What’s Next: NextGen is making some NOISE this July! 📣💥 Here’s the latest
July 7, 2025
We hope you’re enjoying your summer! This year is flying by – it’s already July and we’re just weeks away from the Legislature’s summer recess. The NextGen team looks forward to the break but remains hard at work on our projects and legislative priorities. We’re excited to update you on the latest happenings around the State Capitol.
In this edition of What’s Next, we’ll cover the recently signed 2025-26 State Budget and assess how policy and funding changes will impact Californians’ lives and livelihoods. We’ll dive deeper into the budget and our team’s collaborative work fighting food insecurity, review a recent KCRA interview with NextGen’s Ken Spence on our workforce development initiatives and grants for justice-impacted adults, and more – including a legislative spotlight on Assemblymember Mike Fong.
Find a cool place to relax and let’s check out What’s Next at NextGen:
★ Budget Protects Programs that Fight Food Insecurity: NextGen would like to express our gratitude to Governor Newsom and State Legislators for prioritizing the fight against food insecurity in the final state budget. Specifically, the budget maintained full funding for California’s first-in-the-nation School Meals for All program! This essential program guarantees that every K-12 student in California has access to free, nutritious school meals – this means tens of millions of school meals being served to millions of students everyday. Now more than ever, it is important our elected leaders are committed to ensuring that no child goes hungry in California, particularly with cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) coming by way of the recently passed federal bill.
Additionally, we’d like to thank state leaders for funding the Kitchen Infrastructure and Training (KIT) program, which helps upgrade the equipment in school kitchens and also train school food professionals to prepare freshly made, healthy school meals for students. The budget also provided another year of funding for the Healthy School Food Pathway program, which plays a vital role in supporting the school nutrition workforce and elevating the quality of food served in our schools. Learn more about NextGen’s food insecurity work!
★ NextGen Talks with KCRA 3: In case you missed it, last month, NextGen’s Senior Policy Advisor Ken Spence sat down with Sacramento’s KCRA TV 3 News to discuss NextGen’s workforce development programs and the impact of our recently awarded Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD) Shine Grant. NextGen was awarded this grant to support our Opportunity Young Adult (OYA) program, which assists with helping to reintegrate formerly incarcerated and justice-impacted adults aged 18 to 28 in the Sacramento region through job skills training. Thanks to the Shine Grant, NextGen can do our part to help provide program participants with support services including stipends for transportation and food, career coaching, workforce training, and other opportunities to better support their training needs. Learn more by watching Ken’s full interview with KCRA 3!
Hear directly from NextGen’s Policy Advisor Arturo Juarez as he walks readers through the harmful implications of a broadband affordability bill that betrays its original promise and fails to meet the needs of Californians.
★ Did You Know? NextGen is here to help you know your rights – because when we stay informed, we stay empowered! Take a look at the detailed information, legal resources, and other materials available on NextGen’s website to help support and protect immigrant communities. We also encourage you to view and download the Red Cards available on our website, offered in both English and Spanish, for an easy-to-access list of your constitutional rights.
★ Member Spotlight: This week NextGen is shining a spotlight on Assemblymember Mike Fong, who represents California’s 49th Assembly District in Los Angeles County. Assemblymember and has served in the California Assembly since 2022. Throughout his tenure, Assemblymember Fong has championed various issues that directly align with NextGen’s advocacy work, particularly in the higher education space, including addressing institutional debt, making student loan debt information more accessible and transparent, and reforming the state’s Cal Grant financial aid program.
Prior to being elected to the state Legislature, Assemblymember Fong served as a Trustee on the Los Angeles Community College District Board and was the Director of Policy and Government Relations for the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Neighborhood Empowerment. He currently serves as Chair of both the Assembly Higher Education Committee as well as the Asian American & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus.
NextGen is grateful for Assemblymember Fong’s continued leadership and we’re proud to support his AB 731, which increases access to dual enrollment programs for students. Our team looks forward to continuing our work with Chair Fong to improve our state’s higher education system for all California students. Make sure to follow Assemblymember Fong on Bluesky to stay up-to-date with his work!
★ Legislative Deadlines and Insights: With a final 2025-26 State Budget in place, the Capitol Community now pivots back to focus on bills working their way through the legislative process. The next major legislative deadline is July 18th – bills in the second house must pass through their respective policy committees by this date as the Legislature starts their summer recess immediately thereafter. Policy committees in both houses are currently in full swing and the NextGen team is working diligently to move our bills through the legislative process.
Although the state budget was passed and signed on time by July 1st, the NextGen team is currently analyzing all the various devastating impacts of the recently passed federal reconciliation bill. Major changes in the way the federal government funds certain programs are coming and more importantly major cuts to federal funding for healthcare and food programs are headed our way. This bill presents a significant departure from the longstanding federal-state funding relationship and will have dire consequences for California – our working families, our seniors, and our low-income communities across the nation.
As our state leaders review what the Republican-controlled Congress passed and the President signed into law, there will likely be more actions required to further adjust the state budget we just passed in California. Ideas about when this will happen and ideas about how this will happen are unclear at this point but we fully anticipate that another round of budget bill negotiations and budget actions will need to take place to address the significant fiscal implications of the federal bill.
★ Follow NextGen on Bluesky: We encourage you to check us out there for the latest updates on California legislative bills and budget issues, learn about NextGen’s advocacy efforts, and discover opportunities to take meaningful action toward building a more equitable, prosperous, and climate-resilient California. We’ll see you over on Bluesky – follow us today!
★ Our Mission: NextGen Policy is a nonprofit advocacy organization that breaks down barriers and rebalances power in the State Capitol on behalf of all Californians.
Thank you for being a part of our journey toward a more equitable California. As we continue to push for progressive policy change, we invite you to make a difference by donating to support our organization. Your contribution will directly impact our efforts to address environmental, social, and economic inequities throughout the state.
Thank you,
NextGen Policy