California Dems to emulate Republicans in defying Feds under Trump

Dominant Democratic lawmakers in the US state of California have suggested plans to defy the priorities of the upcoming Republican-controlled executive and legislative branches of government in Washington.

"We must be defiant whenever justice, fairness, and righteousness require," said California’s State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon in a recent address to local legislators as quoted in a Saturday report by US-based National Public Radio (NPR).

"Californians do not need healing; we need to fight," Rendon emphasized, prompting applause from Democrats who command super-majorities in both chambers of the state legislature.

Republican-dominated states such as Texas often sought to block the president's agenda in the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama, the report added, pointing out that California may play the same role during the administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Californians voted overwhelmingly for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the presidential election last month and Democrats believe many of their policies, such as the state's lenient stance toward immigrants, its strict anti-guns laws and its recent legalization of recreational marijuana could be threatened by the Trump administration.

For instance, Trump has described climate change -- one of the issues most important to California Governor Jerry Brown as a "Chinese hoax."

"The science is clear and the consequences are dire," Brown said recently. "So, based on those two facts, I think Washington will come around. But to the extent that they don't, we're going to be pushing as hard as we can from California."

Brown, however, intends to take a wait-and-see approach on other issues compared to the hard-charging fellow Democrats in the state legislature.

According to the report, there are several ways the state can challenge Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress. It may simply choose not to enforce some federal laws it disagrees with and enact stronger state laws around environmental and consumer regulations. The state is also likely to aggressively file lawsuits against the federal government.

Democrats have already introduced one legislative motion to better train defense attorneys on immigration law and another bill to fund legal representation for people facing deportation. Both are "urgency measures," meaning that they would immediately take effect if they muster a two-thirds vote. Such programs are expected to cost millions of dollars.

This is while the Trump administration can adopt a variety of measures to force California to comply. For instance, the state received nearly $96 billion in federal funds this year, according to the California Department of Finance.

That amount, however, did not faze Governor Brown when he recently pledged to continue the state's aggressive approach to combating climate change.

"We have the laws, we have the tools of enforcement, and we have the political will," Brown insisted. "And we will set the stage, we'll set the example and whatever Washington thinks they're doing, California is the future."

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