On Jan. 31, Democrats scrapped a planned vote on the bills after a lengthy closed-door caucus meeting. Republicans had planned to force votes on amendments to clarify that the legal aid could not be used to defend immigrants convicted of a felony.
“We actually didn’t spend the weekend talking about this amendment at all,” Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D–Los Angeles) said. “We spent the weekend talking about the message. We were thinking about the message we wanted to send to the millions of undocumented families, including trafficking survivors, who are terrified their cries for asylum and refuge will go unanswered.”
On Monday, the authors of the bills, Sen. Scott Wiener (D–San Francisco) and Jesse Gabriel (D–Encino), published a letter to the Chief Clerk of the Assembly stating that none of the funding “is intended to be used for immigration-related services for individuals with serious or violent felony convictions.”
Republicans pushed to add the clarification into the language of the bill, arguing that the letter did not provide strong enough guardrails. Democrats voted down an amendment to do that, which would have likely triggered the need for another vote on the bill in the Senate.
“Without these amendments, state resources could still flow to organizations that obstruct federal efforts to bring these criminals to justice,” Assemblymember Leticia Castillo (R–Corona) said. “Protecting our communities and ensuring that criminals face the consequences of their actions should not be a partisan issue.”
The bills could be the last action taken during the special session that began in December, a move that allows bills signed into law to take effect more quickly. Last month, Newsom expanded the scope of the session to include response to the fires in Los Angeles and passed a $2.5 billion fire relief plan.