As wildfires ravaged Los Angeles, California’s Democratic legislature was full steam ahead on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D.) plan to approve $50 million to combat President-elect Donald Trump's expected policies—until the flames approached the assembly budget chair’s district.
Democratic leaders announced Monday that they struck a deal to approve the funding, which includes $25 million Newsom requested to fund lawsuits against the federal government once Trump takes office and a directive for the California Department of Justice to build an "internal website" tracking this litigation. Lawmakers earmarked another $25 million for nonprofits with the mandate to help block deportations of illegal migrants and offer other legal services, the Washington Free Beacon has reported.
The legislature was expected to approve the funding later this week in a special session, and Newsom planned to sign it into law before Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
But that plan may be up in smoke. A Tuesday hearing on the proposals was postponed Monday morning as the wildfires approached assembly budget chair Jesse Gabriel’s (D.) district, which has been under evacuation orders and warnings for three days.
The fires have burned through Los Angeles, leveling neighborhoods and killing at least 24 people. The blazes are expected to take a turn for the worse this week, with more intense winds predicted Tuesday. The largest wildfire, the Palisades Fire, was just 14 percent contained as of Monday morning, and the National Weather Service has warned that Los Angeles faces a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" this week with winds of up to 70 miles per hour expected Tuesday.
The spending deal stems from a directive Newsom issued two days after the November election, asking lawmakers to approve spending to fight expected policies like illegal immigration crackdowns or roll-backs of California’s anti-fossil fuel agenda. It remained a top priority, even as the wildfires raged and Newsom faced blistering criticism over the state’s failure to fortify against fires.
"This funding agreement cements California’s readiness to serve as a bulwark against Trump’s extremist agenda," state senate budget committee chair Scott Wiener (D.), who is eyeing a campaign to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D.) in Congress, told Politico.
The Los Angeles blazes are shaping up to be the costliest disaster in United States history. Damages and economic losses are already projected to reach up to $250 billion, according to AccuWeather, and the crisis isn’t close to over.
James Gallagher, the GOP leader for the California state assembly, said it was "appalling" that Newsom continues to push his "Trump-proofing" plan in the face of the fires.
"It’s reckless, dangerous, and wrong for Newsom to use state resources to lay the groundwork for his 2028 presidential campaign," he told the Free Beacon in a statement.
On Friday, California state assembly speaker Robert Rivas (D.) gave a rambling response when a reporter pressed him on whether lawmakers should continue their special session to fund forthcoming Trump lawsuits while Los Angeles burned.
"At this moment, my colleagues and I, we are acting with great urgency—great urgency—to ensure that we're providing much-needed relief to Angelenos, to ensure that we understand what it's going to take for that for this region to recover and to support those that have been most impacted by this disaster," Rivas said. "The response from our first responders has been unprecedented, and they're doing all that they can to control and contain, again, these multiple fires and doing whatever they can to ensure that they're keeping people safe now, and again in anticipation and in preparation for recovery, and as a state, we will, as a legislature, we will do everything we can to support that recovery."