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. 

Last Friday the Department of Education (DOE), by means of legally dubious reduction-in-force layoffs, decimated the offices within the Department of Education that administer federal special education funding, guidance, and monitoring through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). 

SACRAMENTO, CA – On October 10, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 27 (Umberg) into law. This bill vastly expands eligibility for and referrals to the ineffective CARE Court program without filling ongoing gaps in housing, mental health workforce, or mental health services.

SACRAMENTO, CA - Today, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 634, authored by Senator Sasha Renée Pérez. California state law will now ensure that service workers, good neighbors, faith-based organizations, and other community outreach groups can continue their critical work to assist people experiencing homelessness without fear of criminal penalty.

To kick off National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we had an exciting panel of disability leaders discussing employment for people with disabilities. They talked about their own personal experiences with employment, reasonable accommodations, supports to find a job and more.

Disability Rights California is furious and saddened at the death of former Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, at the Adelanto Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Center on Sunday in San Bernardino County, California. Ayala-Uribe is the 14th person to die in immigrant detention this year and the first at the Adelanto facility, which has recently been subject to dangerous overcrowding and is run by the private, for-profit GEO Group.