Elon Musk says he will move companies out of California over trans law

Elon Musk has said he will move SpaceX and X out of California over a law that bans schools from forcing teachers to notify parents when their child changes their gender identity.

Musk said on Tuesday that he would relocate the companies’ headquarters to Texas after California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the first-of-its-kind law barring policies that require educators to disclose when a student asks to use a different name or pronouns.

“This is the final straw,” Musk said on X. “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.”

Musk, who has an adult transgender daughter, added that he had previously told Newsom “that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children”.

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. https://t.co/cpWUDgBWFe

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 16, 2024

Musk said in a follow-up post that he would also relocate X, formerly Twitter, from San Francisco to Austin, saying he had “had enough of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building”.

Musk, the world’s richest man, has in recent years gravitated towards Texas, which has no state corporate or income tax and is known for its conservative politics.

In 2021, Musk shifted Tesla’s headquarters from Palo Alto in Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas, and changed his residence from California to Texas.

Tesla, the world’s most valuable car company, still maintains an “engineering headquarters” in California.

Musk has become increasingly outspoken about his political views since taking over X in 2022, often taking aim at policies and public figures he considers excessively left-wing, or “woke”.

Musk on Saturday announced that he was endorsing Donald Trump for president shortly after the Republican candidate narrowly survived an attempted assassination.

California is considered one of the most liberal US states, with the governorship and both chambers of the state legislature controlled by the Democratic Party.

Texas has long been a conservative stronghold, with all three branches of the state government held by the Republican Party.