2025-26 California State Budget Information
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Upcoming Budget Hearings (Updated 09/15/2025)
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2025 Budget (updated 09/09/2025)
UPDATED 9/09/2025 - TFC Budget Tracking document
- Department of Finance Summary of the 2025 Enacted Budget Package
- NEW BUDGET BILLS
- NEW SB/AB 151 Early childhood education and childcare
- Ratifies the August 7, 2025 CCPU Tentative Agreement.
- Extends payment based on maximum certified need to July 1, 2028.
- Establishes a one-time payment, retroactive to the period July 1, 2025 through December 30, 2025, for family daycare providers—contingent on ratifying the tentative agreement with providers by September 30, 2025. CCPU members will vote on the agreement from September 8th through September 22nd at 4:00 pm.
- Extends indefinitely the Cost of Care Plus payments, inclusive of the increase beginning January 1, 2026, to both family child care providers and childcare centers
- Establishes one-time stabilization payments to licensed and license-exempt providers.
- Appropriates $157,852,000 from the General Fund to the CDSS to cover one-time stabilization payments—with funds available for encumbrance through June 30, 2026.
- $431 for licensed family child care providers, $300 for license-exempt providers
- NEW SB/AB 146 Human services
- Homelessness programs: Requires counties participating in: CalWORKs Housing Support, Home Safe, Bringing Families Home, and the Housing and Disability Income Advocacy Program to create publicly available written policies and implement a county-level complaint resolution process.
- Modifies existing CalWORKs welfare-to-work rules: Removes the requirement that participants must explicitly choose services (like family stabilization, mental health support, or domestic violence services) in writing or verbally on their plan.
- CalFresh error mitigation:
- Empowers the State Department of Social Services (DSS), until October 1, 2027, to use all-county letters and emergency regs to reduce CalFresh payment error rates, avoid service disruption, and streamline application processing. The department must consult stakeholders, and report quarterly on strategies, contracts, and verification methods.
- Allocates $3.2 million from the General Fund to DSS for CalFresh payment error mitigation automation
- Adjusts timelines in CalFresh reentry planning: Moves initial CalFresh reentry workgroup set-up to by February 1, 2028 (previously 2026). Extends reporting timetable to August 31, 2029, and annually thereafter through 2032. It retains authority to pre-enroll returning individuals and seek necessary federal waivers.
- SB 119 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) Public social services trailer bill
- 2nd human services bill. It passed the Assembly on July 7. Concurrence in amendments to SB 119 is pending in the Senate this week.
- AB 104/SB 104 "Budget Bill Jr."
- Amendments published on 07/14. This is a “Budget Bill Jr.” (amendment to the 2025-26 budget act) that consists primarily of technical changes to the 2025-26 budget as enacted in SB 101 and AB 102.
For child care, here are key parts of the current budget agreement to highlight:
Rate Reform & System Expansion
- Continuation of Cost of Care Plus: Extends the "Cost of Care Plus" rate structure into the 2025‐26 year, ending on June 30, 2026. Addresses administration costs pursuant to collective bargaining, including cost of care plus payments and union dues collection.
- Increase to Cost of Care Plus: Increases monthly cost of care payments by a percentage that will be calculated by the Department of Finance.
- Single Rate Structure: Directs the Department of Social Services to adopt a Single Rate Structure for reimbursements based on cost-of-care, moving away from the Regional Market Rate survey —a system change beyond SB 101’s scope.
Payment Upfront Based on Enrollment
- Move to Payment Upfront: Provides funding to begin paying child care and preschool providers prospectively based on enrollment beginning July 1, 2026. Requires the Department of Social Services to provide the Legislature with a quarterly report until July 1, 2027 on the progress of implementing prospective payment based on enrollment.
- Continues Payment Based on Enrollment: Maintains funding for existing enrollment-based payment policies.
Other Updates (6/3/2025)
Archived Budget Information:
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