California lawmakers to begin special session to ‘Trump-proof’ state laws
SACRAMENTO, California — California Governor Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers will return to the Capitol on Monday to begin a special session protect the state’s progressive policies in anticipation of a new Trump presidency.
The Democratic governor, a fierce critic of President-elect Donald Trump, is positioning California to once again become the center of resistance to the conservative agenda. He is asking his Democratic allies in the Legislature, who hold supermajorities in both chambers, to approve additional funding to the attorney general’s office to prepare for a robust legal fight against expected federal challenges.
California sued the first Trump administration more than 120 times to varying levels of success.
“We will not be caught flat-footed,” Newsom said at a recent press conference.
Trump often portrays California as representative of everything he sees wrong with America. Democrats, who hold every statewide office in California and command commanding margins in the Legislature and congressional delegation, outnumber registered Republicans nearly 2-to-1 statewide.
Trump called the Democratic governor ‘new scum’ during a speech campaign stop in Southern California and has relentlessly criticized the Democratic stronghold for the large number of illegal immigrants in the US, its homeless population and its thicket of regulations.
Trump was also embroiled in a battle over water rights endangered delta smelta small fish that has turned environmentalists against farmers and threatened to withhold federal aid from a state increasingly threatened by wildfires. He also pledged to follow through on his campaign promise to carry out the mass deportation of immigrants without legal status and prosecute his political enemies.
Before the special session begins, state lawmakers are expected to swear in more than two dozen new members and choose leaders for the 2025 legislative session. Hundreds of people also plan to march around the Capitol on Monday to urge the Legislature to try to stop Trump’s mass deportation plans.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office will protect the state’s immigrant population, while Newsom last week unveiled a proposal to revive an electric vehicle purchase rebate program as the new Trump administration eliminates a federal tax credit for people who buy electric cars. Newsom is also considering creating something a reserve fund for disaster relief for the state that is prone to forest fires after Trump’s threats.
Republican lawmakers criticized Newsom and his Democratic allies during the special session. Rep. Vince Fong, who represents the state’s Central Valley farm belt, said California should instead work with the new Trump administration.
“Gavin Newsom’s actions are deaf to the concerns of Californians who disapprove of the direction our state and country are taking,” Fong said in a video on social media.
Lawmakers are also expected to discuss ways to protect this year dozens of laws is expected to be targeted by the Trump administration, including the government that created the state a shrine for people seeking abortion who live in states where such practices are severely restricted.
California, the nation’s most populous state, was the first to make this a completely new requirement in 2035 carsPickup trucks and SUVs sold in California are electric, hydrogen-powered or plug-in hybrids. The state too expands state-funded health care for all low-income residents, regardless of their immigration status.
Newsom did not provide details on what actions lawmakers will consider, but said he wanted funding in place before Trump’s Inauguration Day, Jan. 20. The state spent about $42 million on legal costs during the first Trump administration, officials said.
California is expected to face a $2 billion budget deficit next year, with even bigger deficits on the horizon. Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who sued the first Trump administration in 2017 when it tried to end a program to protect young immigrants from deportation, said lining up the funding now is “a wise investment.”
California successfully recovered $57 million between 2017 and 2018 after gaining the upper hand a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from imposing immigration enforcement conditions on certain federal law enforcement grants. Another legal victory achieved the question of citizenship in the 2020 census forced the federal government to return $850,000 to the state, the attorney general’s office said.
“We are positioned, if necessary, to be the tip of the spear of resistance and oppose unlawful or unconstitutional actions by the Trump administration,” said Budget Committee Chairman Gabriel.
During Trump’s first presidency, Democratic attorneys general came together to file lawsuits over immigration, Trump’s travel ban on residents of Muslim countries, the environment, immigration and other topics. But Trump has one potential advantage this time: He has been aggressive in nominating conservative jurists to federal courts at all levels, including the Supreme Court.