Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk recently announced he would be moving the X headquarters out of San Francisco, California, to Austin, Texas. Musk will also relocate the SpaceX headquarters from Hawthorne, California, to the company’s rocket launch site, Starbase, in the Lone Star State. The Tesla founder has long been critical of California’s political climate and its impact on the local business environment.
The catalyst for the move was California Governor Gavin Newsom’s signing of a bill into law that would bar school districts from requiring staff to notify parents when their child alters their gender identification. The legal measure represents the progressive left’s view in an ongoing cultural battle regarding the rights of parents over their own children. According to Musk, the implementation of this law was the “final straw.”
Musk posted, “This is the final straw. Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas. He added that he had previously addressed the matter with Governor Newsom, writing, “I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.”
However, Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for Newsom, maintained the law “protects the child-parent relationship.” He stated, “This law helps keep children safe while protecting the critical role of parents. It protects the child-parent relationship by preventing politicians and school staff from inappropriately intervening in family matters and attempting to control if, when, and how families have deeply personal conversations.”
Over the past several years, Musk has been increasingly distancing himself from the Golden State. In 2021, he moved Tesla’s headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to the Texas capitol. The CEO of the electric car manufacturer also indicated that he had transferred his residence out of California to Texas, where he now lives in Austin.
As the left, particularly in California, becomes increasingly radical, the multi-company billionaire CEO has increasingly voiced his political opinions in public statements. The American Tribune reported last month on comments from Musk criticizing the regulatory environment in California, illustrating how “large projects” have become “essentially illegal.”
“You know, in the West, I think we have created regulatory gridlock where just almost everything is illegal. This is why they can’t build a high-speed rail in California. They spent $7 billion and there’s 1600 ft section, it’s all they have to show for it and it doesn’t even have rails on it. It’s really too absurd for parity,” Musk said, highlighting the absurdity of the state’s regulations that stymy innovation.
He continued, “Large projects are essentially illegal in California and much of Europe and other countries. So there has to be some garbage collection process for removing rules and regulations in order for society to function and not to get hardening of the arteries to the point where you can’t do anything.” Watch Musk’s comments below:
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