NAPA: The state's commitment to housing Napa County's farmworkers doubled this week. Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1890 into law on September 30, 2026, raising annual state matching funds for Napa County's farmworker housing centers from $250,000 to $500,000.
The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters), amends the state Health and Safety Code's Napa County Farmworker Centers Account, which the Department of Housing and Community Development administers through its Office of Migrant Services. Under the new law, the department will award up to $500,000 in matching funds each year to support the financing, maintenance, and operation of the Napa County Housing Authority's farmworker centers.
The driving reason, according to reporting on the legislation, is arithmetic: rising operational costs and inflation had opened funding gaps at the county's three agricultural labor centers, facilities the Napa County Housing Authority operates eleven months of the year. The previous $250,000 annual allocation had been set in 2017. The workforce behind the valley's $9.4 billion wine industry, reporting on the bill notes, depends on these centers for subsidized housing and services.
Rising costs and inflation had opened funding gaps at facilities the valley depends on.
The signing appeared in the governor's September 30 legislative update, a batch that also included dozens of other measures. The bill authorizes the higher match; the dollars themselves are contingent on an appropriation in the state budget. AB 1890 now gives Napa County's farmworker centers, which Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry calls 'a model for partnerships between employers, government and workers,' a statutory path to keep pace with costs that the 2017 funding level no longer covers.
