There is nothing special about California’s phony legislative session to fight Trump | Opinion
Special legislative sessions, once a Sacramento rarity connected with something of urgency and importance, are becoming publicity devices that are not special at all.
This week, the Democratically-controlled Legislature returned to Sacramento to direct less than one-hundredth of 1% of the state budget into a $25 million legal fund to fight a Donald Trump presidential administration that does not even yet exist. California has a budget in the neighborhood of $290 billion. Did Gov. Gavin Newsom really need to hustle the Legislature back to Sacramento after Thanksgiving to cobble together a $25 million legal fund? Of course not.
November’s special session on Trump follows the governor’s special session on gasoline prices in September. The Legislature approved bills that seek to avoid gasoline spikes during refinery shutdowns that limit production.
The gas spike issue, however, was hardly an emergency. Policy debates on higher inventory levels of refined gasoline (the alleged cure shortage-driven price spikes) have been around for years. The urgency seemed more about optics, as the specter of yet another large increase in gasoline prices loomed this September, replicating what happened in the previous two years, as refinery maintenance kicked in higher production during the busy summer driving months.
It’s as if Newsom suddenly discovered a new attention-getting gimmick in the form of a special legislative session. He had none in his first four years as governor, according to a review by Capitol Weekly. Then he had one last year on energy, and two this year in a matter of months.
Inside any California budget, there is wiggle room to make some minor changes without calling legislators back to town. This special session wasn’t even significant enough to qualify as budget dust. The California Budget Act of 2024, the official spending plan for the current fiscal year, has more than 300 ways to augment one budget or another based on unfolding events. No Attorney General can fully anticipate the legal load for the coming year. And lawsuits, in the scheme of government costs, are chump change.
Undoubtedly, some real and dangerous fault lines will emerge between Newsom and the Trump administration after the next president takes office on January 20. There are huge differences between Trump and California leaders on immigration, water, climate change, health care, abortion and transgender rights, to name a few.
It is not too soon for members of either administration to begin preparing for what may be coming. But the notion is silly that California is more prepared for Donald Trump by moving a lousy $25 million into a legal fund.
Trump isn’t even president, yet he is gaining the upper hand over Democrats as they pretend that they are governing effectively with this breakout of special sessions. Newsom and the Democrats are demonstrating precisely the opposite. This should make Californians worried.
More and more Americans believe that Democrats have lost the art of governing. That means Democrats are becoming poor messengers about the importance of good government to improve our everyday lives.
Every time Gavin Newsom calls a special session to draw attention to himself, he is proving this point.
This story was originally published December 4, 2024 at 5:00 AM.