{"id":384978,"date":"2026-07-03T14:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/384978\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T14:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:03:07","slug":"heres-what-orange-county-will-receive-from-californias-budget-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/384978\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what Orange County will receive from California\u2019s budget \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orange County lawmakers secured millions of dollars for various projects as part of the state budget deal reached<\/a> at the end of June, ranging from a long-awaited resting place for veterans to affordable housing support and food assistance.<\/p>\n

The $350 billion plan, Newsom and California\u2019s Democratic leadership said, will ensure there is no deficit this year or next, while Republican leaders have criticized the budget\u2019s spending as unsustainable.<\/p>\n

Two key components of the plan, Democratic leaders said, are a bond plan<\/a> to fund housing construction and a constitutional amendment meant to shore up California\u2019s rainy day fund<\/a>. Both, though, will need final approval by voters in the fall.<\/p>\n

Zooming in a bit on the budget, Orange County legislators were able to secure millions of dollars for various projects. Here\u2019s a closer look.<\/p>\n

Healthcare and food assistance<\/p>\n

The state budget includes $222.4 billion to maintain full-scope Medi-Cal, the state\u2019s MediCaid program, for those no longer eligible for federal funding because of changes to the federal program that were included in H.R. 1, \u201cBig Beautiful Bill.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite a steep membership drop, roughly 822,000<\/a> of Orange County\u2019s more than 3 million residents were enrolled in Medi-Cal as of February. About 922,000 county residents<\/a> were eligible at the beginning of the year, according to the most recent data available from the California Department of Health Care Services.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the state budget includes $3.2 billion for CalFresh \u2013 the state\u2019s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program \u2013 and other state-run nutrition programs.<\/p>\n

In Orange County, about one out of every 10 people receives CalFresh benefits, according to the county<\/a>.<\/p>\n

California legislators also agreed to allocate about $108 million for CalFood<\/a>, which provides funding exclusively for food banks and pantries. California food banks pushed for a $110 million share of the budget to meet increased demand.<\/p>\n

OC Food Bank serves over 360,000 people per month<\/a> and distributes 23 million pounds of food in a typical year. Second Harvest Food Bank served about 458,000 people per month<\/a> and distributed more than 42 million pounds of food across Orange County in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Additionally, $16.5 million from the budget is available for the state social services department\u2019s diaper and wipe distribution program. The Community Action Partnership of Orange County<\/a> will be one of 11 recipients.<\/p>\n

Veterans cemetery<\/p>\n

The state budget included $10 million in expenditure authority that will go to the California Department of Veterans Affairs to begin the first two phases of the Orange County Veterans Cemetery at Gypsum Canyon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Orange is the largest county in California without a cemetery dedicated to veterans.<\/p>\n

$9 million is also included in the state budget for construction of the access road needed to support the site of the future cemetery, said Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, veterans and military families in our region have fought to see this project moved forward. This budget delivers meaningful progress toward honoring that commitment,\u201d Quirk-Silva said.<\/p>\n

State and local officials have been trying to build a veterans\u2019 cemetery at the 500-acre wilderness in Anaheim Hills for more than a decade. First proposed in 2014, the project has endured many setbacks that have frustrated veterans<\/a>, from bouncing between multiple proposed sites in Irvine before the property in Anaheim Hills was identified, to environmental reviews, lawsuits<\/a> and time-consuming bureaucratic processes.<\/p>\n

The site, where construction on a public cemetery is already underway<\/a>, was added to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs\u2019 priority list<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

Housing<\/p>\n

Another component of the budget is a $500,000 grant that will go toward the Affordable Housing Access Platform, an initiative led by People for Housing OC and Orange County United Way.<\/p>\n

Residents can use the countywide tool<\/a> to find affordable housing units they are eligible for. People for Housing OC says the initiative, which began in 2023, has gained the support of the county, 22 Orange County cities and five affordable housing developers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy leveraging this existing technology infrastructure, which has benefited from major investment and updates since 2022, AHAP will create a centralized tool for residents to indicate their interest and be alerted for affordable housing opportunities in Orange County,\u201d said People for Housing OC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And $900 million will go to the state\u2019s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention grant program<\/a>, which makes grants available to cities and counties to address homelessness and support interim and permanent housing. Last year\u2019s budget included $500 million for the program, with over $35 million of that awarded to Orange County and its Continuum of Care<\/a>, as well as Anaheim, Irvine and Santa Ana.<\/p>\n

Public safety<\/p>\n

Nearly $1.3 billion is available in the budget for a variety of courthouses across the state, including the new Orange County Collaborative Courthouse<\/a>, which provides mental health services and programs to reduce recidivism, among other focuses.<\/p>\n

And $50 million will be used to fund Proposition 36<\/a>. The measure approved by voters in 2024 strengthened certain retail theft and drug penalties. But it also ensured that repeat offenders who need drug or alcohol treatment can receive that therapy or counseling.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers had requested about $400 million<\/a>, and Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat who represents communities in southern Orange County, wanted levels to be near what they were last year, about $100 million, said spokesperson Andrew LaMar. While Blakespear does not believe the $50 million allocated is enough, LaMar said, it\u2019s better than no funding at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orange County lawmakers secured millions of dollars for various projects as part of the state budget deal reached…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,2076,7,1843,8,1280,1011,100,611,13,13438,136,513],"class_list":["post-384978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-budget","tag-california","tag-california-legislature","tag-california-news","tag-health-care","tag-housing","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-politics","tag-state-budget","tag-top-stories","tag-veterans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384978","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=384978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}