Budget Act of 2025

Rachel Bonilla
Jul 11
2 min read

Friday, July 11th, 2025

Government building with white text over it that reads, "Budget Act of 2025."

June 30th marked a great day for legislation in California as Governor Newsom signed into law the Budget Act of 2025, which contains multiple positive areas of funding for food banks and the clients we serve, along with several other policies that affect our neighbors in need.

While food banks like FARSB are seeing record demand from families needing food assistance, there have been several cuts in funding from federal budgets, along with proposed cuts to programs like the Supplemental Food Assistance Program (SNAP), which will greatly affect the vulnerable populations in the IE.

Governor Newsom and the Legislature have prioritized hunger-relief and social assistance programs for households in need, and here are some of the funding areas that we're celebrating in this budget:

CalFood

$60 million one-time, to support the purchase of California-grown and produced food by California Food Banks. There was a potential for a drop to $8 million for the program, but the California Association of Food Banks' advocacy and food bank partner helped make a great impact.

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Food4All

The budget for this program is maintained as the implementation timeline to expand the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) for older adults aged 55 and older, regardless of immigration status, by October 2027.

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School Meals For All

This school meal program was maintained with an additional $90.7 million, and invests $160 million for the Universal School Meals School Grant, which is used for kitchen infrastructure upgrades and staffing needs.

SUN Bucks (Summer EBT)

Provides $43.8 million for program implementation and requires Local Education Agencies (LEAs to determine children's eligibility for SUN Bucks if they attend a school that participates in the National School Lunch Program or School Breakfast Program.

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Diaper Banks

Invests $7.4 million to continue funding local diaper distributions for low-income families with infants and toddlers, for 11 food banks and community organizations serving clients with young children.

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CalWORKS

Includes a package of reforms to help reimagine CalWORKS to be a family-centered program and to ensure that it works to put an end to the cycle of poverty in families through work assistance and job placement programs.

Special Thanks to CAFB

FARSB was part of the advocacy push by the California Association of Food Banks (CAFB), which played a significant role in activating our food bank network across the state to express our need for the full funding of CalFood for hunger-relief.