Governor Newsom’s recent budget proposal is an attack on hundreds of thousands of Californians who rely on long-term care services and the caregivers who make that care possible.
Instead of balancing the budget on the backs of low-income older adults, people with disabilities, and their caregivers, the state needs to find real solutions that don’t put lives at risk.
The Governor’s proposed budget sets out to:
- Cap hours for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) workers at 50 hours per week, down from 66 hours currently. IHSS is a critical program that provides essential long-term care to low-income older adults and people with disabilities in the comfort, safety and familiarity of their homes and communities.
- Reinstate an “asset limit” for Medi-Cal recipients, which would disqualify individuals with more than $2,000 and couples with more than $3,000 in the bank.
- Eliminate the Workforce & Quality Incentive Program (WQIP) for nursing homes, a program we fought for and won to improve workforce standards across the industry and strengthen accountability for nursing home operators.
Right now, these cuts are still proposals, which means we have time to fight back by telling our state legislators to reject these cruel cuts.
Proposal: Reduce the IHSS work week limit from 66 to 50 hours per week.
Many home care workers provide around-the-clock care for their recipients, which means we already work more than we’re compensated for. Reducing overtime hours by up to 30% will further devalue the essential role we play in our communities.
As the largest low-wage workforce in the state, receiving overtime is essential to earning enough each month to pay for food, housing and other essential needs. The average IHSS wage across California is $18.22 an hour, with an overtime rate of $27.33.
- This would reduce weekly income by up to 30% for 23,000 SEIU 2015 members currently working 66 hours per week.
- This would reduce weekly income by at least 12% for nearly 70,000 SEIU 2015 members currently working between 55 and 66 hours per week.
108,360 SEIU 2015 members—more than 20% of our membership—will see pay cuts unless state legislators reject this proposal.
Reducing overtime for IHSS workers means recipients will have to find and hire additional workers amidst a caregiver shortage, which will only worsen if the state disinvests from the program.
Proposal: Reinstate Medi-Cal asset limits
The Governor’s proposed cuts reinstate a Medi-Cal asset limit, which would require older adults and people with disabilities to limit their assets to $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for couples. Unless rejected by the state legislature, this would strip healthcare away from more than 110,100 Californians and disqualify thousands of those individuals from accessing IHSS.
Proposal: Eliminate the Workforce & Quality Incentive Program (WQIP)
Eliminating WQIP will cut $140 million in annual state funding from nursing homes.
This program is vital for incentivizing nursing home operators to make improvements in staffing, training and resident care outcomes.
- More than 1,000 nursing homes across California have raised standards to qualify for WQIP payments from the state
Eliminating WQIP will eliminate incentives for nursing home operators to prioritize residents and workers over profits and rollback improvements we’ve made to worker and resident safety
Union members have fought back against cuts like this before… and won!
In 2004 and 2005, we stood strong in our solidarity to oppose then-Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposals to cut IHSS funding.
In 2010, we faced proposed cuts from Schwarzenegger once again and used our political power to significantly reduce the actual cuts. In 2021, Governor Newsom fully restored the 7% cut to IHSS hours.
In 2024, our unified opposition against proposed budget cuts protected the right to IHSS for all Californians regardless of the country they were born in.
And in 2025… we’ll stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies to defeat all cuts that will harm long-term care workers, older adults, people with disabilities and working families.
Here’s how you can fight back against these harmful cuts
Register to join us in Sacramento on June 4 to fight back against these cuts and fight forward to pass AB 283. Click here to learn more.