{"id":182497,"date":"2026-02-18T05:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T05:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/182497\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T05:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T05:14:08","slug":"santa-clara-county-da-warns-of-safety-impacts-from-looming-budget-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/182497\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa Clara County DA warns of safety impacts from looming budget cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 South Bay residents could see \u201cdire consequences\u201d \u2014 fewer prosecutions in domestic violence and sexual assault cases, as well as limited ability to seek diversions in mental health and drug cases \u2014 if a major funding shortfall<\/a> leads to big cuts at the district attorney\u2019s office, the South Bay\u2019s top prosecutor warned Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Much like he did two years ago in response to a similar array of proposed job losses<\/a> for his office, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said that the community could suffer if his office faces heavy losses from budget reductions. The latest possible cuts, were they to happen, would result in large part due to a sharp clawback in federal dollars from the Trump administration.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic safety costs money. Justice is expensive. Money is finite. There is less money. And so, there will be less justice. Please listen carefully: There will be less safety,\u201d Rosen said to his assembled staff and county leaders in the Board of Supervisors chambers, as part of his annual state-of-the-office speech. \u201cWhat I urge all the people here, and in our community to understand, is that budget cuts to the DA\u2019s Office are going to have tangible, negative, and dire consequences for the public safety of every Santa Clara County resident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill people get hurt? Will they be killed? Will criminals go free? I don\u2019t know,\u201d Rosen continued. \u201cWhat\u2019s needed is clear-headed analysis of what this community wants and what it needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SantaSanta Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen speaks at his annual state of the office on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, in San Jose, Calif. Rosen outlined the impact of looming budget cuts on victim services and high-profile criminal investigations and prosecutions. (Dai Sugano\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

He then stacked his office against other county budget priorities: \u201cNone of Santa Clara County\u2019s amenities \u2013 parks, pools, schools, roads, sewers, and hospitals \u2013 are worth a dollar if the people who live here are not safe from crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosen gave his speech amid a backdrop of running tension between him and the county administration<\/a> recently inflamed by his contention that Measure A \u2014 a sales-tax increase approved by voters last year to add $330 million annually to county coffers \u2014 was misleadingly pitched to him as a way to stabilize funding and fend off cuts to county public safety infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The four-term DA told this news organization last month that he felt \u201cdouble crossed\u201d<\/a> when learning that all of the new tax revenue would go toward supporting the county\u2019s healthcare system, which faces a projected annual loss of $1 billion in federal revenue, spurred in large part by reductions in Medicaid funding. Rosen has voiced frustration with the prospect of having supported Measure A and still bracing for heavy cuts to his office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cuts we are facing mean potential and unprecedented layoffs,\u201d Rosen said Tuesday. \u201cNo one here is expendable. No one. Are we better than other county employees? No. Of course not. All public servants have my respect and admiration. But these are objective financial decisions with real-world consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

The extent of the feared budget cuts Rosen\u2019s office faces was not fully detailed. His office was spared from any significant reductions in mid-year cuts made by the county this past week<\/a>, which included the loss of 10 positions in the county Public Defender\u2019s Office. The mid-year cuts involving the elimination of 365 jobs, about 85% of them vacant and more than half in county health care.<\/p>\n

The remainder of Rosen\u2019s speech outlined how funding cuts could reduce or eliminate his office\u2019s bandwidth for community outreach and services, mental-health and drug offense diversion, and prosecutions of certain domestic violence and sexual assault crimes, and lower-level crimes including drunk driving, vandalism and theft.<\/p>\n

If the anticipated cuts go through as feared, Rosen said, much of that work \u201cwill be gone, no more.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of his remarks Tuesday, after highlighting his prosecutors\u2019 work from the past year, Rosen sought to keep their spirits up: \u201cOur worth here will never be measured in dollars and cents \u2026 Our value lies in the 40,000 cases that we review, file and prosecute \u2013 with vigor \u2013 every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what will happen in the coming months,\u201d Rosen concluded. \u201cExcept this: You will fight like hell for this community. And I will fight like hell for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 South Bay residents could see \u201cdire consequences\u201d \u2014 fewer prosecutions in domestic violence and sexual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[2076,15672,7359,14229,6647,88,90,89,198,1747,1695],"class_list":{"0":"post-182497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-budget","9":"tag-cuts","10":"tag-district-attorney","11":"tag-jeff-rosen","12":"tag-measure-a","13":"tag-san-jose","14":"tag-san-jose-headlines","15":"tag-san-jose-news","16":"tag-santa-clara-county","17":"tag-tax","18":"tag-trump-administration"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}