Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio says the bill ‘criminalizes citizen investigative journalists who take video.’
By Catholics for Catholics
A young citizen journalist is taking on California’s progressive lawmakers.
Nick Shirley, 24, an independent journalist and influencer, confronted some of California’s state lawmakers while filming a video that questioned a new bill that would limit the access of people to investigate nonprofits that receive funding for pro-immigration causes. Assembly Bill 2624 has been dubbed by Republicans as the “Stop Nick Shirley Act.”
“If this bill were to get passed, instead of going after the fraudsters, they’re trying to make it criminal to go after the people that are committing this fraud,” Shirley said in the video posted to his YouTube page, according to a story by Fox News.
Shirley’s video concentrated on the bill authored by Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Oakland, which strives to restrict the public posting of personal information of individuals connected to immigration support services, including nonprofit organizations, legal clinics and health care providers.
“I think that that’s a misinterpretation of the bill, but I’m happy to talk with you more about it,” Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Alhambra, told Shirley when pressed about whether the measure would restrict probes.
Another factor is that Shirley’s video also gained notoriety because Assemblymember Bonta is married to California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Shirley repeatedly outlined that relationship as a potential conflict of interest while questioning lawmakers about whether the bill would make it harder to expose fraud involving taxpayer-funded immigration services.
Just for clarification this is California, not a Federal bill.
— Sal (@GhostSal21) April 21, 2026
Independent journalist Nick Shirley is in the video confronting
California state legislators outside the state capitol. The bill is AB2624 and would make it far more difficult for journalist to investigate… https://t.co/3NgSaupsp7
“I actually don’t think that this bill violates the First Amendment,” Pérez said when asked about constitutional concerns.
“We have ledge [legislative] counsel and ledge attorneys that talk with us about this. Constitutionality is really important to the work.”
Nevertheless, Shirley’s video exposed various encounters in which lawmakers refused to discuss the bill in detail, with some saying they were unaware about its contents or needed to examine it more.
“I need to read the bill,” Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, said after Shirley told him he had signed onto the measure.
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