Resistance State

Since the coronavirus pandemic, the Democratic governor of "the most un-Trump state in America," as he once termed it, has been so conciliatory toward the president — and so unlike that of Democratic governors elsewhere — that he's being praised by Republicans and Fox News. 

With California enmeshed in a bare-knuckled battle over clean air with the Trump administration, carmakers could soon face a choice: Sign onto the state's pact to cut air pollution or forfeit the right to offer customers the state's EV rebate.  

Setting up a showdown with California, the U.S. Veteran Affairs Dept. canceled its contract with a state agency that approves colleges to receive GI Bill funds.

New Trump administration rules would deny green cards to immigrants on public assistance. It's an idea California knows well.

Dan Schnur, USC’s Annenberg School of Communications: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to sign a bill that would require Donald Trump to disclose his tax returns to qualify for next year’s California primary ballot was a savvy political maneuver for our governor. But the practical impact of Newsom’s maneuver is negligible and the potential downside is considerable.

Garry South, Democratic consultant: Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures. Gov. Newsom was right–morally, legally and politically—to sign Senate Bill 27 requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns to appear on the primary ballot. Good for him for being a Democratic governor with the courage to do so, and to take the resulting flak.

Jeanny Morris had a 1-year-old baby and a resume of dead-end retail jobs when she enrolled in the Marinello Schools of Beauty cosmetology program in 2012. She used her welfare benefits to pay for transportation to and from school where, she says, staff pressured her to take out student loans to pay for supplies they […]

So far, the worst-case scenario has not come to pass, and some products, such as pistachios, have dodged Trump’s trade-war bullet. But the damage has not been insignificant to California's economy.

California is once again defending the Affordable Care Act, leading a coalition of Democratic states against a small army of Republican lawmakers seeking to undo the Obama administration’s signature healthcare law.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is labeling as unconstitutional the Trump administration’s proposed rule that would block some legal immigrants from getting a green card if they’ve used—or may use in the future—public services like health care, food assistance and housing programs.