Stakeholders had asked the California governor for an additional $200 million annually in ongoing funding to bolster a depleted and understaffed public health infrastructure.
Public health officials in California are panning Gov. Gavin Newsom's newly revised $268.7 billion budget, noting that it fails – for a second straight year – to provide new money for vital healthcare services, despite a record-breaking $76 billion surplus.
A coalition of 61 local health departments and other stakeholders from across the state had asked the governor for an additional $200 million annually in ongoing funding from the state's $197 billion general fund to bolster a depleted and understaffed public health infrastructure that has been battered to the breaking point during the ongoing pandemic.
"This is a missed opportunity for investment in public health," said Kat DeBurgh, executive director of the Health Officers Association of California.
"California's local health departments have been losing staff since the great recession, and funds are needed now to make sure California is protected from disease going into the future," she said.
Newsom on May 14 unveiled his $100 billion California Comeback Plan that features about $12 billion in stimulus payments for California families, along with financial assistance to small businesses, and additional money to fund universal Pre-K and address homelessness, affordable housing, wildfire containment and infrastructure improvements.
"California’s economic recovery will leave nobody behind," Newsom said. "That's why we're implementing the nation's largest state tax rebate and small business relief programs in history, on top of unprecedented investments we're making to address California's most persistent challenges. This is a jumpstart for our local economies, and it’s how we’ll bring California roaring back."
State legislators will begin their review of the budget this week and must pass something by the June 15 deadline mandated by the state constitution. California's Fiscal Year 2021-22 begins July 1.
In 2020, Newsom also provided no additional funding for public health, as the state struggled to cover a $54 billion budget deficit.
Michelle Gibbons, executive director of the County Health Executives Association of California, said the pandemic "exploited the cracks in public health readiness caused by a decade of disinvestment in our public health infrastructure and workforce."
"The biggest lesson of COVID-19 is that waiting until a crisis to invest in public health costs lives," she said. "Astoundingly, this budget would repeat the same mistakes California made before COVID-19, leaving local public health departments too under-resourced and understaffed to address day-to-day public health threats such as the high rates of STDs, increasing rates of tuberculosis cases and chronic diseases -much less facing down a threat like COVID-19."
“The biggest lesson of COVID-19 is that waiting until a crisis to invest in public health costs lives.”
Michelle Gibbons, executive director, County Health Executives Association of California
John Commins is the news editor for HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Newsom's budget features $12 billion in stimulus payments for California families, financial assistance to small businesses, and additional money to fund universal Pre-K, affordable housing, wildfire containment and infrastructure improvements.
State legislators will begin their review of the budget this week and must pass something by the June 15 deadline mandated by the state constitution. California's Fiscal Year 2021-22 begins July 1.
In 2020, Newsom also provided no additional funding for public health, as the state struggled to cover a $54 billion budget deficit.