Gov. Gavin Newsom is ready to be the face of the Democratic Party opposition to Donald Trump. That may not be the best strategy for the beleaguered Dems: Newsom is from California, and he’s by any stretch part of the very elite that so many working-class voters rejected, but he’s great in a debate and he’s willing to go head-to-head with the Fox News types.
So now he has called, with great fanfare, a special session of the state Legislature to “protect California values.” The Assembly and Senate will convene to, among other things, follow
The Governor’s proclamation [that] calls for legislation to provide additional resources to the California Department of Justice and other state entities to pursue robust affirmative litigation against any unlawful actions by the incoming Trump Administration, as well as defend against federal lawsuits aimed at undermining California’s laws and policies. The funding will support the ability to immediately file litigation and seek injunctive relief against unlawful federal actions.
Basically, he’s asking for an appropriation of an additional $25 million to fund the Attorney General’s Office so the guv and AG Rob Bonta can keep suing Trump in federal court.
The state budget is almost $300 billion. Newsom is facing a deficit of $68 billion. The $25 million appropriation is so tiny in comparison that it’s what we call decimal dust, almost too small to measure. It’s 0.0083 percent of the budget, and 0.0036 percent of the deficit.
But wow, it looks good: Newsom taking a strong stand against the Republican Right.
In practical terms, suing Trump’s administration can slow down a lot of things the new president tries to do. Bonta will be suing in California, where most federal judges (who are typically vetted by our senators) are pretty liberal, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, despite some Trump appointments, is still one of the most liberal in the country.
The cases that get to the US Supreme Court will be a disaster for California and the rest of the country. But the Supreme Court only takes a tiny fraction of the cases that are appealed.
But the stuff Newsom and Bonta can sue over, while critical, may not be the biggest threat to the state and to local government. About $162 billion in federal money goes to the state of California and to local California government. San Francisco gets $500 million of that. Trump has already vowed to cut off funding, among other things, to states and cities and counties that defy him on mass deportation of immigrants.
Newsom, along with local officials in places like San Francisco, have vowed not to let state and city law enforcement participate in the raids, roundups, and deportations. San Francisco’s Public Defender’s Office has an immigration division that will help people arrested and charged with deportable crimes; that division will need more funding. So will the nonprofit legal aid groups that will be called on to represent the potentially tens of thousands of people facing immigration hearings.
Who, exactly, is going to fund all of this—and make up the money that Trump tries to take away?
That’s a defining issue—and as far as I can tell, Newsom is ignoring it.
California is really, really, really going to need new revenue. It’s not that difficult a problem: California has the world’s fifth-largest economy and even in a Trump world, can fend for itself.
California has around (depending on the way you count) 186 billionaires. Just the top ten have total wealth of $705 billion. Go up to the top 30 and you’re looking a $1 trillion.
That doesn’t count the folks with just $100 million in wealth; more than 1,000 of them live just in SF and LA.
Corporate profits in this state are soaring—and corporate taxes are way, way down. From the California Budget and Policy Center:
Gov. Gavin Newsom is ready to be the face of the Democratic Party opposition to Donald Trump. That may not be the best strategy for the beleaguered Dems: Newsom is from California, and he’s by any stretch part of the very elite that so many working-class voters rejected, but he’s great in a debate and he’s willing to go head-to-head with the Fox News types.
So now he has called, with great fanfare, a special session of the state Legislature to “protect California values.” The Assembly and Senate will convene to, among other things, follow
The Governor’s proclamation [that] calls for legislation to provide additional resources to the California Department of Justice and other state entities to pursue robust affirmative litigation against any unlawful actions by the incoming Trump Administration, as well as defend against federal lawsuits aimed at undermining California’s laws and policies. The funding will support the ability to immediately file litigation and seek injunctive relief against unlawful federal actions.
Basically, he’s asking for an appropriation of an additional $25 million to fund the Attorney General’s Office so the guv and AG Rob Bonta can keep suing Trump in federal court.
The state budget is almost $300 billion. Newsom is facing a deficit of $68 billion. The $25 million appropriation is so tiny in comparison that it’s what we call decimal dust, almost too small to measure. It’s 0.0083 percent of the budget, and 0.0036 percent of the deficit.
But wow, it looks good: Newsom taking a strong stand against the Republican Right.
In practical terms, suing Trump’s administration can slow down a lot of things the new president tries to do. Bonta will be suing in California, where most federal judges (who are typically vetted by our senators) are pretty liberal, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, despite some Trump appointments, is still one of the most liberal in the country.
The cases that get to the US Supreme Court will be a disaster for California and the rest of the country. But the Supreme Court only takes a tiny fraction of the cases that are appealed.
But the stuff Newsom and Bonta can sue over, while critical, may not be the biggest threat to the state and to local government. About $162 billion in federal money goes to the state of California and to local California government. San Francisco gets $500 million of that. Trump has already vowed to cut off funding, among other things, to states and cities and counties that defy him on mass deportation of immigrants.
Newsom, along with local officials in places like San Francisco, have vowed not to let state and city law enforcement participate in the raids, roundups, and deportations. San Francisco’s Public Defender’s Office has an immigration division that will help people arrested and charged with deportable crimes; that division will need more funding. So will the nonprofit legal aid groups that will be called on to represent the potentially tens of thousands of people facing immigration hearings.
Who, exactly, is going to fund all of this—and make up the money that Trump tries to take away?
That’s a defining issue—and as far as I can tell, Newsom is ignoring it.
California is really, really, really going to need new revenue. It’s not that difficult a problem: California has the world’s fifth-largest economy and even in a Trump world, can fend for itself.
California has around (depending on the way you count) 186 billionaires. Just the top ten have total wealth of $705 billion. Go up to the top 30 and you’re looking a $1 trillion.
That doesn’t count the folks with just $100 million in wealth; more than 1,000 of them live just in SF and LA.
Corporate profits in this state are soaring—and corporate taxes are way, way down. From the California Budget and Policy Center:
Despite record profits, corporations pay a tiny fraction of their California expenses in taxes — just 0.11% on average. Modest corporate tax increases could generate substantial revenue to boost income for families in poverty, fund crucial public services, and address economic inequality, especially for Californians of color.
Not that complicated. The big corporations and the very rich in California and the rest of the country are going to get huge tax cuts from Trump. If Newsom really wants to fight back, he’s going to need to do the opposite: Raise taxes on the most profitable corporations and the richest individuals.
Even a modest tax hike would cover the looming deficits. Even a small wealth tax would set the state up to pay for the services Trump wants to eliminate.
That approach would also directly take on the neoliberal economic strategy that has destroyed the Democratic Party base. (And the reality is that very, very few rich people or businesses would leave the state if they had to pay modest tax hikes; you think Mark Zuckerberg is going to move to Texas to avoid paying less in taxes in a year then he gets every month as his wealth increases?)
So I sent a message to Newsom’s press office:
Hi, I’m a reporter for 48hills.org in San Francisco and I have a question about the special session. Does the governor intend to seek any new sources of revenue, ie higher taxes on the rich (who will be getting tax cuts from Trump), to fund his defense of CA against Trump?
I am not a bit surprised that I have received no response. You suppose state Sen. Scott Wiener or Assemblymember Matt Haney will raise the issue in the special session? I’m not holding my breath.
