CA4SSI Priorities for 2025 Budget Year

  • Provide an ongoing Cost of Living Increase for SSI/SSP Recipients

  • Support SSI/SSP Recipients when Emergencies Arise

  • Lift SSI/SSP Grants to at least the Federal Poverty Line

 

CA4SSI Coalition’s Response to the 2025-26 Final State Budget:

CCA4SSI is grateful to announce that the 2025-26 State Budget Act reiterates Governor Newsom’s and the Legislature’s commitment to preserving Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment grants. We are thankful that the Governor and Legislature realize the real consequences of reducing the grant, which would have made it even more difficult for older adults and people with disabilities to afford to live in California. 

Additionally, we are glad the final budget rejects the overtime cap for IHSS workers and modifies reinstating asset test limits in Medi-Cal for older adults and persons with disabilities at $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple. SSI recipients feel the burden of these strict asset limits, and we must work to remove asset limits in critical programs, not tighten them. California must commit to protecting and strengthening services for low-income individuals, including those who may be undocumented, older adults, or people with disabilities.

We are disappointed no further increase to SSI/SSP grants was included in the final budget, as SSI recipients will now fall deeper into poverty. The individual grant for SSI/SSP recipients is only 92.5% of the federal poverty level, and the grants for couples are only slightly over the poverty line. Next year, individual grant levels will drop to an estimated 90.54% of the federal poverty line. SSI/SSP was created to protect our most vulnerable from poverty; we urge the Governor and Legislature to fulfill this promise by reinstating the annual cost of living increase and bringing individual grant levels to at least 100% of the poverty level in the 2026-2027 State Budget.

CA4SSI Coalition Urges Congress to Protect and Strengthen SNAP and Medicaid

Budget Reconciliation Bill Would Increase Hunger and Sickness for Vulnerable Communities, Including Older Adults and People with Disabilities

The CA4SSI Coalition is very concerned that the House Agriculture Committee’s Farm Bill proposal includes significant cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Energy and Commerce Committee’s proposed legislation cuts to Medicaid. These cuts would increase hunger among our communities, as over 64% of Supplemental Security Income recipients receive SNAP in California, and all receive Medi-Cal.  Older adults and people with disabilities living on SSI are already struggling to survive, as grant levels for individuals continue to fall below the federal poverty line.  It will be impossible for  food banks and other social services to  make up the difference that cuts to SNAP and Medicaid will cause; people will jdevastatingly go hungry and get sick.

We urge our Representatives to oppose this legislation when it moves to the House floor. We call on Congress to protect and strengthen SNAP and Medicaid —not cut or weaken—these vital programs for older adults and people with disabilities.

Seniors and People with Disabilities Who Receive SSI Received One-Time $600 Golden State Grant in 2021

The Golden State Grant provided direct aid to those most impacted by the pandemic. It included a one-time $600 grant to SSI seniors and people with disabilities, to help meet the high costs that SSI recipients struggle to pay during COVID. Learn more here.

SSI/SSP Recipients Can Now Be Eligible for CalFresh

In the summer of 2019, the “cash out” policy that bans SSI recipients from receiving CalFresh (food stamps) ended. People who receive SSI are now able to also receive CalFresh at the same time.