RULES COMMITTEE AGENDA: 10/15/2025
ITEM:
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND
CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Councilmember Candelas
Councilmember Cohen
Councilmember Ortiz
Councilmember Campos
SUBJECT: SEE BELOW DATE: 10/09/2025
APPROVED:
SUBJECT: RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT ON SANTA CLARA COUNTY MEASURE A
RECOMMENDATION
Direct the City Attorney to draft resolution of support on behalf of the San Jose City Council for Santa Clara County Measure A.
ANALYSIS:
The City of San Jose should support Measure A, a temporary countywide sales tax increase of 5⁄8 of a cent for five years, to help shore up critical health and safety net services in the face of massive federal aid cuts that could have devastating impacts on our residents.
Recent federal legislation (H.R. 1) includes sweeping reductions to Medicaid and food assistance, threatening more than $1 billion annually in funding for Santa Clara County’s health system. Our county’s safety net hospitals and clinics serve patients regardless of insurance status, and many San Jose residents depend on them. We must play our part in preserving those services. Measure A is designed specifically to respond during a fiscal crisis—it is not permanent. The five-year sunset ensures that this tax is temporary, a bridge while broader structural solutions are pursued.
A collapse or severe cutback in county health services would have ripple effects throughout the region: more stress on city hospitals, increased emergency transfers, greater burden on local clinics, and diminished public health. San Jose’s economy and quality of life depend on a healthy, stable county system. Because the funding gap stems from federal cuts—decisions C.3
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
Subject:
beyond local control—there is a moral imperative for all jurisdictions and stakeholders to help fill the gap. San Jose, as a major population and economic hub in the county, must play its role in preserving shared services.
Without the revenues generated from Measure A, our county will have to make impossible choices between cutting other essential services that our residents rely on and maintaining the lifesaving care that their hospitals and clinics provide. Meaningful City-County partnerships, such as combining our efforts to support the unhoused community, will likely deteriorate if the county must make cuts and cannot invest in those programs.
The signers of this memorandum have not had and will not have, any private conversation with any other member of the City Council, or that member’s staff, concerning any action discussed in the memorandum, and that each signer’s staff members have not had, and have been instructed not to have, any such conversation with any other member of the City Council or that member's staff.