California’s Major Wins and Losses for Climate, Clean Air, Toxics and Health

• AB 825 (Cottie Petrie-Norris) Western clean energy market
• NRDC cosponsored
• Signed on 9/19

The electric grid integration bill is estimated to save California up to $1 billion annually in energy costs. It builds on the broadly supported multistate Pathways Initiative to strengthen electric grid coordination across the West. This is a major step toward a cleaner, more reliable, and more affordable energy future. NRDC is a longtime supporter of this policy.

• AB 1207 (Jacqui Irwin) and SB 840 (Monique Limón) Cap and Invest
• NRDC supported
• Signed on 9/19

These bills reauthorize and update the Cap-and-Trade Program (rebranding it as Cap and Invest) through 2045. The bills also improve the integrity of offsets and continue investments in transit, innovation, and programs to reduce air pollution. The package of bills also shifts the state’s climate credit away from gas utilities to electric, yielding billions in electric bill savings. 

• SB 254 (Josh Becker) Electricity affordability
• NRDC supported
• Signed on 9/19

The centerpiece electricity affordability bill, SB 254 lowers transmission costs with public financing, improves oversight of utility wildfire spending, and enhances the state’s Wildfire Fund without additional impacts to ratepayers. Wildfire spending by utilities has been the biggest driver of increased bills in recent years. 

• SB 34 (Laura Richardson) Air pollution
• NRDC opposed
• Vetoed on 10/10

This bill would have further risked the health of port-side communities and overstepped state authority by interfering in an ongoing rulemaking at the South Coast Air Quality Management District. NRDC and several environmental and environmental justice partners opposed this bill. Fortunately, Governor Newsom vetoed it. 

• SB 79 (Scott Wiener) Housing
• NRDC supported
• Signed on 10/10

This bill helps address California’s housing crunch by enabling denser housing through state standards for zoning around transit stops, especially train stations. 

Water

• AB 638 (Celeste Rodriguez) Water efficiency
• NRDC cosponsored
• Held ARPOPS

This bill would have authorized the State Water Resources Control Board to develop recommendations for stormwater capture, treatment, and safe use for irrigation on urban public lands, including parks and golf courses. Unfortunately, AB 638 did not pass Senate appropriations. Although the bill didn’t move forward, AB 638 helped prompt the Water Board to develop strategies to use stormwater for irrigation, saving precious water supplies.  

• SB 601 (Ben Allen) Right to Clean Water Act
• Held ARPOPS 

This would provide California with the Clean Water Act permitting tools it had before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA decision stripped away protections for seasonal wetlands and streams. SB 601 would also assist the state in efficiently issuing permits akin to federal protections. It is in Assembly Appropriations and can be revisited in 2026.  

Toxics and health 

• AB 823 (Tasha Boerner) Microplastics
• NRDC supported
• Vetoed on 10/11

This bill ould have expanded California’s existing ban on intentionally added microbeads to include leave-on cosmetics and cleaning products. This measure also included a first-in-the-nation prohibition on the sale of leave-on personal care products that contain plastic glitter. NRDC supported AB 823, but Governor Newsom vetoed it. 

• SB 682 (Allen) Forever chemicals
• NRDC cosponsored
• Vetoed 

This would have phased out PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), also known as “forever chemicals,” in six product categories: cookware, cleaning products, dental floss, ski wax, non-paper-based food packaging, and certain children’s products. The health care and cleanup costs associated with PFAS pollution in California are in the billions of dollars annually. The bill had support from scientists, academics, health organizations, local governments, water districts, and sanitation agencies, but celebrity chefs and cookware manufacturers weighed in against the bill.  

Even support from actor Mark Ruffalo was not enough to overcome celebrity chefs like Rachel Ray and Thomas Keller. Governor Newsom vetoed the bill on 10/13. This policy would have helped stop PFAS contamination at the source and aligned California with other states that have already phased out PFAS from these same consumer products. NRDC will continue to press the case for elimination of PFAS.

While it is unfortunate that these bills made it through the legislative process, our engagement helped achieve significant improvements to the language of each bill, with several major wins from the governor’s vetoes. 

• SB 237 (Tim Grayson) Petroleum supply
• NRDC opposed
• Signed on 9/19 

NRDC and the environmental community’s engagement improved this bill from the draft language we first saw in July. The final bill truncates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process by deeming Kern County’s oil and gas ordinance to be CEQA-compliant for permit approvals, eliminating further review and allowing oil drilling permits to resume.

• SB 404 (Anna Caballero) Metal shredding facilities
• NRDC opposed
• Vetoed 

This bill would have established a separate regulatory program for metal shredding facilities rather than bringing them under strict hazardous waste laws. Metal shredding facilities can be a helpful part of a circular economy, but they must operate responsibly and control the pollution that currently affects nearby communities and the environment.   

• AB 697 (Lori Wilson) Streamlined process for highway widening
• NRDC opposed
• Signed on 10/7

AB 697 authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife to issue a permit for incidental take of endangered wildlife for the widening of State Route 37 in Napa. Fast-tracking the development of this expensive climate-harming project, which is likely to be underwater in just 10 years, comes at the expense of the ecosystem and could set a harmful precedent for other highway expansions.

• SB 88 (Caballero) Biomass
• NRDC opposed
• Vetoed on 10/3

SB 88 would have required the Air Resources Board to develop specified methods and protocols to quantify the avoided emissions and beneficial uses of forest and agricultural biomass. NRDC and partners were concerned that the bill could lead to the conversion of forests into polluting energy and harm the climate, public health, and ecosystems. 

As we look ahead to 2026, California faces many challenges, including an ongoing budget deficit, high costs of living, and a hostile federal administration trying to undo climate progress. Nevertheless, NRDC, our partners, and state leadership remain committed to environmental leadership, beautiful open spaces, clean energy, and public health. The 2025 session highlighted many environmental champions in the California legislature and affirmed the power of broad and diverse coalitions. This coming session, we have an opportunity to fix the most problematic elements of CEQA legislation that passed in June through AB 1083, authored by Assembly Member Damon Connolly and supported by a strong group of allied legislators.  

We are also exploring legislation to curb nitrogen pollution because excess nitrogen from fertilizer harms drinking water and the climate. We are also working to advance green hydrogen production as a solution in hard-to-electrify sectors and continuing to lead on policies that transition our state from fossil fuels to clean energy.  

As we assess our legislative priorities and strategies for the recently completed session, NRDC is committed to continuing our work with a leading role in advancing policies that address the climate crisis, protect public health, and safeguard biodiversity and the environment.