President-elect Donald Trump looks on during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. | Rebecca Noble/Getty Images
THE BUZZ: CEASE AND DESIST — California Democrats have reached a $50 million agreement to shore up state and local legal defenses against the incoming Trump administration just a week ahead of the president-elect’s inauguration.
The move comes as Republicans bash them for focusing on a special legislative session that began shortly after the election even as the southern part of the state suffers from historically devastating fires.
The deal includes $25 million Newsom had proposed for the state Department of Justice to fight the federal government in court — plus $25 million more proposed by state Senate leaders to defend immigrants against deportation, detention and wage theft, Blake and Lindsey Holdenfirst reported on Sunday.
“This funding agreement cements California’s readiness to serve as a bulwark against Trump’s extremist agenda,” Senate Budget Committee Chair Scott Wiener said in a statement.
The $25 million proposed by the Senate would fund grants for legal nonprofits and immigration support centers.
Floor votes could come as soon as this week. That would give Newsom time to sign the deal before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, and shift focus away from the session’s partisan feud to how Democrats are responding to the unfolding disaster in Los Angeles.
Reps for the governor’s office and legislative leaders did not respond to requests for comment as the deal is expected to be announced as early as Monday.
Republicans have agitated for a special session focused solely on the fires, and Newsom told Pod Save America over the weekend he is “happy to do whatever moves the needle forward” when asked about calling such a session. He said he and legislative leaders were going to discuss whether that was necessary.
Newsom and legislators representing Los Angeles have also been in Southern California since the fires escalated, but that has not neutralized GOP critiques.
“At a time when California should be laser focused on responding to the devastating wildfires in LA, Democrat lawmakers’ priority is creating a $50 million slush fund to hire government lawyers for hypothetical fights against the federal government and to defend criminal illegal immigrants from being returned to their home countries,” Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher said in a statement reacting to the special session deal.
The provisions of the deal emerged through amendments to four special session bills on Friday.
The immigration portions of the package have taken on added urgency as Trump has pledged to carry out mass deportations when he takes office. Even under President Joe Biden, border patrol agents recently conducted what advocates say was the largest enforcement action in the Central Valley in years, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“Senate Democrats are particularly proud to provide funding for providers of legal aid services, which know our communities’ needs best and are best positioned to defend at scale the millions of individuals and families that will be impacted by the incoming Administration’s extreme agenda,” Wiener said.
ON THE AGENDA: The Assembly’s special session budget panel has scheduled a Tuesday hearing on its bills containing the $50 million.
And Attorney General Rob Bontawill sit for an interview today on California’s response to Trump 2.0.
GOOD MORNING. Happy Monday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook.
WHERE’S GAVIN? In Los Angeles, working with local, state and federal fire officials responding to the fires.
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ON THE HILL
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., speaks during a hearing of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Washington. | Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo
NOT SOLD — California Sen. Alex Padilla is a “no” on the current iteration of the Laken Riley Act, which would require arrest of undocumented immigrants for nonviolent crimes such as burglary and theft. “It opens the doors for people simply for being charged, without a conviction, to be detained and deported,” he said on Meet the Press Sunday.
Seven House Democrats from California last week voted for the legislation, named for a Georgia nursing student who was killed by an undocumented immigrant. California Sen. Adam Schiff did not vote on the legislation last year when he was in the House, but Padilla hadn’t yet faced a public decision on the proposal.
“First of all, it's not immigration policy. Second of all, it is already in law that those who commit violent crimes can and should be detained and are in that deportation process,” Padilla said.
TRIAL BY FIRE — California Rep. George Whitesidesspoke with our colleagueEmily Schultheis about entering Congress just before swaths of Los Angeles County went up in flames.
“Part of why I ran was because of this risk, which I viewed as existential to the folks in our district,” Whitesides told Emily.
He also talked about the need for more prescribed burns and other preventative measures.
“Clearly near-term, we've got to provide the financial support to these communities so that they can rebuild and rebuild their lives, rebuild their houses and rebuild their communities,” he said, “but in the long term, we need to start making these long-term investments in fuels management, in new technologies, in workforce compensation.”
CLIMATE AND ENERGY
JUST LIKE IN THE MOVIES: The Los Angeles fires are affecting the actors, producers, artists, writers and others in the entertainment industry who shape public imagination around the world. Read more about how that will shape the narratives to come in Friday’s California Climate.
The so-called SALT deduction is big in higher-tax states such as California, New York and New Jersey. Trump met with Republicans from several states, including California, at Mar-a-Lago and told his party to negotiate a “fair number” for a new cap, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) said in an interview.
— Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she wouldn’t travel internationally if she won the 2022 election. But she was in Ghana when the fires broke out. (New York Times)
— Democratic Rep. Ro Khannasays his party made an “unforced error” by allowing Republicans to take a majority on the National Labor Relations Board earlier than was necessary. (Mercury News)
— Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin’s satellite office in Pacific Palisades was lost to the fire.
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STORK ALERT — Jackie Rooney Cunningham, director of public affairs at Meta and a Mitt Romney alum, and Halter Cunningham, who works in marketing, on Dec. 20 welcomed Halter Francis Cunningham. Pic … Another pic
BIRTHDAYS — state Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (favorite cake flavor: “Sock-It-To-Me Cake” … Kristina Schake … Kristin (Strobel) Emery at Microsoft … Nicole Vasquez with the Assembly Budget Committee …
BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Saturday): state Sen. Aisha Wahab … C.R. Wooters at Uber … William Nelligan … John Emerson … (was Sunday): former Sen. Steven Bradford … Oakland Planning Commissioner Alex Randolph … Jeff Bezos … Danny O’Brien …
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