"Newsom's Veto Upholds Caste Discrimination in California"

California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill that aimed to ban caste discrimination in the state, dealing a blow to activists who hoped to make California the first in the nation to enact such a ban. The bill, Senate Bill 403, would have made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of caste under existing civil rights protections. The proposal divided California's South Asian community, with passionate lobbying both for and against it. Newsom argued that the bill was unnecessary as caste discrimination is already prohibited under existing civil rights protections.