Board Extends Nurse Layoff Deadline After Emotional Health Worker Protests

Contra Costa County's Board of Supervisors unanimously extended the deadline for 96 health worker layoffs by 30 days after nurses from tuberculosis, communicable disease, and maternal health programs delivered gut-wrenching testimony about the collapse of patient care. The board also used a routine property tax hearing to publicly confront the county Auditor-Controller over broken financial reporting systems — and honored a former petroleum refinery's second life as the nation's largest renewable diesel producer.

• Board pushes ECM layoff effective date to May 6 after nurses and three unions mobilize, describing loss of nearly all TB, communicable disease, and maternal health nurses

• $21M property tax cost recovery approved; board demands Auditor-Controller modernize Workday financial systems before successor takes office

• Phillips 66 Rodeo facility celebrated for 130-year anniversary and pivot to 800 million gallons of renewable diesel per year; supervisors push for state aviation fuel credit

• Opioid overdose deaths down roughly 20% as county proclaims Prescription Drug Awareness Month and distributes 3,000+ naloxone units

• Community Wellness Network RFQ pulled from consent and sent back to Equity committee

A standing-room coalition of nurses, labor leaders, and health workers turned the consent calendar into an emotional public hearing, urging the Board of Supervisors to slow down Position Adjustment Resolution No. 26590 — the elimination of 96 positions in the county's Enhanced Care Management program.