{"id":478885,"date":"2026-09-29T02:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T02:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478885\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T02:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T02:26:11","slug":"california-gov-gavin-newsom-signs-bill-to-create-safe-spaces-around-synagogues-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478885\/","title":{"rendered":"California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs bill to create safe spaces around synagogues"},"content":{"rendered":"

California Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a>, a Democrat, has signed a law that will create protective spaces around religious institutions, after a pro-Palestinian protest at a Los Angeles synagogue last year turned violent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The legislation, AB 2664, establishes 100-foot zones around the entrances to houses of worship. Within the zones, no one will be allowed to come within eight feet of a congregant without consent to distribute leaflets, hold a sign, or engage in oral protests that aim \u201cto harass, obstruct, threaten or intimidate the person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Failure to comply could result in fines of up to $1,000 and\/or imprisonment of no more than six months, with second violations raising those bars to $5,000 and one year, per the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery Californian should be able to walk into a synagogue, church, mosque, or other house of worship without fear,\u201d Newsom<\/a> said in a statement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia<\/a> is continuing to protect these organizations and the people they serve, and we\u2019re strengthening that work from the front door to expanding security resources to community events statewide.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"CaliforniaCalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at Belvedere Middle School in Los Angeles, Calif. on Oct. 8, 2025. (credit: Mario Tama\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s status as a leading Democrat \u2013 and one considering a 2028 presidential run \u2013 makes his enthusiastic endorsement notable. Progressives in other locales, including New York City, have pushed back against similar laws, saying they endanger speech protections.<\/p>\n

Bill comes after violent protest at Los Angeles synagogue<\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s signing came less than a year after a violent protest rattled the Wilshire Boulevard Temple<\/a> in Los Angeles. At the December event, pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked people from entering the synagogue and cut off parental access to the religious school. Protesters destroyed property and assaulted a security guard; one person was arrested for battery and another for vandalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time, Mayor Karen Bass denounced the incident, which took place at one of the largest synagogues in the city, as both \u201cabhorrent\u201d and antisemitic.<\/p>\n

The following spring, California Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, a Democrat, introduced the legislation, drafted by Jewish California, a lobby representing a number of the state\u2019s Jewish groups. Newsom signed the bill on Friday inside Wilshire Boulevard Temple, joined by Jewish California leaders, synagogue clergy and members of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus and the broader community.<\/p>\n

The legislation advanced despite vocal opposition. The Council on American-Islamic Relations slammed the bill for infringing upon free speech by creating \u201cnew criminal penalties that would put peaceful protesters and community advocates at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement following Newsom\u2019s signing ceremony, the council\u2019s California CEO, Hussam Ayloush, argued that some sales of \u201cillegally occupied land\u201d are occurring \u201cexclusively to Jewish Americans at events hosted by American synagogues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a house of worship in America chooses to serve as a platform for illegal land sales meant to normalize Palestinian displacement, Americans should be able to peacefully demonstrate against that immoral activity,\u201d Ayloush said. The protest at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple did not target land sales, but a public safety and technology event organized by the Consulate General of Israel.<\/p>\n

Legislation gains support from groups of multiple religions<\/p>\n

Jewish California stressed that the legislation not only gained support from dozens of Jewish groups but also from Muslim, Sikh, Christian and Hindu organizations. Ultimately, the bill passed with 34 out of 40 State Senate votes and 61 of 80 State Assembly votes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Governor\u2019s signature, California is sending a clear message: everyone has the right to practice their faith safely and freely,\u201d Bauer-Kahan said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAntisemitism is rising, and so is hostility towards other religious communities,\u201d she added. \u201cThis law protects all worshippers of all faiths, and it ensures that faith can be practiced without fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

AB 2664 was one of six bills relevant to the Jewish community that passed in California\u2019s state legislature last month. Newsom signed one of the other bills, AB 1853, on Monday afternoon \u2013 enacting a ban on including misleading or threatening information, like hate speech, in California voter guides.<\/p>\n

The governor has until Sept. 30 to either sign or veto the other four pieces of legislation. Among the most contentious is SB 1387, a bill that would expand the definition of ethnicity \u201cto include Jewish identity\u201d on state agency data collection forms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has signed a law that will create protective spaces around religious institutions,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,457,47,43886,10977],"class_list":["post-478885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-los-angeles","tag-synagogue","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}