The Brief

The California Legislature wrapped up its session last week and dozens of climate bills now await Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature — or veto. They range from corporate accountability to clean energy, transportation, water and more.

“The ball is definitely being advanced and I think, given the budget situation, we could have seen things be a lot worse than they turned out to be this year,” said Julia Stein, a climate policy researcher at UCLA.

This summer, lawmakers cut $6 billion in climate initiatives.

Still, Stein said this session showed “things are moving forward in meaningful ways.”

Here’s our roundup of some of the most significant bills, and what they mean for us here in the Southland.

Corporate accountability 

• SB 253: the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act: 

  • The law requires companies that do business in California and make $1 billion in annual revenue to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions. Starting in 2026, big corporations will be required to tally up and send to the state the pollution from fossil fuels burned to make their products or run their operations, and the emissions associated with the product once it’s reached the consumer. It’ll affect more than 5,000 businesses, including some of the biggest brands most of us interact with regularly, including Google, Apple, and Chevron.
  • Governor Newsom has already said he’ll sign it, making it the first policy of its kind in the country. 

• SB 261: the Climate-related Financial Risk Act

  • This bill requires any company that does business in California and makes more than $500 million yearly to report to the state its climate-related financial risk, as well as how the company will reduce or adapt to that risk. It’ll affect an additional 2,000 or so businesses. It was authored by Sen. Henry Stern, who represents parts of Ventura and L.A. counties, including Simi Valley, Canoga Park and Woodland Hills.
  • Governor Newsom has said he’ll sign SB 261.

• AB 1167: the Orphaned Well Prevention Act 

  • This bill would prevent the sale of an oil well unless the new owner can prove they can pay to plug and clean it up. That would be significant, because L.A. has the largest urban oilfield in the country, and thousands of abandoned wells continue to pollute the air and climate despite not being in operation. Angelenos who live near drilling continue to experience health impacts. It was authored by Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo who represents parts of L.A. including Echo Park, Highland Park and East L.A.
  • The bill is on the Governor’s desk

• SB 842: 

  • Earlier this year, Newsom signed a “gas price gouging” law to establish a new state department called the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight, an independent body that identifies price gouging by oil companies and allows the state to penalize companies for it. Some groups, such as Consumer Watchdog, worry a last-minute deal amending SB 842 could undermine the law by requiring the state to consult with “labor and industry stakeholders” and the Department of Industrial Relations before taking certain actions. 
  • On the Governor’s desk.

Clean energy 

• SB 49:

  • This bill directs state agencies to evaluate the potential for solar energy, battery storage and transmission infrastructure alongside highways. California estimates it needs to at least triple the amount of electricity it generates by 2045, and the bill will establish a process to build this renewable energy infrastructure within state-owned rights-of-way. The non-profit lobby group Environment California helped push the legislation, using an analysis that identified L.A. and Ventura counties as having some of the most suitable space for such an effort. 
  • On the Governor’s desk. 

• AB 1373:

  • Unlocks California’s offshore wind potential by making California a centralized buyer for all the clean energy produced once turbines start spinning. 
  • On the Governor’s desk.

• AB 3:

  • Helps California improve port infrastructure, including here in L.A. and Long Beach, to handle offshore wind development.
  • On the Governor’s desk

• SB 48: 

  • Creates a strategy for reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in large commercial buildings. About 40% of the city of L.A.’s emissions, for example, come from buildings.  
  • On the Governor’s desk.

Infrastructure 

• AB 126: 

  • Reauthorizes up to $100 million a year in continued funding for California’s clean transportation programs, such as electric vehicle incentives and charging infrastructure. 
  • On the Governor’s desk. 

• SB 410:

  • Removes some hurdles to connecting EV charging infrastructure to the grid. The bill would help speed up efforts particularly for drayage trucks, the huge trucks which transfer shipping containers, to move from being primarily powered by diesel to electric. All new drayage trucks entering the ports are required to be zero emission by January 2024.
  • On the Governor's desk.

Water 

• AB 1572:

  • This bill permanently bans using drinkable water to irrigate purely decorative grass at commercial, industrial, city and institutional properties. It  starts in 2027 and would make permanent in phases a temporary drought measure adopted last year. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies water to 19 million of us here in the Southland, has itself advocated for this type of ban to help adapt to a hotter, drier future. It was introduced by Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale).
  • On the Governor’s desk.

• SB 676:

  • This bill would allow cities and counties to ban or restrict artificial turf at residences. Artificial turf worsens urban heat and significantly contributes to microplastics in the ocean. It was introduced by Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica).

Sea level rise

• SB 272:

  • This bill would make it mandatory for local governments to develop plans for sea level rise. It would prioritize state funding for jurisdictions that already have an approved sea level rise plan. That could help cities such as San Clemente get needed funding to deal with worsening coastal erosion. 
  • On the Governor’s desk. 

Schools

• SB 394: 

  • The bill would require state officials to create a plan to make schools more sustainable and resilient to climate change. It was introduced by Sen. Lena Gonzalez, who represents Long Beach and cities, including Bell, Maywood and Huntington Park in Southeast L.A. county,
  • On the Governor’s desk. 

Conservation

• SB 337:

  • Makes law Gov. Newsom’s “30x30”  executive order, committing the state to conserving at least 30% of its lands and coastal waters by 2030.  
  • On the Governor’s desk.

As Los Angeles homeowners grapple with the expense of rebuilding after last year’s devastating fires, an L.A. City Councilmember is putting forward an idea that could lower some costs.

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, has introduced a motion to explore waiving part of the city’s portion of the local sales tax for fire victims who purchase rebuilding materials in the city.

The 1% of the local 9.75% sales tax that goes into the city’s general fund would be given back to consumers under the proposal. The waiver could apply to lumber, appliances and other rebuilding goods purchased within the city.

The motion, introduced Friday by Park and seconded by Councilmember John Lee, says: “The City should do everything within its power to alleviate the financial burden for these residents and businesses in order to facilitate their return and stabilize the Pacific Palisades community.”

Would it make much of a difference? 

Economists told LAist the proposal could help many homeowners mitigate the high cost of rebuilding, but likely wouldn’t tip the scales for under-insured, under-resourced property owners.

“It wouldn't hurt if it's very well designed and easy to use,” said Alexander Meeks, a director at the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. “But I'm not sure if it's really going to tackle the scale of the financial challenge that survivors are facing.”

Meeks noted that the tax waiver wouldn’t lower up-front costs such as environmental testing, architectural design and permitting. And it may not help homeowners sourcing raw materials from outside the city.

Zhiyun Li, a UCLA Anderson School of Management economist, said the waiver could help some homeowners justify the additional cost of rebuilding more fire-safe structures.

“Homeowners must typically pay out of pocket to upgrade to IBHS+ standards, which are more stringent,” Li said. “The tax waiver could encourage upgrading to IBHS+ standards or investing more in mitigation, thereby reducing future risk and improving the likelihood of maintaining insurance coverage.”

What’s next for the proposal? 

The proposed tax relief would not be available to properties that have been sold since the fires started in January 2025.

The motion has been sent to the City Council’s budget and fire recovery committees. If approved by the full council, it would require the city administrative officer, the Office of Finance and the city attorney to report back to the council within 60 days on options for crafting a tax relief plan.

The motion calls for the report to consider factors such as how to minimize the burden of administering the tax relief, what documentation homeowners would have to submit and what it would cost the city to oversee the program.

Senate and House Republican leadership have resurrected a stalled plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a record 47-day funding lapse.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the House will take up a measure passed by the Senate last week to fund most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of September.

Republicans would then attempt to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years using a party-line budget reconciliation bill that would not require support from Democrats.

"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," Thune and Johnson wrote.

The agreement comes nearly a week after House Republicans dismissed an identical plan, refusing to take up the Senate-passed measure and instead passing a 60-day short term funding bill for all of DHS that had little chance of overcoming Democratic opposition in the Senate.

Johnson called the agreement a "joke" and President Donald Trump declined to publicly endorse the deal. Trump had previously resisted any package that did not include his push to overhaul federal elections known as the Save America Act.

"I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it," Trump told reporters last week.

Democrats welcomed the agreement as in line with their pledge not to give ICE any more money without reforms after immigration enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. But the deal does not include any of the policy demands Democrats are pressing for, such as a ban on masks for immigration enforcement officers and requiring warrants issued by a judge, not just the agency, to enter homes.

"For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered."

Trump seemed to bless the revived plan earlier Wednesday, writing on social media that he wants a party-line bill to fund immigration enforcement on his desk by June 1.

"We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be able to stop us," Trump wrote.

Despite the shutdown, ICE has been minimally impacted because Republican lawmakers approved $75 billion for ICE through another party-line budget reconciliation bill last year.

Congress is on a two-week recess, but the Senate and House could move to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP as early as Thursday using a procedure known as unanimous consent that allows the chambers to circumvent formal voting as long as no member objects.

Even during a recess when most members are not in Washington, this could be unpredictable, especially in the House, where many hard-line conservatives oppose a deal that does not fully fund DHS.

"Let's make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."

If a member does object, that could require waiting for another vote when all members are back from recess.

Claudia Grisales contributed reporting.
Copyright 2026 NPR

California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.

It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.

Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.

But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.

On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.

“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”

State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs.

Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.

“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.

“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”

‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’ 

In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.

“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”

Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.

“That means we can get more work done,” he said.

It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.

Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.

“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”

‘A haystack fire’

Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.

Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”

“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.

Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.

But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.

How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.

“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.