Battling LA’s wildfires, priorities shift for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s once Trump-focused special session

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This article was published 17/01/2025 (627 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of President-elect Donald Trump’s top political adversaries, has shifted his focus in recent days from gearing up for legal battles against the incoming Republican administration to prioritizing the state’s response to destructive wildfires around Los Angeles.

It’s a balancing act the Democratic governor has juggled before. After the town of Paradise was devastated by the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history in 2018, then-President Trump joined Newsom, who had just been elected to his first term as governor, to tour the devastation.

Now Trump, days away from returning to the nation’s highest office, has criticized Newsom’s handling of the fires that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed more than two dozen people, and fueled misinformation about the state’s water policies. Newsom has pushed back but has also invited Trump to visit California and witness the impacts of the fires.

“In the spirit of this great country, we must not politicize human tragedy or spread disinformation from the sidelines,” the governor wrote last week in a letter to Trump. “Hundreds of thousands of Americans — displaced from their homes and fearful for the future — deserve to see all of us working in their best interests to ensure a fast recovery and rebuild.”

The blazes have scrambled plans by Newsom and the Democratic-led Legislature for a special session to quickly approve millions of dollars in funding for Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office to defend California’s policies on immigration, reproductive health, the environment and more from expected challenges from the White House. The Legislature settled on $50 million — $25 million for the attorney general’s office and another $25 million for legal services at the local level. During Trump’s first presidency, the state sued the federal government at least 45 times, mostly targeting immigration and environmental policies.

But about a week after the Los Angeles-area fires broke out, Newsom expanded the special session to include wildfire relief under pressure from Republican state lawmakers who said the focus on Trump was misplaced while the state dealt with the disaster. He unveiled a proposal that would provide $1 billion to assist in emergency response and cleanup efforts and another $1.5 billion to help the state prepare for firestorms, windstorms and other natural disaster threats.

Some Democrats considered tying the money for lawsuits and wildfires together, prompting further criticism from Republicans. But legislative leaders eventually decided to divorce the two issues and postponed budget hearings on the bills aimed at preparing for Trump. That means they won’t pass the proposals before Inauguration Day on Monday.

“I think they recognized to move forward on so-called Trump-proofing California and completely ignoring the disaster we have down south, kind of didn’t make a lot of sense,” said Republican state Sen. Roger Niello, who co-chairs the Senate’s special session budget committee.

Democratic lawmakers have stressed the need to focus on wildfire recovery as well.

“We need to rebuild, and we need to prevent anything from happening again,” Democratic Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez said. “We need to have policies that support both of those efforts.”

Rodriguez represents part of the San Fernando Valley, where one of the blazes burned a little over a square mile, leaving many residents without power and forcing one mother to come to the lawmaker’s office to charge her phone and warm up milk for her baby.

“When we talk about these big dollars, we also have to talk about the individual stories,” she said.

In Democratic Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin’s district, the largest of the blazes ripped through Pacific Palisades, killing 10 people. Irwin said she appreciated Newsom’s commitment to increase funding for fire relief but that lawmakers need to evaluate the best ways to spend that money.

The state should prioritize the immediate needs of residents affected by the blazes, including helping them find housing, connecting them with federal resources and cleaning up toxic chemicals from the fires, she said. In the longer term, the Legislature needs to help communities rebuild quickly by streamlining the permitting process, Irwin said.

“We can’t have government as usual,” she said.

Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who represents the San Fernando Valley and is chair of the chamber’s special session budget committee, said he was grateful for Newsom’s proposal and that lawmakers would work quickly to pass legislation providing relief for those impacted by the fires.

Gabriel rented a car last week and drove with Assemblymember John Harabedian, a Democrat whose district was hit by a deadly blaze in Altadena, back down south from Sacramento because of challenges finding flights. Gabriel and his family later had to evacuate their home in Encino, an area bordering the Palisades Fire.

His family is lucky compared to what many others in the area have faced, he said. On a recent drive through Pacific Palisades, he witnessed some of the devastation the fire has left behind.

“It looks like a post-apocalyptic war zone — burned down cars and houses where the only thing left is the chimney and some ashes in the driveway,” he said.

The Legislature plans to hold special session hearings next week.

Rodriguez, the San Fernando Democrat, said protecting the state from Trump’s policies and supporting communities affected by the disaster both remain priorities. That rings true for her region, where immigrants without legal status, whose fate was already threatened by the president-elect’s calls for mass deportations, are now recovering from the blaze.

“When it comes to districts like mine, the two concepts of recovery and addressing what we all know is coming in regards to immigration policy from the federal government cannot be separated,” she said.

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Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @ sophieadanna