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    <title>FQHC Intel — Brighter Beginnings</title>
    <link>https://www.fqhctalent.com</link>
    <description>Intelligence items mentioning Brighter Beginnings (Bay Area). Updated whenever we publish new intel about this FQHC.</description>
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    <lastBuildDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 19:59:52 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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      <title>Contra Costa Voters Reject Measure B — a ~$150M/Year Medicaid-Backfill Sales Tax Fails ~42%-58%, the First California County Safety-Net Tax to Lose in 2026</title>
      <link>https://www.fqhctalent.com/intel/contra-costa-measure-b-medicaid-backfill-tax-fails-june-2026</link>
      <description>Contra Costa County&apos;s Measure B — a 0.625-cent general sales tax projected to raise ~$150 million a year for five years, placed on the June 2 ballot explicitly to &apos;address deep cuts in federal funding&apos; — failed decisively. The June 5 count shows ~42.1% yes to ~57.9% no, down by more than 36,500 votes (it needed a simple majority). County staff had projected more than $300 million in health-system losses over five years, and the &apos;Safe &amp; Healthy Contra Costa&apos; campaign warned ~93,000 residents could lose coverage by 2029 and that H.R. 1 could cut ~$1.5 billion in federal contributions to Contra Costa Health over five years. Contra Costa Health runs the county hospital, its clinics, and Contra Costa Health Plan (~270,000 members) — so the &apos;no&apos; vote means there is no local backstop for H.R. 1 Medicaid losses or the signed budget&apos;s July 1, 2027 UIS/PPS planning exposure in a major Bay Area county. For independent Contra Costa FQHCs (LifeLong Medical Care, La Clínica de la Raza, Brighter Beginnings), the failure removes a potential referral-and-stability cushion and signals harder county-side competition for shrinking dollars. The bigger pattern: California&apos;s &apos;tax ourselves to backfill federal Medicaid cuts&apos; model is now 2 wins (Santa Clara Measure A, ~$330M/yr, Nov 2025; LA&apos;s Measure ER passed June 10, ~$1B/yr) and 1 loss (Contra Costa B failed) — voters will fund a county-anchored health system but rejected Contra Costa&apos;s general-fund version.

Primary source: KQED / Contra Costa County Elections — https://www.kqed.org/elections/results/contracosta/measure-b</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <category>funding</category>
      <source url="https://www.kqed.org/elections/results/contracosta/measure-b">KQED / Contra Costa County Elections</source>
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