California lawmakers kicked off a special session of the state Legislature on Monday. The reason? To fund a $25 million war chest for anticipated legal battles with incoming President Donald Trump’s administration. As nearly 30 new state lawmakers were sworn into office at the state Capitol in Sacramento, legislative leaders gaveled in a special session called by that’s geared toward protecting undocumented immigrants, reproductive rights, climate policy and more from Trump’s second administration. The regular, two-year legislative session also began Monday, but the special session will allow for a speedier lawmaking process. Newsom has requested the funding for the state Department of Justice and other agencies, which are expected to file a flurry of lawsuits challenging Trump policies — as California Democrats did during the president’s first term. The governor’s ask was introduced in bills Monday by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, an Encino Democrat who chairs the body’s budget committee. “We will work with the incoming administration and we want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans,” Newsom said in a statement. “But when there is overreach, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will take action.” Newsom expects to sign the legislation before Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, and top Democratic lawmakers are on board. They’ll do the bulk of that work in early January after a break, said Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Menlo Park Democrat. “Just like eight years ago, California must once again do everything we can to protect our 39 million residents and our economy,” he said in an email. “During both the special session and the regular session, we must double down on policies to defend reproductive freedom and autonomy, protect the environment, and invest in science and education.” Republicans, however, blasted the special session as a tone-deaf stunt to raise Newsom’s profile as a Trump foil. Politics observers say the Democratic governor almost surely will run for president in 2028, after his final term ends. “Instead of taking the hint that Californians are growing tired of Democrat incompetence, Newsom is doubling down on his extreme agenda and using his special session to ‘Trump-proof’ California with taxpayer dollars,” California GOP Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson said in an email. “It’s clear that Gavin Newsom’s 2028 presidential run is now underway, and Californians are simply pawns in his game.” The $25 million set aside for litigation would be a tiny fraction of California’s $288 billion 2024-25 operating budget. But approving that budget required a series of measures to , including dipping into reserves. It was unclear Monday whether funding legal wars with Trump would come at the expense of other programs. On the campaign trail, Trump slammed California as a den of crime, rampant inflation and homelessness, while taking shots at the Golden State’s top Democrats. He also pledged to use the military to conduct mass deportations of immigrants without proper documentation, . Democrats including U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta say they’ll staunchly defend immigrants and will not cooperate with deportations. Bonta also announced Monday that lawmakers are sponsoring bills to ensure Californians can access medication abortions and empowering the attorney general to seek fines from local governments that restrict abortion providers. “I want to make it unequivocally clear: California will remain a safe haven for reproductive rights and access to abortion care, no matter who is in the White House,” Bonta , said in a statement. After Trump’s victory last month, Newsom and California Democrats quickly laid the groundwork to oppose the incoming Republican administration. It’s a reprise role. During Trump’s first term, California filed 122 lawsuits challenging his administration’s policies under Democratic Attorney General Xavier Becerra. That litigation cost the state $42 million, according to Newsom’s office, and netted some victories. In one case, California and New York successfully sued the U.S. Department of Energy in 2017 to allow energy efficiency standards to go into effect nationally, which were expected to save consumers $8.4 billion and prevent nearly 100 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Another victory won California $60 million in federal public safety grants, the governor’s office said. Once again, California’s stand-off with Trump is likely to be a major force in state politics for the next four years. But this time around, Newsom is stressing that he’s open to finding common ground with the former president. Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire say they’ll mostly be . In fact, Newsom and Rivas have made overtures to California voters since Republicans nationally swept the November elections, reclaiming the White House and Senate and holding the House of Representatives. He made gains throughout the state in part because of discontent over inflation and living costs. In response, and has said that Democrats need to focus more on the economy. A spokesperson for Rivas did not return a request for comment by press time. Nearly 30 new lawmakers were also sworn in at the Capitol on Monday. The new legislature includes . Democrats still have complete control on state government, with supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature and holds on all executive seats.
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Aerial of the Horace Wilkinson Bridge servicing Interstate 10 as it crosses the Mississippi River, seen Friday, September 13, 2024, in Baton Rouge, La. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Funding for three major transportation “mega projects” across the state will be suspended for two years as part of the tax package championed by Gov. Jeff Landry that passed Friday. The three projects include the Mississippi River bridge in Baton Rouge, upgrades to Interstate 49 and upgrades to U.S. 90 between Lafayette and New Orleans. Beginning this year, about $40 million in state funds was supposed to be set aside for each of those projects along with a fourth project, replacing the Calcasieu River bridge. Funding for the Calcasieu River bridge wasn’t suspended as part of the plan because it has already been obligated for bond payments, Sen. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, said Friday. Lawmakers in 2021 passed a law defining the four priorities as “mega projects” and the following year designated $160 million in state funds to go toward the set of projects. The revenue for the Megaprojects Leverage Fund comes from a portion of the motor vehicle sales tax. But as Landry and state lawmakers over the past two weeks tried to figure out how to pay for the tax cuts and other changes in his tax package, the cash that flows to the mega project fund was factored into the equation. Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said suspending $120 million in annual funding for the three projects is essentially meant to be a cushion for the broader tax package — which was put together based on estimates of future revenue. “We want to make sure that we have enough cushion, should one of the estimates be off too far one way or the other, that we’re able to address all the expenses in the state,” Henry said. “This is a solid reoccurring source of revenue that gives us a little flexibility for the next two years,” he said. Henry also said one-time funding could become available next year and go toward the missing transportation project revenue. For example, there could be extra cash in two state savings accounts known as the Budget Stabilization Fund and the Revenue Stabilization Fund, he said. The evening before lawmakers voted to temporarily suspend funding for the three projects, Landry, along with Henry and House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, had a paper copy of the following statement distributed to the desks of lawmakers: “We have committed to the people of Louisiana that we will ensure the necessary funding to finish I-49 North, I-49 South, the Calcasieu River bridges, and the Baton Rouge bridge.” As senators voted to approve the suspension of transportation project funding Friday, Landry posted the same message on social media.West Palm Beach (US), Dec 27 (AP) An online spat between factions of Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump's selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the US. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks, whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. and Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government, weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire US workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment. Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect, was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut US citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the US illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration, including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for US workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order, which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club, and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B programme for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in US history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from US colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes. (AP) PY PY (This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)