Gavin Newsom: This is how California’s left-wing governor plans to withstand Trump | EUROtoday

The Democratically dominated US state of California is getting ready to face the approaching Trump administration. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers have been in a particular session since Monday to guard the state’s progressive politics from one other Trump presidency.

The Democratic governor, a fierce critic of President-elect Donald Trump, needs to make California as soon as once more the middle of resistance to the conservative agenda. He is asking his fellow Democrats, who’ve a transparent majority in each chambers, to approve extra funding for the Attorney General’s workplace. This ought to give him ammunition for authorized battles towards Washington.

“We will work with the new administration, and we want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans,” Newsom mentioned in an announcement. “But when things go too far, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will act.”

One invoice would allocate $25 million for authorized spending to answer attainable assaults by the Trump administration on state insurance policies on civil rights, local weather change, immigration and abortion entry. Another ten million {dollars} ought to be made accessible for the legal professionals of the districts and cities.

California had already sued the primary Trump administration greater than 120 occasions – with various levels of success. Trump typically portrays California as an emblem of all the pieces he believes is improper with America. Democrats maintain all statewide places of work in California.

Trump referred to as the Democratic governor “newscum” (a play on phrases, roughly “new scum”) at a marketing campaign cease in Southern California and has harshly criticized the Democratic stronghold for its massive variety of immigrants dwelling within the U.S. illegally, its homeless inhabitants and its thicket of laws .

Trump additionally waded right into a dispute over water rights for the endangered Delta smelt, an endangered tiny fish that has pitted environmentalists and farmers at odds. Trump threatened to withhold federal help to the state, which is more and more prone to wildfires. It additionally introduced the mass deportation of immigrants with out authorized residency standing – in contradiction to California coverage.

Before the particular session started, state lawmakers swore in additional than two dozen new members and elected leaders for the 2025 legislative session. Lawmakers voted largely alongside get together traces to name the particular session.

“This special session is about standing up for Californians and California values,” Wiener mentioned. “This is about making sure that the president of the United States and his administration are actually following the law.”

Hundreds of individuals demonstrated across the Capitol on Monday to name on the legislature to cease Trump’s mass deportation plans. They carried banners that learn “Not a single cent for mass deportations” and “MAGA out of California.”

Attorney General Rob Bonta mentioned his workplace will defend the state’s immigrant inhabitants. Newsom final week unveiled a proposal to rescue a rebate program for electrical automobile purchases if the incoming Trump administration eliminates a federal tax credit score for electrical automobile purchases. Newsom can be contemplating making a wildfire catastrophe aid reserve fund following Trump’s threats.

Lawyer Bonta additionally introduced on Monday laws to strengthen abortion rights within the state. It is meant to offer for fines towards municipalities that violate these rights. The proposals are a part of the state’s efforts to make sure entry to abortion.

Republican lawmakers criticized Newsom and his Democratic allies over the particular session. Sen. Kelly Seyarto, a Republican, from Southern California, mentioned the particular session would result in an much more adversarial relationship with the federal authorities.

“What we are doing today sends exactly this message: We will fight tooth and nail for everything. And guess what? This means they will fight us tooth and nail,” Seyarto mentioned of the proposed laws.

Lawmakers are anticipated to spend the yr discussing methods to guard dozens of legal guidelines anticipated to be focused by the Trump administration. That features a regulation that made California a haven for individuals dwelling in states which have severely restricted entry to abortion.

California, probably the most populous state within the U.S., was the primary to require that each one new vehicles, pickup vehicles and SUVs bought within the state be electrical, hydrogen-powered or plug-in hybrids by 2035. The state additionally provides federally funded well being care to all low-income residents, no matter their immigration standing.

Newsom hasn’t offered particulars about what lawmakers will take into account, however mentioned he needs to safe funding earlier than Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. During Trump’s first time period, the state of California spent about $42 million on litigation with the federal authorities.

California is projected to have a $2 billion finances deficit subsequent yr, and even bigger deficits are anticipated. Gabriel, who sued the primary Trump administration in 2017 when it tried to finish a program designed to guard younger immigrants from deportation, mentioned securing funding now could be “a smart investment.”

California efficiently recovered $57 million between 2017 and 2018 after a authorized battle to dam the Trump administration from attaching circumstances to immigration enforcement on sure federal regulation enforcement grants. Another authorized victory over the citizenship query within the 2020 census compelled the federal authorities to return $850,000 to the state.

During Trump’s first presidency, Democratic attorneys common joined forces to file lawsuits over immigration, Trump’s journey ban on residents of Muslim international locations, the atmosphere, immigration and different points. But Trump has a possible benefit this time: He has been aggressive in appointing conservative jurists to federal courts in any respect ranges, together with the Supreme Court.