Governor’s May Revise Provides Much-Needed Investment in Food Banks, but More is Needed to Help Californians losing SNAP Benefits

The California Association of Food Banks and our 43 member food banks are grateful to Governor Newsom for including $30 million in additional funding for CalFood in his May Revise proposal, raising the total proposed funding next year to $38 million. Recent federal cuts to food assistance, coupled with sky-high food prices, mean even more Californians are facing food insecurity in 2026. We look forward to working with the Legislature and administration to ensure $60M ongoing and $50M one-time funding for CalFood is included in the final 2026-27 budget. 

We are particularly focused on working with the Legislature and Governor to set the annual minimum CalFood allocation at $60 million, up from today’s $8 million annual allocation, which was set in 2017.  With more than 6 million people visiting food banks each month, food banks need to know they can count on California to provide these critical resources for their communities each year. This will enable food banks to operate as efficiently as possible, maximizing the amount of food purchased with the state’s dollars.

The Governor also proposed new revenue solutions, which could be used to help repair the damage done to the nutrition safety net by federal cuts. We are encouraged that the Governor is considering these types of proposals and urge the legislature to also prioritize revenue-based solutions to the state’s budget shortfalls.

We are also pleased that the May Revision includes much-needed supplemental funding for County CalFresh administration. In particular, we note the crucial support for helping CalFresh participants navigate the complex and burdensome new time-limit requirements.

We are grateful to the Governor for continuing his strong leadership on child nutrition by once again committing to fully funding Universal Free School Meals and  SUN Bucks.

We urge the final budget to go further to fight back against H.R.1.’s unprecedented cuts to CalFresh and the entire safety net by including $14M for the CalFresh Outreach Network and expanding the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to provide CalFresh-equivalent benefits to humanitarian immigrants and time-limited individuals cut from the program by H.R.1.

Food Insecurity is a Serious and Growing Problem in California

Strengthening food assistance programs like CalFood and CalFresh is more important than ever. New data from Urban Institute commissioned by CAFB show that in 2025, 24% of all adults in California were food insecure, and among adults living with children, 33% were food insecure. This data is not surprising given the high cost of living in California; Food insecurity was relatively high even at higher, “moderate” income levels:

• 17% of adults at or above 200% Federal Poverty Level (FPL)
• 13% of adults at or above 300% FPL
• 9% of adults at or above 400% FPL

With inflationary pressures affecting food, fuel, and rent, groceries are the most common affordability concern among U.S. adults. According to Urban Institute, in 2025 food insecure households had a higher likelihood of:

• Using cash from a payday loan to pay for groceries
• Using savings that were not intended for routine expenses to pay for groceries
• Not paying the minimum required payment on a credit card

Food banks remain a lifeline in helping families to put food on the table, providing an essential service to more than 6 million people per month, while helping to meet people in critical times of need, be it a government shutdown, natural disaster, or cuts to CalFresh due to H.R. 1. As federal support for food assistance continues to drop while food and fuel prices rise, California’s leaders must step up to support the emergency food network and invest in bold solutions to help Californians meet their most basic needs.

Contact: Jared Call, Director of Public Policy & Advocacy jared@cafoodbanks.org