Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire talks emergency funds, immigration and Trump

California lawmakers approved $2.5 billion on Thursday for fire recovery efforts in the Los Angeles area. 

Democrats in the state Senate also voted for $50 million for potential lawsuits to counter Trump administration policies. That’s headed to the assembly next. 

Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire spoke with CapRadio’s Megan Myscofski about those moves, including the threats President Trump made before his visit to California on Friday.

This interview has been edited for length, clarity and flow.

Interview highlights

Yesterday, it sounded like lawmakers were pretty confident that the federal government would help make up these fire relief funds. Do you have any thoughts on President Trump’s threats to withhold them or possibly tie them to other things like water management or voter ID laws? 

The relief dollars that were expedited yesterday will be coming from the general fund. We fully anticipate that we will be reimbursed by the federal government. The Biden administration has guaranteed 100% cost recovery for debris removal — removing foundations, walls, all of the ash — they made that guarantee [and] put it into a lock box for the first 180 days of the clean up. 

Obviously, we are going to be working closely with the new federal administration. Wildfires don’t discriminate — don’t discriminate based off of your income level, your zip code, and they definitely don’t discriminate based off of your party affiliation. No matter if you lose your home to a hurricane in Florida, you lose your business to a flood in Louisiana or your ranch to a brush fire in Texas, we’re all Americans first. 

So, we fully anticipate the Trump administration, after all the bluster, coming through in helping out California in one of our greatest times of need. 

How about insurance companies? What do you expect to be on the table this session for Californians who could be at risk of losing insurance because of fire risk?

Our no. 1 priority is making sure the thousands upon thousands of residents who lost their homes, who had their homes damaged by the Palisades Fire or the Eaton Fire, are able to recoup the funding that they’re due from their insurance companies. 

The FAIR plan is actively engaged with the policy holders right now, and payments are being made. The Department of Insurance in the state is monitoring very closely all of the larger, traditional insurance companies and their timing of payout. 

There needs to be a focus on stabilizing California’s insurance market. I firmly believe we should fast track several wildfire policy items in the coming weeks. That would include insurance. 

The last thing I’ll say on this issue, on the budget — this $2.5 billion that was approved in a bipartisan fashion this week, I anticipate that we’ll be back in front of the Legislature in the coming weeks with an additional, supplemental budget that will help the city of LA, the city of Malibu, the county of LA recover from these horrific fires. 

What I’ve learned from the devastating fires that have hit the Northern California region that I so proudly represent is, every successful community rebuild has a foundation of an expedited and successful community cleanup.

I also want to talk about the other aspect of the special session — is there anything that surprised you about the conversation happening in the senate yesterday around immigration and the funds for future lawsuits against the Trump administration? 

Let’s talk [about] the human side of mass deportations, and let’s also talk about the economics.

California’s undocumented residents pay nearly $8.5 billion in state and local taxes. Undocumented immigrant labor represents 5% of California’s entire GDP. 

So, many can chant for mass deportations, but once the yelling stops, reality steps in. We are proud of the diversity here in California. It’s one of our biggest strengths, it’s who we are, and we’re going to go to the mat to make sure our state’s diversity thrives.

And I’d just like to bring it home — my wife is an elementary school principal and over the last two weeks, there are dozens of families at her school who are making plans if one of the parents are deported. 

We’re always going to work with the new president to improve the lives of Californians and Americans, just as we did in his first term. But if this new administration goes after our rights, our freedoms, our democracy or our people, the Golden State will never back down. 

Do you think there’s anything the Legislature needs to be doing now to support California’s immigrant communities?

We had to get these bills passed to be able to look into legal defense. 

I think what’s also really critical is making sure residents who may be undocumented continue to receive health care. During the last administration, we saw about a 5% drop of those who are on MediCal and are undocumented. We believe that we are going to see a larger number of residents who are undocumented receiving MediCal benefits, who are simply going to medical care. 

We are deeply concerned that undocumented residents are going to stop sending their kids to school, to child care. 

It may be good for clicks but the reality is mass deportations are horrific for families and the soul of a community, and it's just as horrific for our economy.