CA prepares for possible federal government shutdown

Filthy bathrooms. It’s among the things retired law enforcement park ranger John Lauretig remembers about the last government shutdown. National Parks staff were furloughed, but the parks remained open from December 2018 through January 2019, leading to a human waste problem: There was a half-ton of human waste alone at Death Valley outside the restrooms when parks staff returned. 

That crummy situation may be a sign of what awaits many Californians soon if the government shutdown takes hold Wednesday, writes CalMatters’ reporters.

A shutdown occurs when Congress and the president fail to agree over how to keep funding the government’s discretionary spending, which includes bridge repairs, disease detection and more. The White House says to check an agency’s website to see how programs would be affected during a shutdown. Some workers are deemed “essential” and continue to work.

Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are mandatory programs that are excluded from the annual discretionary budget process, and, for the most part, should be unaffected by a shutdown. 

Congressional lawmakers must make a deal by Tuesday, 11:59 p.m. Democratic leaders want Republicans to undo the Medicaid cuts they implemented in President Donald Trump’s tax bill this summer and extend the federal subsidies for Affordable Care Act enrollees initially enacted under former President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, Trump is floating the prospect of firing federal workers en masse should the shutdown occur. California is home to roughly 150,000 federal employees.

The National Park Service has lost nearly a quarter of its permanent staff since Trump’s return to the White House, according to an estimate by the National Parks Conservation Association. 

Read more about other government spending programs that could be affected in California during a shutdown, including air travel, disaster readiness and financial support for low-income families.

From CalMatters health reporter Kristen Hwang:

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a measure into law Friday that safeguards the identity of abortion providers in California. The law allows doctors, pharmacists and other authorized medical staff to prescribe abortion pills without putting their names or the patient’s name on the prescription label. It goes into effect immediately. 

Doctors in California and New York have been sued for providing abortion medication to residents in states where the procedure is not allowed.

The new law heightens the contrast between California’s abortion protections and laws in states like Texas, which heavily restrict or ban abortion, and allow their residents to sue out-of-state abortion providers.

Newsom said he was proud to sign the bill “in the face of amplified attacks on the fundamental right to reproductive freedom.”

The new law also requires state health insurance plans to cover the abortion pill even if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration yanks its approval.

From CalMatters’ health editor Molly Peterson:

California is showing alarm after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that it would terminate the nationwide Household Food Security Report. Nearly one in eight households statewide are food insecure, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, meaning that they lack the resources to ensure that everyone has enough to eat to support active, healthy lives. 

The survey is a “gold standard,” said Barbara Laraia, professor and chair of the UC Berkeley’s Food Nutrition and Population Health Program. Without it, policymakers, researchers and nonprofits relying on the 30-year-old report’s annual data to track hunger trends and allocate resources will be “flying blind,” said Mauricio Torres Jr., a spokesman for the Sacramento-based nonpartisan California Budget & Policy Center. 


State-level data efforts still can inform some local responses to hunger. UCLA’s California Health Interview Survey has tracked food insecurity for more than 20 years, identifying greater needs among low-income households, communities of color and immigrants.

But the USDA’s decision comes as county public health departments report to CalMatters that even the threat of losing federal funding is starving food stamp education and nutrition programs that could help Californians in need.

From CalMatters K-12 education reporter Carolyn Jones:

Native American students will face fewer obstacles if they want to wear tribal regalia at high school graduations, thanks to a bill Gov. Newsom signed Friday.

Assembly Bill 1369 allows students to wear eagle feathers, abalone necklaces, stoles and other regalia to graduation ceremonies without needing approval from the school district in advance. California already allowed students to wear tribal regalia, but at least half of school districts had pre-approval processes that some students said were overly cumbersome and arbitrary.

• Assemblymember James Ramos, a San Bernardino Democrat and the bill’s author, in a statement: “Just acknowledging — once again — a student’s right to wear tribal regalia at high school graduation ceremonies is a far cry from early statehood, when California’s first governor called for a ‘War of Extermination’ against the tribes.”

Schools had said they need the pre-approval process to ensure that graduation adornments are respectful and appropriate. The process applied to all students, not just Native American students, although Native American students were more likely to wear regalia.

Regalia, which is often bestowed by a tribal elder or family member, is a way to celebrate the accomplishments of Native American students and raise awareness of the culture, Ramos said.