The bills combined would provide $50 million for the state — and nonprofits that provide legal services — to sue if the Trump administration enacts policies that go up against the state’s more progressive approaches.
“We can work collaboratively with the administration while also defending Californians and California values, whether immigrants, trans folks who are under attack or our climate policies,” said San Francisco Democratic Senator Scott Wiener, who authored the bills.
The bills passed along party lines. However, Democratic Senator Melissa Hurtado of Bakersfield expressed hesitation about them.
“I feel personally that Trump-proofing is a missed opportunity to urge the president for meaningful change,” she said.
Hurtado added that the state should be working with the president on immigration reform when possible, and suing the administration could create animosity that prevents that.
Republican Senator Kelly Seyarto of Riverside County argued this move by Democrats could jeopardize federal funding for fire relief in Los Angeles County.
State lawmakers and Governor Gavin Newsom took a large step of their own toward providing that relief on Thursday when they approved $2.5 billion in state reserve funds to help those affected by the blazes.
That did not stop Seyarto’s concerns.
“We already have a tenuous relationship with the federal government,” he said. “What this is doing is, we’re poking a stick in their eye with one hand and asking them for money with the other.”
The bills now head to the Assembly, which could take them up as early as next week.
California is already one of 22 states suing the administration to stop an executive order that would end birthright citizenship — which is enshrined in the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. A federal judge temporarily blocked the order Thursday, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional.”