Talk show host Bill Maher questioned Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s (D-CA) reasoning behind heavy-handed legislation across California.

Maher spent a segment of his Friday episode of Real Time with Bill Maher interviewing Newsom, where he asked a question about a recent amendment to the state’s Unruh Civil Rights Act that went into effect this year. The amendment, drafted in 2021 and subsequently signed by Newsom, requires toy stores to establish a gender-neutral toy aisle.

“Do you think that’s silly? Do you think that’s a silly thing?” Maher asked about the legislation. “Too much government there?”

Newsom defended the legislation by saying the legislature had support from department stores as they were “already moving in that direction.”

“But I understand how that’s exploited, and good people can disagree, but that’s not something we woke up and said, ‘This is a top priority for the state’ when we know the top priorities — the homelessness, housing, the issues of crime, quality of life, and issues related to regulation and taxes which are all top of mind,” Newsom said. “But I get how those things are a weapon.”

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The California governor has batted away rumors that he would run as a Democratic candidate for president in 2024, but Maher admitted he has been “trying to get this guy to run for president for a long time.” Throughout the interview, Maher complimented Newsom by telling him he was “good at this” and that he should “teach” President Joe Biden.

Maher himself is a California resident and has no intention of moving but would like to “make this a better state.”