Opinion - Gavin Newsom is trying to have it both ways on disability rights

When California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) was asked about President Trump’s recent use of military force on MSNBC, he described the bombing in Iran as “An illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act.”

That line really stuck out. Given Newsom’s track record on many issues, he seemed like the wrong messenger to deliver it.

One of those issues is how Newsom has handled disability rights in his own state government. According to one analysis reported by the Sacramento Bee, public employment among workers with disabilities in California plunged by 40 percent between 2017 and 2023. The Bee also noted that the state program designed to increase the share of disabled state workers is failing so badly that it can essentially be written off as a mere token effort.

Is any of that considered immoral or illegal? The Americans with Disabilities Act doesn’t own oceanfront property in the constitution, but it is the law. It is a morally necessary structure to allow people with physical, developmental, and cognitive disabilities a chance at equity in maintaining an independent quality of life through modest and limited accommodations, including working from home. Newsom’s state government frequently refuses to accommodate those employees in need, which has contributed to the exodus of those with disabilities.

So why does Newsom get to have it both ways?

Both political parties seem skeptical of Newsom’s authenticity and leadership. The state of California, often viewed as a lodestar for progressive ideology, has a terrible track record when it comes to empowering individuals with disabilities, and vulnerable populations. The public outrage was noble when Robert Kennedy provided a list of milestones that people with autism will never reach. But what are these outraged people actually doing differently to create success for the same populations?

Legislation and initiatives are just words on paper. It is enforcement and consequences for violators that make change happen and influence future behavior patterns. In a state that is already overregulated like California, oversight, and enforcement with high rates of accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Newsom’s much-vaunted Proposition One, to provide mental health and substance abuse treatment, came within a hair’s breadth of failing on last year’s ballot because Californians don’t trust him to provide results for vulnerable populations and those with behavioral health needs. A 2024 state audit revealed that Newsom couldn’t account for billions of dollars previously spent on behavioral health and homeless interventions.

Why are California’s employees treated with such disdain? One place to look is the woefully underfunded state retirement system. The cost of each state employee with a disability on the state retirement fund cannot be quantified from published data. But if former state employees lose their jobs and are forced to take early refunds of their state pension retirement contributions to make ends meet, they lose their eligibility to draw a disability pension later on. This creates an additional incentive for Newsom to run off as many disabled state employees as possible, including by not accommodating them.

But what Newsom saves in the retirement fund just gets passed on to other strained government programs. Those moved off of state payrolls may have to take unemployment benefits and enroll in health coverage through Medi-Cal, which is already overstretched. It seems as short sighted as it is illegal to force people who want to work onto public assistance, when they could earn their keep if given the reasonable accommodations supposedly guaranteed to them under the American with Disabilities Act. But California does it, and it costs money. Healthline reported in April that people with disabilities account for 7 percent of Medi-Cal enrollees but for 19 percent of its spending.

Every Democratic candidate for president will eventually need the blessing of former President Barack Obama, whose inclusionary vision was to increase federal employment among those with disabilities by at least 100,000. Obama would be going backwards on his own policy were he to approve Newsom as the nominee.

It would be hypocritical and reinforce Newsom’s own description of the current Democratic Party as “toxic.”

Austin Hill is a writer, disability rights advocate, and former California state employee.

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