Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (Photo: https://a18.asmdc.org) Assemblymember Mia Bonta (@AsmMiaBonta) / Twitter)
California Democrats Violate First Amendment to Criminalize Investigative Journalism
Independent news media serves the public by exposing abuses of power, corruption, waste, or incompetence that officials might prefer to hide
By Katy Grimes, April 15, 2026 6:34 am
Freedom of the press protects the right to obtain and publish information or opinions without government censorship or fear of punishment, whether or not government finds the material offensive, or disagrees with it.
Free speech enables people to obtain information from a diversity of sources, make decisions, and communicate those decisions to the government.
But that never stops the totalitarian Left.
Democrats in Sacramento are once again pushing an unconstitutional bill which clearly will violate the First Amendment, but this one is so bad, it is getting national attention.
As the Globe reported Monday:
California Democrats are trying to pass a bill to criminalize investigative journalists for violating “Privacy for immigration support services providers.”
That should say “illegal immigration.”
California Assemblyman Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) is slamming state Democrats for voting to advance a controversial new law, Assembly Bill 2624 by Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Oakland), to silence citizen journalists and shield taxpayer-funded organizations from public scrutiny.
AB 2624 is perhaps the most egregious violation of the First Amendment I’ve seen in Sacramento, and I have first hand history with the California Legislature violating the First Amendment, after having my Capitol press credentials revoked because Democrats didn’t like what I was reporting. My attorneys and I filed an administrative appeal and won the press credentials back. Easily.
Let’s review the First Amendment, and what a free and independent press is.
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
A free and independent press is fundamental to a democratic society.
The United States is a constitutional representative republic, or democratic republic, with democratic elections for its representatives.
An independent news media, the “fourth estate” or watchdog media, is rooted in Enlightenment thinking – the Age of Reason – and is enshrined in the U.S. First Amendment. Independent news media serves the public by exposing abuses of power, corruption, waste, or incompetence that officials might prefer to hide, thereby enabling informed consent of the governed and deterring misconduct through the threat of sunlight.
It’s pretty clear that when done thoroughly, with documents, sources, and fact-checking, independent and watchdog media reduces information imbalance and inequality between “rulers and the ruled.”
We living this in real time… 235 years after adoption of the First Amendment.
The bill, authored by Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, a radical leftist in her own right, and the wife of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, would impose huge civil sanctions on independent investigative reporters for “harassing” what Bonta calls “immigrant services” workers, who really, are providing taxpayer-funded services to illegal aliens.
California legislators are trying to make investigating fraud illegal, as Elon Must noted yesterday on X.
California legislators are trying to make investigating fraud illegal https://t.co/tmWik0Z1iv
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2026
Independent journalist Nick Shirley, who blew open the $8 billion Somali daycare fraud scheme in Minnesota, describes Bonta’s bill:
California is trying to pass a bill that would criminalize investigative journalism with misdemeanors, $10,000 fines, imprisonment, and content takedown. The proposed bill is titled AB 2624 and was made after I exposed mass fraud by immigrant groups in America. Under AB 2624, government-funded entities like the Somali “Learing” Daycare centers would be protected from being exposed if they operated inside California. The enemy truly is within. When our politicians would rather protect fraudsters and illegal migrants, it’s time for us to stand up or face mass oppression from the traitors who “rule” over us.
So if one of the “immigrant services” workers from one of these taxpayer funded “immigrant service centers” tried to evade Nick Shirley’s iPhone video camera committing fraud, in California she could claim he is harassing her, and Nick would be fined by the totalitarian state.
But wait! Under the First Amendment, “Independent news media serves the public by exposing abuses of power, corruption, waste, or incompetence that officials might prefer to hide, thereby enabling informed consent of the governed and deterring misconduct through the threat of sunlight.”
Assemblywoman Mia Bonta holds a B.A. in Psychology from Yale University, an Ed.M from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. I’m pretty sure Yale Law School teaches the importance of the First Amendment. But, “Mia was raised by activists” who probably taught her “by any means necessary” is more important in achieving what she seeks than Constitutional law.
According to Assemblywoman Bonta:
“AB 2624 strengthens protections for individuals working in immigrant service roles, including nonprofit staff, volunteers, and legal services providers, who may face risks such as doxxing, harassment, or threats due to the nature of their work.
…or threats due to the nature of their work… Well, their “work” is violating the Constitution of the United States.
“By extending Safe at Home Program protections, the bill allows eligible participants to keep their personal information confidential in public records, helping reduce exposure to harm while supporting the continued delivery of legal, social, and humanitarian services. This proposal promotes safety, privacy, and continuity of essential services, reinforcing public confidence and ensuring that those serving communities across California can carry out their responsibilities effectively and securely.”
Assemblyman DeMaio calls AB 2624 the “Stop Nick Shirley Act” for the chilling effect it will have on free speech and independent investigative journalism, should Democrats pass it.
Let us not forget that the First Amendment protects the right to record and publish information about matters of public concern—especially government spending, potential fraud in public programs, or operations of organizations receiving taxpayer dollars.
It is painfully clear that the timing and scope of Bonta’s AB 2624 are targeted at curbing the kind of scrutiny Nick Shirley, James O’Keefe and many other legitimate independent journalists have been giving to untold billions of dollars of fraud.
Notably, the Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed strong protections for First Amendment rights, particularly free speech, across a wide range of contexts. Also notable, courts are quite skeptical when government tries to shield itself from exposure and embarrassment.
Bonta and her radical supporters claim that the bill doesn’t ban journalism outright – it requires specific harmful intent.
Billions of dollars in home hospice fraud fits “harmful intent.”
Bonta argues “doxxing isn’t journalism” and that fraud investigations can proceed without publishing personal images or home details.
What are they worried about revealing? In the case of home hospice fraud, home details and personal images seem appropriate.
UPDATE: The legislator who proposed this bill is Mia Bonta, the wife of Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The Attorney General of California's wife is trying to silence me and other journalists who are exposing fraud.
Are your donors mad they are being exposed? pic.twitter.com/xTsFATZLiZ
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) April 13, 2026
While the legacy media in California is mostly silent on AB 2624, the Globe has contacted the Society of Professional Journalists, the First Amendment Coalition, and Electronic Frontier Foundation for their positions on this gross violation of the First Amendment. The Globe will report back when we hear from them, and continue reporting on the attempt to silence independent journalists.
A California native and Navy mom, Katy lives in Sacramento, CA.
- California’s ‘GTFO’ Act Disqualifies ICE Agents from Local Public Employment - April 16, 2026
- California’s Ridiculous ‘Commission on the State of Hate’ is Really California’s Ministry of Truth - April 15, 2026
- California Democrats Violate First Amendment to Criminalize Investigative Journalism - April 15, 2026
Rather than doing his job as the top cop in CA, investigating and prosecuting fraud, throughout his term as AG, ROB-Me-Blind Bonta hopes his wife’s bill will stop journalists from reporting on what a horrible job he’s doing. As we peel back the layers of fraud, I am sure we will find these money laundering operations shoveling $$$ back into Dem pockets. I hope the Trump DOJ believes in the adage, where’s there’s smoke, there’s fire. I think ROB-Me-Blind and his wife Missing-In-Action Bonta deserve a federal grand jury probe. Not only are they failing to Crack down on fraud, they are willfully enabling it with this anticonstitutional measure. dereliction of duty in public…what would their private finances reveal?
Such obvious obliteration of the First Amendment by Mia Bonita (husband Rob and cohorts) should cause Yale to revoke her law degree and the Bar to investigate, but these institutions are more likely facilitators.
“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.“ ~ Thomas Jefferson
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”
~ Thomas Jefferson
The California bar Association is too busy trying to revoke John Eastman’s Law License, arguably one of the Nation’s top Constitutional Scholars, all because DJT was his client.
One (just one) of the most outrageous things that has ever happened in this state. Disgusting beyond belief.
Mia Bonta is my assemblywoman. She and her husband, the AG, are a tight team. In writing this bill she is acting as his wing man to stifle investigators.
We need a national campaign to shame them into withdrawing the bill which obviously violates the First Amendment.
Mia and Rob Bonta should be recalled. They are not fit to serve their positions.
So Democrat Assemblywoman Mia Bonta claims to hold a J.D. from Yale Law School as does her husband Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta? Yale Law School must not teach about the importance of the First Amendment or about the importance of ethics and morals since both of the Bonta’s seem to be completely ignorant on those subjects or they deliberately choose to ignore them? Democrat politicians like the Bonta’s who graduated from Yale Law School seem to govern “by any means necessary” rather than Constitutional law? The Bonta’s are truly despicable lawyers and human beings?
So when are the Republicans Going to grow spines and put an END to all this FRAUD? I’m still waiting. I don’t think all this Crime going on would have gotten so bad, if they just did SOMETHING-ANYTHINg
On Tax Day, California Assembly Republicans gathered at the State Capitol to demand that Governor Gavin Newsom and the Democrat supermajority immediately convene a special legislative session to confront the state’s exploding fraud crisis. To be fair, Democrats have a supermajority in the legislature so there’s only so much that Republican lawmakers can do?
https://californiaglobe.com/fr/assembly-republicans-demand-special-session-to-combat-californias-180-billion-fraud-epidemic/
This shows how the Gavin Newscum Reich and his democratic friends in the California legislature do not care about the US Constitution, nor the California Constitution, nor the California legal citizens. Arrest, and imprison them all. Start with Bonta and Newscum. Then put their whole families in the clinker.
The two individuals the subject of this essay are the tip of the iceberg: Soon to surface are rulings from the most dangerous entity of California government and the very organization all chose to ignore because of its perceived sacrosanctity, the California Supreme Court: The California Supreme Court is the most significant danger to legacy Californians.