The Stop Nick Shirley Act: California’s New Crackdown on the First Amendment

California just made its fraud problem harder to expose with the new law dubbed the Stop Nick Shirley Act which is basically a “don’t film us while we misuse tax dollars” shield disguised as privacy protection. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill, and starting Oct. 1, independent journalists could be penalized and criminially charged if they document and post evidence of potential fraud by taxpayer‑funded immigration nonprofits.

Nick Shirley is the reason this law got its nickname. He exposed massive fraud at the Learing Center in Minnesota, an immigrant run day care with zero children that existed purely to rip off our tax dollars. Like Minnesota, California is also neck deep in fraud but instead of fixing the problem, Mia Bonta, our AG Rob Bonta's wife, authored a bill that would punish independent journalists if they dare document that kind of corruption again.

Assemblyman Carl DeMaio says California fraud makes Minnesota's daycare scandal look like amateur hour . He argues the bill criminalizes investigative journalism and citizen watchdogs and conveniently protects organizations that receive public money but these groups are actually doing more political organizing than public service. He says money given to these NGO's is being used to hold rallies, for ballot harvesting and endorsements and that these " immigrant aid" groups are actually an extension of the democrat party machine that runs California.

DeMaio and a coalition of civil‑liberty advocates are prepping a lawsuit and urging the DOJ to intervene, calling the bill an “open‑and‑shut” First Amendment violation. And he’s not subtle about why that matters: the First Amendment is the firewall that separates a free country from the kind of banana‑republic nonsense where governments punish people for exposing corruption. Once you start criminalizing documentation of wrongdoing, you’re not protecting privacy, you’re protecting power.

Newsom’s office insists the law “has nothing to do with Nick Shirley” and says critics are either inventing conspiracies or failing basic reading comprehension.

As we head into November, this election is our chance to choose leaders who actually represent the people, not their own power, comfort, or political machinery. Vote them out!