AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 12, 2026

AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 12, 2026

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

97

BUDGET TRAILER BILL

Introduced by Committee on Budget (Assembly Members Gabriel (Chair), Addis, Ahrens, Alvarez, Bennett, Bonta, Caloza, Connolly, Fong, Haney, Hart, Jackson, Lee, Ortega, Patel, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rogers, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Stefani, Ward, and Wilson)

January 8, 2025

An act to add Division 11 (commencing with Section 19000) to the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to Medi-Cal, and making an appropriation therefor, to take effect immediately, bill related to the budget.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: yes   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law establishes the California Health and Human Services Agency, headed by the Secretary of California Health and Human Services. Existing law further establishes, within the agency, a number of departments and other entities, including the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income persons receive health care benefits.

This bill would require create the Fair Share from Big Corporations Act pursuant to which the Department of Finance would be required to, on or before March 1, 2027, present to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee one or more options for holding the state’s largest corporations accountable for the taxpayer costs of their employees enrolled in the Medi-Cal program, as specified, unless the Medicaid program-related provisions of a specified federal law are repealed on or before March 1, 2027.

The bill would appropriate $10,000 from the General Fund to the Employment Development Department Department of Finance for purposes of implementing the program. these provisions.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Division 11 (commencing with Section 19000) is added to the Unemployment Insurance Code, to read:

Division 11. Fair Share from Big Corporations Act

19000.

This Division shall be known, and may be cited, as the Fair Share from Big Corporations Act.

19000.3.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Federal House Resolution 1 (Public Law 119-21) was passed on a partisan vote and signed by President Donald J. Trump on Independence Day, 2025.

(b) H.R. 1 made the largest cuts to the Medicaid program in history.

(c) H.R. 1 made these cuts in order to fund the largest tax breaks for big corporations in history, and those tax breaks amount to $900 billion in additional tax giveaways to profitable corporations at the expense of health insurance for low-income Americans.

(d) H.R. 1 gave these tax breaks to corporations regardless of whether they pay their workforce poverty wages, forcing their workforce to turn to safety net programs such as the Medicaid program.

(e) One of the most significant cuts in the Medicaid program, known as the Medi-Cal program in California, was a cut resulting from a new work and community engagement requirement.

(f) Data shows that 92 percent of adults who receive Medicaid benefits are working and are getting paid poverty wages.

(g) A 2022 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report notes that, despite the rhetoric, work requirements are not likely to lead to increased employment unless paired with targeted work supports, such as childcare and transportation.

(h) Being denied health care does not make anyone better at finding a job, keeping a job, or getting more hours at the job they already have.

(i) Being threatened with losing health care does not help the millions of working adults who currently receive Medi-Cal benefits to increase their wages enough to afford nongovernment-funded health care or secure a job that has adequate health coverage.

(j) A growing body of research shows a healthy workforce provides businesses with a competitive advantage.

(k) When a big corporation relies on Medi-Cal to provide their employees with health insurance, they are relying on what amounts to taxpayer subsidies to gain the competitive advantage of a healthy workforce.

(l) The Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst’s Office have both reported that growing Medi-Cal costs are a leading factor in the state’s long-term structural deficit.

(m) In large part due to the negative impacts of HR 1 on the state’s finances, the state can no longer afford to maintain current subsidies for big corporations in the form of paying full costs of their employees’ enrollment in the Medi-Cal program.

(n) If HR 1 remains in effect, legislation will be considered as early as 2027 requiring big corporations to pay their fair share for their employees’ health insurance and reduce the taxpayer burden of big corporations’ employees being enrolled in Medi-Cal.

19000.5.

(a) (1) On or before March 1, 2027, the Department of Finance shall present to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee one or more options for holding the state’s largest corporations accountable for the taxpayer costs of their employees enrolled in the Medi-Cal program (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code).

(2) One of the options presented by the department pursuant to paragraph (1) shall include a premium paid by employers with at least 250 employees to offset the taxpayer costs of their employees enrolled in the Medi-Cal program who are not offered employer health coverage.

(b) Each option presented by the department pursuant to subdivision (a) shall include all of the following:

(1) Data prepared by the Employment Development Department, the State Department of Health Care Services, or other state departments working in cooperation with the Department of Finance, to show or estimate the number of workers at the state’s largest corporations who are enrolled in the Medi-Cal program, and other available information pertinent to the option.

(2) Proposed statutory language necessary to implement the option drafted by the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

(3) An analysis of the cost of, and timeline for, implementing the option, assuming that the option is enacted into law during the 2027 legislative session.

(c) (1) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under subdivision (a) is inoperative on March 1, 2031, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.

(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

(d) If the Medicaid program-related provisions of Public Law 119-21, enacted on July 1, 2025, are repealed on or before March 1, 2027, this section shall not become operative.

SEC. 2.

The sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) is hereby appropriated from the state General Fund to the Employment Development Department the Department of Finance for the express purpose of implementing the Fair Share Premium from Big Corporations Program Act (Division 11 (commencing with Section 19000) of the Unemployment Insurance Code) pursuant to that division.

SEC. 3.

This act is a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill within the meaning of subdivision (e) of Section 12 of Article IV of the California Constitution, has been identified as related to the budget in the Budget Bill, and shall take effect immediately.