California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called a legislative special session “to safeguard California values and fundamental rights in the face of an incoming Trump administration,” his office announced today.
The session—to begin in Sacramento on December 2, several weeks before Donald Trump takes office—will initially focus on funding state litigation around Trump administration actions that might impact civil liberties, reproductive rights, immigrant protections, and climate action in the state.
According to the New York Times, Newsom's list of concerns include attempts by Trump to limit access to medication abortion; dismantle clean vehicle policies and longstanding environmental protections; repeal immigration policies such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program; withhold disaster response funding and victim assistance as political retribution; and “politicize grant programs to commandeer state and local governmental resources for federal purposes.”
“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle,” Mr. Newsom said in a statement. “California has faced this challenge before, and we know how to respond.”
