May 2026 Newsletter
Governor’s budget proposal needs to do more for
California’s children and families
The revised budget proposal released May 14 by Gov. Gavin Newsom attempts to address the impacts of major cuts to the federal funding California receives – but once again, the proposal falls short.
While there are some bright spots in the budget that try to offset harms from H.R. 1, the May Revise erects more barriers to health for children and families in California.
The Governor proposes a few revenue-generating mechanisms, including a cap on the amount of tax credits corporations can take. We are pleased to see the Governor, and the Senate in their own separate proposal, make recommendations for revenue generation – something we and our partners have been and will continue to call for. However, these recommendations from the Governor are modest. California cannot continue to balance its budget on the backs of those who can least afford it.
We must do better for all Californians and enact a budget that supports healthy, thriving futures for everyone in our communities.
TCP Statement on Islamic Center Shooting in San Diego
In the wake of the May 18 shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego that took the lives of three community members, The Children’s Partnership would like to express our grief as we stand in solidarity with the Muslim community and all children, families, and community members whose sense of safety has been shattered.
Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha, and Nader Awad lost their lives in this hate-fueled attack. They did so to protect the 140 children attending school at the Islamic Center that day. Their heroic actions remind us that community goes beyond the walls of one family’s home – that all children are our children.
TCP endorses Measure ER in LA County
The Children’s Partnership endorses the Essential Services Restoration Act, also known as Measure ER.
The Act would temporarily increase the sales tax by 0.5% in Los Angeles County for five years to help offset major federal funding cuts to Medi-Cal, protect health care services for county residents, prevent closures of public hospitals and clinics, and reduce health care worker layoffs.
Nearly 1 million children in LA County rely on Medi-Cal. Measure ER would help sustain essential services for families that lose health care as a result of of H.R. 1 and state cuts to Medi-Cal. Measure ER would help stabilize the safety-net system and help preserve services for people disproportionately impacted by gaps in our health care system. The Act reaffirms TCP’s focus on ensuring all children and families have access to affordable, comprehensive, and continuous health care.
The coalition backing Measure ER includes the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County, St. John’s Community Health, Inner City Struggle, Altamed Health Services, Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project of Los Angeles County, and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 721 – many of which are strong allies of TCP. View the full list of endorsements here.
If you’re registered to vote in LA County, we urge you to vote YES on Measure ER.
Join us in transforming Medi-Cal by 2030
The Children’s Partnership is proud to be a founding member of the Medi-Cal 2030 Coalition advocating for a person-centered, accountable, and sustainable state Medicaid program. Medi-Cal is foundational to the future of California and getting it right requires a laser focus on the people whose lives are most impacted by its success. Both Gov. Newsom and California’s next Governor have an opportunity to transform the program into one that truly works by 2030.
Medi-Cal is not a peripheral safety net; it is the primary source of health coverage for low-income families, children, seniors, people with disabilities, and immigrant communities across every county in California. Medi-Cal helps to keep Californians out of poverty. And yet, Medi-Cal has never fully lived up to its promise of equitable care for all.
As we navigate the largest disinvestment in public health care services in history and consider the future of Medi-Cal, reform requires more than incremental adjustments; it demands a shared framework of purpose.
Transforming Medi-Cal will require a diverse and powerful coalition. Learn about the Medi-Cal 2030 Principles, and complete this form to be added to the coalition and receive future actions and opportunities.
Sign on to the federal LIFT the BAR Act
Washington state Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s office is collecting organizational endorsements for the LIFT the BAR Act, which restores H.R.1’s immigrant eligibility cuts, eliminates the five-year bar, and makes other changes to ensure that immigrant families can access the programs and services they need.
- Sign on here
- Find a one-pager on the LIFT the BAR Act here
Coming soon: NEW A Child Is a Child fact sheets
Every child deserves the opportunity to grow up healthy, safe, and supported, regardless of race, ethnicity, immigration status, or zip code. Yet systemic racism continues to deny that opportunity to too many California children, shaping where they live, the schools they attend, the air they breathe, and their access to resources. At the same time, our communities are not defined by these challenges, but by their resilience, cultural strength, and power—assets to be honored and built upon as we work toward a California where every child can just be a child.
In support of this effort, The Children’s Partnership and partners are relaunching our A Child Is a Child fact sheet series.
We believe that disaggregated data provides a more accurate understanding of the health, strengths, and challenges of communities that are often lumped together, creating misleading monoliths that do not fully reflect the realities of the rich cultures found in our state. Our fact sheets attempt to give a clearer picture of child health in California by highlighting unique masked health inequities and protective factors.
We’ll be releasing the first updated fact sheet in our A Child Is a Child series soon and throughout the rest of the year. Stay tuned!
TCP joins chorus opposing more funds for ICE, CBP
Through the budget reconciliation process, Congress is pushing for more harmful funding proposals, including an additional $70 billion for detention and family separation via ICE and CBP. This amount would be on top of the $170 billion they received last year.
Along with our partners at the Children Thrive Action Network, The Children’s Partnership opposes this seemingly never-ending cash flow that facilitates the separation of children from their families. Learn more from the National Immigration Law Center, and urge your Congressmembers to vote NO using this tool from CHIRLA.
Choose Children, Univision host
CA governor candidate conversations
Choose Children 2026 partnered with Univision to present “Latinos Ask: Candidates Respond,” a statewide televised special featuring one-on-one interviews with leading California gubernatorial candidates Xavier Becerra, Chad Bianco, Steve Hilton, Katie Porter, and Tony Thurmond. This special event centered community questions on major issues impacting Latine families across California, including affordability, health care, immigration, public safety, and civil rights. The program aired on May 14 across California, elevating the voices and priorities of children and families ahead of our gubernatorial primary on June 2.
Our Co-Sponsored Bills Update
AB 2201: Medi-Cal Renewal Relief Act
The Medi-Cal Renewal Relief Act unanimously passed off the Assembly Appropriations Committee’s suspense file on May 15 and went to an Assembly floor vote on May 26, where all present legislators gave ‘aye’ votes. We thank the Assembly for recognizing AB 2201’s importance to keeping kids covered, and we look forward to sharing updates as it moves through the Senate.
The Act would reinstate proven Medi-Cal eligibility strategies to streamline renewals, reduce coverage terminations, and ease county administrative burdens so staff can focus on complex cases and critical H.R. 1 implementation tasks.
TCP is proud to co-sponsor AB 2201 alongside Western Center on Law & Poverty, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, Health Access California, National Health Law Program, and Justice in Aging.
AB 2126: PEER Act
The PEER Act was held on the Assembly Appropriations Committee’s suspense file and will not be moving forward this legislative session. While this outcome is disappointing, TCP is grateful for the advocacy, partnership, and coalition efforts that supported the bill throughout the process. The bill team, which includes the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, County Welfare Directors Association of California, and California Alliance of Child and Family Services, plans to reintroduce AB 2126 next year.
The bill would have established automatic background check exemptions for current and former foster youth to become peer mentors, reducing employment barriers and expanding opportunities for justice system-involved youth – particularly youth of color, who are more often impacted by low-level criminal records compared to their white, non-system-involved peers.
TCP represents at CA School Based Health Alliance Conference
At the end of April, several TCP staff members attended the 2026 California School Health & Behavioral Health Conference, a statewide convening focused on advancing integrated behavioral health and primary care supports in schools so California students can thrive where they spend the majority of their time.
Senior Community Engagement Associate Ebony Durham, Policy Associate Jazmin Estevez-Rosas, and Policy Manager Lily Dorn attended the conference. It was a great opportunity for networking, meeting new partners and collaborators, and reconnecting with familiar faces across California’s children and youth behavioral health field.
TCP mentioned as part of HR 1 bill package in LA Times
The Los Angeles Times covered a press conference on a four-bill package that includes the Medi-Cal Renewal Relief Act (AB 2201). Read it in Spanish here. The press conference was also covered by MSN and Kiowa County Press.
Mayra E. Alvarez re: Medi-Cal 2030 in Public News Service
TCP President Mayra E. Alvarez was interviewed for a Public News Service story on the need to fund health coverage for children and families in California’s final budget, as well as the future of the Medi-Cal program.
