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𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐀 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐘-𝐒𝐓𝐘𝐋𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐌 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 $𝟏𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒, 𝟒-𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐒, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐉𝐀𝐈𝐋 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 California’s Assembly Judiciary Committee just voted 𝟏𝟏-𝟐 to pass AB 2624—a bill that would effectively 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐰 the kind of investigative journalism that exposed mass fraud at taxpayer-funded immigrant service centers. Here’s what the bill does: — If a journalist records an employee or owner of a fraudulent operation, they face a 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐦 $𝟒,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 — A 𝟒-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 banning them from recording that person again — Fines 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 if they refuse to take down the video — If prosecutors claim “doxing” or “threats,” the journalist faces 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 $𝟏𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 “𝘐𝘯 𝘎𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯 𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘴𝘰𝘮’𝘴 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦-𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭.” The bill was authored by Assemblywoman 𝐌𝐢𝐚 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚 and is being called the “Stop Nick Shirley Act”—created specifically in response to the journalist who exposed fake daycare centers and hospice operations stealing taxpayer money. 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚’𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞: 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞’𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐛𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐣𝐚𝐢𝐥. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐰. https://x.com/MichaelARothman/status/2043833869062025319