A Disappointing End to the 2025 Legislative Session
The legislative session has come to an end, and we’re disappointed. In an era of historic environmental and health rollbacks, California had an opportunity to stand with communities and prioritize health protections and democracy. Instead, corporate power prevailed, and major bills excluded community voices from the legislative process, leaving environmental justice neighborhoods to bear the consequences. Here’s a summary of what came out of this legislative session.
Senate Bill (SB) 237: Exempts oil drilling in Kern County from CEQA for the next 10 years.
After several weeks of negotiations, Governor Newsom's proposal to streamline permitting of new oil and gas wells statewide and increase drilling in Kern County has moved forward.
SB 237 will have grave consequences for Kern County, allowing up to 2,000 new oil wells to be permitted annually under a single Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the next decade. This decision is indicative of the growing nationwide trend of prioritizing Big Oil and corporate power. Increasing oil production will only have devastating consequences for frontline communities and allow industry to maintain its aggressive hold on our state.
Budget Trailer Bills Assembly Bill (AB) 130 & Senate Bill (SB) 131: Rollbacks of the California Environmental Quality Act
Governor Newsom signed two budget trailer bills — AB 130 and SB 131 — authored largely by Senator Scott Wiener, that carve out exemptions from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). By including CEQA provisions in the state budget, lawmakers sidestepped the normal legislative process, fast-tracking major policy changes with no opportunity for public input or debate. While the stated goal was to accelerate construction and streamline housing development, the bills roll back CEQA by eliminating key protections — including the guarantee of transparency and mitigation measures for projects that pose health and environmental hazards.
Massively concerning is the sweeping exemption of vaguely defined“advanced manufacturing” facilities. This vague category opens the door for some of the state’s most polluting industries, including semiconductor manufacturers, chemical plants, fuel production, battery storage, and combustion facilities. All these projects should require baseline Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) to safeguard communities. Environmental justice advocates and several legislators warned that exempting entire categories of polluting industries from CEQA could worsen pollution burdens in low-income communities of color. Immediately after its passage, advocates, including PSR-LA, called for a clean-up bill with commonsense safeguards to this harmful exemption.
Senator Durazo underscored the risk, noting that such an exemption would have shielded facilities like the Exide lead battery recycling plant in Vernon from environmental review had it been proposed today. The former Exide site is one of the nation's largest residential cleanups. Following the Governor's signing of these bills into effect, Assemblymember Connolly and a coalition of 20 coauthors introduced AB 1083 to revisit the bill’s language and address environmental concerns in the new year.
AB 1207: Extending Cap-and-Trade. A Disinvestment in Real Climate Solutions.
Governor Newsom has signed a package of climate bills, including AB 1207, which extends California’s Cap-and-Trade program through 2045 and rebrands it as “Cap-and-Invest". The program was initially designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by capping overall pollution while allowing companies to buy and trade permits. In the extension of the program, loopholes such as free allowances and offsets are preserved.
While the rebrand suggests an investment in reducing emissions, PSR-LA and its environmental justice allies advocated that any reauthorization needed to prevent further pollution in frontline communities and protect investments in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). By leaving market-based loopholes intact, AB 1207 instead allows oil and gas companies to avoid paying the full cost of their emissions, continue operating, and even expand production — all while health burdens like asthma, lung disease, and cardiovascular illness remain concentrated in low-income communities of color near refineries and drilling sites. Despite strong advocacy in opposition, the bill ultimately passed and was signed into law on September 19th.
AB 617: Investing in the Community Air Protection Program
Programs like the AB 617 Community Air Protection Program (CAPP) have had a direct impact at the local level. Since its creation in 2017, AB 617 has provided communities with important tools —such as co-governance structures, air quality monitoring, accelerated rulemaking, and investments in community-driven solutions. These measures have the potential to reduce toxic emissions linked to asthma, cardiovascular disease, and poor birth outcomes. Despite its importance, AB 617 has faced repeated threats of funding cuts.
PSR-LA and allies pushed hard to secure stable funding for the program. Considering California's rebranding of Cap-and-Trade as "Cap-and-Invest," it's imperative that those investments prioritize frontline communities. In South Los Angeles, a designated AB 617 community, the program is nearing near-term wins, including the installation of filtration systems in schools and homes, just-transition zero-emissions upgrades for small businesses, strengthened local air regulations, and the creation of new green spaces. These projects demonstrate what the program can deliver when state agencies and residents collaborate. Thanks to coordinated advocacy, lawmakers approved $250 million in continuous annual funding for AB 617, a vital step toward ensuring that frontline communities can hold the state accountable to its commitments and push program reforms that build healthier, more resilient neighborhoods.
