State court allows Newsom's $75 million coronavirus aid for undocumented immigrants
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Bob Egelko May 6, 2020 Updated: May 6, 2020 8:07 p.m.
In this photo taken Tuesday April 14, 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses an outline for what it will take to lift coronavirus restrictions during a news conference at the Governor's Office of Emergency Services in Rancho Cordova, Calif. California lawmakers are launching hearings on Thursday to gather more details on Newsom's spending during the pandemic and the $1 billion contract he entered for protective masks. AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press
The state Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a challenge by conservatives to Gov. Gavin Newsom's allocation of $75 million in state funds to undocumented immigrants affected by the coronavirus pandemic and ineligible for federal aid.
Plaintiffs represented by attorney Harmeet Dhillon, a Republican national committeewoman and founder of the nonprofit Center for American Liberty, sued Newsom on April 22 over his order directing funds to nonprofits for distribution to as many as 150,000 undocumented residents.
The suit, filed directly in the state's high court, argued that the funding had not been authorized by the Legislature and violated federal laws denying unemployment benefits, or coronavirus relief funds, to the undocumented. The court dismissed the suit Wednesday in a brief order, without explanation. The court said Justice Goodwin Liu did not participate in the case but did not state the reasons.
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Newsom approved the funding April 15. State officials said most of the money comes from SB89, legislation approved in March that provides up to $1 billion in coronavirus aid.
In court filings, state lawyers said Newsom's finance director, Keely Martin Bosler, told the Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the planned one-time cash payments to the undocumented so that all Californians impacted by the coronavirus, "including those ineligible for federal emergency response benefits because of their undocumented status, can weather the crisis safely." Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, the committee chairwoman, concurred, the lawyers said.
But the lawsuit argued that SB89 did not mention, and was not intended to provide, any "cash benefit to undocumented workers." Newsom's order, Dhillon told the court, was "an unlawful and unconstitutional gift of public funds."
Another conservative group, Judicial Watch, has filed a separate suit challenging the funding in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Dhillon has filed suits challenging state shutdowns of restaurants and other businesses classified as "nonessential" and seeking to allow in-person religious services. She declined to comment on Wednesday's court order.
Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
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Bob Egelko has been a reporter since June 1970. He spent 30 years with the Associated Press, covering news, politics and occasionally sports in Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento, and legal affairs in San Francisco from 1984 onward. He worked for the San Francisco Examiner for five months in 2000, then joined The Chronicle in November 2000.
His beat includes state and federal courts in California, the Supreme Court and the State Bar. He has a law degree from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento and is a member of the bar. Coverage has included the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, the appointment of Rose Bird to the state Supreme Court and her removal by the voters, the death penalty in California and the battles over gay rights and same-sex marriage.
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