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California’s “monumental problem” with rampant fraud is about to get significantly worse, according to Republican state Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that he warns will crack down on people investigating scammers.
Officially titled “Privacy for immigration support services providers,” the new law creates privacy protections for immigration support service providers, employees and volunteers, including shielding their addresses and imposing penalties on those who publish their images on social media. DeMaio told Fox News Digital the bill amounts to criminalizing investigative journalism and works to “silence citizen journalists and shield taxpayer-funded organizations from public scrutiny.”
“What does the Stop Nick Shirley Act do? It basically makes it illegal for a citizen journalist to document fraud of taxpayer money and post that on the internet in the form of an internet video,” he said.
Newsom signed the bill into law last week, and it is set to take effect Oct. 1. DeMaio told Fox News Digital that he and a “coalition of civil liberty protectors” are prepared to file a lawsuit challenging the law.
DEMS RIPPED FOR ‘STOP NICK SHIRLEY ACT’ THAT COULD ‘SHIELD’ FRAUD AND ABUSE IN CALIFORNIA
“We have a plaintiff and are putting together the legal briefs,” he said, adding, “It is a matter of time before we’re going to get before a judge to stop this act.”
“It is our hope,” he continued, “that the U.S. Department of Justice will file to intervene in that case, because this is an open-and-shut infringement on our First Amendment rights.”
DeMaio said California’s fraud scandal makes the Minnesota fraud look like “garden variety government mismanagement.”
“If you were worried about Somali daycare centers in Minnesota not having children in the daycare, take a look at California government NGOs receiving taxpayer funds and not having any sort of public services that they’re delivering,” he said. “They say they provide public services to immigrants when, in fact, they organize rallies, they harvest ballots, they endorse candidates and ballot measures during campaigns, and they are an extension of the Democrat Party.”
DeMaio said the planned lawsuit follows discussions with the Justice Department’s Office for Civil Rights.
NICK SHIRLEY WARNS CALIFORNIA BILL COULD PUNISH PEOPLE TRYING TO EXPOSE GOVERNMENT FRAUD
“I have asked the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights to look at the Stop Nick Shirley Act … to see if they can do anything to intervene to prevent the implementation of this law. We have been dialoguing with the Department of Justice, and now we have a game plan as to how we will proceed forward in the courts to overturn this unconstitutional law,” he said.
Addressing Newsom directly, DeMaio said, “Gavin Newsom, once again, you’re a bully trying to silence citizen watchdogs into not exercising their First Amendment rights and exposing your fraud, the billions of dollars that you’ve allowed to be wasted of precious taxpayer funds, all because you want the benefit of these left-wing NGOs to help you politically.”
DeMaio said Newsom and California’s Democratic supermajority “created such a monumental problem with fraud of taxpayer money being abused that it’s clear that it is intentional.”
“You’re going to be exposed as a bully,” he told Newsom. “You’re going to be exposed as the fraud ringleader.”
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In response, Newsom spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo told Fox News Digital that “this law has nothing to do with Nick Shirley” and that “the real controversy here is that MAGA Republicans are either lying to create up fake conspiracy theories, or none of them know how to read.”
Crofts-Pelayo said the law does not affect Shirley’s journalism, which Newsom’s office previously referred to as “grifting” and “lying,” and does not hide fraud.
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She said the bill does not impact Shirley’s journalism, which Newsom’s office previously referred to as “grifting” and “lying,” and said the measure does not hide fraud.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón, both Democrats, for comment.
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