A Call to California Legislators and Governor Newsom to Address Root Causes
Contact:
Raquel Mason, Senior Legislative Manager: raquel@ceja-action.org
(Sacramento, CA) – After a disappointing legislative session for many environmental justice (EJ) priority bills, Governor Newsom has finalized his review of all legislation that passed through both the State Senate and Assembly. While many of CEJA Action’s priority bills did not pass due to powerful industry opposition, a few “Band-Aid” bills were signed into law, providing some immediate relief to pressing issues. But the ball is already rolling on some of our work for 2026, such as AB 1083 (Connolly), which will create critical safeguards to protect communities from this session’s harmful attacks on CEQA. Click here to see a previous overview of the importance of CEQA to environmental justice communities, written by our sibling organization, CEJA.
Cap-and-Trade (Cap-and-Invest) Reauthorization
CEJA Action has an overall neutral stance on the Cap-and-Trade reauthorization bills, newly rebranded as Cap-and-Invest. We have long advocated for changes to help this well-intentioned program become more equitable to low-income communities, support energy affordability, and prioritize meaningful air quality improvements in the regions most heavily burdened by industrial pollution. While the majority of our recommendations to improve the market mechanism were not reflected in the final deal (AB 1207 (Irwin)), and we believe that the investment plan could have gone much further for frontline communities (SB 840 (Limón)), there was at least one change that will benefit EJ communities.
Instead of a climate credit on natural gas bills, households will see this funding help offset their electricity costs during the increasingly hot summer months. While this change doesn’t address the systemic issues causing energy costs to skyrocket, leading to our viewing it as a “Band-Aid” response to the crisis, we continue to fight for a robust treatment plan. Our communities deserve affordable energy and clean air simultaneously, and we won’t stop advocating for this with California’s lawmakers until we get there.
Energy Futures
CEJA Action released a statement at the close of the legislative session, including our perspective on SB 237 (Grayson), which allows for the expansion of oil extraction operations in Kern County, bypassing CEQA requirements. In direct contradiction to California’s role as a leader in the fight against climate change, Governor Newsom signed SB 237 (Grayson) into law on September 19, 2025. We cannot abide Kern County being a sacrifice zone for Big Oil’s profits, and we will continue to advocate for the transition away from fossil fuels.
Short-Term Relief For Impacted Communities
Another example of a “Band-Aid” bill is SB 655 (Stern), which also made it to Governor Newsom’s desk. This legislation requires that all dwellings be able to achieve and maintain safe indoor temperatures, protecting tenants in high-heat regions of the state. Protecting the communities on the frontlines of climate change impacts is crucial, and we look forward to continuing conversations with regulatory agencies and lawmakers to implement further protections and address the root causes of climate change. Governor Newsome approved SB 655 (Stern) on October 10, 2025.
CEJA Action supported SB 24 (McNerney) and AB 1167 (Berman), bills that will provide economic relief to ratepayers by prohibiting for-profit utility companies from using ratepayer funds to pay for their political lobbying and advertising. At our annual Congreso, frontline community members shared how skyrocketing utility bills are affecting their families and advocated for these bills to their elected leaders. The impact of these bills on the household energy bill remains to be seen. We hope to build on this momentum to advance policies that prevent predatory utility companies from raking in record profits while frontline communities must decide between feeding their families and paying their power bills. On October 11, 2025, Governor Newsom approved AB 1167 (Berman) and vetoed SB 24 (McNerney) due to a “clerical error” that made some definition terms contradictory, making it “unimplementable”.
Thankfully, the protection for rate payers greatly overlapped between the two bills, meaning most will be implemented by AB 1167 (Berman)’s approval.
Why are there two very similar bills?
There are many reasons two identical or similar bills may be introduced in the same session. It is overall used to increase a bill’s chances of moving throughout the full legislative process and give the Assembly and the Senate the ability to share their priorities for that particular policy area.
Looking Forward
While 2025 was far from a winning year for environmental justice in California state policy, we will not stop advocating for the continued improvement of environmental policy and insistence on centering equity. In addition to working with our member organizations to determine our strategies for 2026, we are also compiling the necessary data for our annual EJ Scorecard, which we will publish later this year. The EJ Scorecard will show how each legislator voted on key bills related to environmental justice and empower you to hold them accountable. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Instagram and BlueSky for updates and calls to action.
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California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) Action is a statewide, community-led alliance that works to achieve environmental justice by advancing policy solutions. We unite the powerful local organizing of our members in the communities most impacted by environmental hazards – low-income communities and communities of color – to create comprehensive opportunities for change at a statewide level. We build the power of communities across California to create policies that will alleviate poverty and pollution. Together, we are growing the statewide movement for environmental health and social justice.