SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom took the stage at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday and explained one of the main ways he is responding as the Trump administration changes its climate priorities.
“I’m coming,” he said.
In recent months, that has meant trips to Brazil, Switzerland and now Germany, where he has repeatedly ranked California as a global partner. The trip also revived a recurring question from critics and watchdog groups: Who is paying for the trip?
In most cases, the costs are not paid by taxpayers. The governor’s office said his international travel is being paid for by the California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit funded primarily by corporate donations and run by a board Newsom appoints.
For decades, California governors have relied on nonprofit organizations to pick up the tab for official travel, official events and other expenses that could otherwise be paid for with taxpayer dollars.
“The Foundation’s mission is to reduce the burden on California taxpayers by reimbursing reasonable expenses related to advancing the state’s economic and social interests,” said Jason Elliott, a former senior adviser to Newsom, the governor added to the foundation’s board.
Although the program helps the state coffers, critics say it is another way for corporate interests to influence.
“The problem with the protocol foundation and others like it is that donors to these foundations get access to the politicians they fund to travel,” said Carmen Balber, executive director of the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog.
When did nonprofits start paying for gubernatorial travel?
The protocol foundation was created as a tax-exempt charity during the administration of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004.
Similar non-profit organizations have been around since Gov. George Deukmejian created one in the 1980s. In the early 2000s, Gov. Gray Davis dramatically increased the use of non-profit organizations to cover travel, housing and political events.
When Schwarzenegger left office, his supporters turned the protocol base over to supporters of Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who in turn handed it over to the Newsom camp. The organization describes its goal in filing the federal tax as “relieving the state of California from its obligations to fund certain expenses of the Office of the Governor.”
Newsom appoints members of the foundation’s board, which will be responsible for deciding what expenses should be paid to the governor’s office. In its most recent tax filing covering 2024, the foundation lists its board chairman as Steve Kawa, who served as Newsom’s chief of staff when he was mayor of San Francisco. The foundation secretary on those books is Jim DeBoo, who was Newsom’s chief of staff in the governor’s office until 2022.
The foundation reported revenue of $1.3 million in 2024 and, after expenses, had a balance of less than $8,000.
What does the foundation pay for?
Publicly available records are unclear, but annual financial disclosure forms show the foundation paid more than $13,000 for the governor’s 2024 trip to Italy, where he gave a speech on climate change at the Vatican.
That same year, the foundation paid nearly $4,000 for her trip to Mexico City to attend the inauguration of Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum. The cost of both trips included flights, hotel and meals for his “official travel,” according to disclosure records, filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission and known as Form 700s.
Newsom reported receiving $72,000 for trips, staff picnics and holiday events from the protocol foundation since taking office in 2019, according to the disclosure.
The foundation paid $15,200 for the governor’s 2023 trip to China, where he visited five cities in seven days amid an agenda packed with meetings, sightseeing and celebrations, including a private tour of the Forbidden City.
In 2020, the foundation paid $8,800 for Newsom to travel to Miami for Super Bowl LIV – where he represented the country as the San Francisco 49ers faced off against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Governor’s office said it does not yet have the money collected by the foundation for Newsom’s trip to Brazil to attend the United Nations climate conference known as COP30 or to Switzerland for the World Economic Summit.
Who are the donors behind the foundation?
In some cases, the well-heeled funders behind the foundation’s cash flow are easy to spot on government websites.
Donations to the foundation solicited directly or indirectly by Newsom are recorded with the Fair Political Practices Commission as solicited payments. A solicited payment occurs when an elected official requests or recommends that a person or organization make a donation to another person or organization for a legal, governmental or charitable purpose.
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has contributed $300,000 in a 2023 grant to a California delegation to China for climate change summits. UC Berkeley has given $220,000 to the emperor’s trip to the Vatican in 2024.
Most donations simply indicate that they are directed toward “general operating support” of the foundation. That includes two offerings from Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company Zoox Inc. worth $80,000.
The two charities slated to pay for Newsom’s opening in 2019 and 2023 have transferred more than $5 million to the protocol’s foundation since 2019. The financial backers behind those first aid organizations include powerful unions, corporations, national casino interests, trade associations and health care giants — organizations that have a significant financial stake in federal policy decisions.
The foundation’s past spending has been criticized
During Schwarzenegger’s tenure, his office avoided fully disclosing $1.7 million in travel expenses paid for by the foundation, relying instead on vague internal memos and, in some cases, verbal accountings, according to a 2007 investigation by the Los Angeles Times.
Schwarzenegger’s expenses received by the foundation included chartered Gulfstream jets costing up to $10,000 an hour and suites costing thousands of dollars a night. A Times investigation found among the expenses was $353,000 for a single round trip to China on a private jet in 2005.
The foundation also paid for Schwarzenegger’s trips to Japan, Europe, Canada and Mexico.
At the time, Schwarzenegger’s representatives told The Times that the governor did not have to report the travel expenses on his annual disclosure forms because the payments for the jets and suites were gifts to his office, not to him.
Newsom’s office said the governor is traveling by sales, not private jets.
