September 6, 2024 – You can tell it’s election season, the voters of California are
seeing an occasional outbreak of common sense in Sacramento.
Today, Governor Gavin Newsom, no doubt fearing voter backlash at the polls in
November, vetoed the infamous Assembly Bill 1840 (D-Arambula). That measure,
an outrageous attempt by Democrat legislators to make housing assistance funds
available to undocumented immigrants, provoked ire across the state.
As an expansion of the Housing Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP), the
giveaway of public funds would have made up to $150,000 available for illegal
immigrants who were first time home-buyers. Expanding the pool of eligible
recipients would have meant less money available for veterans under the same
program.
The veto came after a letter to the governor from Senate Republicans called AB
1840 yet another scheme in a long litany of taxpayer abuses by Democrat
politicians, encouraging and rewarding illegal immigration.
In addition to the veto request letter signed by all Senate Republicans, the Caucus
had also exposed the reality of this bad legislation in a publicly released analysis
of the bill, which brought widespread attention to the measure.
“Such good news! Governor Newsom listened to our calls and rightfully VETOED
the bill to give illegal immigrants free home loans,” said Senate Minority Leader
Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego). “Thank you, Californians, for speaking out against
this insulting and unfair bill. Senate Republicans remain committed to fixing
California and we will not stop the fight.” “Attempting to expand programs during a deficit is bad public policy,” said Senate Republican Caucus Chair Kelly Seyarto (R-Murrieta). “We cannot afford this type
of reckless spending. I am grateful that the concerns of the people were heard and common sense prevailed.” Newsom’s veto message highlighted the adversebudget impact of the measure.
With a $68 billion state budget deficit, our democratic system, Californians, and
the governor made the right choice. The only way to guarantee that common
sense continues, however, is to vote for more common-sense Republicans in
November 2024.
