SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — In anticipation of another Trump administration, California Governor Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers will resume their work at the state Capitol on Monday, starting a special session aimed at safeguarding the state’s progressive policies.
As a fervent opponent of President-elect Donald Trump, the Democratic governor is setting up California to serve as the focal point of another resistance movement against the conservative agenda. In order to prepare for a fierce legal battle against expected federal challenges, he is requesting that the attorney general’s office receive more funds from his Democratic supporters in the Legislature, who hold supermajorities in both houses.
California filed more than 120 lawsuits against the first Trump administration, with varying degrees of success.
At a recent press conference, Newsom declared, “We won’t be caught off guard.”
Trump frequently uses California as a metaphor for everything he believes is wrong with America. In California, Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by over two to one statewide, and they occupy all statewide offices and command significant majority in the Legislature and congressional delegation.
During a campaign stop in Southern California, Trump referred to the Democratic governor as “new-scum.” He has been continuously criticizing the Democratic bastion for its high number of illegal immigrants, homeless population, and complicated regulatory framework.
Trump also entered a water rights dispute over the endangered delta smelt, a small fish that has sparked conflict between farmers and environmentalists and threatened to cut off federal assistance to a state that is facing an increasing threat from wildfires. In addition, he pledged to carry out his campaign pledge to prosecute his political rivals and deport large numbers of undocumented immigrants.
State lawmakers are expected to elect leaders for the 2025 legislative session and swear in around two dozen additional members prior to the start of the special session. In an effort to persuade the Legislature to try to halt Trump’s plans for mass deportations, hundreds of protesters are also organizing a march outside the Capitol on Monday.
While Newsom last week announced a plan to restore a rebate program for the purchase of electric vehicles in the event that the incoming Trump administration removes a federal tax credit for those who purchase electric vehicles, State Attorney General Rob Bonta stated that his office will defend the state’s immigrant community. Following Trump’s warnings, Newsom is also thinking about setting up a contingency disaster assistance fund for the state that is prone to wildfires.
During the special session, Republican lawmakers attacked Newsom and his Democratic supporters. California should instead cooperate with the new Trump administration, according to Rep. Vince Fong, who represents the state’s Central Valley farm belt.
In a social media video, Fong claimed that Gavin Newsom’s actions are tone-deaf to the worries of Californians who disagree with the course of our state and nation.
Additionally, lawmakers are anticipated to spend the year debating how to defend dozens of laws that the Trump administration is likely to target, including one that has turned the state into a haven for women seeking abortions who reside in jurisdictions where such practices have been severely restricted.
The most populous state in the US, California, was the first to require that all new vehicles, SUVs, and pickup trucks sold there be plug-in hybrids, electric, or hydrogen-powered by 2035. Additionally, the state provides all low-income citizens, regardless of their immigration status, with state-funded health care.
Newsom stated that he wants money in place prior to January 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration, but he has not specified what measures the legislature will take. According to officials, the state’s legal expenses during the first Trump administration came to almost $42 million.
California is projected to face a $2 billion budget deficit next year, with bigger shortfalls ahead. Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who sued the first Trump administration in 2017 when it tried to end a program to shield young immigrants from being deported, said lining up the funding now is a wise investment.
California successfully clawed back $57 million between 2017 and 2018 after prevailing ina lawsuitto block the Trump administration from putting immigration enforcement conditions on certain federal law enforcement grants. Another legal victory overthe citizenship question in the 2020 censusforced the federal government to return $850,000 to the state, according to the attorney general s office.
We are positioned, if necessary, to be the tip of the spear of the resistance and to push back against any unlawful or unconstitutional actions by the Trump administration, said Gabriel, who chairs the budget committee.
During Trump s first presidency, Democratic attorneys general banded together to file lawsuits over immigration, Trump s travel ban for residents of Muslim countries, the environment, immigration and other topics. But Trump has one possible advantage this time around: He was aggressive in nominating conservative jurists to federal courts at all levels, including the Supreme Court.
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