The Brief

In October 2020, President Donald Trump unveiled a plan to grant himself the power to fire vast numbers of civil servants for any reason should they get in the way of his agenda.

Five and a half years later, that plan has come to fruition, despite vast public opposition.

Starting March 9, an unspecified number of federal employees could lose their current job protections and be converted into at-will employees at Trump's discretion. That's according to a final rule issued Friday by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the agency that handles many human resources functions for the federal government.

Under current law, the civil service is meant to be apolitical, providing continuity for the government from one presidential administration to another. But over the past year, Trump has shown a willingness – and at times an eagerness – to fire those career federal employees whom he perceives as political opponents, such as rank-and-file Justice Department attorneys involved in Jan. 6 prosecutions.

The rule would make firing such staff much easier. Entitled "Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service," it allows for the president to move federal employees in "policy-influencing" roles into a new category of employees called Schedule Policy/Career. OPM previously estimated some 50,000 positions could be reclassified.

The rule explains that while federal agencies will review their workforces and ask OPM to recommend positions be moved, the president will make the final call on which positions are reclassified.

OPM received more than 40,000 comments during the public comment period – 94% of which opposed the rule. The administration chalked up a lot of the opposition to misunderstandings – of existing federal laws and of the intentions of the rule.

The Trump administration has argued that the change is a necessary step to make the bureaucracy more efficient and accountable, citing the widely-held sentiment that it's too hard for the government to fire poor performers as well as reports of federal employees "slow walking" or otherwise obstructing Trump's directives.

The president's critics say the rule further allows Trump – and any future president – to politicize the civil service, and they warn of consequences for the American people.

"Our government needs serious improvements to make it more effective and accountable, but one thing that doesn't need changing is the notion that it exists to serve the American people and not any individual president," said Max Stier, president of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service in a statement. "This new designation can be used to remove expert career federal employees who place the law and service to the public ahead of blind loyalty and replace them with political supporters who will unquestioningly do the president's bidding."

Max Stier is the president of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.

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Maansi Srivastava

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Currently, around 4,000 political appointees within the federal government can be fired at will, a number Stier says is already far higher than in other democracies.

Unclear which positions or how many will be reclassified

It remains unclear which positions will be subject to reclassification. The rule applies to "policy-influencing positions," which, according to the 255-page document, would include supervisors of individuals in such positions.

In the rule, OPM insists that "the vast majority" of those appointed under Schedule Policy/Career will still be protected from prohibited personnel practices including retaliation against whistleblowing. However, they will no longer be able to file complaints with the Merit Systems Protection Board, the federal agency that hears employee challenges to such actions. The Office of Special Counsel, which investigates whistleblower complaints, no longer operates independently since Trump's firing last year of the Senate-confirmed leader of that agency.

While reclassified employees would theoretically retain the right to file discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the rule notes that the president himself is not subject to federal employment anti-discrimination laws.

Legal challenges ahead

The rule, which was first announced last year, already faces multiple lawsuits, including one filed by Democracy Forward. The legal organization has filed numerous lawsuits seeking to block the Trump administration's overhaul of the federal government.

"This is a deliberate attempt to do through regulation what the law does not allow — strip public servants of their rights and make it easier to fire them for political reasons and harm the American people through doing so," said Skye Perryman, the group's president and CEO, in a statement. "We have successfully fought this kind of power grab before, and we will fight this again."
Copyright 2026 NPR

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on Feb. 5, 2026.

As Tax Day approaches, organizations across the Eastside are helping residents file their taxes for free.

Many of the available resources are provided through the IRS’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, which offers free tax help to people who need assistance preparing their own returns, including people with disabilities, limited English speakers and individuals who generally earn $69,000 or less, according to the program’s website. Before your visit, check the list of what to bring to your appointment.

Other services are available with income requirements.

In California, the deadline to file state and federal income tax returns is Wednesday, April 15.

Here’s a list of places offering assistance:

Inclusive Action for the City

Trained volunteers from the CSUN VITA Clinic are available weekly through April 15.

East LA Community Corporation

The East LA Community Corporation is offering free tax preparation services from March 15 through March 25.

Cal State LA

Cal State LA is offering one-hour tax preparation appointments every Saturday through April 4.

Cypress Park Branch Library

The Cypress Park Branch Library is offering one-hour tax preparation appointments every Saturday through April 4.

El Sereno Branch Library

The El Sereno Branch Library is offering one-hour tax preparation appointments every Saturday through April 4.

Lincoln Heights Branch Library

The Lincoln Heights Branch Library is offering one-hour tax preparation appointments every Saturday through April 4.

Weingart East LA YMCA

The Weingart East LA YMCA is offering free tax assistance every Friday and Saturday until March 28. Unlike the services offered by VITA, the household income requirement is $67,000 or less.

California’s Fish and Game Commission will soon consider designating the Western spadefoot as endangered.

The tiny amphibian is found in the grasslands of Southern California and the Central Valley. It has endured several challenges in recent decades, including habitat loss and prolonged drought.

But state endangered species protection could give the little frogs a break from the urban sprawl that threatens their habitats.

What’s a  Western spadefoot?

The animal resembles a toad but technically isn’t. It can fit in the palm of your hand and has bumpy skin. Spadefoots are short and stout and have a hard black spur on their back feet that they use to dig — hence the name.

Sofia Prado-Irwin, staff scientist at the from the Center for Biological Diversity, describes the Western spadefoot as “adorable” and “resilient.”

 ”The most charming feature that they have is they have really big eyes that are sort of situated pretty high up on the head, so they almost look like googly eyes,” Prado-Irwin said.

They breed in streams and vernal pools, temporary wetlands that pop up after rains. Once they reach adulthood, Western spadefoots hop to grasslands, where they like to burrow.

And to protect themselves from predators, their skin oozes a slime that smells like peanut butter. That scent is meant to trigger watery, itchy eyes and to irritate the nose, almost like a sneeze, granting the frog a chance to leap out of danger.

Why they might need more than peanut butter ooze for protection

Prado-Irwin says many of those complex habitats with vernal pools and grasslands or shrublands are hard to find now in California.

“There’s estimates in Southern California that 90 to 95% of those pool habitats that once existed don’t exist anymore,” Prado-Irwin said.

That’s because those areas have been paved over to make way for urban development and agricultural use.

Development can isolate populations of Western spadefoots. Prado-Irwin said that when vernal pools aren’t connected to grasslands, it can lead the amphibians to inbreed and cause the species to further decline.

That’s what has happened to the Western spadefoot in Orange County, where two clusters of spadefoots that are genetically distinct are small and isolated.

The backstory

Prado-Irwin said this isn’t the first time the Western spadefoot has been considered for protection.

In 2012, the species was petitioned for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act. In 2023 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the species as threatened but a decision wasn’t finalized.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition in September 2025 asking for the state to list the Northern and Southern California populations of the species as threatened and endangered under state law.

That petition highlights development projects that could begin within the next few years that could affect the Western spadefoot’s habitat, including one in L.A. A proposed housing development called Northlake near Castaic Lake would pave over Grasshopper Creek. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, it would likely eliminate one of the last surviving populations of the Western spadefoot in the region.

Why it matters

Prado-Irwin said it’s important the state steps in to protect the species, as the Trump administration continues to weaken environmental protections, including the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act.

And if there’s another reason to care about Western spadefoot, Prado-Irwin says, it’s because the amphibians are really good indicators of how the environment is doing:

“ When amphibian populations are doing well, that’s usually an indication that the environment is generally pretty healthy,” she said. “But once amphibians start declining, that's kind of a warning flag that we need to be looking at what's going on. Because usually that means there's bigger environmental problems.”

If the Western spadefoot eventually receives protection from the California Endangered Species Act, one upshot would be that development that could affect the species would require extensive reviews to mitigate harm to the amphibians.

Protection would also allow the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to start working to arrest the species’ decline and to help it recover.

What’s next

The California Fish and Game Commission will meet April 16 to discuss whether the Western spadefoot is a candidate for protection.