California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers will return to the state Capitol on Monday to begin a special legislative session to protect the state’s progressive policies ahead of President Trump’s re-election.
The Democratic governor, a fierce critic of President-elect Donald Trump, is once again making California a center of resistance against conservative policies. He is calling on Democratic allies in Congress, who hold supermajorities in both chambers, to approve additional funding for the attorney general’s office to prepare for a strong legal battle against expected federal challenges. .
California sued the first Trump administration more than 120 times, with varying levels of success.
“We’re not going to be treated unfairly,” Newsom said at a recent news conference.
President Trump often portrays California as representing everything he thinks is wrong with America. Democrats control all of California’s statewide offices and enjoy a commanding lead in Congress and the Congressional delegation, outnumbering registered Republicans statewide by nearly two to one.
During a campaign stop in Southern California, President Trump called Democratic governors the “new scum” and relentlessly criticized the Democratic stronghold for the large number of illegal immigrants in the United States, the homeless population, and bush regulations.
President Trump has also pitted environmentalists and farmers against each other and threatened to withhold federal aid to states increasingly threatened by wildfires in a water rights dispute over a small, endangered fish called the Delta smelt. He also participated in the competition. He also vowed to carry out campaign promises to carry out mass deportations of immigrants without legal status and prosecute political opponents.
Before the special session begins, the state Legislature is expected to swear in more than 20 new members and select leadership for the 2025 legislative session. Hundreds of people are also planned to march around the Capitol on Monday to call on Congress to block President Trump’s mass deportation plan.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta has said his office will protect immigrants in the state, while Newsom last week said he would not be able to provide rebates on electric vehicle purchases if the incoming Trump administration eliminates federal tax credits for electric vehicle buyers. He announced a proposal to revive the program. Newsom is also considering creating a standby disaster relief fund for wildfire-prone states following President Trump’s threat.
It’s been less than two days since President-elect Donald Trump was confirmed as president, but California leaders are already saying they’re ready for a second round of resistance against him. Amber Frias reports on NBC4 News on November 7, 2024 at 11:00 p.m.
Republican lawmakers criticized Newsom and his Democratic allies over the special session. Rep. Vince Fung, who represents the state’s Central Valley agricultural region, said California should instead work with the incoming Trump administration.
“Gavin Newsom’s actions ignore the concerns of Californians who do not support the direction of our state and country,” Fung said in a video on social media.
Lawmakers are also expected to spend the rest of the year debating how to protect dozens of laws expected to be targeted by the Trump administration, including those seeking abortions who live in states with strict abortion restrictions. It also includes laws that make the state a sanctuary for people with disabilities.
California, the nation’s most populous state, is the first to require that all new cars, pickup trucks and SUVs sold in the state be electric, hydrogen fuel cell or plug-in hybrid by 2035. The state is also expanding state-funded health care to all low-income residents, regardless of immigration status.
Newsom did not provide details on what measures lawmakers would consider, but said he hoped to have the money ready by Jan. 20, the day Trump was inaugurated. State officials say the state spent about $42 million in legal fees during the first Trump administration.
California is expected to face a $2 billion budget deficit next year, with even larger deficits to come. Rep. Jesse Gabriel, who sued the first Trump administration in 2017 to end a program that protected young immigrants from deportation, said setting aside the money now is a “wise investment.”
California won a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from imposing immigration enforcement conditions on certain federal law enforcement grants, recovering $57 million from 2017 to 2018. Another legal victory over citizenship issues in the 2020 census forces the federal government to repay $850,000 to the state, according to the attorney general’s office.
“If necessary, we are positioned to be the tip of the spear of resistance and thwart any illegal or unconstitutional actions by the Trump administration,” Gabriel, who chairs the budget committee, said in a statement.
During Trump’s first presidency, Democratic attorneys general banded together to file lawsuits over immigration, Trump’s travel ban on residents of Muslim countries, the environment, immigration, and more. But this time, Trump has one possible advantage. One of his key initiatives was the active appointment of conservative lawyers to all levels of federal courts, including the Supreme Court.
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