California budget allocates $20 million to restart CalFresh pilot program
Assemblymember Alex Lee announced on Wednesday that $20 million in the 2026-27 fiscal budget has been allocated to restart the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot Program after the program paused at the end of June due to a lack of funding.
The new funding for the CalFresh program comes as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed in July 2025, resulted in historic cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which allows over 42 million Americans to afford groceries each month. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill, H.R. 1, is set to roughly $186 billion from SNAP funding through 2034.
H.R. 1 not only reduces CalFresh benefits for the roughly 5.5 million Californians who depend on the program for food but also demands that recipients meet additional work requirements in order to receive benefits.
The Trump administration says that the federal cuts and new requirements are meant to eliminate fraud within SNAP nationwide.
The CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT program, which began in 2023, allows recipients to earn a $1 rebate on their EBT card for every $1 of CalFresh benefits spent on any fresh fruits and vegetables at a participating retailer. Since its launch, it has served 546,00 Californians, providing over $44 million in rebates by May 2026.
Gov. Newsom released on May 14, 2026, his May Revision of the 2026-27 state budget, which proposed some funding for CalFresh but fell short in addressing the amount of need. The governor officially signed the budget on Monday, which includes this $20 million allocated for the program.
Since May, Assemblymember Lee and Senator Scott Wiener have pushed to secure an additional $100 million in funding for CalFresh and Fruit and Vegetable EBT for fiscal year 2026-27.
"At a time when the Trump Administration is putting food benefits in the crosshairs, California needs to stand up for successful nutrition assistance programs like the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetables EBT Program. This program is proven to put nutritious food in the mouths of our most vulnerable," Wiener said on May 18.
California food advocates continue to push for support of the CalFresh program.
"Our renewed investment in the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Program will ensure low-income families have access to healthy and affordable food," Lee said. "At a time when the federal government is gutting our social services, the program has been crucial to combating food insecurity statewide."
