In progress.

Good afternoon.

And welcome to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, Personnel Administration and Legislation Committee meeting for Monday, November the 3rd, 2025.

They have world call fees.

Supervisor Ferdinando Bass.

Supervisor Alina Tam present.

Yeah, quorum.

Thank you.

Let's move to the federal legislative update from CJ Lake.

Good afternoon.

Emily Baket DeSilva here with CJ Lake.

I mean, you know, still in a shutdown.

I will say uh at this point, uh USDA was able to uh again provide WIC benefits over the weekend from uh the tariff revenues.

So WIC is covered, um, military uh has been paid.

Of course, SNAP, and that's what we're all kind of talking about and trying to kind of parse through what it all means.

Um, so I'll tell you kind of what I know at this point.

Um, you know, again, uh, you know, there were a number of uh states plus DC that sued.

Uh USDA said today that um they will provide partial funding.

Uh it's 4.6 billion, which is partial benefits for the month of November.

They're using the SNAP contingency fund, which they had previously previously said they could not use.

In general, I think it it cost about nine billion a month to pay um to pay out full SNAP benefits.

Um there were a couple documents that were included uh in the decision from uh this afternoon, and I will include those with the notes and Amy maybe can talk about the California state system.

But one of the things, of course, that people are asking is at what point will individuals receive their partial benefits.

And I just don't think we have an answer quite yet.

Over the weekend, I was hearing that it could just be a couple days um for USDA to kind of turn it back on.

I don't think that is the case any longer.

Um it depends on the state's individual systems, some of which are decades old.

Again, I'm not sure about the California system, but in this legal uh document, USDA says it's their understanding is that the system changes states must implement to provide the reduced benefit amounts will take anywhere from a few weeks to up to several months.

Um again, you know, that was submitted to the courts today.

Um I don't know again if uh with California it can be done sooner, but I just I want to let you know that I think we still meet need more guidance from USDA, uh, but that is what we have seen so far um as it relates there.

Um, also seeing, you know, slowdowns uh at TSA today, uh, a checkpoint, I believe, in the Houston airport.

Uh, they were saying it was like three hours long for TSA.

We're seeing ground stops um over the weekend.

We were seeing it at different airports.

It seems, and again, I hate to say it, but it seems like we're getting to kind of a pressure point this week where people want to reach some sort of deal.

Um, I don't know what that looks like.

I don't know what the off ramp is, but rank and file senators are having conversations.

Republicans and democrats leadership, I don't think is a part of it just yet, uh, but those conversations are happening.

You know, there are elections tomorrow.

Um, people seem to feel like maybe there could be some sort of deal later this week, and then a vote next week.

Um, again, lots of speculation, but it feels like we are getting to this point.

Um, John, did I kind of miss anything on like the big picture stuff?

Uh no, I don't think so in the big picture.

The one thing that I would add is uh so the house is again out of session, the senate is in session, so the ball is still very much in the Senate's court on how and when to end the shutdown.

The president has so far remained broadly out of the picture.

With the exception of last week, he called for again the elimination of the filibuster, which was soundly rejected so far by uh Majority Leader Thune and a lot of ranking member or ranking rank and file members of the Republican Caucus.

Um tomorrow, uh both the Republican and the Democratic Conference and Caucus have their lunch where the rank and file and the leadership get together and discuss strategy for the remainder of the week and the following week.

So we do anticipate that the lunches are going to be very animated as senators kind of understand that they've reached the end of their rope on both sides.

So senators will land sometime today if they haven't already for initial round of votes in the upper chamber where those initials conversations could start.

And then they will likely bleed into tomorrow during the lunch.

So tomorrow afternoon, we could have a better understanding from the Democratic and the Republican perspective of how exactly they choose to move forward.

Emily, you may have mentioned this already, but forgive me if you did.

The conversations on the Democratic and the Republican side for full year appropriations started a little bit more in earnest with uh Senator Collins talking to Senator Thune and some of the more moderate members that initially voted for the CR in March and then uh voted against it most recently has started on the with Mr.

Schumer.

So despite there not being a off-ramp on the CR, um conversations and full year appropriations are beginning on the Senate side.

Now that doesn't mean anything on what the House chooses to do because the House right now is pretty much in lockstep with what the White House wants to do.

Um, but the Senate is looking to open up conversations on fully appropriations.

Um whether or not they can get that over the finish line after they do eventually open the government back up, as anyone's guess.

Um, but there seems to be a hunger on the part of Congress to start legislating again, even with members of the House who are been starting to get a little itchy that they've been out of town for more than six weeks and their constituents are starting to notice them more at the grocery store than uh they usually do.

So happy to answer any questions on kind of where things stand, but the conventional wisdom really seems to be that this is going to be a linchpin week.

Um, and one other thing, which I didn't mention.

I mean, you know, the CR that they passed that the House passed so long ago, as we all know, runs through November 21st.

There is an understanding that you know, whatever deal is made in the Senate, it will be uh beyond there will be a CR beyond November 21st.

And I think the question is does it run into January or does it go beyond?

But I just want to say that as well because we're what three weeks out from November 21st.

So that date doesn't give us anything.

So I think that's it.

And again, happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Um I did have one clarified question before supervisor for not have asked.

Um, so there was this discussion about the legality of using the USDA SNAP reserves.

The Republicans have maintained that it was not legal, yet you got two federal judges that basically ordered that this be done.

So, where does that issue lie?

Obviously, if they're saying they're going to release it through the reserves, it's not illegal.

Right.

I mean, they are moving forward, you're correct.

Um, the court has told them they need to.

So they are, but there's there's not enough in the contingency fund uh to pay the full 9 billion.

So they're using the 4.6 that's in there to pay half.

Okay, so they're using the reserves, but uh obviously we heard that the military was going to be funded through some private resources.

Could they use some offsets from that?

Um, the military, it's my understanding is not being paid through yes, some sort of private, but that was only like a hundred million dollars.

The bulk of the pay from the military is coming from like repurposed DOD funding.

Okay, thank you.

So that's a question of the color of money.

So you can't bring money from the USDA and have it pay for money for DOD.

When when DOD got paid for the last paycheck, it came from future appropriations from within the Department of Defense.

So that came from the RDTE funding that was appropriated over two-year time period, and they basically just pulled that over from that account and then had that pay for the military salaries.

Now the legality of that is questionable, but what they didn't do was pull money from SNAP and then to in order to pay the military.

So the contingency fund was something that was set up uh following the conclusion of the 2013 shutdown.

Congress set this $8 billion appropriation contingency fund, but that number for that contingency fund remained the same in statute.

But the number of individuals that are on the SNAP program and the cost of groceries per month is significantly more than $8 million, so that $8 million doesn't stretch the same amount that it used to in 2013, 2020, 2014.

So that's the reason why that we're seeing this 50% allocation.

Now the interesting thing is uh states don't necessarily have a process by which they can prorate that amount, which is what the slowdown is going to mean, uh, because they're going to have to essentially recalculate the benefits that are provided to each individual that's enrolled in their program.

Um and to Emily's point earlier, they don't have guidance on how to do that quite yet.

There are various, I mean, because it's just a state influence program, it'll be pretty onerous for that to happen.

So even if this is all going through this kind of guidance process and benefits are slowing down, it may not matter that much because the government may be maybe reopened this time next week.

Good point.

Supervisor Vargonabas.

Thank you.

Um, it is welcome news, although it's still quite a crisis in terms of making sure people have the food that they need.

Um, is there any indication regarding SNAP whether recipients will be made whole?

So, for example, assuming that a portion of November can be put onto people's debit cards.

Once the government reopens, do we know if they'll get the other portion as well as hopefully December, January, et cetera, or are they going to lose out on part of November?

Any idea?

I don't think we know the answer just yet.

Quite frankly.

I mean, I John, yeah, we don't know.

Okay.

This is this is pretty uncharted territory for the whole SNAP program.

They've never missed a payment in the program's existence and then never sent out partial benefits to the entirety of the SNAP population.

So, frankly, we're just not sure.

Uh, and the administration has been very reluctant to ensure that people receive their benefits, right?

They were compelled to do this by the courts.

Um, so to understand kind of what the directions are from OMB uh and from USDA is pretty unclear.

Because you have to remember that like the instructions to withhold benefits is not even coming from the USDA, it's coming from the Office of Management and Budget Budget and Rust Vote who have a very different perspective than I think a lot of people in the FNS and the USDA level.

So pretty uncharted territories.

We're hopeful, of course, that um that beneficiaries are made whole once the government reopens, but how exactly they go about doing that is is an open question.

Sure.

Yeah, I know it's been um at least 60 years since SNAP payments have been interrupted.

Um, in terms of WIC, so thanks for reminding us about the tariffs supporting the continuity of payments with WIC.

Do we have a sense of how long that will continue and how stable that funding is for now?

We don't.

Um we don't, but the administration again seems to be making it a priority.

So um, and again, I think we're hopeful that we're reopened by within this month, and so we won't have to worry, but I don't I don't think we do know.

Okay, um, well, thank you, and I look forward to Amy's update and hopefully um whatever information we have about how the state will manage the next steps on SNAP and CalFresh.

Thanks.

Thank you.

So you already covered uh the update on the federal government shutdown as part of briefing, or is there something separate to that?

I think we're good.

I mean, that's it.

We'll turn it over to Amy.

Okay.

Um the only question I had as a follow-up is it sounds like there'll be animated discussions over lunch with the various caucuses this week, but process-wise, how could the log jam be broken, especially if we are looking at trying to uh resume the government before the holidays?

Like, do um does the Senate need to be called back?

Because the nuclear option is not it's not exactly uh feasible from either party standpoint, because you know, you never know, especially after this election, who the majority might be in the future.

So they are probably trying to preserve that tool with the filibuster option.

So process wise, do they get do they need to reconvene or how would that work?

Yeah, well, and I think you're right.

I mean, majority leader thune has made clear they're they're not gonna mess with the filibuster rule.

Um I don't think we know what kind of the off-ramp looks like just yet, right?

Like I think they need to get creative, and so you know, each side feels like they've gotten some sort of win out of it.

I don't I just don't think we know quite yet.

Um the house will need to be called back.

I think we assume that this, you know, the speaker has been saying they're on like 48 hour recall.

Um, and so I think once a deal is announced, you know, it'll take a little while to put it in legislative text and you know, call them back.

So um, but but again, I I don't think we know exactly what it what it looks like just yet.

Um, but I do think it needs to happen, certainly before the Thanksgiving holidays, um, and and people start really flying.

Um, but I think again to to John's point, they'll meet tomorrow.

I think, you know, there's gonna be a handful of of Dems, Senate Dems who say, okay, enough.

And what can we kind of, what can we get so it looks like we've gotten some sort of when, and what can Republicans get?

So it looks like they've gotten some sort of win.

Um, and then move on.

John.

Well, the Senate's still in session.

Right.

The House will have to come back.

So if there is a what could happen, what could happen is that the Senate decides to vote first, make an amendment somehow to the House CR to change the date, have it a clean CR.

Maybe they had a couple other provisions because there are other things that were agreed to in a bipartisan level within that that text.

Then after that vote takes place and it's out of the Senate, then the House would return and then go through its process and then send it off to the president.

The bill is gonna have to get amended in any event because of that deadline, that November 21st deadline.

So they're gonna have to open up the the bill anyway.

Um, so it's either the House generates a new bill, passes it off to the Senate, the Senate passes it and then goes after the president or the Senate acts first, but to Emily's point, we just don't know.

Um we don't know what what Schumer and the Democrats are going to agree to without the express support of the president.

I think there's a real fear on the part of Democrats that they could crack a deal with you know John Thune and a number of moderate Republicans only for that deal to get thrown back in their face and Trump vetoes the legislation, they have to start from scratch all over again because you know it was it was not up to uh what the president wanted, so we're just not there yet.

We're just not there yet.

Okay, and um what does it mean in terms of the Democrats' position right now with the Affordable Care Act with the open enrollment happening and the subsidies?

This are are they pretty is that a hill that they're gonna die on?

I mean, at this point in time, the position hasn't changed.

You know, their constituents have seen the premium increases get mailed to them from their various health insurers.

Um they are still pushing for an extension of the enhanced premium tax credits uh under the ACA.

Publicly, their position has not changed.

Now, whether or not they're willing to move off of that position in exchange for a vote on the floor that will inevitably fail, and a vote to reopen the government and resume federal funding.

Is anyone's guess at this point?

Okay, thank you.

Uh didn't mean to put you on the spot with the speculation, but I appreciate your insights because you're closer to that than we are at the moment.

Um so we will go to Amy with uh full moon strategies on the state legislative update now.

Good afternoon, Amy Costa with full moon strategies.

I'll start first by talking about tomorrow is actually election day here in California.

We have our special election uh regarding proposition 50.

Uh this is we've previously reported as an initiative that would allow for the temporary redrawing of California's congressional district lines by ballot rather than through the state's redistricting commission.

Um, according to a public policy institute of California poll last week, uh 56% of likely California voters were uh likely in favor of proposition 50 with 43 percent against it.

Um so more to come obviously tomorrow.

Um as was noted by uh my federal colleagues, obviously a lot going on regarding SNAP with the state joining the lawsuit with other jurisdictions regarding the legality of the um uh SNAP benefits not going out during the month of November.

Um things are happening real time as reported with two federal judges um noting that um they did need to go ahead and put through funding using its contingency funds.

Um the ruling did provide the administration with some discretion on whether or not they would provide partial or full funding, and as is noted, um basically what they've done is provided partial funding for the program, which again um states are still waiting to receive guidelines.

Um, one of the things that's come up in this process for the state, and I think probably locals as well, is that our role in the actual programming of the EBTs is exceedingly limited.

Um the state doesn't actually have the mechanics, even if they wanted to fund the EBT card itself to do it.

It's handled through a third-party vendor.

Um, and so you'll see that that's why the governor, I know Alameda County, many jurisdictions are partnering with their food banks as a workaround over that very issue.

Uh the governor, as I noted, um, has um recently deployed the state's National Guard troops to assist food banks in the distribution of uh food and other items.

Um it's brought up an interesting question given Trump's previous threat to utilize National Guard troops in San Francisco about what would happen if troops receive conflicting um orders basically from the governor and the president.

Uh, we haven't reached that point yet, but obviously, in short order, there were these different kinds of directives.

Um, and it's not a new practice for us here in California.

Um, the governor um actually used the National Guard troops during COVID for this very same uh purpose to assist in uh the food banks.

Um I did reach out to the executive director of the California California uh welfare directors association, and they are uh awaiting the feds to release guidelines on the SNAP partial payment um to have a sense.

But I think by all accounts, as was noted by my colleagues, it's gonna be complicated.

And even in the USDA's response um to the court, they noted that it could take weeks to months to kind of figure out the administrative um mechanization for figuring out a partial benefit for households who are SNAP eligible.

Uh so more to come, obviously, but um, this is kind of late breaking news.

Um, and they're gonna have to figure out basically how to prorate the benefits because of only 4.65 billion being provided rather than the full 8 billion needed for the program.

Um, so once we get additional detail on you know the state's ability to do that, we'll send out a note.

Um, so that you understand the timing here in California.

Uh with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much.

Supervisor Fortune out of asked.

Uh thank you, Amy.

I might have missed it, but could you um if you didn't already share this or if you did, could you just share again who at the state is going to be figuring out this plan.

Yeah so it would go through the Department of Social Services Jen Troya is the director there and generally how they would do something like this supervisor is I'm assuming they would send out an all-county letter once they get the federal guidelines they will instruct counties through the um all county letter process um but um as was noted they're awaiting the federal guidelines because it will require a new calculation for eligibility based on only a partial payment okay well hopefully it can happen relatively quickly um I recall uh in some conversations um recently with uh Senator Aragini is there um emergency funding that the state could or is probably considering to release um to alleviate the food insecurity issues so as part of the governor's action he released 80 million dollars that was already programmed in the budget for food bank assistance so that was an existing state level line item in conversations with the Department of Finance I've asked if they have budget authority which would be kind of to your earlier point supervisor what would they be able to take things and move them around within the budget they do not have per current budget authority to do that and so they're utilizing existing resources to bridge the gap in order to do that um they would need um the legislature to act um and as far as I know there are no plans to do that um right now we just have the 80 million dollars which has been sent to the food banks okay thank you for that clarification I have no other questions are there questions I'm sorry go ahead supervisor first um thank you Chair Tam just as a point of information obviously our board um allocated in total 16.5 million towards food security some of that goes towards the food bank um in many many counties there's outside fundraising that's happening so here in Alameda County uh just on Friday we announced 1.5 million in private funds that have been raised so there is additional money going to the food banks to help support them as well as some funds also going to smaller community based organizations during this time so I think each county is trying to figure out in addition what we're doing as government how we can privately fundraise to help support the need out there so it's a challenging situation to be in but it's really all hands on deck with each of us trying to do what we can thank you for that clarification as well.

Are there public comments on the first item which is the federal legislative update or the state legislative update.

There are no speakers okay thank you are there any public comments on non-agenda items today no speakers okay thank you very much for those that are online um would you identify yourself so we could appreciate your participation.

Good afternoon Valerie Arkin Supervisor Miley's office good afternoon Elvakiroga Alameda County Treasurer Tax Collector's office good afternoon everyone Jessica Montes with Delamida County Community Food Bank and thank you all so much for this information.

Good afternoon, Jessica Blake, more Alameda County Health.

Hello, this is Hannah Hamilton with Alameda County Social Services Agency.

That's all.

Thank you very much for your participation.

This meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.