Newsom Signs ‘Stop Nick Shirley’ Bill Into Law Amid Widespread Fraud Findings

Deep-blue California, which has been under one-party rule – Democrats – for decades – has a massive fraud problem, but its governor just made it more difficult to root out.

Gavin Newsom, who is one of the more like Democrats to run for his party’s 2028 presidential nomination, signaled that he’d rather keep the fraud pipeline intact by signing legislation bearing the name of the investigative journalist who uncovered much of it.

Newsom signed controversial legislation Saturday that Republicans have dubbed the “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” expanding the state’s existing Safe at Home privacy program to cover certain immigration-support workers, employees and volunteers who face threats or harassment because of their work.

The measure, Assembly Bill 2624, is officially titled “Privacy for immigration support services providers” and is scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, 2027.

The law allows qualifying immigration-service workers to use substitute addresses to keep their home addresses out of certain public records.

It also restricts publishing personal information or images when done with the specific intent that another person imminently use that information to commit violence or threaten violence – nothing that Shirley has done, by the way.

The legislation has become a flashpoint in a broader debate over privacy protections and press freedom.

Republican critics dubbed the measure after Shirley, whose viral investigations have focused on uncovering alleged billions in fraud involving government-funded programs.