Legislation
A Chance to Rebuild Better
AB 2385 by Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris would help local governments spring into action after disasters.
Fourteen months after the Palisades and Eaton fires, many Angelenos remain uncertain if they will ever return to the neighborhoods they call home and policymakers are still grappling with how to help rebuild. Back in September, I wrote about a drafting wrinkle in state law that’s standing in the way of local governments’ ability to …
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CONTINUE READINGBring Back the Legislative Veto!!
Restoring Presidential-Congressional balance also restores the Constitution’s vision of government — and could pay environmental dividends
One line that stood out in the Supreme Court’s opinion in the tariff case, Learning Resources v Trump, was this one from Neil Gorsuch: Once this Court reads a doubtful statute as granting the executive branch a given power, that power may prove almost impossible for Congress to retrieve. Any President keen on his own authority (and, …
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CONTINUE READINGPolicies on the Bus Go Round and Round
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
A year ago, the transportation manager of Northshore School District, outside of Seattle, wrote to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin pleading with him to release frozen funding she was owed for new school buses. “We need your assistance to complete these projects and lift the financial burdens school districts are facing due to the delay in …
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CONTINUE READINGThat Was the Year That Was
2025 had a lot of bad environmental news, but also a few rays of hope.
2025 has been a dark time for Americanswho care about the environment. Rather than being a repeat of his first term, which had been bad enough environmentally, Trump’s second term has been a tsunami of bad news. Besides some outright rollbacks, Trump has done his best to purge the government of programs and people implementing environmental law. Much of that has been illegal but effective anyway. The demolition of the East Wing will be remembered as a defining moment, the perfect metaphor for an Administration that has religiously embraced the motto, “move fast and break things.”
CONTINUE READINGA Year After the LA Fires, Who’s Accountable for a Resilient Recovery?
Altadena and the Palisades are moving forward but outcomes depend on survivors’ access to resources. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Last week, on a warm December evening in Los Angeles, my husband and I were tidying our backyard after hosting a holiday lunch when our street’s palm trees began listing in a strong wind. I felt a chill run down my spine then, the same chill I felt the next day when I smelled smoke …
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CONTINUE READINGCan Bioplastics Be Composted? UCLA Clinic Investigates
See how bioplastic packaging interacts with California’s waste system as UCLA’s Environmental Legislation Clinic tours facilities across the state.
A student team from UCLA’s California Environmental Legislation and Policy Clinic has been conducting research for a project on bioplastics through field visits at waste management sites up and down the state, from Sun Valley to Northern California. These clinic field trips have been really fascinating and a little smelly. Clinic student Maddie Lincoln describes …
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CONTINUE READINGWe are Drowning in Plastic. Will a New Law Save Us?
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
My family recently spent a warm November morning ankle-deep in mucky, brackish water, fishing out used condoms and syringes near Venice Beach. It stands out as one of the best days I’ve had all year. We were volunteering with Ballona Creek Renaissance, a local nonprofit that alongside Friends of the Ballona Wetlands organizes creek cleanups …
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CONTINUE READINGThe CPUC Makes Good on Neighborhood Electrification
The state’s gas utilities tried to delay priority zones for decarbonization. The CPUC rejected that approach and has selected priority neighborhoods.
Here’s something to celebrate: the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) released its proposed decision designating initial priority neighborhood decarbonization zones. Loyal readers of Legal Planet will have followed our coverage on SB 1221, a law passed last fall that allows the CPUC to support “neighborhood decarbonization zones” to transition away from natural gas toward zero-emissions alternatives. Phasing out natural gas …
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CONTINUE READINGAnother Threat to Advocacy Groups
The new regulation on loan forgiveness bodes no one good.
A new Trump Administration rule restricts what organizations qualify as engaging in public service. Unless an employee qualifies, its employees won’t benefit from student loan forgiveness programs. That would cut into their workforce. On the face, the standard seems reasonable: organizations must “not engage in activities such that they have a substantial illegal purpose.” But when you dig beneath the surface, the whole rule turns out to be legally dubious and ideological to its core.
CONTINUE READINGA start on feasible permitting reform
A proposal from the National Governors’ Association is narrow and focused, and that’s good
I’ve written recently about the difficult politics of permitting reform at the federal level. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t important work to be done. It does mean that successful proposals will have to be, as I wrote, low salience, thoughtful, and unlikely to provoke polarization. The National Governors’ Association has just come out …
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