Our rights as Americans, including our right to health care, are under attack, and NUHW is continuing to work with our allies to defend the rights of everyone in our country.
On the evening of August 27, we’ll be hosting a Town Hall to discuss how President Trump’s initiatives impact us as healthcare workers, and all Californians, and answer any questions. We’ll follow up soon with more information about the Town Hall.
Meanwhile, our union took the lead in programming the Summer of Resistance in Downtown Los Angeles on July 5 and 12. Several NUHW members participated in both sessions.
Our Political Department has reviewed a raft of bills drafted in response to actions taken by the Trump Administration, and is supporting the following pieces of legislation in Sacramento.
SB 81 (Arreguín)
SB 81 seeks to safeguard access to health care for all Californians by protecting people’s immigration status and place of birth information from being disclosed and prohibiting a healthcare provider from providing access to a patient for immigration enforcement purposes. This bill is currently in the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee.
SJR 9 (Durazo)
SJR 9 strongly condemns and denounces mass immigration raids that target immigrant workers and families in California and the engagement of the military in immigration enforcement operations, and in response to community protests. This measure would affirm support for safeguarding the rights and safety of all Californians, regardless of immigration status, and support, among other things, the expansion of legal services and emergency response resources to protect workers, children, and families affected by immigration enforcement. This bill is heading to a vote of the full Assembly.
SB 627 (Wiener) No Secret Police Act
SB 627 prohibits an officer of a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency from wearing any mask or personal disguise while interacting with the public in the performance of their duties. This bill is currently in the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee.
SB 805 No Vigilantes Act
SB 805 requires federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel operating in California to visibly display identification to the public when performing their duties, and makes a violation of this requirement a misdemeanor. This bill is currently in the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee.
Health Impact Summary: HR-1, Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”
The enactment of HR-1, Trump’s big budget bill is estimated to push 17 million Americans off healthcare coverage in 2026 to help fund tax breaks for the wealthy, while providing $170 billion for the Trump administration’s immigration policies to detain and deport a record number of people from the United States without regard for due process. The bill enacts the largest cut to healthcare in history, and implements an ICE budget larger than most countries’ military budgets.
- Trump’s budget bill cuts Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) by 1 trillion over the next 10 years. It will force millions off health care coverage, food assistance, and reproductive care. In California, Medi-Cal serves 5.5 million children.
- The bill is estimated to cost California $28.4 billion and result in 3.4 million Californians losing health coverage over the next 10 years, according to analysis from the governor’s office.
- According to the UC Labor Center, the cuts could cause up to 217,000 jobs to be lost, with two-thirds (67 percent) in health care sectors, including jobs at hospitals, clinics, and doctors’ offices, nursing homes, in-home care, and other health care settings.
The cuts will not only impact those on Medi-Cal or Covered California, they will impact the entire healthcare system. Clinics and hospitals will face financial challenges and many will have to reduce services or close their doors. More uninsured patients means less compensation for hospitals. Rural and community hospitals that care for a large share of low-income patients enrolled in Medi-Cal will have to absorb the losses, which will likely mean cutting services, reducing staff, or closing.
Additionally, California Planned Parenthood clinics will lose more than $300 million in funding, jeopardizing their ability to remain open. It is estimated that 735,000 people will lose food stamps and 3.1 million California families will lose at least some of their food assistance. (About one third of all newborns in California are enrolled in food stamp programs.)
The federal cuts come on top of the recent California budget deal signed by Governor Newsom to help address a $12 billion deficit. In the deal, California will stop enrolling new adult patients without legal status in Medi-Cal starting in 2026. The budget deal also eliminates dental coverage for those who remain enrolled, starting in July 2026, and creates a $30 monthly premium for undocumented Medi-Cal patients between the ages of 19 and 59 that will take effect in July 2027. These cuts are estimated to cut funding for over one million adults.
