California Gov. Gavin Newsom has watched hundreds of thousands of residents flee the state on his watch, and his reaction to Elon Musk’s decision to join them may help explain why.
The tech billionaire announced he will move two of his companies out of California over its newly signed anti-parental notification law, but instead of trying to woo him back, Mr. Newsom all but shoved him out the door.
The Democratic governor posted a screenshot of a 2022 post by former President Donald Trump saying that Mr. Musk was so dependent on federal subsidies for Tesla and SpaceX that “I could have said, ‘drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it.”
Mr. Newsom retorted on X: “You bent the knee.”
Mr. Musk fired back: “You never get off your knees.”
The PG-rated exchange came after Mr. Musk said Tuesday he would relocate SpaceX from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas, and the headquarters of the social-media platform X to Austin, Texas, calling Assembly Bill 1955 “the final straw.”
The legislation signed Monday by Mr. Newsom bans school boards from adopting policies requiring staffers to inform parents when their children seek to adopt opposite-sex names and pronouns at school.
The result is that school personnel must keep quiet about a student’s gender transition unless they have permission from the student to disclose it to parents, which is the current policy under the state Department of Education.
Losing Tesla and X to Texas would represent a not-insignificant hit to the Golden State, which has struggled with a business-and-population exodus driven by soaring housing prices, high taxes, business-unfriendly regulations, a large homeless population, crime, and left-wing social policies.
California has led the nation in out-migration for four straight years, according to the 2023 U-Haul Growth Index, which gauges the number of one-way out-of-state movers based on equipment rentals.
What’s more, the prospect of the world’s richest man decamping has the potential to touch off a domino effect among those worried about the loss of parental rights under AB 1955.
“A lot of families and companies will move out of California because of this law,” said Mr. Musk. “Who would want to risk the state taking away their kids?”
That could include Jason Calacanis, a California-based internet entrepreneur and angel investor, who responded on X by saying: “I am done with California. Will disclose my plans on All In this week.”
He also posted an image of the bear walking off the California state flag with the caption, “F—- This Place.”
Many will follow https://t.co/ptgXe8Zmza
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 16, 2024
Stoking the exodus talk was Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, who said: “When the state claims to own your kids/It’s time to find a new state.” Mr. Musk replied: “Done.”
Also opting to burn rather than build bridges with Mr. Musk was Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who accused him of ingratitude.
“California literally made you with taxpayer subsidies & because it’s the best place around,” said Mr. Wiener. “Will this be a fake temper tantrum move just like Tesla’s fake ‘move’ to Texas?”
This isn’t the first time Mr. Musk has made a run for the state’s eastern border. In 2021, he relocated Tesla’s headquarters to Austin while keeping its engineering-and-manufacturing hub in the Bay Area city of Fremont.
That move was marked by a tussle with then-Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who tweeted “F—- Elon Musk” after he threatened in 2020 to move the electric-vehicle operation. He responded: “Message received.”
Now a principal officer with the California Federation of Labor Unions, Ms. Gonzalez encouraged Mr. Musk not to let the door hit him on the way out.
“As a state, we shouldn’t be embarrassed that Elon Musk says he will leave (again.),” she said on X. “But, we should be embarrassed that we handed over so much in taxpayer dollars to such a s——y, union busting, a—hole. Let’s do better with subsidies & tax credits, please.”
It was left to Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher, a Republican, to urge Mr. Musk to reconsider.
“Would love to connect @elonmusk and share our plans to Fix CA. CA is worth fighting for,” said Mr. Gallagher, referring to Fix California, a conservative election-integrity effort founded by former Trump official Ric Grenell.
Democrats have hailed AB 1955 as a bulwark against the “forced outing” of transgender students, saying they should be in charge of when and how they tell their parents about their opposite-sex gender identity.
Mr. Wiener said that “a company HQing here doesn’t mean its CEO gets to decide if LGBTQ Californians have civil rights. If protecting LGBTQ kids’ safety is too much for Elon, that says way more about him than about SF & CA.”
Whether the measure can withstand legal scrutiny is another question.
A lawsuit seeking to block the measure was filed Wednesday by the Liberty Justice Center on behalf of the Chino Valley Unified School District and several parents. The law is now scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.
After Mr. Newsom signed the bill, Mr. Musk declared on X that “the governor of California just signed a bill causing massive destruction of parental rights and putting children at risk for permanent damage.”
He said his decision to leave California shouldn’t have come as a surprise to the Democratic governor.
“I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children,” said Mr. Musk.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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