SACRAMENTO—On August 28, the Republican Study Committee (RSC) sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting a review on California Assembly Bill 2624 (AB 2624) and to block its implementation in federal court.
AB 2624 was authored by California Assemblymember Mia Bonta (Dist. 18), wife of California Attorney General (AG) Rob Bonta. The bill was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom and if implemented, will go into effect on October 1, 2027.
Nick Shirley is the journalist who exposed the illegitimate Somali daycare operations in Minnesota. AB 2624 expands on California’s “Safe at Home” act that protects immigrants at home. AB 2624 has also become known as the “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” “Protect Fraudsters Act,” and by Newsom, the “Safe at Work Act.”
“RSC members warn this legislation raises serious First Amendment concerns, chilling investigative journalism by exposing reporters like Nick Shirley to legal liability simply for exposing fraud and potential violations of law, while also shielding taxpayer-funded organizations from accountability. Shirley’s reporting uncovered empty, taxpayer-funded daycare centers in Minnesota and California.
RSC Members are calling on the DOJ to review AB 2624 and pursue legal action in federal court to block its implementation on First Amendment grounds”, RSC stated.
California Rep. James Gallager (CA-01) and California Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (Dist. 75) spoke out against the bill.
“This is classic Sacramento, instead of going after fraud and demanding answers about where taxpayer dollars are going, they pass a law that would make it harder to expose it. That’s completely backwards. California deserves to know where their money is going, and journalists should be able to follow the facts without Sacramento getting in the way,” Rep. Gallagher stated.
DeMaio confronted and challenged assemblymember Bonta over the language of AB 2624, that would empower those in certain organizations to demand the removal of video recordings and impose fines onto the journalists who are exposing the corruption.
If the bill goes through then beginning in October 2027, legal and illegal immigrants would be eligible for a program that would keep their addresses and other public records private. A journalist who saw something that could potentially be illegal would be bound by confidentiality and unable to report suspected abuse and fraud.
There are photographs on X of Nick Shirley meeting with those who came out to rally against the prospective bill.
… “Just wanted to say thank you to the thousands of people who came out, showed up, kept the peace, and took a stand against California’s new law…Politicians have learned that by using immigration support service providers they can funnel millions and billions of your tax dollars to non-profits. NGOs, learning centers, and fake healthcare providers and then use that money to push their crazy agendas across the country. Now that it’s been exposed, they need new laws to protect the fraud. Unfortunately for them it has only exposed them for the frauds they are,” Shirley stated.
