California lawmakers on Monday postponed a special legislative session scheduled for Tuesday to “test” the Gold State ahead of President-elect Trump’s inauguration, due to wildfires devastating the Los Angeles area.
A member of the California Assembly’s budget office told Fox News Digital that the hearing was postponed due to the fires, adding that committee Chairman Assembly Member Jesse Gabriel could not attend the session because he represents the areas devastated by wild infernos.
Asked when the session would be rescheduled before Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, the budget office said the new date was still “up in the air.”
While the session was postponed, lawmakers adjusted the legislation Friday.
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The California Capitol on July 17, 2022, in Sacramento, California. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
KCRA in Sacramento reported that lawmakers added a proposal for a new website to track anticipated lawsuits between the state and the Trump administration, additional rules surrounding the use of an additional $25 million for the Department of California Justice to fight the legal battles, and a proposed $25 million in grants for legal services and immigration support. The proposals were added to the special session bills, ABX1-1 and ABX1-2.
The news comes just days after a KCRA reporter asked Democratic California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas if now was the right time to hold a legislative session on allocating money to fight Trump , in a way that lawmakers could already do without having to do so. special session.
Rivas deflected the question, saying he was there to fight wildfires.
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Water is dropped by helicopter on the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, Thursday, January 9, 2025. (Ethan Swope/AP)
“This is a historic wildfire,” he told the reporter. “This is a historic event. These wildfires, as I mentioned, will very likely be among the worst wildfires and disasters in the history of the state and the country.”
But the reporter pressed on, saying, “while this wildfire is happening, and while people are trying to understand what’s going on and worrying about disaster relief, worrying about being able to get homeowners insurance, your chamber has embarked on a special legislative session to prepare for Donald Trump as you already can without a special legislative session. So again, is this the right time for this?
Again, Rivas focused on wildfire recovery and did not directly answer the reporter’s question.
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California Governor Gavin Newsom and President-elect Trump have clashed over various issues, including immigration. (Getty/AP)
Rivas’ office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for additional information on the postponement of the special session.
Shortly after Trump’s election victory, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a special legislative session to bolster the state’s legal fund in case of attacks from the Trump administration. Trump fired back at Newsom after the announcement, saying on his Truth Social account: “He’s using the term ‘Trump-Proof’ as a way to stop all the GREAT things that can be done to ‘make California great again’ , but I just won the election by a landslide.”
Between 2017 and 2021, the California Department of Justice led 122 prosecutions against Trump administration policies, spending $42 million on litigation. Newsom’s office said that in one case the federal government was ordered to repay California nearly $60 million in public safety grants.
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While California has filed more than 100 lawsuits against the Trump administration, Trump has only filed four major lawsuits against the state. In 2018, Trump’s DOJ sued three California sanctuary state laws that limited cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement. The same year, Trump sued California over its state-level net neutrality law.
Jamie Joseph of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
