Influencer disclosure follows scrutiny of Steyer campaign payments

Newsom’s office announced the bill signings on Sunday, describing the package as a response to federal political interference. The governor singled out the vote-by-mail measure as a safeguard against Trump administration efforts to restrict a practice the administration claims is rife with fraud. The US Supreme Court recently blocked the administration’s proposed changes to vote-by-mail, including a mandate for states to submit lists of approved mail-ballot voters to the US Postal Service.

“Donald Trump won’t stop until he can exert dictatorial control over your free vote and disenfranchise millions of people this November,” Newsom said in a statement. “California will stop him at every opportunity.”

The governor added: “We have no bigger task than fighting to protect the right to vote from interference and meddling – the future of democracy is on the line.”

Among the bills signed Sunday is a measure that makes it a felony to seize ballots or election records. The legislation appears to reference an incident earlier this year in which Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco took possession of more than 650,000 ballots from a 2025 redistricting special election.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said in a statement accompanying the announcement: “California is meeting the moment. No one should doubt the degree of our resolve in protecting our democracy.”

The package also imposes parameters on how political campaigns interact with social media influencers, including penalties against individuals who fail to disclose paid political content. The measure follows scrutiny of billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer’s gubernatorial campaign. In the recent race for Newsom’s successor, Steyer faced criticism for paying thousands of dollars to content creators who promoted him without proper disclosure. He was accused of trying to buy the race. A spokesperson for Steyer’s campaign said at the time that Steyer believed in fair compensation for the content creators’ work.

Newsom’s package comes after Trump repeatedly cast doubt on the veracity of the state’s 2026 primaries, saying without evidence that its slow counting process was an attempt to rig the outcome.