During remarks on the House floor, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) tore into Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and laid out a series of federal investigation into California's practices.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight 10 ways in which the state of California is currently
00:15under federal investigation. In particular, the Newsom administration under federal investigation.
00:22Now, the New York Times recently ran a story on this topic, headlined, Trump takes aim at California.
00:33The question was, why is the administration targeting California? They called it a multi-pronged
00:39assault on California that has begun in earnest. But that's actually the wrong question to ask
00:45why the administration is targeting California. The appropriate question is why is California
00:51so flagrantly violating federal law in so many different ways?
00:57In the article, the junior senator in our state, Adam Schiff, is quoted as saying that the president
01:03has a, quote, partisan vendetta against California. Senator Schiff says that he is continuing to
01:10weaponize the federal government against California. Of course, that's not it at all. Protecting
01:20the civil rights of Californians is not weaponizing the federal government. It's what the federal
01:26government is supposed to do, what it's required to do under established law. You see, what Senator
01:34Schiff and others are so upset about is that they're used to one party rule in California being
01:44absolutely unchecked. They are used to radicalism, having absolutely no counterweight. They're used
01:52to our governor, Gavin Newsom, whose only motivation is his own political self-promotion, having a
02:01supermajority legislator and other statewide elected officials that simply go along with whatever he says or
02:07does, regardless of how much damage it does to our state and regardless of how clearly it violates federal
02:16law. So when the Times asked my opinion for this article, what I said was that extreme policies and
02:23unchecked one party rule have lowered the quality of life across our state. All Californians will benefit
02:30from greater accountability. We need balance and common sense. So I want to discuss today the 10 ways
02:37in which federal investigations are restoring that sense of balance and common sense and assuring
02:44compliance with the law. Number one is on the issue of men in women's sports, where the state has
02:54continued to be defiant. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced a
03:01directed investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation because of its refusal
03:09to follow anti-discrimination laws related to girls and women's sports. This includes the possibility of
03:14allowing male athletes to compete in women's sports and use women's intimate facilities. Governor Newsom
03:20has received as well a letter from U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon warning the governor that
03:26California could lose federal funds if the state continues to allowing transgender athletes to play
03:31in girls and women's sports. As Secretary of Education, Secretary McMahon wrote, I am officially
03:37asking you to inform the department whether you will remind schools in California to comply with federal
03:42law by protecting sex segregated spaces and activities. She also wrote, allowing participation
03:48in sex separated activities based on gender identity places schools at risk of Title IX violations and
03:54loss of federal funding. She says, as governor, you have a duty to inform California school districts
04:00of this risk. Interestingly enough, Governor Newsom actually recently stated that he believes it's unfair
04:06what the state is doing, allowing for men to compete in women's sports, and yet he has taken absolutely
04:12no action to stop this unlawful practice. The second ongoing investigation relates to California's policy of
04:21forcing school districts and schools to keep secrets from parents about their own students, about their own
04:28children. The U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office has launched an investigation into
04:35the California Department of Education for alleged violations of the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act
04:41known as FERPA, which gives parents the right to access their children's educational data. The California
04:47Department of Education, it is alleged, has abdicated the responsibilities FERPA imposes because of a new
04:54California state law that prohibits school personnel from disclosing a child's gender identity to that
05:00child's parents. So what happened in California is you have a number of school districts that have
05:07said that we're simply going to hide this information from parents. We're not going to tell parents
05:12if their child changes their name or changes their pronouns or anything like that. You then had some other
05:17districts that said, well, this is not right. We actually want to make sure that we're being open and
05:22transparent with parents. So they passed their own policies saying, no, our policy is that we believe
05:27that parents have a right to know this. What the state then did is started suing these districts,
05:32trying to get legal judgments against them, saying you are required under law to lie to parents about
05:39their children. Fortunately, those lawsuits are being rejected, but the state legislature then followed up
05:45with a statewide law saying that it is now the policy of the state that you are not allowed to
05:51communicate this information with parents, that school districts are not allowed to have any policy
05:56that allows them to communicate this information with parents. So think about the absurdity of this.
06:00In California, you have teachers are forced to use one name and one set of pronouns with a student in
06:07class. Then their parents come in for a conference and they're supposed to switch names and switch pronouns
06:12and doctor their assignments and the names written on them, which has actually been done
06:17in documented cases in California. Thankfully, this federal law is on the books, protecting the privacy
06:23right of students and the right of parents to know this information, and the Department of Education
06:29has launched a federal investigation accordingly. The third ongoing investigation relates to the issue
06:36of racial discrimination in California higher education. The Department of Justice,
06:42under Attorney General Bondi, is investigating several California universities to assess compliance
06:48with the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended affirmative action in college admissions. Now,
06:54this is notable because not only is this now the supreme law of the land per the recent Supreme Court
07:01decision is that you have to have equal access, but it's also the overwhelmingly expressed will of California
07:08voters. Just a few years ago in 2020, the supermajority legislature tried to repeal an existing state
07:16constitutional provision that forbade racial discrimination in college admissions. So they put
07:23it directly on the ballot by a supermajority. They passed a measure to put it on the ballot,
07:27but the people of California said no. Despite the campaign for this initiative having a massive,
07:32I think, 10 to 1 spending advantage, the people of California voted 57% to 43% to say no. We want to
07:42continue to have equality under law be the policy of our state. So this investigation by Attorney General
07:49Bondi is not only about assuring compliance with federal law, but is also going to protect the clearly
07:55expressed will of the people of California. The fourth investigation relates to the crisis of
08:01anti-Semitism at our universities. The federal task force to combat anti-Semitism has announced
08:07that the Department of Justice has opened a civil pattern of practice investigation into the University
08:13of California under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The investigation will assess whether the
08:20UC is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, religion, and national
08:24origin against its professors, staff, and other employees by allowing an anti-Semitic hostile work
08:30environment to exist on its campuses. Attorney General Bondi said, quote, the Department of Justice will
08:35always defend Jewish Americans, protect civil rights, and leverage our resources to eradicate
08:40institutional anti-Semitism in our nation's universities. We've seen over the last year and a
08:46half or so absolutely abhorrent outright anti-Semitism at many universities throughout the country,
08:53including at California universities, which our Committee on Education and the Workforce did a lot of
08:59work to expose through a number of hearings. And while there have been some positive reforms that have
09:04occurred on some campuses, there are still many ongoing very severe problems with these issues being
09:13aided and abetted in a lot of cases by university faculty and administrations. So this is an investigation
09:19into the full gamut of that activity, and then there's a related set of investigations that are looking at
09:26the extent to which students who are here internationally, international students,
09:32are actually working to advance not only anti-Semitic but pro-Hamas type activity. We saw,
09:41related to all of these anti-Semitic incidents on university campuses, illegal activity as well,
09:47with illegal encampments that violate the law, violate university policies, violate the civil rights of
09:52other students. We saw buildings being taken over, and we have seen connections between these activities
09:58and the agenda of Hamas and Hamas-affiliated groups. So recently, the administration has revoked about
10:06a hundred student visas at universities across California, including the University of California
10:12at Berkeley, which is part of a broader assessment of individuals who are involved in activities deemed
10:18contrary to U.S. interests. Now, this is actually a pretty small number, a hundred out of 140,000
10:25international students that are in California. But we do know that there are people who are here
10:32from, who are not from this country, who have participated in these illegal activities. Because
10:37as the president's order cites, federal law bars non-citizens from being in the U.S. if they support
10:43terrorism. And so any connection with pro-Hamas activity falls under the purview of those statutes.
10:51Indeed, the executive order from the White House quotes the president as saying that his intention
10:58is to deport Hamas sympathizers and revoke student visas. In a similar vein, UCLA has been sued in federal
11:05court in a case alleging that it enabled protesters at an encampment to block Jewish students from accessing
11:12certain campus pathways. To the extent that folks who are here on a visa were involved in that sort of
11:19illegal pro-terrorist activity, the administration is doing an assessment to take appropriate action.
11:25The sixth investigation that is going on against some of the insane and potentially illegal policies
11:32in California relates to high-speed rail, which is the biggest public infrastructure failure in
11:38United States history. I was at the train station in L.A., Union Station, a couple of weeks ago,
11:45where we were with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announcing this investigation specifically
11:51into the federal money that has gone into high-speed rail. The review that we launched on that day
11:59will help determine whether roughly $4 billion in taxpayer money should remain committed to the proposed
12:04project to build high-speed rail in the California Central Valley between Merced and Bakersfield.
12:10I have also requested an investigation by the FBI into how exactly it is that California has so far
12:17spent some $17 billion on this project, which was approved in 2008, so we're talking over 15 years,
12:24and has yet to lay any track. At this point, even the New York Times has said the project isn't going to be
12:30completed this century at the current pace. The overall cost has ballooned to over $130 billion.
12:37That's more than $100 billion more than it was supposed to be. The whole thing was supposed to
12:42be completed by now, per the initial projections, but now at this point, even the first segment from
12:49Bakersfield to Merced, a very modest segment, they're saying isn't even going to be completed by
12:542033. And indeed, just last week, there was a report from the nonpartisan legislative analysts
13:01that there's another $9 billion funding gap, and they're continuing to rely on federal funding.
13:07So this is an investigation that is ongoing, and I fully expect it will result in those funds being
13:12clawed back and hopefully then used on infrastructure projects in California that will actually serve to
13:18move people and goods, will create jobs that have positive economic value, and will actually be
13:24helpful in improving the quality of life for folks in our state. The seventh ongoing investigation
13:30relates to California's cap and trade program. An executive order from the president has directed
13:36Attorney General Bondi to identify state and local acts that may be unconstitutional or preempted by
13:42federal law, and it singles out California's cap and trade program, which sets limits on greenhouse gas
13:47emissions and then has companies buy and sell credits. As the order says, California punishes carbon
13:53use by adopting impossible caps on the amount of carbon businesses may use, all but forcing businesses
13:59to pay large sums to trade carbon credit to meet California's radical requirements. What is the result
14:05of this? Even as we have seen gas prices that have gotten much lower across the entire country,
14:11California's continue to pay astronomical prices when they fill up their cars. Indeed, California is now
14:17some $1.60 above the national average. We have the highest gas prices in the country, higher than even
14:24Hawaii, and the major cause of that is the state's taxes and regulations and other requirements, foremost
14:32among them being this cap and trade program, which adds substantially to the price of each gallon of gas.
14:38The eighth ongoing investigation relates to the homelessness crisis in California. California is the
14:45national leader in homelessness. It is not even close. We have roughly half the unsheltered homeless
14:50in the entire country, despite spending absolutely staggering amounts of money. Indeed, over the course
14:56of the last five years, we have seen $24 billion spent on homelessness and homelessness has continued to
15:03go up significantly. A recent audit actually found that the state has lost track of the money and can't even
15:10tell you where it went or what outcomes it has produced. But now, the new United States Attorney
15:14for the Central District of California, Villa Salie, has announced the formation of the Homelessness,
15:19Fraud, and Corruption Task Force, which will investigate fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption
15:24involving funds allocated towards the eradication of homelessness within the seven-county jurisdiction
15:30of the Central District of California. The task force will be comprised of federal prosecutors from the
15:35the Major Fraud Section, the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, and the Civil Division Civil
15:40Fraud Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office. And it'll specifically look into what's going on in Los
15:44Angeles, where recently a court-ordered audit found that homelessness services provided by the city and
15:49county were, quote, disjointed and contained poor quality and integration. And there's a lot of federal
15:55money at stake at issue here, by the way. During COVID, the federal government sent $100 million in
16:01emergency aid to L.A. County to address homelessness. And last month, the U.S. Department of Housing and
16:06Urban Development awarded more than $200 million to address homelessness in L.A. So now there is a
16:13federal investigation ongoing, led by the U.S. Attorney's Office, into exactly what has happened
16:19to all of this money. The ninth ongoing investigation relates to concealed carry. As part of a broader
16:26review of restrictive firearms-related laws in California and other states, the Department of Justice's
16:30Civil Rights Division has announced an investigation into the L.A. County Sheriff's Department to
16:36determine whether it is engaging in a pattern or practice of depriving ordinary law-abiding Californians
16:42of their Second Amendment rights. The release from the Attorney General's Office notes that a recent
16:47federal court decision found that the law and facts were clearly in favor of two private plaintiffs
16:52who challenged the lengthy 18-month delays that the L.A. County Sheriff's Department had imposed when
16:58processing their concealed handgun license applications and that the Civil Rights Division
17:02has reason to believe that those two plaintiffs are not the only ones in this county of some 8 million
17:07people experiencing long delays that are unduly burdening or effectively denying the Second Amendment
17:13rights of the people of Los Angeles. The release from the Attorney General goes on to note the ways in
17:19which the Second Amendment rights of Californians have been unduly burdened in countless ways. They call
17:25California a particularly egregious offender. In response to recent Supreme Court case law,
17:30California enacted new legislation to further restrict the ability of ordinary law-abiding Californians
17:36to keep and bear arms, and many California localities appear to be imposing additional burdens
17:41beyond those required by California state law, including by subjecting ordinary law-abiding Californians to
17:48expensive fees and lengthy wait times associated with applications for concealed handgun licenses.
17:54So now there will be some counterweight to these measures which are restricting the rights of California's
17:59and Californians. In fact, there was even a recent proposal in the legislature
18:04that went to the very core of the Second Amendment that would have said that you're
18:08no longer allowed to defend yourself against an intruder who breaks into your own home.
18:13Luckily, that bill was defeated, but it just shows you how far California has gone
18:18from what is protected by the Constitution. And finally, of course, there is ongoing federal action,
18:25this being the 10th federal action related to California, when it comes to sanctuary jurisdictions.
18:32The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security, pursuant to an executive order from the
18:39President, are looking at to the maximum extent possible under federal law. They're evaluating and
18:44undertaking any lawful actions to ensure that so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, which seek to interfere
18:50with the lawful exercise of federal law enforcement operations, do not receive access to federal funds.
18:56Further, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security, per the terms of the order,
19:00are evaluating and undertaking any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted
19:06based on any such jurisdictions practices that interfere with the enforcement of federal law.
19:11When it comes to sanctuary policies, California has been the very worst offender in the country.
19:16The state has a sanctuary state policy that was passed in 2017 and is responsible for many,
19:23many tragedies that have been documented throughout our state. And then you even have jurisdictions
19:28like Los Angeles and San Diego and San Francisco that were already sanctuary jurisdictions on top of
19:34being within a sanctuary state, but are now even going further. One of them even passing what they're
19:41calling a super sanctuary jurisdiction ordinance. We have those of us who represent districts in
19:47California that are not sanctuary jurisdictions have also asked the administration to be sure to
19:55to recognize those counties and jurisdictions that are in good faith trying to comply with federal law,
20:02very much unlike jurisdictions like Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. So these are 10 ways in which we
20:09see finally something of a check on the runaway lawlessness of the Newsom administration and a
20:15number of jurisdictions in California. And in Congress, we are very much a partner in those efforts.
20:21Indeed, I'm working on a number of measures here in Congress, in the House of Representatives,
20:27that are seeking to push back on the radical harmful policies of the Newsom administration. For example,
20:33we recently introduced legislation to overturn Newsom's ban on gas powered vehicles. I've introduced
20:40legislation called the No Medi-Cal for Illegal Immigrants Act, which will seek to preserve Medi-Cal
20:46benefits for American citizens at a time when the policy of expanding those benefits to everyone in
20:53the state illegally is literally bankrupting the system. And in addition to Secretary Duffy's investigation
21:00into high speed rails, staggering failures, I've introduced legislation to assure that the high
21:06speed rail project will be ineligible for any federal funding going forward. California has a long
21:12way to go towards restoring sanity. But these actions are very important steps. And I look forward to
21:19following these investigations as they protect the civil rights of Californians and protect our citizens
21:25against truly radical and failed policies.