During the *March 4th City Council meeting, Mayor Jung argued strongly for pursuing charter city status for Fullerton, speaking against “state overreach” and objecting to the state proposing to allocate $50 million to “Trump-proof” the state.
At the following meeting, a public speaker questioned how becoming a charter city could have any impact on protecting state programs from the President’s attacks. The speaker further argued that the $50 million is a small amount in the context of the state’s $300 billion budget, essentially about $1.25 per resident. This figure is comparable to the $41 million spent during the last Trump administration, when California filed 110 lawsuits against the President’s actions, seeking to protect various state policies, including environmental issues, consumer rights, access to abortion, DACA, and more.
The speaker asked which of these policies the Mayor opposes.
On August 4 this year, the *Los Angeles Times reported that California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said that his office has spent more than $5 million so far (one-tenth of the $50 million proposed above) fighting the Trump administration in court over the last six months, and in so doing saved the state nearly $170 billion.
The Times further quoted Bonta saying: “…that for every one dollar we’ve been given by the Legislature and the governor from special session funding to do this … we’ve returned $33,600 for the state.”
Among the funding that the state saved by pushing back on the Trump administration are funds for transportation and infrastructure, education, including teacher preparation and afterschool and summer programs, healthcare, and EV charging stations.
Bonta’s office has filed 37 lawsuits and 47 amicus briefs backing other litigants’ lawsuits against the administration, according to the Times.
Does the Mayor still feel that the money that the state has spent on “pushing back” has been a poor investment? And if so, which programs does he feel should be shut down? And how would charter city status for Fullerton be relevant to this in any way?
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Categories: Community Voices, Local Government, Local News
Thank you Vince for bringing that up. I hope people interested in the answer will attend the Tuesday, August 19 Council meeting where the decision for Fullerton to join the lawsuit against Trump Administration’s unlawful ICE conduct terrorizing neighborhoods and businesses (even here in Fullerton) will take place.