{"id":10062,"date":"2026-02-12T14:15:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/02\/12\/california-sues-trump-administration-over-600m-in-public-health-cuts-to-blue-states-calmatters\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T14:15:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:15:29","slug":"california-sues-trump-administration-over-600m-in-public-health-cuts-to-blue-states-calmatters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/02\/12\/california-sues-trump-administration-over-600m-in-public-health-cuts-to-blue-states-calmatters\/","title":{"rendered":"California sues Trump administration over $600M in public health cuts to blue states – CalMatters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\t\t
\t\t\t \t \t \t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\"The
STD Investigator Hou Vang unlocks a refrigerator that houses immunizations in the Fresno County Department of Public Health on June 8, 2022. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters\/CatchLight Local<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

In summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

The grants targeted help fund public health workforce and disease monitoring. Ending these grants could result in layoffs and worse health outcomes, according to a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Rob Bonta. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

California is suing the Trump Administration over its plans to cut $600 million in public health funding from California and three other Democratic states, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told Congress it would end Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants in California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota. The attorneys general in those states filed a joint lawsuit<\/a> in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Wednesday, arguing the cuts are based on \u201carbitrary political animus\u201d and would cause irreparable harm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The grants under threat help fund workforce and data modernization<\/a> as well as testing and treatment for diseases like HIV.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The cuts target grants provided to state and local health departments as well as universities and providers. According to the complaint, one of the grants at stake is the Public Health Infrastructure Grant, considered the \u201cbackbone\u201d of public health nationwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

California is due $130 million from that grant, according to Bonta\u2019s office; the money pays for more than 400 jobs, including in areas lacking healthcare workers. It also goes to update the state\u2019s ability to send electronic laboratory data and to provide urgent dental care to underserved children, the state claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Meredith
Meredith Reyes, a lab technician 1, labels COVID-19 swab tests before processing at the Sonoma County Department of Public Health on June 8, 2021. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Losing those dollars would cause layoffs and weaken the state\u2019s ability to prepare for public health emergencies, according to the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another grant under threat, according to the lawsuit, supports planning for extreme heat events.<\/p>\n

Other grants at risk include $6 million for Los Angeles County to address health inequities, $1.1 million<\/a> that could be withdrawn from the Los Angeles County\u2019s National HIV Behavioral Surveillance Project; $876,000<\/a> for the Prevention Research Center at USCF to address social isolation among older L.G.B.T.Q. adults; $383,000<\/a> for the Los Angeles LGBT Center, and $1.3 million<\/a> for health staffing at Alameda County.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Health and Human Services agency has not said why cuts to the Public Health Infrastructure Grant are happening only in four states, even though the program funds health departments in all 50. An agency spokesperson said only that \u201cthese grants are being terminated because they do not reflect agency priorities<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, called the agency\u2019s reasoning \u201ca transparent excuse to punish states and communities it disagrees with, at the direct expense of lives and readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0California Democratic U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff called the cancellation of grants \u201cdangerous\u201d and \u201cdeliberate.\u201d \u201cThe Trump administration\u2019s targeting of blue states is illegal and must end,\u201d he said on X.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The California Department of Public Health and local health departments contacted by CalMatters said that they had not received official notice of the reported cuts. The Los Angeles Department of Public Health said the impact to Angelenos would be long-lasting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs local health departments across the nation face simultaneous health emergencies, cancelling federal investments will make our communities less healthy, less safe, and less prosperous,\u201d the department said in an unsigned email.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles County anticipates the cuts would undermine its capacity to respond to natural disasters and outbreaks like measles, avian flu and influenza, as well as its work monitoring sexually transmitted diseases and chronic conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time the Trump administration has targeted public health funding. Last spring, it tried to claw back billions of dollars<\/a> from states meant to respond to public health threats, including COVID-19. A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled those cuts unlawfu<\/p>\n

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\tREAD NEXT<\/span> \t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Avatar\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAna B. Ibarra covers health care for CalMatters. Her reporting largely focuses on issues around access to care and affordability. She joined CalMatters in 2020 after four years at Kaiser Health News. She…\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Ana B. Ibarra\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\t\t\t \t\t<\/main> \t<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STD Investigator Hou Vang unlocks a refrigerator that houses immunizations in the Fresno County Department of Public Health on June 8, 2022. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters\/CatchLight Local In summary The grants targeted help fund public health workforce and disease monitoring. Ending these grants could result in layoffs and worse health outcomes, according to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}