Kiley & Gallagher Win Suit Against Newsom for Overreach

Assemblyman James Gallagher

Assemblyman Kevin Kiley

In ruling that Gov. Gavin Newsom overstepped his authority, a Sutter County Superior Court Judge yesterday barred him from issuing any orders under the California Emergency Services Act which amends, alters, or changes existing law or makes new law. Judge Sarah Heckman’s decision will become final in 10 days unless Newsom’s attorneys can raise new challenges.

In her 9-page ruling, Heckman wrote that the act “does not permit the Governor amend statutes or make new statutes. The Governor does not have the power or authority to assume the Legislature’s role of creating legislative policy and enactments.”

The case centers on a single Newsom executive order in June related to Covid-19 which required election officials to establish hundreds of locations statewide where voters can cast ballots in the November election. Lawmakers subsequently approved this same requirement the the judge’s ruling will have no effect on today’s election. She acted on a lawsuit brought by Republican Assemblymen James Gallagher and Kevin Kiley who contended Newsom, a Democrat, was single-handedly overriding state laws in the name of keeping California safe. Newsom used his emergency powers to shut down the state and its economy in the early weeks of the pandemic.

“Nobody disputes that there are actions that should be taken to keep people safe during an emergency,” the lawmakers said. “But that doesn’t mean that we put our Constitution and free society on hold by centralizing all power in the hands of one man.” Kiley compiled a 28-page list of Newsom’s orders that alter existing state laws ranging from halting evictions to how public meetings are conducted and suspension of medical privacy rules.

A resident of Rocklin, Kiley represents the 6th Assembly District while Gallagher, a resident of Nicolaus, represents the 3rd Assembly District and in 2017 became the Republican Caucus Chairman of the California General Assembly.