(The Center Square) – California’s litigation has resulted in $168 billion of federal funds staying in the state, Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters Tuesday as he announced California’s 50th lawsuit this year against the Trump administration.
For every dollar spent on litigation, California gets back $33,000, a rate of return that would excite Wall Street investors, Bonta said during a virtual news conference that also included Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. Weiser said Tuesday’s lawsuit was Colorado’s 47th against the federal government.
Bonta, Weiser and Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown are co-leading the coalition of 17 Democratic attorneys general and Pennsylvania in the latest suit. Bonta and Weiser said they were suing the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funding that Congress allocated for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
They said states were guaranteed federal funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
During a question-and-answer period with reporters, The Center Square asked Bonta and Weiser about other issues ranging from education to a settlement with manufacturers of cars that allegedly lacked anti-theft technology, as well as the growing litigation against the Trump administration.
Bonta told The Center Square that he didn’t know the number of hours his staff had devoted to its 50 lawsuits against President Donald Trump’s administration. “I don’t have that off the top of my head, but we only sue when Trump breaks the law. We won’t sue if he follows the law. Every time he breaks the law, he hurts our people, and we’re going to sue him. That’s our duty. That’s our obligation.”
The Center Square reached out Tuesday to the White House, which commented on the large number of lawsuits.
“Instead of filing frivolous lawsuits against the Trump administration, left-wing politicians should focus on themselves and the problems they’ve created for millions of patriotic Americans,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Center Square.
Bonta noted California is winning 80% of its lawsuits against Trump.
“The returns on investment are orders of magnitude larger than the investment,” Bonta told The Center Square. “For a modest investment of attorneys who know the law and can gather and prepare the facets, we are literally securing billions of dollars. …
“Taxpayers should be very proud of their modest investments turning into huge returns,” Bonta said.
Bonta noted the results for California and Colorado represent the success that the 23 states in the broader Democratic coalition are seeing against Trump.
The Center Square asked Bonta if the litigation against Trump was distracting his office from other lawsuits and criminal prosecutions.
“Absolutely not,” Bonta said. “This is all additive, in addition to, on top of the work we always do. We continue to do the steady, important work of our office.”
Bonta said his office continues to work to protect civil rights as well as the rights of consumers and workers. He said his office also focuses on promoting housing, gun safety and ways to tackle the climate crisis.
“That work is not impacted. We continue to do that and deliver for Californians in every way,” Bonta said, noting his office received additional money for the Trump litigation.
Earlier during the news conference, he said his office spent $5 million of $25 million that the Legislature allocated during last fall’s special session for potential litigation against Trump and later received several millions of additional dollars. “I don’t have an exact number for you.”
Answering a question from The Center Square, Weiser said Colorado has secured over $1 billion in federal funds during its litigation against Trump. He noted the state managed that with “only three additional FTEs, full-time equivalents.”
“Colorado faced all sorts of threats to our funding, and we’ve been able to secure it, get access to it in face of illegal restrictions,” Weiser said. “It’s been very meaningful, very impactful stuff.”
“I’ve talked to people who are miracle workers who have their jobs because we took this action,” Weiser said, noting they included public health officials doing important work.
He said the Trump administration is acting outside the law in a way that is “egregious” and noted the administration is doing so to a worse extent than the first Trump term.
“During President Trump’s first term, I ran 11 cases overall, including cases from before I took office,” Weiser said. “My standards haven’t changed. Their behavior has.”
On another matter, The Center Square asked Bonta for more information on a settlement on a lawsuit with Kia America and Hyundai Motor Co. for allegedly lacking anti-theft technology in their cars. Thirty-five states, including California and Colorado, sued the manufacturers.
“Going forward, all of the cars made by Kia and Hyundai in the United States will have the appropriate anti-theft technology,” Bonta told The Center Square. “And there is a $4.5 million restitution to help drivers who had vehicles that were damaged by thieves.”
The settlement also pays $4.5 million to the states to cover their costs of investigating Kia and Hyundai. And the companies have agreed to offer free zinc-reinforced ignition cylinder protectors to owners or lessees of eligible vehicles, including vehicles that earlier were eligible only for software updates. Consumers can find more information at www.HKMultistateimmobilizersettlement.com.
On another topic, The Center Square asked Bonta about Democratic attorneys general’s efforts to fight federal requirements for expansion of data collection on admissions at colleges and universities. The expansion is related to diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
“We think it’s an unnecessary intrusion into the privacy of Californians and is not an appropriate request,” Bonta said.
“They’re not enforcing civil rights,” he continued. “Their vision of civil rights is to undermine civil rights protection, to try to dismantle the key provisions that promote the civil rights of the American people.”
