He has called a special legislative session to deal with the issue and decided that an anti-Trump war chest of $25M would be a good start for the project.

Mind you, the state is already looking at a projected $55B (with a 'B') budget deficit for 2024-2025...so, I guess, what's another measly $25M?

In any event, everyone is headed to Sacramento for the get-together that starts next week.

• Gov. Gavin Newsom’s special legislative session to safeguard California from potential “federal overreach” by the incoming Trump administration begins Monday.
• Newsom is working with lawmakers to create a new litigation fund of up to $25 million to support California’s legal resources in anticipation of “policy proposals that would harm the state.”
• The California Department of Justice sued the previous Trump administration 122 times, investing $42 million in the process, Newsom’s office said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s special legislative session to safeguard California from potential “federal overreach” by the incoming Trump administration began Monday, teeing up a potential battle between the president-elect and the most populous U.S. state.

Newsom is working with lawmakers to create a new litigation fund of up to $25 million to support California’s legal resources in anticipation of “policy proposals that would harm the state,” according to a release from the governor’s office Monday. Reproductive rights and environmental causes are two of the focus areas.

The fund would be for the California Department of Justice and other state agencies to be used for court challenges and administrative actions. Newsom announced the session following Trump’s election victory last month. Hearings will take place over the next several weeks, with a goal of signing legislation into law before Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20.

Sounds like some fun, huh?

The 'fund' is going to be paying for a lawsuit-a-palooza against the incoming Trump administration as Newsom is anticipating CA 'freedoms' will be under attack.

...Legislative sources said the special session is intended to be narrowly focused on providing legal resources to the attorney general’s office — perhaps as much as $100 million — to fight the Trump administration. The goal is to appropriate the money before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, though given how many new members are joining the Legislature, they may not be ready to act until early January.

As priorities for California’s opposition, Newsom listed civil and reproductive rights, climate change, Trump’s threats to withhold disaster relief dollars and the potential repeal of deportation protections for immigrants who were brought to the country without authorization as children.

“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle,” Newsom said in a statement. “California has faced this challenge before, and we know how to respond.”

The posturing and blustering is all well and good, but the expenditures have quite a few people in the state up in arms before the first discussion on the statehouse floor. CA is beset by budgetary problems and crippled by deficit spending. Many in public office are absolutely incensed that the governor has the temerity to propose writing another bouncing check for what is at best a vanity project when so much is wrong everywhere they look.

...Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher called the session a “shameless political stunt.” “The only ‘problem’ it will solve is Gavin Newsom’s insecurity that not enough people are paying attention to him,” he said in a statement. “There will not be a single policy implemented in this special session that couldn’t be addressed when the Legislature reconvenes in January.”

Local CA news organizations are savaging Newsom, in effect saying, "Dude, read the room. NOBODY LIKES YOU."

...Perhaps before Newsom gets too full of himself, he should at least acknowledge that millions more Californians rejected his and Democrats’ dangerous Anti-American agenda, the Globe suggested last month. Yes, even California is not nearly as blue as it once was, thanks to Gavin Newsom.

...The people are exhausted from Newsom’s headline-grabbing exploits and state overreach, while ignoring legitimate issues impacting 39 million California residents including the high cost of living, highest-in-the-country gas prices, high income taxes, high electricity costs, high food costs, crappy public schools, high unemployment, unfunded pension debt, and budget deficits in nearly every city and county as well as the state budget.

And they want to know what are these 'California freedoms' you're 'protecting,' Willis? 

There are aspects of the state that sure don't seem very 'free' to them.

...It’s easy to “fight in the courts” when spending taxpayer funds and headlines.

California’s problematic policies include Newsom threatening police with the loss of their pensions should they assist immigration agents with deportations of criminal illegal aliens.

Expect lawsuits against Newsom and Bonta from police unions. And more headlines.

As far as 'California freedom' fighters go, Newsom's stewardship has managed to turn the state redder than it's been in ages. 

If protecting criminal illegals, skyrocketing electric rates for brownouts, and mandated EV transitions, among his myriad other sins - oh, excuse me, 'accomplishments' - have resulted in losing voters and a declining general population as people leave the state entirely, what exactly is Newsom 'protecting' that's worth a dime, less mind the tens of millions he's proposing to blow?

I mean, again, get a clue, Sherlock. If you can't read the room, read the map.

A friend admitted to me that on social media she was posting support for Harris because she didn’t want to anger her family. She and her sister quietly voted for Trump.

I knew this was happening. Everywhere I went, at the gym, where I work, I talked to fellow democrats who… pic.twitter.com/24ZrjsVaCi

— Deon Joseph (@ofcrdeonjoseph) November 18, 2024

Even left-leaning CNBC, after quoting the governor warning Trump not to test his righteous mettle, pointed out that the state had done a pretty significant shimmy to the right across a broad based swath of elected officials and ballot initiatives.

...Newsom pledged to work with the Trump administration, but warned in a statement that he will be looking after his state’s residents.

“California is a tent pole of the country — from the economy to innovation to protecting and investing in rights and freedoms for all people,” he said. “We will work with the incoming administration and we want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans. But when there is overreach, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will take action. And that is exactly what this special session is about — setting this state up for success, regardless of who is in the White House.”

California wasn’t spared a broader move to the right in the election. Conservative district attorneys were voted into office in major counties, including Nathan Hochman in Los Angeles. In Alameda County, District Attorney Pamela Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao faced successful recalls. And in San Francisco, centrist Democrat Daniel Lurie, who has never held public office, won the mayoral race, beating incumbent London Breed. 

California voters also adopted a proposition that increases penalties for certain drug and theft crimes while rebuffing a measure to raise the state’s minimum wage to $18 an hour. The economy took precedence over social issues across the state, according to polling from the Public Policy Institute of California.

The CA Attorney General, Rob Bonta, told CalMatters his office is already busy scribbling up briefs for lawsuits against the 'possible attacks' they see coming from a Trump administration as far as a nationwide abortion ban, overturning state zero-emissions vehicle mandates, etc. 

It seems to me that the State Attorney General's Office, in a place as large and troubled by gangs, drugs, homelessness, etc., would have too much piled on their desks already to be spending time on 'what if' scenarios that might be years down the road, if ever.

I mean, the stoned-out-of-his-gourd fentanyl abuser is slumped over a junction box on your sidewalk right now.

The 12-year-old unaccompanied illegal little girl is being trafficked in Los Angeles right now.

I guess indulging in big-budget Hollywood productions while ignoring reality is a California freedom that needs Trump-Proofing, too.

They've sure got the bad actor to do it.