California
BACA makes the ballot
Initiative to drastically change CEQA appears to have enough signatures to make ballot
It looks like the California Chamber of Commerce has enough signatures to put on the November ballot their initiative that would drastically change the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Given that, I’m re-upping the analyses I did earlier this year on the measure: Part 1 (overview), Part 2 (sweeping scope of the initiative in terms …
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CONTINUE READINGDoes Taking Oil Money Disqualify You from Being Governor?
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
The race to be California’s next governor has managed to be both wild and underwhelming, with a wide field of candidates who are competent but not exactly captivating. Exciting or not, voters are starting to tune in. If the environment and climate change rank among your top concerns, who should you vote for? My Legal …
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CONTINUE READINGNew Issue Brief: Community Engagement in Equity-Oriented EV Planning
Examining lessons from the Monterey Bay EV CAR Framework.
As federal support for the EV transition recedes, state and local planning processes are playing an increasingly central role in shaping equitable access to clean mobility infrastructure. Community engagement is a critical component of these efforts, yet relatively few case studies document how equity-oriented engagement processes work in practice. CLEE has released a new issue …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Story of California’s Advanced Clean Trucks Regulation
New CLEE report & webinar tells the story of this first-of-its-kind supply-side regulation for zero-emission trucks
California has been a global pioneer on electric vehicles, and that leadership extends to zero-emission trucks. To address the pollution and disproportionate impacts on disadvantaged communities, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted the first-of-its-kind Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulation in 2020. This landmark standard required truckmakers to begin selling zero-emission versions (such as battery …
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CONTINUE READINGCan Sustainability Be Abundant, Safe, and Affordable?
Read and watch key takeaways from the UCLA Emmett Institute’s 2026 symposium on climate policy and affordability.
This month, the UCLA Emmett Institute explored the intersection of climate goals, affordability concerns, and environmental protections by hosting a symposium titled “Can Abundance Be Sustainable?” The all-day, public event at UCLA School of Law brought together academics, community advocates, policymakers, journalists, students and—not one but two—heads of utility regulatory bodies. The goal was to think deeply about the path …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Gas System Is Crumbling. SB 1359 Charts a Path to a Clean Energy Future.
SB 1359 (Stern, 2026) would adopt many of the proposed policies outlined in the 2025 UCLA Law report, “Go Big, Save Big: Approaches to Fund Building Electrification in California.”
A new bill introduced by Sen. Henry Stern, SB 1359 (2026), titled the “Gas Transition Responsibility and Electrification Act,” would establish a comprehensive framework to manage the transition away from natural gas and toward electrification in a way that protects ratepayers, reduces emissions, and ensures an orderly and equitable phase-down of gas infrastructure. Specifically, SB …
CONTINUE READINGClimate Issues in the 2026 Governor’s Race: Energy Transition
Seventh in a series of posts outlining key challenges and opportunities facing California’s next governor
California is pursuing some of the world’s most ambitious clean energy goals, including a legally mandated zero-emissions electricity sector and statewide GHG emissions neutrality by 2045. When it comes to the energy transition, the stakes for the incoming governor are high: a massive surge in electricity demand from electric vehicles, building electrification, and data centers …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Future of the Colorado
There’s not enough water to go around, but there’s no agreement about what to do.
The Colorado River provides water to 40 million people and about 5.5 million acres of irrigated farmland. There’s only so much water to go around, so how to divide up the water has been hotly disputed for over a century. The previous agreement has come unstuck, but finding a replacement has proved devilishly difficult. I suspect that the Feds would rather avoid this political hot-potato through a state agreement. So far, however, state negotiations haven’t been successful. Maybe the impending threat of a federal mandate will light a fire under the negotiations. Otherwise, we are probably guaranteed years of litigation while the river runs dry.
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Has a Neighborhood Decarbonization Law. How Does It Work?
New FAQ from UCLA outlines what we know (and don’t know) about the implementation of SB 1221, California’s landmark neighborhood decarbonization law.
By Sooji Yang, Lauren Dunlap, Elias van Emmerick, and Gregory Pierce The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is currently navigating a wide array of questions from stakeholders as it designs a first-of-its-kind program to transition entire blocks of buildings from natural gas to zero-emission alternatives. Guidelines for the pilot program—a central component of Senate Bill …
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CONTINUE READING‘Smog and Sunshine’: Achieving Clean Air in California
UCLA’s Ann Carlson discusses her new book and how the state can address federal efforts to undo its emissions standards.
Los Angeles is famous for both sunshine and smog. Turns out the two are related. Ozone pollution is caused by the interaction of sunlight and the chemicals that come out of vehicle tailpipes and factory smokestacks. But when Ann Carlson’s family first moved to Southern California, nobody knew what caused smog and there were no laws …
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