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Background: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (California Governor’s Office/YouTube). Inset: President-elect Donald Trump speaks at an election night watch party, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
California Democrats and Gov. Gavin Newsom have agreed to set aside $50 million to help boost the state’s litigation fund and support local nonprofits, as well as immigration centers, as they brace for legal attacks and mass deportations from President-elect Donald Trump.
“This funding agreement cements California’s readiness to serve as a bulwark against Trump’s extremist agenda,” said Senate Budget Chair Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, in a statement to Politico. “Senate Democrats are particularly proud to provide funding for providers of legal aid services, which know our communities’ needs best and are best positioned to defend at scale the millions of individuals and families that will be impacted by the incoming Administration’s extreme agenda.”
After establishing his new Trump litigation fund on Nov. 7, Newsom last month asked local lawmakers to pad out the state’s legal defenses with an additional $25 million. He then issued a proclamation convening a special session of the California Legislature “to safeguard California values and fundamental rights in the face of an incoming Trump administration,” according to his office, with a package formed by Democrats.
The $50 million deal is expected to hit the Senate floor for a vote sometime this week, Politico reports.
“At a time when California should be laser focused on responding to the devastating wildfires in LA, Democrat lawmakers’ priority is creating a $50 million slush fund to hire government lawyers for hypothetical fights against the federal government and to defend criminal illegal immigrants from being returned to their home countries,” Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, said in a statement Monday.
The new funding agreement sets aside $25 million for Newsom and the state Department of Justice to fight the Trump administration, according to Politico. The other $25 million will reportedly go to legal nonprofits and immigration support centers to defend immigrants against deportation, detention and wage theft.
“The Governor is working with lawmakers to establish a litigation fund to bolster the state’s legal resources in response to the incoming federal administration’s signaled policy proposals that would harm the state,” Newsom’s team said in a press release on Dec. 2. “Working with the Legislature, the Governor is proposing a new litigation fund of up to $25 million for the California Department of Justice and state agencies to defend California from unconstitutional federal overreach, challenge illegal federal actions in court, and take administrative actions to reduce potential harm.”
Last month, Wiener’s office introduced a budget bill that included $25 million for the state’s Justice Department and an additional $10 million to help give county and city attorneys protection from policy challenges.
“We’re in the calm before the storm and we know the hurricane force winds are about to hit from the incoming federal administration,” said Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire in a statement. “It’s time to get prepared and batten down the hatches.”
Newsom has said that he fears Trump will go after the state’s stances on abortion, environmental protections and federal disaster response funding, among other things, following repeated threats by the former and future president to do so.
Between 2017 and 2021, California reportedly filed more than 120 lawsuits challenging Trump’s authority on things like health care, gun control, civil rights issues and immigration.
“The Governor’s proposed legal investment has the potential to yield significant returns for California families and protect billions of dollars in state funding,” Newsom’s office said in December. He stated that California’s freedoms were “under attack” and promised to not “sit idle.”
“We are prepared, and we will do everything necessary to ensure Californians have the support and resources they need to thrive,” Newsom said in a statement.
Attempts by Law&Crime to reach the governor’s office for comment on the $50 million deal were unsuccessful.