San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe on Thursday proposed tapping into the county's reserves to offset cuts coming from Washington, D.C.
The supervisors say the proposal is to protect the county's citizens from the Trump Administration slashing health care and food assistance programs by using ample reserves. The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" is projected to cost the county more than $300 million each year in additional costs or lost revenue.
According to Lawson-Remer and Montgomery Steppe, nearly 400,000 San Diegans risk losing health care, and 100,000 could lose food assistance.
"We can't let San Diego be dragged into a fiscal storm by Washington," Lawson-Remer said. "This reform is our bridge — protecting health care, food and public safety now, while we work toward long-term solutions to keep San Diegans healthy, fed and safe."
The proposal, which will be brought before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday during its next scheduled meeting, has two updates to the county's reserve policy:
- Modifying the reserve target calculation to two months of operating expenses only, reducing said target from $973 million to $945 million; and
- Recognizing all locally controlled reserves, not just "unassigned" funds.
Both of these changes, which the supervisors say follow best practices, would open up around $380 million in "flexible, Board-controlled reserves that could help stabilize services in the face of federal or state cuts, or during an economic recession over the next four fiscal years," they said.
"This is about smart fiscal governance," Montgomery Steppe said. "We're not touching long-term savings for frivolous expenses; we're making sure that when families need us most, we have the tools to respond."
This follows a nearly-identical proposal in April to unlock a significant portion of reserves which failed, 2-1-1.
In a statement, Lawson-Remer said the previous vote "wasn't just a procedural setback — it was a choice to tie our hands while Washington walks away from its responsibilities."
"We offered a common-sense solution to safeguard San Diego's most vulnerable communities," she said. "Instead, our Republican colleagues chose polemics and posturing over preparedness."
However, the results of July's special election to fill the seat vacated by Nora Vargas has changed the calculus. Newly elected Supervisor Paloma Aguirre is also a Democrat on the ostensibly nonpartisan board. The result next week could be very different.
At the time, Supervisor Jim Desmond was the sole no vote (Supervisor Joel Anderson abstained).
He described the outcome as "a win for taxpayers and fiscal responsibility."
"I'm proud to have stood against the reckless attempt to raid our county's emergency reserves — a move that would have put our families and communities at risk when disaster strikes," he said.
The renewed proposal would set up guardrails for using the reserves, only allowing funds to be accessed in tough economic times and requiring an additional vote by the board.
Lawson-Remer and Montgomery Steppe say no more than 25% of the newly available reserves would be available in a single fiscal year.
