Republicans removed from California legislative committees. Did social media play a role?
Republican lawmakers were fuming Monday following a Friday night announcement that several members were removed from some committees – a move GOP members say was “retaliation” for challenging Democratic leadership and came without warning.
Speaker Robert Rivas announced changes to more than a dozen policy and budget committees Friday, days before policy committees were set to begin the first bill hearings of the year. Most of the changes affected Republican members, though some Democratic members were added to or removed from committees or budget subcommittees.
“I was not consulted or even given a call,” Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, R-Nicolaus, wrote on X. “This is about politics. Pure and simple. They don’t like us calling them out.”
The Speaker is responsible for assigning members to committees. Removing Assemblymembers from committee assignments has sometimes been used as a way to punish members who step out of line.
“The Speaker routinely addresses committee needs throughout the year, and his goal is always to ensure members are in optimal roles to collaborate effectively and deliver for Californians,” Rivas spokesman Nick Miller said in a statement.
Social media savvy lawmakers part of shuffle
Freshman Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, said he was taken off the Assembly budget committee as “retaliation” for his comments challenging “wasteful spending and money laundering,” in the current budget.
For weeks, DeMaio has shared videos on X of himself challenging witnesses during committee hearings. Some videos have accrued hundreds of thousands of views.
DeMaio said Democratic leadership warned him through staff “to dial back and behave” himself after the first budget committee hearing, when he raised questions about the cost of extending Medi-Cal coverage to undocumented immigrants, which totals $9.5 billion per year.
“My response to my staff was, ‘Oh, they’ve seen nothing yet,’” he said.
“The decision was not mine,” said Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, who chairs the budget subcommittee DeMaio was taken off, though she added “I’m not unhappy to see him removed.”
“He has his fan base – and they love this aggressive, got-you, bullying type of behavior – and they think that acting like a tough guy shows respect and authority, just like the way the President treated Zelensky. And I absolutely disagree with it,” she said.
“Our caucus is the majority and our Speaker has the right to move people as he chooses,” Quirk-Silva said.
Other Republicans affected by the shuffle include Assemblymembers Bill Essayli – another member known for initiating controversial maneuvers during Assembly proceedings and posting videos of them on social media – along with Alexandra Macedo, Joe Patterson and David Tangipa.
“I think I know insurance better than anybody else in this building,” said Tangipa, who lost his vice chairmanship on the Assembly Insurance Committee. “I know it because my business and my background depend on the insurance market, and the insurance market is collapsing here in California.”
Tangipa sells real estate in the Central Valley and said he specifically requested a position on the Insurance committee.
He added: “If this was happening at the federal government and our majority party was moving the minority party, they’d claim right now that this is a dismantling of democracy, that this is an attack and a direct assault on their voices to be heard. I think it should be thought about the same exact way.”
Rocklin Republican Joe Patterson was at the gym Friday when he learned about his removal from the Assembly’s Health Committee, where he served as vice chair.
“Health care policy is a very complicated thing,” he said. “To not only remove me as vice chair, but also remove me from the committee altogether. It’s just wrong and it actually puts Californians in a less healthy situation.”
“I’ve actually worked well with my colleagues across the other aisle,” Patterson said.
This story was originally published March 3, 2025 at 2:59 PM with the headline "Republicans removed from California legislative committees. Did social media play a role?."
