Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday rejected a bill that would have made the Golden State the first in the nation to offer it. Advance payment assistance to illegal immigrant home buyers.
Assembly Bill 1840, which was approved by both houses of the Democrat-controlled California Legislature last month, Providing grants to undocumented immigrants Access to the state’s taxpayer-funded home loan program, which provides up to $150,000 in down payments to eligible first-time homebuyers.
Newsom, 56, cited concerns about the budgetary impact of expanding the program in his veto announcement.
“Given the limited funding available for (California Housing Finance Agency) programs, expanding program eligibility must be carefully considered within the broader context of the annual state budget to ensure we can effectively manage our resources,” they wrote. a memorandum “For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill,” he told California lawmakers.
California faced a $46 billion budget deficit last fiscal year before Newsom signed the state’s new spending plan in June.
Newsom’s veto comes after fierce criticism of the bill by California Republicans, who argued it was nothing more than a “bailout” and a “betrayal” of the state’s citizens that would encourage illegal immigration.
“Expanding state-funded home loans to include illegal immigrants isn’t just another giveaway — it’s a huge overreach that places a huge financial burden on law-abiding taxpayers,” San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond said of AB 1840 in an ex-post.
“One million Californians are living in extreme poverty and 180,000 are homeless … this is an incredible betrayal of the citizens of this state,” Assemblymember Kate Sanchez (R-Rancho Santa Margarita) The X was written after the bill was approved by the state assembly.
The California governor's decision not to sign the bill comes a day after former President Donald Trump criticized the bill during a speech at the Economic Club of New York on Thursday, where he declared that if elected, he would “ban mortgages for illegal aliens.”
“In California they're passing a law where they're going to give illegal aliens money to buy homes,” Trump said“But our soldiers, our veterans who are lying in the streets, they can’t get them.”
Newsom denied that politics played any role in his veto decision.
“The bill that was sent to me was a program that had no money, and it was expanding eligibility to a program that had no money,” Newsom told reporters. According to Politico,
“I found it quite odd. So it was unnecessary and entirely consistent with similar previous vetoes,” he said.
