California lawmakers this week sent Gov. Gavin Newsom two bills providing tens of millions of dollars to defend against anticipated Trump administration policies that legislative Democrats say may illegally shortchange the state’s taxpayers.
The legislation, SBX1-1 and SBX1-2, passed overwhelmingly in the state Assembly and Senate on Monday. The former adds an additional $25 million to the 2024 Budget Act for the California Department of Justice to take the federal government to court in the event it withholds emergency aid or other government funding for schools, public safety, health care and other programs.
SBX1-2 would earmark an additional $25 million to nonprofit legal aid groups that assist vulnerable communities, including immigrants, the disabled, homeless, domestic violence victims and victims of human trafficking, according to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas’ office.
“The legislation will strengthen California’s ability to fight unlawful and unconstitutional actions by the Trump administration,” a news release from Rivas’ office states. “The bills pass on the heels of President Trump’s reckless attempt to freeze congressionally approved federal funding, loans and grants last week, which jeopardizes funding for small business loans, schools, housing assistance, nonprofit grants, wildfire protection and Southern California wildfire relief, and health care and research.”
Not everyone has been reassured by the passage of the two measures, which occurred along party-line votes. The union representing attorneys in the state Department of Justice (California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment, or CASE) has expressed concern that the department’s allocation might be directed to expensive private counsel rather than being used to pay in-house lawyers or hire additional agency staff.
And even though the Legislature included a “letter of direction” with SBX1-2 saying that no funding would go for the defense of people convicted of violent or serious felonies, GOP lawmakers were not satisfied.
““There is nothing in the bill that prevents tax dollars from being spent to defend violent criminal illegal immigrants from deportation,” Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R- Riverside) told the Southern California Record in an email. “When I asked the governor’s staff in the Assembly Budget Committee, they told me they could not provide a guarantee. That’s why Assembly Republicans offered an amendment to statutorily clarify this.”
But Assembly Democrats opposed the GOP amendment, opening the door to state taxpayer dollars going to defend criminal undocumented immigrants, according to Essayli.
Rivas said the funding was needed to shield the state from a federal administration that has been running off the rails during its first weeks in office.
“Californians are being threatened by an out-of-control administration that doesn’t care about the Constitution and thinks there are no limits to its power,” he said in a prepared statement. “That is why we are delivering legislation that will allocate resources to defend Californians from this urgent threat.”
Other community leaders said the increase in legal defense resources was needed to prepare for the worst.
“This action is not about antagonizing the federal government but instead being prepared to protect our residents if policy action taken at the federal level has intended, or unintended, negative consequences on the communities we serve,” Brian K. Rice, president of California Professional Firefighters, said.
Supporters report that the state Department of Justice spent about $40 million defending the state against federal actions during the first Trump administration. In turn, the state was able to avoid federal cuts in the billions of dollars, according to the speaker’s office.