Assembly committee challenges plan to cut 4,167 childcare slots from governor’s budget

The chair of the joint Assembly Budget Subcommittees No. 2 and 3 pressed administration officials Wednesday over a proposal in the governor’s 2026–27 budget to reduce 4,167 funded child‑care slots, saying the legislature should not learn of such cuts in the May Revision and asking agencies to seek alternatives that avoid service disruptions.

The chair (by role) opened the hearing calling for shared work between the legislature and administration and asked Department of Finance and Department of Social Services officials to meet with legislative staff before the May Revision to attempt to preserve slot commitments made in prior budget agreements.

Claire Ramsey, chief deputy director at the Department of Social Services, told the committee the 4,167 slots reflect reductions in two buckets — federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) funds and Proposition 64 funds — and that while all slots have been awarded, not all awarded slots are fully contracted or in active use. "We do expect some CCR TR awarded funds to go unspent," Ramsey said, and described CDSS's intent to absorb the reduction using unspent funds where possible so that currently enrolled families do not lose services.

Tamar Webber of the Department of Finance said restoring the funding would cost on the order of $100,000,000 to backfill both the CCDF and Proposition 64 reductions. "In order to fund those, to return the reduced funding, that would be, around, dollars 100,000,000," Webber said when asked about the budgetary delta.

The Legislative Analyst's Office urged fiscal caution. Dylan Hoxapaluto (LAO) said the LAO recommends adopting the proposed reduction in general childcare funding given the state's multi‑year structural deficit and the presence of substantial unspent childcare dollars in recent years. "Given the state's current fiscal condition, we think this reduction will help avoid worsening the structural deficit," the LAO said.

Committee members disputed the framing that the cuts are inevitable. The chair and multiple members said the administration had previously agreed to slot levels that the governor’s January budget then reduced. The chair criticized the timing of reductions, saying surprise cuts in the May Revision undermine legislative agreements and providers who have already incurred costs in expectation of awards.

Public commenters — including family leaders and providers — urged the committee to preserve awarded slots. Lourdes Alarcon, a parent and teacher who used subsidized care, described childcare as essential for workforce participation: "Childcare allowed me to go back to work," she said, urging lawmakers to "support the slots and pay providers the true cost of care."

The committee requested that LAO work with CDSS to identify solutions to meet federal fund reductions without permanent slot reductions, including carryover funds and other options for the May Revision. The chair held the item open pending those follow-ups.

Next steps: committee staff asked LAO, CDSS and DOF to confer and produce options ahead of the May Revision; the committee will reconvene additional ECE hearings on April 8 and ahead of the May Revision.