Governor Newsom calls special session to protect California values, including fundamental civil rights, reproductive freedom, climate action, immigrant families, and more.
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This Thursday, November 7, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation calling for a special session of the California Legislature on December 2 in Sacramento, stating that the goal is to safeguard California's fundamental values and rights in the face of the arrival of the Trump administration.
In the proclamation, Newsom notes that attorneys from the Attorney General's Office and the governor have been preparing for a possible second Trump term for more than a year and are currently gathering the arguments and evidence necessary to challenge the "unconstitutional and illegal" federal policies in court and to mount strong and vigorous defenses of California's laws, policies and programs.
The special session is in response to statements made by Donald Trump during his campaign, as well as actions taken during his first term, the consequences of which, Newsom notes, could be significant and immediate for California. These include:
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- Continue the attack on reproductive freedom by limiting access to medical abortion, expanding conscientious objections for employers and providers, and seeking a national abortion ban.
- Undoing clean vehicle policies that are critical to combating climate change and dismantling other long-standing environmental protections for clean air and water.
- Repealing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and reinstating immigration policies that lead to family separations.
- Withholding disaster response funding and individual assistance for disaster victims as political retaliation.
- Politicize grant programs to appropriate state and local government resources for federal purposes.
The statement also details that during the special session, legislation should be considered and acted upon to provide additional funding to the California Department of Justice, as well as other agencies, departments, boards, and offices to support litigation challenging actions taken by the Trump administration, and to take administrative actions authorized by law to mitigate the impacts such actions may have on California, as well as to make changes to existing law.
"The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack and we will not sit idly by. California has faced this challenge before and we know how to respond. We are prepared and will do whatever it takes to ensure Californians have the support and resources they need to thrive," he said. Press release shared by Newsom's office.
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