California Lawmakers Push for Safety Bill for State Officials After Attack on Trump

In the wake of the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, California lawmakers who have faced serious threats are highlighting their support for a bill that would loosen restrictions on campaign spending for security measures.

“If you are being subjected to threats, intimidation, harassment, violence because of your role as a legislator, it makes sense to me that you should have the ability, if you chose, to use campaign funds to provide security,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who has received numerous death threats over his work advocating for LGBTQ equality and other issues.

Under current state law, campaign funds can be used to pay for home or office security systems to protect a candidate or elected official, but only after a law enforcement agency has verified a threat. Security expenses are capped at $5,000, which has not been updated since 1993.

AB 2041, authored by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland), would eliminate those limitations and allow for the use of campaign funds to pay for private security and other “tangible items related to security” for a candidate or elected official or their immediate family or staff.

Bonta said she introduced the bill because of the harassment and intimidation she has faced while running for office and during her time in public service, including threats against her family. The attack on Trump over the weekend has renewed a spotlight on her efforts.

“What we saw on Saturday was proof that political violence continues to plague our democracy and reaffirms to me that we urgently need to allow state candidates to invest in their safety and fund security for themselves, their families, and their staff,” Bonta said in a statement.

“People on both sides of the aisle recognize that we must prioritize safety in this charged political climate,” she added.

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a version of Bonta’s proposal last year, saying it lacked clear guidance on what security expenses would be considered as a legitimate use of campaign funds. Bonta’s office said the current bill, which passed the Assembly and is expected to go before the Senate next month, has resolved those concerns. Newsom’s office declined to comment on the pending legislation.

Several studies show that political violence is rising. In one 2024 study by the Brennan Center for Justice, state and local officeholders across the U.S. reported they faced more frequent and severe abuse in recent years.

Almost 90% of the surveyed state lawmakers and over half of local officeholders said they experienced insults, stalking and more aggressive abuse. More than 40% of state legislators said they were the target of threats of harm or physical attacks.

The intimidation impacted how elected officials went about their business, constraining how freely they interacted with their constituents and the kinds of policy positions they supported, according to the study’s authors.

Wiener, who identifies as gay and Jewish, said the more than a thousand death threats he’s received have often been fueled by the social media posts of far-right politicians and viral political conspiracies such as QAnon.

His home has been the target of bomb threats that prompted SFPD searches. People suspected of at least two death threats have been criminally charged, Wiener said.

“It’s painful. I’ll admit that. But I have to take a deep breath and remember why I do this work and why I ran for office. And that is to make people’s lives better and to lift up some of the most vulnerable people in our community,” Wiener said. “And if the cost of that is death threats, then so be it.”

Members of the Legislature and other state officials receive protection from sergeant-at-arms departments at the state Assembly and Senate, and the California Highway Patrol’s Protective Services Division.

Wiener said those agencies have been “fantastic” in their response but added, “There’s just not enough security resources for everyone to have armed guards around them all the time at taxpayer expense.”

The sergeants-at-arms, who are employees of the Legislature, and the California Highway Patrol both declined to comment for security reasons on whether they would change their operations due to the shooting at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania.

However, security measures for legislators, their staff and members of the public who visit the Capitol have been tightened in recent years, according to California’s Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire (D-North Coast).

“While I can’t comment on specific security protocols, I can say we have increased protections in and around the Capitol, our district offices, and at specific community events due to an increased amount of credible threats,” McGuire said in a statement.

“What happened in Pennsylvania was horrific,” he added. “We must remain vigilant to keep the halls of our democracy safe, and we’ll do what it takes to protect all who work here, come to visit, or come here to exercise their First Amendment rights.”