How Georgia and California are Fighting to Protect Access to Healthcare and Food Assistance:
Inside State Advocates’ Fight to Protect Basic Needs
Entering the 2026 legislative session, state workforce advocates faced a tough outlook. With tighter state budgets, slowing economic growth, federal funding cuts, and changes to SNAP and Medicaid access, advocates knew they would be asking state leaders to do more with fewer resources. Recognizing, this challenge, National Skills Coalition (NSC) proactively created tools, hosted peer learning convenings, and lent tailored support aligned to help state workforce advocates prepare and execute strategic policy advocacy campaigns. This blog series highlights the work of advocates across NSC’s SkillSPAN network, showcasing how they responded to an unprecedented policy environment and the strategies they are leading to drive progress.
Many of these campaigns remain underway, and sustaining their momentum will require continued leadership and long-term advocacy. Through the Keep Our Workforce Strong Campaign, NSC will continue equipping state partners with the research, policy expertise, and strategic connections needed to meet this moment. We welcome others who are interested in joining these efforts to reach out and contribute to the collective action required to protect and defend workers, families, and local employers.
In 2025, the federal government’s passage of HR1, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill” reconciliation package, fundamentally altered the stakes for state workforce advocates. The law imposed new work reporting requirements for SNAP and Medicaid and shifted additional program costs to states, reshaping the fiscal and policy landscape confronting state lawmakers. At the same time, these changes began to affect workers, families, and employers by limiting access to healthcare and food assistance, placing greater pressure on states to mitigate the law’s impacts swiftly and strategically.
NSC partnered with SkillSPAN advocates to develop and advance coordinated offensive and defensive policy strategies that push back against harmful proposals and protect meaningful investments. This includes the creation of customized factsheets with state-level data and strategic messaging guidance to help push back on false, harmful narratives about public benefits and the people who access them. NSC also developed policy resources to help partners understand HR1’s impact on SNAP and Medicaid and identify meaningful actions states could take in response State workforce advocates explored the use of these resources with their peers through closed-door strategy sessions hosted by NSC and effectively leveraged the research and guidance through impactful advocacy campaigns, including those shared below.
The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI), alongside key partners, led a coordinated advocacy campaign framing SNAP (food assistance) as an investment in the state’s workforce and economic competitiveness. Immediately following the passage of HR1, the group stood up a strong ‘mile-wide, inch-deep’ coalition of stakeholders invested in workforce, safety net, and economic development.
Driven by a collective vision to protect access to food assistance immediately and in the years to come, the coalition conducted and published research showcasing the value of SNAP to the state’s economy, jobs, and industries, as well as voters’ support for the program and state investments to support it. It also raised awareness of the Georgians at greatest risk without state investment, including the nearly one quarter of households receiving SNAP that include a senior or disabled adult and the almost 70% that include a child.
In addition to traditional policymaker education strategies, advocates pursued broader public education tactics including paid media advertising and food distribution events in communities with local partners where local media brought further attention to the issue. The group also hosted an advocacy day at the Capitol that featured speakers championing the value of SNAP, including workers who use the food assistance program and retailers that benefit economically.
GBPI’s leadership on this issue led to more than state investments, it also equipped advocates to argue the merits of related bills more effectively by educating the public and policymakers about the value of SNAP. One of the largest changes HR1 made to the food assistance program was the shift in responsibility for its costs. The new law fundamentally shifted who pays for the program and, as a result, would reduce access to food assistance without drastic action by states. Historically, the federal government funded SNAP benefits while sharing administrative costs with states. HR1 changed both of those longstanding arrangements. First, the law reduced federal contributions to SNAP’s administrative costs from 50% to 25%, making states responsible for 75%. Second, the law now requires states with payment error rates above 6% to cover a share of SNAP benefit costs. While improving payment accuracy is important, doing so requires significant investments in staffing, technology, and program administration. Without those investments, states face substantial new costs—and increased pressure to administer the program with fewer resources.
By bringing attention to financial implications for the state from HR1, workforce advocates made a strong case for lawmakers to take prompt action that minimizes harm and protects access to food assistance for Georgians today and in the future. The state’s $46.4M investment replaces lost federal administrative funding and allows the program to remain fully funded and its $6.9M investment will ensure enhancements are made to reduce the state’s error rate, protecting future costs ranging from $162M to $487M. Finally, GBPI and partners’ education campaign also contributed to the successful defeat of legislation considered in session that would have increased burdensome administrative processes on SNAP recipients and applicants to verify eligibility.
Together, these efforts illustrate how sustained public education, broad coalition-building, and economic framing can strengthen policy advocacy in impactful ways beyond new funding or legislation.
The California EDGE coalition (EDGE) is leading an advocacy campaign to improve access to and accuracy of employment data required by state agencies to verify worker eligibility for healthcare and food assistance benefits. In doing so, the group would ensure eligible workers do not unnecessarily lose access to benefits due to gaps in data collection and sharing by the state.
Following the passage of HR1, state workforce advocates in California quickly recognized the need to educate the public and policymakers on the expected impact of federal threats to Medicaid and SNAP and the economic costs they would impose on the state. EDGE created resources identifying these emerging challenges and potential state solutions to advance in response. As the group explored longer-term strategies, the need for immediate actions to mitigate harm for workers and families became clear.
HR1 mandated states to apply stricter work reporting requirements that limit access to SNAP and Medicaid. In California, this meant over 4 million Californians were at risk of losing access to healthcare or food assistance. EDGE and its partners identified the challenge: the state’s current wage reporting system does not capture hours worked or occupation. Without that information, it is harder for workers, counties, and the state to verify eligibility that ensures access to these basic needs. The coalition promptly developed a campaign directing lawmakers to strengthen the state’s data collection to ensure hours worked and occupation data were incorporated into the existing wage reporting system.
Senator Christopher Cabaldon officially introduced SB 1054 in February, with the EDGE Coalition, California Competes, and UNITE-LA as co-sponsors. The bill would require employers to report hours worked and occupation data through the state’s existing wage reporting system. The Employment Development Department (EDD) would share this data with the state agencies that oversee SNAP and Medicaid to support verification, protect eligible workers from losing critical benefits, and streamline administrative processes for workers, counties, and state agencies.
Since its introduction, leaders of these organizations and others impacted by the bill’s outcomes have testified publicly in support of it, including the California State Association of Counties. In addition, the bill has been endorsed by over 35 state-based and national organizations.
By emphasizing both the economic impacts of federal policy changes and the immediate opportunity to strengthen the state’s data operations, advocates positioned the legislation as a practical solution for workers, employers, and state government alike. As a result, SB 1054 continues to advance in the state legislature with advocates elevating it to lawmakers as key priority for the session.
