We’d like your input as we review and revise the priorities of our work for 2027. You can tell us what is important by answering the questions below. If you need help, please call us at (800) 776-5746 and say, “I need help with your survey.”

Senator Caroline Menjivar
Chair, Senate Budget Subcommittee #3, Health and Human Services

Assemblymember Dr. Corey Jackson
Chair, Assembly Budget Subcommittee #2, Human Services

Re: Governor’s 2026-27 Proposed Budget: Department of Developmental Services (4300)

Dear Senator Menjivar and Assemblymember Jackson:

In 2024, Disability Rights California joined with several disability and Deaf-led organizations to form the California Disability Leadership Alliance (CDLA). This Alliance works to improve the lives of disabled people in California. CDLA members sent a questionnaire to each of the California Gubernatorial candidates on policies and concerns directly impacting people with disabilities.

Re: Congress must Prioritize Care, Access, Representation and Basic Dignity, not Violence and Detention

Dear Members of Congress,

DRC stands in solidarity with immigrant communities across the US and with all those calling for an end to recent violent and criminal actions of our federal agencies. The killings of Keith Porter Jr. in Los Angeles and Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis are the result of dangerous, racist, and xenophobic policies implemented by the federal government. These killings are tragedies in the senseless loss of life and in the spectacle of cruelty surrounding them.

Calling for Community Testimony!

The federal government has defunded the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, leaving students with disabilities and their parents without a meaningful way to file discrimination complaints against schools and have their concerns addressed.

Yesterday, Disability Rights California submitted public comment in strong opposition to RIN 0945-AA27, “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance.” As California’s Protection and Advocacy Organization, DRC’s job is to protect and expand disability rights. The proposed rule does the opposite: it limits the scope of Section 504’s essential civil rights protections. 

Governor Gavin Newsom released his proposed 2026-2027 budget on January 9, 2026. The Governor’s budget proposes $348.9 billion in total state spending, up from $321.1 billion total state funds in last year’s enacted budget. However, it does not include significant expansion of services or programs for people with disabilities and leaves funding gaps in future years for vital programs and services. Read the Governor's Budget Summary 2026-27.

On Friday, December 26, 2025, Bob Kafka, the legendary and prolific disability rights organizer, advocate, and activist, passed away.

DRC strongly opposes CARE Court because it is based on stigma and stereotypes of people living with mental health disabilities and experiencing homelessness and will disproportionately impact Black Californians, who make up 40% of the unhoused population, only furthering institutional racism. Implementing this new system will harmfully impact individuals with disabilities and particularly Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and LGBTQIA+ communities.

This week, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it will shift much of the department's work to other federal agencies, in a move to fulfill the President’s plan to allocate education to the states. Disability Rights California (DRC) believes it is unwise and reckless to dismantle a coordinated system and expect it to provide the same level of protection, monitoring, student support, and educator support.

This weekend Alice Wong, one of the most prominent and impactful disability thinkers and activists of the last few decades, left this mortal coil. Through her extremely far-reaching and diverse work in the Disability Visibility Project, Ms. Wong built what every think tank and advocacy project aspires to—an incredibly rich, engaging, and revolutionary body of continuing work and writing that made leaps and bounds from past ways of thinking, contended with the tumultuous present, and cut various paths toward the future.

Early Wednesday morning, the federal government shut down because Congress could not reach an agreement to fund the government. While we do not know how long the shutdown will last, we want to be clear that Disability Rights California will continue to defend and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. We are sharing resources for people with disabilities that have been put together by DRC’s policy experts. This page will continue to be updated as we learn more information.

This town hall discussion shared information ahead of the special election on November 4th, 2025. You will learn about accessible voting options and what will be on the ballot.