - CalFresh is California ’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides monthly food assistance to qualifying low-income households. To be eligible, households generally must earn less than 200  percent of the federal poverty level.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5126

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Welfare

Mar 3, 2026 - Statewide launch of version 1 planned for October 2026. Tiered Rate Structure Initial funding for automation and administrative preparation began in 2025 ‑26. Governor ’s budget includes $2.3 million in 2026 ‑27 for CANS fidelity and training.
https://lao.ca.gov/publications/report/5147

The 2026-27 Budget: Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) Program

Mar 3, 2026 - At the time of the 2025 May Revision, the administration had estimated that the Social Security Administration (SSA) had overcharged the state for SSI/SSP services and administration —resulting in increased General Fund costs of over $60  million in 2024-25.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5148

Implementing California’s Child Welfare Prevention Services Program

Jan 28, 2026 - Initial trainings under Tier 3 have been provided, and DSS released guidance (via All‑County Letter 25‑73 ) in October 2025 with more detail about the specific training sessions and required participants for Tier 1.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5106

The 2026-27 Budget: CalWORKs

Feb 18, 2026 - Similarly, $664  million in unspent TANF funds was estimated to be available in 2024-25. With $270  million in unspent TANF identified for 2025-26, the level of carried-over funding is decreasing. As already noted, the Governor ’s budget projects no unspent TANF available in 2026-27.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5122

The 2026-27 Budget: In-Home Supportive Services

Mar 18, 2026 - As part of the 2012 IHSS MOE, beginning in 2012 ‑13, all counties were required to maintain their 2011 ‑12 expenditure levels for IHSS, to which an annual growth factor of 3.5  percent was applied beginning in 2014 ‑15.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5166

The 2026-27 Budget: Streamlining California’s Affordable Housing Funding System

Mar 6, 2026 - This split, in turn, is based on SGC ’s practice of awarding up to $35   million per project (70   percent) for affordable housing and up to $15   million (30   percent) for transportation. Yet, there is no inherent policy rationale for that 70/30 split.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5154

The 2026-27 Budget: County Administration and H.R. 1 Implementation

Mar 5, 2026 - We expect the Governor ’s May Revision to include additional funding proposals related to Medi ‑Cal county administration and H.R.  1 implementation. These proposals may address some of the shortcomings we identify in the underlying budgeting methodology.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5149