Legislation

We Need a Circular Economy for EV Batteries

California got close to making suppliers ensure EV batteries are managed responsibly at end of life. Here’s why 2025 should be the year California creates a circular economy for EV batteries.

California continues to make significant headway toward its target to eliminate in-state sales of new internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035. About one in five new cars sold in California are battery-powered. And it’s not just California: Battery-powered car sales are up globally, with projections showing 17 million will be sold worldwide in 2024. As …

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Climate, Energy, and Environment on the Ballot

Ballot measures in Washington and California are especially important but others are worth noting.

The two biggest state initiatives are a $10 billion green bond proposal in California and a proposed rollback of Washington State’s new cap-and-trade program.  The outcomes of these and other initiatives will provide a barometer of public sentiment on environmental issues.

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SB 1221 is Law. Time for Targeted Neighborhood Electrification.

This new California law will help build pilot programs for up to 30 neighborhood decarbonization zones to transition off gas.

Governor Newsom recently signed a bill (SB 1221) that lays the groundwork for a vital shift in California’s clean energy transition. The bill– by Senator Dave Min, with support from key decarbonization advocates–will create a pilot program at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to designate up to 30 “neighborhood decarbonization zone” projects. In these …

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Governor Newsom Should Veto These Four Bills

Four seemingly modest bills — AB 1122, AB 1296, AB 637 and AB 3179 — are sneaky legislative efforts to threaten California’s world-leading clean transportation investments.

This post was co-authored by Ruben Aronin, Principal of the Better World Group. With just weeks to go before November 5, all eyes are on the election, including what it means for environmental policy. And yet, one of the largest threats to California’s clean transportation leadership in recent history has materialized right under our noses …

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The Contract with America

Or, as some critics called it, “the Contract ON America.”

The Contract with America was the brainchild of Newt Gingrich. It was a turning point in American politics: moving the GOP from compromise to confrontation, nationalizing what had previously been locally oriented House races, and shifting the GOP far to the right. There’s a reason they call Gingrich the man who broke Congress.

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New Law Reaffirms Local Authority to Ban Oil Drilling

AB 3233, part of a trio of bills that the governor just signed, paves a clear path for local phase-out efforts.

This morning, Governor Newsom signed a trio of bills—AB 3233 (Addis), AB 1866 (Hart), and AB 2716 (Bryan)—that will protect communities in Los Angeles and across the state from the harms of oil and gas production, the impacts of which are disproportionately experienced in low-income communities of color across the state. He signed the package …

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A New Energy Project at UCLA Law

The Emmett Clean Energy Law & Leadership project will build a bridge between the existing expertise of UCLA’s energy law scholars and policymakers.

You don’t have to look beyond the front pages of newspapers, or beyond rooftops in your neighborhood to know that we are in the midst of a clean energy revolution, with renewable energy technologies dramatically decreasing in price and increasing in availability. These technologies promise to reduce energy cost burdens for households, as well as …

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Environmental Bills at the 10-yard Line

Now that the legislative session has wrapped, the ball is in the Governor’s hands. Here are some of the environmental bills he could sign by September 30.

The California legislative session wrapped up on Saturday, August 31st at midnight, with legislators working until the clock struck twelve. As usual, it was an exciting night to watch. Unlike most years, there seemed to be more of a rush at the end to reach agreement on some of the major issue areas, as well …

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Assessing the First Decade of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

You’re Invited to “10 Years In: A SGMA Report Card”–A Conference at U.C. Davis Law School on 9/6

A decade ago, California stood out–and not in a good way–as the only Western state without comprehensive state laws monitoring and regulating groundwater pumping and use. But in 2014, following years of severe and protracted California drought, and both agricultural and urban water users compensating for depleted surface water flows by pumping groundwater in unprecedented …

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The Impoundment Gambit

Trump plans to use this unconstitutional strategy to reverse congressional priorities and gut environmental agencies.

Trump’s claim of constitutional control over spending would allow him to slash social security or environmental protection with a single stroke his pen, and there would be nothing Congress could do about it.

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