BREAKING: California Advances AB 2624, AKA "The Stop Nick Shirley Act"—A Devastating Blow to Journalism
California is officially crossing the line. The state legislature is currently advancing Assembly Bill (AB) 2624, a highly controversial piece of legislation that Republicans and independent creators are rightfully dubbing "The Stop Nick Shirley Act."
Introduced by Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (who happens to be married to California Attorney General Rob Bonta), this bill is a devastating blow to journalism—especially for me as a Californian.
To break down the facts: the bill claims to expand California's existing "Safe at Home" privacy program to cover workers and volunteers who provide "immigration support services." But when you read between the lines and look at the actual enforcement provisions, it allows individuals affiliated with these organizations to demand the removal of video recordings—even those taken in public—and threatens independent journalists with costly financial penalties or even criminal charges if they expose these operations online.
This goes directly against our freedom of speech and our 1st Amendment right to check the government. It is effectively tying us to a tree and duct-taping our mouths shut to not say a word, forcing us to watch them commit corruption without any pushback from any source of independent media (and possibly legacy media as well).
A Privilege War on Transparency
This bill was drafted in direct response to the massive success of independent journalists like Nick Shirley, whose viral investigations have repeatedly exposed massive fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars within government-funded NGOs.
Instead of fixing the fraud being exposed, Sacramento politicians are trying to punish the people exposing it. Maybe this is a privilege war between the powerful media and the corrupt powers that be in our politicians who run the state and cities of California.
This is why voting matters. Us allowing this to happen is the worst thing to happen to our freedom of journalism. The criminals that steal our tax dollars can take more and spend more for their own leisure, rather than using that money to actually clean up the dirty streets you see all over California—like most of Southern Cali, Oakland, and San Francisco.
Where is the money to clean it? Are you doing something about it? I can't tell Karen Bass, I can't tell Gavin Newsom (or NewScum, or Newsance), I can't tell at all.
Why I'm Voting Red in California
When you look at the reality of AB 2624, it becomes clear that it is designed to shield far-left-wing, taxpayer-funded NGOs from public scrutiny. If an independent watchdog films an NGO operating a fraudulent daycare center in broad daylight and posts it to X or YouTube, this bill gives the state the power to classify that journalism as "harassment" and force the content offline under the threat of massive fines.
This is exactly why I am voting red no matter who in California. The Democrats' time is up, and there are no real policies currently fixing anything. They are only damaging us as a state.
AB 2624 has passed through the Assembly Privacy and Judiciary committees and is currently moving forward despite intense pushback. We need to wake up and hold these politicians accountable. Hopefully, the Supreme Court thinks otherwise and abolishes this bill before it permanently destroys transparency in this state.
What are your thoughts on AB 2624 and the attack on citizen journalism? Drop a comment below and stay tuned to TheBrotherWorld for more updates.