SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As wildfires continued to ravage parts of Los Angeles on Thursday, California lawmakers in Sacramento officially began a special legislative session to prepare the state for President-elect Donald Trump.
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Thursday marked the first regular floor session for state lawmakers since the fires began. Those fires are expected to leave Southern California with one of, if not the, most expensive catastrophes in U.S. History. The damage also raises questions about California’s future with the property insurance market, which has been hesitant or refusing to insure residents living in disaster prone parts of the state.
The Democratic-led Assembly and State Senate paused their regular business Thursday to gavel into the Trump-related special legislative session, which Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered days after the presidential election.
That session is meant to quickly provide the California Department of Justice an extra $25 million to prepare for legal battles with the Trump administration. A special session is not required to do this, because budget-related legislation goes into effect immediately with approval anyway in California.
In the Assembly, lawmakers gaveled in briefly with little discussion to set a Tuesday morning hearing on the special session legislation. Many seats were empty as several Southern California lawmakers returned to their districts for the fire response.
Following the floor session, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas dodged questions about gaveling into the special legislative session as the wildfires continued.
“These wildfires are going to be some of the worst wildfires and disasters in the state,” Rivas said.
When pressed by KCRA 3 if now is the right time for the Trump-related special session, Rivas wouldn’t answer the question.
“My colleagues and I are acting with great urgency to ensure we are providing much needed relief to Angelenos, that we understand what it will take for this region to recover and to support those who have been most impacted by this disaster,” Rivas said.
In the State Senate on a party line vote, lawmakers Thursday morning established a budget and fiscal review committee for the Trump-related special session.
“This is tone deaf,” said State Sen. Brian Jones R-Santee, on the Senate floor. “Focusing on suing the administration that hasn’t even done anything yet in the midst of a catastrophic wildfire in LA. We shouldn’t be Trump-proofing California. We should be focusing on fireproofing California.”
“I do think it’s important for California to stand up for our values,” said State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco. “We have a new administration that has vowed to target this state to eliminate healthcare access, that has vowed to target this state around education funding, that has vowed to deport more than one million California residents, so should we be prepared for that? Absolutely.”
Destructive liberal policy protection is more important to the “Government Gangsters” in Sacramento than taking responsibility of their actions and focusing on their constituents?
The Democratic-led Assembly and State Senate paused their regular business ———-
This is called how can the elected officials that intentionally crippled rational emergency/fire planning and response.
If it was up to me Every Senior Elected Democrat who has supported their failures should be indicted and sent to jail. Oh and it is not a case of attorney client privilege… laugh