Gov. Gavin Newsom's special legislative session to safeguard California from potential "federal overreach" by the incoming Trump administration began Monday, teeing up a potential battle between the president-elect and the most populous U.S. state.
Newsom is working with lawmakers to create a new litigation fund of up to $25 million to support California's legal resources in anticipation of "policy proposals that would harm the state," according to a release from the governor's office Monday. Reproductive rights and environmental causes are two of the focus areas.
The fund would be for the California Department of Justice and other state agencies to be used for court challenges and administrative actions. Newsom announced the session following Trump's election victory last month. Hearings will take place over the next several weeks, with a goal of signing legislation into law before Trump's inauguration Jan. 20.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump transition, said in a statement that the president-elect will pursue his agenda despite efforts by Newsom to "Trump-proof California."
"President Trump received the most votes for a Republican presidential candidate in the deep blue state of California since 2004," Leavitt said. "Californians showed up for President Trump in historic numbers because they cannot afford another four years of Gavin Newsom's dangerously liberal agenda — high taxes, unaffordable housing costs, and an invasion of illegal immigrants from our wide-open border."
In a conversation with volunteers after the election, Newsom said the state needed to be ready for action as the next administration takes hold.
"I think there's a lot of onus that's placed upon California because [of] the size, scale and scope of this state," he said at the time. "We need to assert ourselves, and we need to prepare ourselves firmly and plant, as I say, our feet at peril that we get swept away."
Trump's first term in the White House set the stage for what could be coming.
From 2017 through 2021, the California DOJ sued the Trump administration 122 times, investing $42 million in the process, Newsom's office said, adding that legal wins resulted in millions of dollars in reimbursements from the federal government and the protection of billions of dollars in federal funding.
Last week, the governor committed to restarting the state's Zero Emission Vehicle rebate if a federal $7,500 tax credit is eliminated. Bloomberg News reported the current proposal includes market share limitations that would exclude Tesla's EV models, but said Newsom's office indicated the details would be negotiated with the state legislature and were subject to change.
In response to the proposal, Tesla CEO and Trump booster Elon Musk wrote on X, "Even though Tesla is the only company who manufactures their EVs in California! This is insane."
Newsom pledged to work with the Trump administration, but warned in a statement that he will be looking after his state's residents.
"California is a tent pole of the country — from the economy to innovation to protecting and investing in rights and freedoms for all people," he said. "We will work with the incoming administration and we want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans. But when there is overreach, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will take action. And that is exactly what this special session is about — setting this state up for success, regardless of who is in the White House."
California wasn't spared a broader move to the right in the election. Conservative district attorneys were voted into office in major counties, including Nathan Hochman in Los Angeles. In Alameda County, District Attorney Pamela Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao faced successful recalls. And in San Francisco, centrist Democrat Daniel Lurie, who has never held public office, won the mayoral race, beating incumbent London Breed.
California voters also adopted a proposition that increases penalties for certain drug and theft crimes while rebuffing a measure to raise the state's minimum wage to $18 an hour. The economy took precedence over social issues across the state, according to polling from the Public Policy Institute of California.
