Bonta Announces 33rd Trump Lawsuit on KQED, This One Targets Health Care Cuts

Updated at 3 p.m. July 18

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday on KQED’s Forum that the state is filing a third lawsuit this week against President Donald Trump.

On Monday, Bonta joined 23 other states in suing the administration over its withholding of nearly $6 billion of federal education funding. On Wednesday, he joined 18 other states in filing suit over Trump’s cancellation of FEMA disaster mitigation funds.

This time, Bonta will join New Jersey and Massachusetts to co-lead a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration rule designed to make it more difficult for Americans to access health coverage through the Affordable Care Act.

It marks the 33rd lawsuit that Bonta has filed against Trump since the start of the year.

The big picture: Since his January inauguration, Trump has signed 170 executive orders — many of them targeted by Bonta’s legal challenges. Bonta’s first lawsuit contested Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. He has since sued over mass firings of federal workers, deployment of the National Guard to California, and other legislative policies. Bonta estimates that his office has filed lawsuits at a pace of more than one per week.

The latest: Bonta appeared on Forum, where he announced the latest lawsuit.

“We are following our North Star, which is the law,” Bonta said.

The final rule by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would add new bureaucratic barriers, shorten the ACA enrollment window, impose automatic charges on some $0-premium plans, and make coverage less affordable for millions while also excluding gender-affirming care as an essential benefit in federal exchange plans. (California’s coverage would not be affected.)

Bonta said it would strip millions of Americans of coverage and restrict others from receiving gender affirming care.

By the numbers: Bonta said California has spent $5 million on lawsuits against Trump this year — legal action he said has saved roughly $170 billion for the state. He estimates that at stake in this most recent lawsuit is around 2 million Americans who could lose access to healthcare under Trump’s new legislation.

What we’re watching: “We’ve got a full tank of gas,” Bonta said. He said his office isn’t slowing down and will sue again anytime Trump “tramples over the Constitution.” As for the rescission vote this week that would strip $9 billion in funding for NPR and PBS, Bonta said he plans to look at the lawfulness of the rescission package and “If it’s lawful, it’s lawful. If it’s not, we’ll sue.”

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to clarify that the lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta challenges a rule designed to make it more difficult for Americans to access health coverage through the Affordable Care Act.