Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Saturday that would have explicitly outlawed caste discrimination in California, dealing a blow to activists hoping to make the state the first in the nation to enact such a ban and a first-term lawmaker who shepherded one of the more controversial bills of the session through the Legislature.

The law would have inserted caste into the definition of ancestry, making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of caste under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Fair Employment and Housing Act and education discrimination law.

Hearings on Senate Bill 403 — from state Sen. Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward) — were among the most attended of the session, with lines stretching down hallways, public testimony lasting for hours and demonstrations outside the Capitol. The proposal split California’s large South Asian community, drawing passionate lobbying for and against it. Assemblymember Ash Kalra, the first Indian American elected to the state Legislature, lamented the fissure during a hearing.

[He’s running. ~ Beege]