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Ban on state travel to red states may end

April 4, 2023

California’s performative ban on state-funded travel to states with policies Sacramento politicians don’t like may soon end. Sen. Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, has introduced Senate Bill 447 to repeal California’s ban on travel to two dozen states with anti-LGBT laws. But, of course, there’s a catch.

Back in 2016, the state imposed a travel ban on “non-essential” state travel to select states. The list of states has continued to grow, including to states like Florida for restricting transgender women from participating in public sports teams intended for biological women.

In practice, the ban doesn’t really stop travel from California lawmakers and officials to such states. Last summer, for example, Gov. Gavin Newsom vacationed in Montana, which is subject to the travel ban.

Needless to say, none of the states facing the bans have decided to change course just because fewer California state-funded delegations were dropping by.

As this editorial board wrote three years ago, “these travel bans are really just a way to dupe voters into thinking Sacramento is doing something when it’s clearly doing nothing.”

Which brings us to Sen. Atkins’ proposal to scrap the travel ban.

In place of the travel ban, Senate Bill 447 authorizes the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development “to promote social equity, civil rights, and antidiscrimination through marketing and advertising campaigns” through a new effort called the Building and Reinforcing Inclusive, Diverse, Gender-Supportive Equity Project.

Promoting civil rights and opposing discrimination is certainly noble, but it’s not hard to see the actual subtext of the bill. In other words, the state will consider lifting the ban on state travel so Gov. Gavin Newsom can travel to red states to campaign.

The bill comes as Newsom has launched a federal political action committee called “Campaign for Democracy” through which he plans to “take the fight to states where freedom is most under attack.”

In other words, Newsom wants to spend a lot more time out of California and specifically in Republican states of the sort currently subject to the state-funded travel ban.

The governor clearly has his eye on the White House and is doing everything he can to build up his national name ID and demonstrate to national Democrats that he is serious about leading the national party against the GOP. That’s the long and short of it.

It would be nice, though, if Newsom could be as serious about governing his own state as he is about politicking in other states. There’s no shortage of tangible problems to solve in California that Newsom was elected to try to solve. Alas, Newsom is more concerned about his political career than anything else.

Orange County Register

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Ban on state travel to red states may end

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