Gov. Newsom’s Office Plays Word Games Over His Travel to Montana

1. California Governor Gavin Newsom and his family are vacationing in Montana – one of the 22 states on California’s list of state-banned travel, the Globe reported Wednesday.

The Governor’s office sent out a press release Friday afternoon announcing “Governor Gavin Newsom has left the state.”

Emily Hoeven with CalMatters questioned the Governor’s recent cryptic email noting “a noticeable difference from communication surrounding other recent out-of-state trips.”

The Globe has noticed this pattern since Newsom first came into office.

We highlighted several of our records requests for his calendar, as well as “The number of California Highway Patrol security detail personnel assigned to Gov. Gavin Newsom, the First Partner and his family, on the governor’s recent vacation to Mexico, November 22, 2021 through November 28, 2021 as well as the number of vehicles assigned on the trip.”

The requests for information were denied.

Friday morning, Gov. Newsom’s communications staffer Anthony York was forced to admit that the state was indeed paying for Newsom’s security detail in Montana to the New York Times, Jennifer Van Laar at RedState reported.

The Globe sent yet another request Thursday evening to Gov. Newsom’s press secretary asking, “How much in total state tax dollars (no itemization requested) has been spent or billed for the Governor’s trip to Montana?”

Erin Mellon, spokeswoman for Gov. Newsom replied: “Hi Katy – No state funds have been expended for the Governor’s travel or that of his family.”

But wait. Didn’t Newsom’s communications director Anthony York admit to The NY Times that Newsom’s security detail is state-funded, and the governor is visiting a state on his list of banned state travel?

Which is it?

While this all may seem like an exercise in futility, it is not.

Gov. Newsom is big on signaling his virtue to the left, including continuing to ban state-funded travel to states he and Democrats disapprove of over policies involving LGBTQ and abortion policies, as well as transgender bathroom access, and transgender rights.

Last week, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that California will restrict state-funded travel to Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, and Utah as a result of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation recently enacted in each state, the Globe reported.

The California Legislature passed a law in 2021 that banned state-funded travel to multiple states over anti-LGBTQ laws, including Montana for passage of “House Bill 112 which prevents transgender women and girls from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity.”

The following is a complete list of states subject to California’s ban on state-funded and state-sponsored travel:

1. 1. Alabama
   2. Arizona *Effective September 28, 2022
   3. Arkansas
   4. Florida
   5. Idaho
   6. Indiana *Effective July 1, 2022
   7. Iowa
   8. Kansas
   9. Kentucky
   10. Louisiana *Effective August 1, 2022
   11. Mississippi
   12. Montana
   13. North Carolina
   14. North Dakota
   15. Ohio
   16. Oklahoma
   17. South Carolina
   18. South Dakota
   19. Tennessee
   20. Texas
   21. Utah *Effective July 1, 2022
   22. West Virginia

Exceptions to the Newsom’s and Bonta’s travel restrictions may be granted for the following purposes:

1. 1. Enforcement of California law, including auditing and revenue collection.
   2. Litigation.
   3. To meet contractual obligations incurred before January 1, 2017.
   4. To comply with requests by the federal government to appear before committees.
   5. To participate in meetings or training required by a grant or required to maintain grant funding.
   6. To complete job-required training necessary to maintain licensure or similar standards required for holding a position, in the event that comparable training cannot be obtained in California or a different state not affected.
   7. For the protection of public health, welfare, or safety, as determined by the CSU or other state agencies.

Based on these exemptions, Newsom’s family vacation to Montana is just that – a vacation, but with state-funded security detail in a state-funded travel ban state.

Interestingly, the California universities are exempted from this state travel ban list so their student athletes can travel and compete in any state, based on the leagues they are in.

UCLA and USC just left the Pac-12 to join the Big Ten Conference, which includes banned states Indiana and Ohio.

This is the Pac-12 Conference member schools and states including banned Arizona and Utah.

California is one of a few states in the country to maintain a list of banned states, and now almost half of the country is banned.