The Brief

The California Supreme Court today sided with environmental groups in a case seen as pivotal for the proliferation of rooftop solar power in California.

In a unanimous vote, justices told a lower court to revisit a ruling that upheld reduced payments to solar panel owners for selling excess power back to utility companies. Justices did not rule on whether the changes to the solar program were legal, requiring the court of appeals to determine this.

"They basically said the lower court kind of punted on the whole substance of the [solar payments] decision,” Bernadette Del Chiaro, vice president for California at the Environmental Working Group, said. “I do think they’re clearly stating this needs to be reviewed.”

At issue is a 2022 decision by state regulators to reduce by about 75% payments to solar panel owners for excess power. The change was intended to help make bills affordable for all customers while still encouraging the adoption of renewable energy sources. Three environmental groups that brought the lawsuit — the Center for Biological Diversity, The Protect our Communities Foundation, and the Environmental Working Group — argued in the case that the state utility commission’s decision left out crucial considerations around benefits to customers and disadvantaged communities.

"We don’t need [to be in] an affordability crisis if we have more local generation," Roger Lin, senior attorney fro the Center for Biological Diversity, said.

Utilities pay solar panel owners for their excess power under a program known as “net energy metering.” In previous iterations of the program — “NEM 1” and “NEM 2” — utilities paid solar customers a retail rate for their extra energy, which is the same price the utilities would charge other customers when they resold that energy. This was changed under the current iteration of the program — “NEM 3.0” — which instead gives customers the “avoided cost,” which is how much utilities save by not buying that power on the wholesale market.

Customers who joined the program after mid-April 2023 receive the new rate, while customers under the prior two versions will continue to receive the old rate for the duration of their contracts, which is typically about 20 years.

Utility commissioners ruled in favor of power companies, which argued that older versions of the program created an unfair cost burden on customers. Those without rooftop solar, utilities said, have to pay more than their peers for routine maintenance to the grid. The groups bringing the lawsuit said this idea is overblown. A court of appeals decision upheld regulators' decision, relying on a legal standard that gives significant deference to decisions made by the California Public Utilities Commission.

Thursday's decision said the court of appeals "erred" by using this standard.

Whether or not the change in how solar panel owners are paid is legal will be left to the lower courts. But the decision this week could have farther-reaching implications for state utility regulators.

Advocates said the decision reinforces that the utilities' commission must ensure that its decisions fit squarely within the law.

"For too long, they really have operated in a black box behind a shroud of complexity," Del Chiaro said. "Consumers and the planet have consistently lost out as a result of that.”

The fallout from the utility commission’s 2022 net metering decision included an 82% drop in customers requesting connections for rooftop solar installations, and industry groups expected a loss of about 17,000 jobs during the first year of the change.

For a decade, LAist has been making navigating elections in California and L.A. easier through our Voter Game Plan guides. More than 3 million people visited the Voter Game Plan during our coverage of the 2024 elections. That’s equivalent to more than half of the overall registered voters in L.A. County.

We’ve heard from so many people who tell us that Voter Game Plan has helped them make their most informed votes ever. You’ve told us that these helpful, plain-spoken and nonpartisan guides are essential in Southern California.

And each election cycle, we strive to find new ways to make them even better. Over the last few elections, we’ve added charts that let you follow the money in key races by tracking campaign finance. We’ve expanded to Orange County, Long Beach and Pasadena. We spun up our popular newsletter, “Make It Make Sense,” which keeps you informed on what goes on after the election. This year, we added a pre-game to the newsletter and brought you up to speed on recent big elections ahead of this primary election day.

What is Voter Game Plan+

Now we’re launching another new experiment. We call it Voter Game Plan+. This feature will offer you a new toolkit of features to enhance your voting research experience. Here's how it works:

• If you already support LAist’s work as a member, thank you. You’ll have full access to these new tools.
• If you haven’t yet taken the step of joining the LAist member ranks, we are asking for a small, one-time payment of $7 for these additional features through the Nov. 3 mid-term election.

All of our voter guides remain free for all to use, and you can still submit your questions to our reporters and we’ll get them answered.

Why ask for money? This nominal fee will help offset the cost of producing these specific guides and tools, as well as the overall Voter Game Plan, which takes the equivalent of at least two journalists working full-time for a year to produce every election cycle.

As part of VGP+, you will be able to match your interests and topical positions against 14 candidates in the L.A. mayoral race through an interactive quiz. And the California governor's race quiz launches later this week.

We’re also offering a way to follow and save your favorite candidates across all races. This tool will be useful if you want a printable list of choices to take to the ballot box, or if you just want to keep track of how you voted when the general election comes around in November. And there are more features to come.

Our ask to you

With VGP+, LAist continues our tradition of working hard to make elections and long ballots less intimidating and giving voters more context and support for making informed decisions.

This is not a paywall, and you are not under any obligation to purchase VGP+. But we are asking this: Has LAist’s Voter Game Plan saved you time and given you confidence at the ballot box? If the answer is yes, we’d be very grateful for your support.

A fire has broken out on an oil and gas platform about 6.6 miles offshore from Santa Barbara.

The fire was reported just after 7 a.m. on Monday. Onboard crew members were unable to contain it. The 26 workers were evacuated, and two minor injuries were reported.

Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara City and Ventura County firefighters, as well as the Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard, are involved in efforts to contain the blaze.

There's no word on what started the fire.

This is a developing story.

The story first appeared on The LA Local.

After more than a decade of planning and community outreach, L.A. County is moving closer to finalizing its vision for redeveloping the historic General Hospital site into a mix of housing, commercial hubs and community spaces. 

Centennial Partners, the group leading the work, alongside developers Primestor and Bayspring, recently unveiled the project’s draft Master Plan at Alma Family Services in East L.A., offering residents a closer look at the billion-dollar redevelopment expected to unfold in the next 15 years. 

The plan outlines a phased transformation of the shuttered hospital and surrounding property into a mixed-use campus with housing, retail, green space and community hubs. The Master Plan is intended to serve as a flexible roadmap as different portions of the project move forward over the next decade. Developers estimate the full redevelopment will cost between $700 million and $1 billion over the next 10 years.

“This is such a special milestone. There’s more work ahead of us but we’re now advancing into a phase of the work to turn a vision into a reality,” Giovanna Araujo, the project’s director, said.

How community input shaped the plan

Community members gathered at Alma Family Services on April 25, 2026, to learn more about the transformation coming to historic General Hospital.

(

Andrew Lopez

/

Boyle Heights Beat

)

Developers said years of community engagement and meetings with residents and groups such as Eastside LEADS, InnerCity Struggle, and The Wellness Center helped shape the proposal. The goal is to integrate community feedback to repurpose the old hospital and West Campus into a “vibrant health and community-centered district.”

According to outreach findings shared during the presentation, most residents requested affordable housing, community safety, accessibility and cleanliness. 

The draft Master Plan includes:

• Between 600 and 800 housing units inside the historic General Hospital building
• At least 25% of those units designated as affordable housing
• Housing priorities for veterans, seniors and youth transitioning out of foster care
• Community hubs
• Interconnected walkways
• Mass transit options
• Gardens to support native plants and animals 

As more buildings are developed around the campus, the number of housing units is expected to grow to more than 1,000, organizers said.

Centennial Partners representatives also said that local jobs would be created in each construction phase but did not specify projected totals. 

A “generational investment” for the Eastside

A design map shows a potential mock-up of buildings for the historic General Hospital.

(

Courtesy of Centennial Partners

)

President and CEO of Alma Family Services Lourdes Caracoza suggested that housing and increased public safety may be the most crucial parts of the redevelopment plan. She also emphasized the historical role the General Hospital has played in her life and the lives of countless other Eastsiders.

“Historically, this is where you went to be healed or where you died,” Caracoza said. “Now, how do we make it a space where it’s focused on wellness? A lot of the families that come and speak, they know it’s not for them. They know it’s gonna be for their children. They know it’s gonna be for their grandchildren. It’s a generational investment.” 

Boyle Heights resident Gabriela Garcia said she worries the needs of her special needs children and her neighbors could be overlooked as the development moves forward. 

“Psychiatric care, rest beds and those kinds of things are necessary for a child with special needs,” Garcia said. “Are they going to take Centro Estrella and the programs they’re inviting into account, or are they going to prioritize what they think we need?”

Centennial Partners representatives said that services currently offered by East LA’s Centro Estrella and other groups like the Wellness Center and InnerCity Struggle would be incorporated into the long-term vision for the campus.

What’s next?

In the coming months, developers plan to present final building designs, a development plan and construction documents to the public. The project must also complete and  approval for an Environmental Impact Review (EIR), which evaluates potential impacts a project would generate, such as, noise, water quality or greenhouse gas emissions. 

If construction moves forward without setbacks, developers said the redevelopment should be completed within 15 years.

Groundbreaking for the seismic retrofitting of the old General Hospital building is expected to begin this summer.

Participants view renderings of a proposed community corridor during a meeting about the historic General Hospital redevelopment at Alma Family Services on April 25, 2026.

(

Andrew Lopez

/

Boyle Heights Beat

)