California

Food, fluoride and funding: How a new Trump term might affect health in California

Published

2 years ago

November 8, 2024

Food, fluoride and funding: How a new Trump term might affect health in California

Donald Trump’s return to the White House stands to significantly shape the health of Californians — the foods they eat, the medicines they take, the costs they face and more.

Trump has said he’ll grant a prominent health role to supporter Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has made discredited claims about vaccines and bucked the advice of pediatricians and dentists by advocating an end to water fluoridation. Policy analysts expect cuts to Medicaid.

And though Trump has publicly distanced himself from the conservative Project 2025 playbook, many of its proposals overlap with Trump’s agenda and the Republican Party platform. As such, analysts say its detailed proposals on opioid addiction, contraception, mental health treatment and more bear watching.

“I think everything is on the table,” said Gerald Kominski, a senior fellow at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Already, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has vowed to take the incoming president to court if his administration tries to stymie the state’s progressive agenda.

“Every action they take will likely provoke a lawsuit,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “California was a leader in the legal opposition to the first Trump administration, and I would expect that to be the case again this time.”

But some of those moves may not have legal remedies, Levitt cautioned. For example, if Kennedy makes changes to the Food and Drug Administration that weakens its ability to ensure foods and medicines are safe, “there’s not a whole lot California will be able to do to stop that.”

Elections matter. Here are six ways this could affect the Golden State.

Reproductive rights

While Trump has publicly claimed credit for being able to “kill” Roe vs. Wade through his Supreme Court appointments, he’s been harder to pin down on his plans for abortion in a second term. He has said on social media that he wants to leave the matter up to the states, and favors exceptions for rape, incest or life-threatening pregnancies.

With a state constitution that names abortion as a fundamental right, California has some of the strongest reproductive healthcare protections in the U.S.

Yet the administration could attempt to restrict abortion in the state by limiting access to mifepristone, one of the most common drugs used in medication-induced abortions. Conservative groups have been trying to get courts to withdraw the FDA’s approval for the drug.

More than 60% of abortions in the U.S. are induced with medication, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

Project 2025 suggests limiting access to mifepristone by reviving a 19th century law called the Comstock Act that prohibits sending abortion-causing agents by mail. Though both Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance said during the campaign that they would not enforce it, Vance was among 40 Republican lawmakers who signed a letter last year asking the Department of Justice to do just that. That could matter if Vance has another change of heart and tries to sway his boss.

“Obviously, it would be challenged in court, but we could see a huge disruption to the provision of medication abortion if they decided to try to enforce that,” said Amy Friedrich-Karnik, director of federal policy at the Guttmacher Institute.

Vaccines

Public health experts have been alarmed by Trump’s embrace of Kennedy, who dismisses overwhelming evidence that vaccines are safe. A recent study estimated that a federal program to help pay for childhood immunizations against diseases such as measles, polio and rotavirus has prevented more than 1 million deaths and 32 million hospitalizations since its inception in 1994.

This week, Kennedy said he wouldn’t take vaccines away from anyone who wanted them. “People can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them,” he told NBC News.

Trump himself said he would cut federal funding to schools with vaccine mandates. His campaign said he was talking about COVID-19 vaccines in particular, but as a candidate, he repeatedly made the pledge without clarifying that. California requires elementary and secondary school students to be immunized against a range of diseases unless they have a medical exemption; the COVID-19 shot is recommended but not mandatory.

In other areas of public health, Trump has said he “probably would” disband the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, even as the country is facing a mounting threat from bird flu.

And Kennedy triggered concerns by calling fluoride “an industrial waste” and saying he would push to have the mineral removed from drinking water. The CDC says fluoridation to prevent tooth decay is one of the 20th century’s greatest public health achievements, and more than half of Californians live in communities with fortified water.

Gender-affirming care

California law requires health plans and insurers licensed by the state to provide transgender enrollees with medically necessary gender-affirming care. It also aims to protect doctors from laws that criminalize such care in other states.

But access to gender-affirming care could still be undermined by federal action. Trump said he would press Congress to block the use of federal funds for gender-affirming care, a position also reflected in the Republican Party platform.

A prohibition could be modeled on the decades-old Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal funds from being used to pay for abortions, or tied to appropriations bills, said Julianna S. Gonen, director of federal policy for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

If implemented, people who rely on public programs such as Medicaid or Medicare could end up with “really limited access to gender-affirming care,” said Lindsey Dawson, director for LGBTQ Health Policy for KFF.

California officials might decide to have the state pick up the tab. Gonen said it would be “very hard” for the Trump administration to block states from doing so, although the last Trump administration threatened to withhold some Medicaid funding from California over its abortion policies.

Trump has taken particular aim at gender-affirming care for transgender youth, and he has a stated goal of prohibiting it “in all 50 states.” He said hospitals that provide such treatment would be cut off from Medicaid and Medicare funding. Gonen said losing that money would be “an existential threat” for health facilities.

Medicaid

In his first term, Trump proposed changes that would reduce federal spending on Medicaid. Trump has promised to spare Medicare and Social Security, but that could make Medicaid a target if spending cuts are needed, some public health experts believe.

“Medicaid would definitely be on the chopping block,” said Edwin Park, a research professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.

Cuts in Washington could force California to either pony up more money or shrink existing programs. California has relied on its own dollars to expand its Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, to cover people regardless of their immigration status, said John Baackes, chief executive of L.A. Care, the largest publicly operated health plan in the country. But amid budget deficits, “there’s a limitation of what California can do.”

Park added that Trump’s Republican allies have also floated plans that would restrict or prohibit state taxes on healthcare providers, further squeezing funding for Medicaid programs.

Nutrition and food safety

After Kennedy dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump, the former president seemed eager to delegate responsibility for food policy to his new ally, telling supporters last month that “I’m gonna let him go wild on the food.”

Kennedy told NBC that he would work to remove chemical additives from foods that are banned in Europe but still allowed in the U.S. Some of those substances, including red dye No. 3, will become illegal in California in 2027 under a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year.

Kennedy said he would eliminate the FDA departments tasked with assessing the safety of food ingredients because they are not “doing their job.” It’s not clear if Trump would go along with that.

Project 2025 calls for a repeal of the nation’s dietary guidelines on the grounds that they’ve gone astray by considering the environmental impact of food production. Project 2025 also embraces genetic engineering and other crop biotechnology. It’s not clear if Trump supports those proposals, though in his first term he eased restrictions on genetically engineered foods.

The Affordable Care Act

Trump tried unsuccessfully to roll back the Affordable Care Act during his first term. This time around, Trump has said he would only replace the landmark law if a better plan were devised.

Vance raised the idea of dividing up “risk pools,” which are used to share medical costs and calculate insurance premiums. Critics cautioned that doing so could drive up rates for elderly people with chronic conditions.

Mark A. Peterson, a professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, said that despite continued jabs at the law, “it’s very unlikely that Republicans will want to take on the Affordable Care Act. It did not go well for them last time … and now the Affordable Care Act is more popular than ever.”

A more immediate target may be a set of enhanced subsidies for people buying health insurance through Affordable Care Act marketplaces, which are due to expire at the end of 2025. One analysis found that if that happens, more than 1.5 million Californians would see their annual costs rise by an average of $967.

The Trump campaign has criticized the subsidies, arguing they helped insurance companies more than patients.

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California

Trump claims without proof Democrats are ‘trying to steal’ California primaries

Published

43 minutes ago

June 4, 2026

Press Room

Trump claims without proof Democrats are ‘trying to steal’ California primaries

Donald Trump has alleged without evidence that Democrats are cheating in California’s primaries and claimed in a late-night social media post that the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles was investigating.

As counting continues in the most populous state in the US, the president’s unfounded remarks are likely to further alarm election observers, who have warned of the risk of escalating misinformation in the absence of a final result.

Trump has a history of undermining election results that don’t go in his favor. He has repeatedly alleged that Democrats “stole” the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden, despite privately admitting his defeat, according to aides.

At 12.48am on Thursday, Trump posted: “The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”

“There’s BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California,” he said 17 minutes later in another post on his Truth Social platform. “Votes are all tied up. May not be in for weeks. Under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. Why the vote counting DELAY??? President DJT”.

The US attorney’s office said it had no comment on Trump’s claim that his allegations of cheating are “under investigation” by US attorneys. The Department of Justice in Washington DC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The president presented no substantive basis for questioning the legitimacy of the election.

Mail-in ballots factor heavily in California political races – typically about 80% of votes cast – and those ballots can be counted up to a week after election day, as long as they are postmarked before election day.

California uses a “jungle” primary process, in which the two candidates with the most votes advance to a runoff – regardless of their political party – unless one candidate wins an outright majority. A huge field of 61 candidates fragmented the vote in the race for governor, but Republicans have coalesced around Steve Hilton. Together with Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer, the three are in a contest that remains too close to call as votes are tallied.

Mail-in ballots tend to favor Democrats, which implies the possibility that Hilton – whom Trump has endorsed – may drop into third place by the time all the ballots are counted.

The last Republican to win the California gubernatorial race was Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. Republicans have polled just under 40% in each of the last four contests.

Last month Gavin Newsom sent a letter to elections officials to thank them for their work while warning that a long process invites disingenuous accusations of misconduct.

“We must acknowledge that the longer the vote count takes, the more mis- and dis-information spreads,” wrote the California governor. “That means we must do all that we can to tabulate votes quickly and accurately. Time is of the essence in preventing election lies from taking root.”

On Wednesday evening, election observers echoed those concerns. “Conducting elections with integrity and ensuring that every eligible vote is counted are fundamental to maintaining public confidence in our democracy,” said Mike DuHaime of the Democracy Defense Project, a bipartisan effort to combat election misinformation.

“At the same time, prolonged delays in ballot tabulation, such as those that have become increasingly common in California, can undermine public trust and create unnecessary uncertainty around election outcomes,” DuHaime added. “The longer election results remain unresolved, the greater the opportunity for misinformation and speculation to spread online, eroding confidence in our electoral process. Accuracy must always remain the highest priority, but accuracy and timeliness are not mutually exclusive.”

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California

California man charged with bringing explosives to Sacramento airport after repeatedly calling FBI tip line | CNN

Published

11 hours ago

June 4, 2026

Press Room

California man charged with bringing explosives to Sacramento airport after repeatedly calling FBI tip line | CNN

A California man was charged Tuesday after authorities say he brought an explosive device and other weapons through a security checkpoint at Sacramento International Airport.

Kimani Osayande Jones, who also uses the last name Jackson, attempted to bring an improvised explosive device, a knife and other bladed weapons, a torch lighter and zip ties through a TSA security checkpoint on May 30, according to court documents filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of California.

Officials believe Jones, 49, repeatedly called the FBI tip line to report he was being threatened and intimidated in the months leading up to the incident.

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office bomb technicians safely removed the explosive device and tested its powder and fuse, both of which were determined to be “viable and energetic,” officials say.

Investigators said the device had the potential to damage an aircraft and cause a loss of cabin pressure.

Jones’ other luggage, which had already been through security and loaded onto an American Airlines flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, was hand-searched and examined by a canine unit upon arrival, and investigators said nothing “illegal or concerning” was found.

Jones has been charged in federal court with unlawful possession of explosive material at an airport. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

His attorney, Meghan McLoughlin, told CNN in a statement: “There is often more to these cases than the government’s allegations, and that the criminal process will reveal Mr. Jones’ story as well.”

Multiple cell phones and repeated FBI tip line calls

The Sacramento resident went through security on May 30 wearing a face covering and blue latex gloves, court documents say.

When officers found the explosive device and other items in Jones’ carry-on bag, he told them he was unaware the items were in his possession and said “he would be okay with just discarding them.” When authorities informed him that explosive material could not simply be thrown away, he denied ownership of the backpack.

Jones also had five mobile phones in his possession. The cameras on each phone had been covered with painter’s tape, which authorities believe was intended to prevent his surroundings from being recorded.

One phone contained a 15-minute timer ready to start and another had a message from an unknown number on the screen stating, “we will be awaiting your call,” according to court documents.

An individual police believe to be Jones made approximately 13 calls to the FBI tip line leading up to the incident, beginning in March.

On May 24, the caller reported being followed to and from a doctor’s appointment and described what he said were threats and intimidation by another individual.

He said he was “being coerced in sleep to say certain phrases through digital media” and described “hearing sounds coming through walls, window panes, or even outside, attributing the outside sounds to drones,” court documents say. The call was ultimately terminated because of its “nonsensical nature.”

On the day of the incident, the same caller again contacted the FBI tip line, alleging that several individuals were threatening him throughout the past year through “cyber means.” He also referenced exercising his Second Amendment rights while denying any intention to harm others.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office also noted it had prior contact with Jones, “wherein he had a history of being paranoid.”

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California

California may take weeks to finalize primary results. ‘This is normal’

Published

21 hours ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

California may take weeks to finalize primary results. ‘This is normal’

Although results from California’s primary election began rolling in on Tuesday, June 2, it could take days or even weeks before the final counts are certified.

“This is normal … We have a process that by law ensures both voting rights and the integrity of elections, so I would call on all Californians to be patient,” Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber said in a June 2 news release.

The Golden State’s lengthy vote-counting process has “become a national narrative about California elections,” according to Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego.

“In California, it takes a long time to certify votes, to verify the signatures, to then count the ballots; all of that process takes a while,” Kousser said in an interview last week. “It may take a while for us to learn who the top candidates who emerge are.”

Here are some factors behind California’s lengthy vote-counting process.

Mail-in ballots come with added verification step

With each mail-in ballot cast, elections officials must compare the signature on a returned vote-by-mail envelope to the voter’s signature on their voter registration card. Various factors go into determining whether the signatures match, including the slant of the signature, whether it is printed or written in cursive, and the size, proportions, or scale.

Vote-by-mail ballots were Californians’ preferred voting method in both the 2024 primary and general elections, with drop-off locations — such as ballot drop boxes and voting centers — the most popular way to return mail-in ballots.

During California’s 2024 primary, more than 7.7 million votes were cast statewide, and 90 percent of those were mail-in ballots. This means election officials had to verify the signatures on more than 6.8 million ballots before they could be counted. For the November 2024 general election, 80% of cast ballots, or about 13 million, were vote-by-mail.

Reviewing conditional voter and provisional ballots

California also allows for same-day voter registration, also known as conditional voter registration. Voters who need to register, or re-register, within 14 days of an election can do so at their county elections office, polling place, or vote center. These ballots will be processed and counted after the county elections office has completed the voter registration process.

In addition to conditional voter ballots, there are provisional ballots that must be verified before they are counted. Voters cast provisional ballots for a wide array of reasons, including if their name does not appear at a polling place or if they’ve made a mistake on their ballot. After a voter casts a provisional ballot, it will not be counted until election officials have confirmed that the voter is registered to vote in that county and has not already voted in that election.

Vote-by-mail ballots can be sent on Election Day

Though state officials recommend voters mail their ballots sooner rather than later, state law allows vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive within a specified window afterward, thereby extending the tallying process.

For the primary, ballots needed to be postmarked on or before June 2 and received by county elections office no later than June 10.

California is, well, big

California is the most populous state in the nation. And, as of May 18, a record total of 23,155,447 Californians were registered to vote.

While not all registered voters are expected to have voted, county election officials estimate that more than 5 million ballots were cast statewide.

When to expect final results

Under state law, county elections officials are required to report the results for most ballots by June 15, or 13 days after the election, according to Weber. However, some ballots can take counties up to 30 days to count every ballot and then conduct a post-election audit.

State law requires county elections officials to report final official results to state officials July 3. State officials then have until July 10 to certify the results of the election.

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