California Republican Lawmaker Planning Lawsuit to Kill the 'Stop Nick Shirley Act'

Finn Gomez/Getty California’s “monumental” fraud problem is only going to get worse after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill nicknamed the “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” says a top Republican who says a lawsuit is now being planned to kill it. Republican state Assemblyman Carl DeMaio told Fox News Digital that the new law is intended to crack down on people who investigate scams that tap government programs and is ripe for a successful lawsuit as it infringes on the First Amendment. Officially titled “Privacy For Immigration Support Services Providers,” the new statute “creates privacy protections for immigration support service providers, employees and volunteers, including shielding their addresses and imposing penalties on those who publish their images on social media,” the news outlet reported Sunday. The San Diego Republican asked, “What does the Stop Nick Shirley Act do? It basically makes it illegal for a citizen journalist to document fraud of taxpayer money and post that on the internet in the form of an internet video.” Term-limited Newsom signed the bill into law last week. It becomes effective October 1. However, DeMaio told Fox News Digital that he and a “coalition of civil liberty protectors” are prepared to file a lawsuit challenging the law. “We have a plaintiff and are putting together the legal briefs,” he said. “It is a matter of time before we’re going to get before a judge to stop this act.” He continued, “It is our hope that the U.S. Department of Justice will file to intervene in that case, because this is an open-and-shut infringement on our First Amendment rights.” DeMaio said California’s fraud scandal makes the Minnesota fraud — well publicized by conservative news outlets and largely ignored by legacy media — look like “garden variety government mismanagement.” Nick Shirley’s social media videos of his investigation into Minneapolis area child care centers that appeared to have no children despite getting millions in federal money played a major role in the news coverage. DeMaio told the Fox outlet: If you were worried about Somali daycare centers in Minnesota not having children in the daycare, take a look at California government NGOs receiving taxpayer funds and not having any sort of public services that they’re delivering. They say they provide public services to immigrants when, in fact, they organize rallies, they harvest ballots, they endorse candidates and ballot measures during campaigns, and they are an extension of the Democrat Party. DeMaio said the Justice Department’s Office for Civil Rights is aware of the pending lawsuit and has a strategy in place. “We have been dialoguing with the Department of Justice, and now we have a game plan as to how we will proceed forward in the courts to overturn this unconstitutional law,” he said. Influencer Nick Shirley is seen ahead of the UFC Freedom250 fight on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Sunday, June 14, 2026. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images) DeMaio called Newsome a “bully.” The northern Californian Democrat will leave office in January and is thought to be a candidate for president in 2028. DeMaio continued: Gavin Newsom, once again, you’re a bully trying to silence citizen watchdogs into not exercising their First Amendment rights and exposing your fraud, the billions of dollars that you’ve allowed to be wasted of precious taxpayer funds, all because you want the benefit of these left-wing NGOs to help you politically. Newsom’s people were having none of it. His spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo told Fox News Digital that “this law has nothing to do with Nick Shirley” and that “the real controversy here is that MAGA Republicans are either lying to create up fake conspiracy theories, or none of them know how to read.” Crofts-Pelayo claimed the law does not affect Shirley’s journalism. However, the governor’s office previously called his reporting efforts “grifting” and “lying,” and has maintained Newsom’s administration does not hide fraud. Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.