These units could easily disrupt the big California cities. Now an attempt by California for independence would fail as they could not control the I-5 and Highway 99 corridors through the conservative Central Valley, even assuming that the California Highway Patrol and California National Guard were loyal to Newsom. At most, they would control the US 101 corridor close to the coast. But with a campaign of nationwide terrorism, possibly throwing in an overseas war to boot, you may have a Red Dawn scenario, with Red Chinese, Mexican, Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan troops crossing over from Tijuana and Mexicali to secure California and defeat U.S. military and American loyalist forces.
Shut the power off.
And a lot of people know where that can be done.