Less than 36 hours after Trump’s resounding victory over Vice President Kamala Harris , the California governor — a prominent opponent of the former president during his first term — called to bolster the state’s legal resources with the aim of protecting reproductive healthcare, climate policies and immigrant communities in California .
“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle,” Newsom said announcing the session. “We are prepared to fight in the courts, and we will do everything necessary to ensure Californians have the support and resources they need to thrive.”
The special session would be the first of multiple actions on behalf of his administration and the Legislature to begin strengthening the state’s defenses against what Newsom said was an incoming federal administration that had threatened California on multiple fronts.
The special session is slated to begin Dec. 2 , when the Legislature is scheduled to convene.
The session’s purpose, Newsom outlined, is to allocate additional resources to the California Department of Justice and other legal arms of the state that can pursue litigation to stop federal actions under Trump. Newsom also asked lawmakers to increase funding to fight federal lawsuits aimed at dismantling California policies.
During Trump’s first term, California filed more than 120 lawsuits challenging actions taken by the former president’s administration, according to the governor’s proclamation.
The session comes in response to statements from Trump and his advisors made during his first term, and while on the campaign trail, that could threaten some of California’s progressive priorities. Newsom warned that recent civil rights expansions, reproductive healthcare access, protections for immigrant families and climate policies could all be threatened by a second Trump administration.
California Republicans were quick to criticize the governor’s special session.
Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher , R- Yuba City , called Newsom’s special session a “shameless political stunt” in a statement. Gallagher said no policy would be passed in the special session that couldn’t be addressed when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
“The only ‘problem’ it will solve is Gavin Newsom’s insecurity that not enough people are paying attention to him,” Gallagher said.
Assemblymember Josh Hoover , R- Folsom , said Newsom was out of touch of Californians’ interests given he advocated against Proposition 36, a tough-on-crime measure that passed with over 70 percent of support from voters.
“He wouldn’t know California values if they hit him in the face,” Hoover said in a social media post.
Standing before San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge , Attorney General Rob Bonta said Thursday morning that his office was preparing to fight back against any efforts by the Trump administration to roll back environmental protections and attack the rights of women, LGBTQ+ people and immigrant communities.
“We lived through Trump 1.0. We know what he’s capable of, we know what plans he has in store,” Bonta said at a press conference. “We won’t be flatfooted come January.”
Bonta said he and other California leaders have been planning for months, preparing for executive actions Trump might take that counter the state’s progressive policies.
“Preparation is the best antidote,” he said. “No matter what the incoming Administration has in store, California will keep moving forward.”
©2024 the Merced Sun-Star, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
