Almost at the deadline…
It’s Monday morning at the time of writing this, and Wednesday at midnight is Governor Newsom’s deadline for signing or vetoing all the bills still on his desk. Over the weekend he signed a big pile of health/education measures, so you’d think our climate/energy priorities would be coming up soon! Below, you’ll see our surviving priorities, plus instructions for letting him know we’re watching, and we care about these issues.
AB 2313 (Berman) When a gas line needs repair or replacement, requires gas utilities to offer cash incentives to customers for purchase of electric appliances instead. Because installing gas lines is so expensive, very large incentives will still save the utility money. Our highest priority!
SB 1359 (Stern) Requires the state Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to evaluate and disclose the cost of repairing or replacing natural gas infrastructure, and to calculate depreciation of those assets. The aim is to avoid stranded assets as we move away from natural gas (as we must).
SB 1425 (Cortese) Provides the California High-Speed Rail Authority with the right to issue encroachment permits, speeding construction.
SB 905 (Becker) Charges the CPUC with investigating alternative financing methods for electrical infrastructure projects (transmission and distribution)—ultimately moving away from the current model under which the utility only profits when it builds (not when it sells power).
SB 913 (Becker) Directs the CPUC to count “distributed energy resources” (home solar, vehicle-to-grid EV batteries, etc.) when calculating resource adequacy, an important metric for utilities’ purchase of clean (or dirty) energy. Designed to help build the market for local energy generation, smart appliances, and battery storage.
SB 222 (Wiener, Allen, Becker, Stern) Requires permit streamlining for residential heat pump systems, and requires landlords and homeowners’ associations, etc., to allow air conditioning units, heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and replacement of gas appliances with electric.
AB 1684 (Ward) Forbids landlords, homeowners’ associations, etc. from prohibiting cooling systems for owners/tenants. Part of a growing national trend toward a “right to air conditioning.”
SB 868 (Wiener) Exempts “balcony solar” and other portable/plug-in solar devices from state law and electric utility requirements governing connection to the electrical distribution system (“interconnection”).
SB 327 (McNerney) Prohibits gas or electric utilities from using funds from ratepayers to oppose municipalization of service.
Please pick some of YOUR favorites, and follow these instructions to send him some quick messages:
- Start on this page on the Governor’s website.
- Under “Topic,” select the “An active bill” option and scroll through the long and clunky dropdown to the bill number.
- Click “Leave a Comment,” and “Next.”
- Add your subject line, for example “Please sign SB 886 (Padilla)” and write a brief or detailed message.
- On the next page you’ll add your name and email, and click “Submit.”
TIP: You can also leave a comment for multiple bills at a time! Under “Topic,” select “OTHER,” and in your message include the details for all the bills you wish Governor Newsom to sign. Don’t forget to include the bill number and author for each!
Now for the bad news. It’s pretty bad.
Governor Newsom has vetoed SB 954 (Blakespear), the long-awaited, hard-fought cleanup bill that addressed significant harms to CEQA jammed into the 2025 budget over the objections of many dozens of lawmakers and vast swaths of the public. I suppose this was predictable, given the deep-pockets lobbyists deployed to beat back this bill, but to me it’s still shocking and deplorable. Read Newsom’s nonsensical veto message here.
Technically, vetoed bills are returned to their house of origin for “reconsideration,” i.e., a veto override…but that hasn’t happened in the California legislature since 1979. Worse, SB 954 never got the 2/3 vote required to override in both houses on its way to passage. Senator Blakespear, however, has promised not to give up, and so some sort of fix will be back in 2027.
What can we do?
- For starters, we can oppose Proposition 45 on the November ballot. This initiative from the Chamber of Commerce et al. is presented, misleadingly, as a pro-housing/affordability measure…while it’s actually a multi-pronged workaround for community input and environmental review. As Senator Blakespear pointed out at a recent press conference, most housing in California is already exempt from CEQA.
- And, we will keep working to elect legislators, including Senator Blakespear, in 2026 and 2028. Join Climate Action California’s elections work, and send money to our Political Action Committee!
Finally, some good news! Governor Newsom has signed these bills
AB 28 (Schiavo) In response to the ongoing Chiquita Landfill disaster, this bill strengthens landfill operations to prevent future landfill fires and remediates California’s other high-temperature landfill events. Establishes penalties and funding mechanisms to support impacted communities.
AB 1738 (Carrillo) Requires local building departments to offer remote inspections(video/photos) for many permits, including water heaters, heat pump HVAC, and solar.
SB 886 (Padilla) Requires the CPUC to set special electricity billing rates (tariffs) for data centers by January 1 2028, covering interconnection to the grid, transmission, distribution, and retail provision of electricity—that also prevent cost shifts to other ratepayers.
SB 887 (Padilla) Prohibits data centers from receiving categorical exemptions (such as “advanced manufacturing”) under CEQA, and sets strict criteria for data centers and geothermal power plants to qualify for permit streamlining as Environmental Leadership Development Projects.
SB 1168 (McNerney) Another bill in the package of data center measures signed by the Governor. Requires the CPUC to “assess opportunities for rate structures” that ensure data centers pay a “reasonable share” of energy transmission and distribution costs, and a “proportional share” of additional energy costs, while avoiding cost shifts to residential ratepayers.
