Three Cheers for Two Clean Energy Victories for California

Gov. Newsom signed SB 1359 and AB 2313, two bills that the UCLA Emmett Institute had identified as clear winners for ratepayers.

After a suspenseful few weeks, we’re excited to see that yesterday, Governor Newsom signed into law two key bills that will help reduce costly gas bills and help households transition to a cleaner energy future: SB 1359 and AB 2313. We’ve written about both of these bills before, in multiple reports and blog posts. It’s important to celebrate these kinds of wins and to highlight how policy analysis can inform advocacy and coalition-building to make law in this space.

The initial version of SB 1359 mirrored many of the recommendations in our 2025 “Go Big, Save Big: Approaches to Fund Building Electrification in California” report, written by Brennon Mendez, Craig Segall and me. That analysis describes a suite of policy options California can undertake to help reduce unnecessary spending on an aging and increasingly duplicative gas system. While the scope of the legislation has been narrowed since its first draft, the Act makes it easier for the CPUC to hold gas utilities accountable for their expenditures, and to ensure that investments are in line with California’s policy priorities.

SB 1359, the Natural Gas Ratepayer Protection Act (Stern) as enacted will create greater transparency around gas utilities’ investments, and provide a crucial first step toward long-term gas transition planning. The law will require gas utilities to prepare an annual report describing their planned infrastructure spending. They will also need to report the status of planned, initiated, and completed replacement and upgrade projects, assess the risk of stranded assets, and note the distributional impacts of stranded assets on remaining gas ratepayers. The utilities will also need to describe any available electrification or non-pipeline alternatives implemented or evaluated by the utility.

AB 2313, The Home Energy Choice (Berman), provides customers whose homes are scheduled for a gas service line repair or replacement with the option to receive funding to electrify their homes instead of continuing gas service. Gas utilities would offer this option to households where it would be cost-effective to electrify rather than maintain gas service. The new law is a straightforward win for ratepayers, as it would avoid costly investments in gas infrastructure that is expected to become obsolete in the near future, bringing down rates for everyone. At the same time, the program remains fully voluntary, meaning that no customer would be forced to relinquish gas service unless they actually want to do so.

NRDC and Earthjustice led the charge in passing AB 2313, with hundreds of organizations coming together in support. Our UCLA team — the Emmett Clean Energy and Law and Leadership Project or E-CELL, helped build momentum through a report (“Non-Pipeline Alternatives to Accelerate California’s Gas Transition”) and blogs. E-CELL also benefits from the expertise of UCLA’s California Environmental Legislation and Policy Clinic. 

It’s exciting to see growing momentum for reducing our reliance on expensive, aging, and increasingly unnecessary gas infrastructure. Meanwhile, other bills enacted this session, including SB 222 and AB 1738 help streamline the permitting process for clean and efficient electric alternatives, like heat pumps. Together, these policies are important steps toward an affordable, healthy, and sustainable future for all Californians.

Energy, legislation, newsom, Sacramento