Elon Musk talks to the media after the launch of Starlink at a sub-district community health center in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia in May. On Tuesday he announced he is moving the headquarters of SpaceX and social media platform X from California to Texas following the enactment of California’s SAFETY Act. File Photo by Made Nagi/EPA-EFE
July 16 (UPI) — Elon Musk says he is moving two tech company headquarters to Texas after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law prohibiting public schools from notifying parents when their children identify as transgendered.
The law makes California the first U.S. state to prohibit schools from outing transgender students to their parents, and it was created as a way to protect trans children and teachers who might face retaliation for supporting trans kids.
Musk announced Tuesday he is moving the headquarters for social media platform X and space company SpaceX out of the Golden State after Newsom on Monday signed enabling legislation to create the SAFETY Act into law.
“Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, Calif., to Starbase, Texas,” Musk posted on X Tuesday.
Musk said he told Newsom a year ago that “laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.”
He said he will move the X headquarters from San Francisco to Austin, Texas, where getting in and out of the building won’t require “dodging gangs of violent drug addicts.”
Musk also said he changed his state of residence from California to Texas, which does not levy a personal income tax while California levies the nation’s largest state income tax at 12.3% for those who earn more than $698,271, plus another 1% levy for mental health services for those whose annual incomes are $1 million or more.
Musk’s estranged son Xavier Alexander Musk transitioned to female with a legal name change to Vivian Jenna Wilson in 2022.
Musk blamed “neo-Marxists” for the transition and has described Wilson as a “fervent Marxist” who refuses to have anything to do with him and hid her transgender identify until he found out from someone else.
Musk has said he’s tried to reach out to her but to no avail.
Although he’s moving X and SpaceX to Texas, Musk in 2021 relocated electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla from Austin to Palo Alto, Calif.
He did not indicate if he’ll move the Tesla headquarters back to Texas.