Fix SB 131: Tell Lawmakers to Restore Full CEQA Protections
This legislative session, critical health and environmental protections are under threat, including the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Environmental justice, clean water, and public health advocates are sounding the alarm about SB 131, a bill with far-reaching and potentially devastating consequences. If passed in its current form, SB 131 could trigger a wave of pollution and health risks across California, especially in low-income communities and communities of color already overburdened by toxic exposures.
At the heart of the concern is a vague and rushed exemption to CEQA for so-called “advanced manufacturing.” The bill defines this as:
“systems that result from substantive advancement, whether incremental or breakthrough, beyond current industry standards, in the production of materials and products.”
But let's be clear: “advanced” doesn’t mean non-toxic, safe, or community-friendly.
This broad definition would allow industrial projects, such as lithium processing, plastics production, and hydrogen fuel facilities, to bypass environmental review and fast-track development in low-income neighborhoods without community input or safeguards.
SB 131 sets a dangerous precedent, stripping away key environmental protections and increasing pollution risks in already vulnerable areas. Worse yet, by framing industrial development as part of an affordable housing strategy, the bill opens the door to placing polluting facilities near homes, schools, and parks without proper review.
There's still time to act. We're calling for immediate amendments to remove or strictly limit this exemption and restore protections for sensitive habitats.
We urge you to contact your legislative representatives immediately and demand they repeal or significantly narrow the "advanced manufacturing" exemption and restore full CEQA protections.
Use our quick template to call or email your representatives now. Every voice counts!
Find your representative: https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/
Call/ Email Template
"I am writing as a concerned constituent and California resident to urge you to take swift and decisive action to address the serious environmental and public health threats introduced by Senate Bill 131 (SB 131).
While SB 131 was presented as a bill to support affordable housing and essential community services, it contains a dangerous and sweeping CEQA exemption for "advanced manufacturing" that was passed without public input and on a fast-tracked timeline.
As it stands, this exemption threatens the health and safety of low-income and other communities, undermines California's climate goals, and opens the door to polluting industries with minimal oversight.
Here’s what concerns me and should concern every Californian: (use any of these points)
"Advanced manufacturing" is a dangerously vague term. The definition used in SB 131 encompasses lithium mining, hydrogen fuel production, strip mining, semiconductor and plastic manufacturing, and even water bottling, all of which are exempt from environmental review under CEQA. This is not a “clean” or “green” industry; it's deregulation cloaked in innovation.
Frontline communities will suffer first. Industrial zones disproportionately overlap with working-class and BIPOC neighborhoods. CEQA exists to ensure these communities are informed, protected, and heard. SB 131 strips them of those protections.
CEQA is not redundant. It's essential. Other environmental laws do not provide the same comprehensive, cumulative, and early-stage analysis that CEQA ensures. CEQA is often the only law that identifies impacts and triggers mitigation before damage is done and with the U.S. EPA rolling back environmental protections, our California protections are even more important.
This exemption is inconsistent with California's values. We cannot claim leadership in climate and environmental justice while gutting the very protections that uphold those values. This aligns more with Trump-era rollbacks than the bold, transparent leadership Californians demand.
I respectfully and URGENTLY call on you to:
Remove the CEQA exemption for advanced manufacturing from SB 131, or, at a minimum, significantly narrow its scope and clarify its definition to exclude specific project types that pose known pollution and safety risks.
Restore SB 35’s protections for “habitat for protected species” and designated conservation lands, which were shockingly removed from CEQA safeguards in this bill.
Ensure that any future environmental policy changes are subject to transparent, public legislative processes, not last-minute trailer bills.
Please do not allow this harmful provision to stand. California’s families, frontline communities, ecosystems, and democratic processes deserve better.
Thank you for leading with courage and integrity.
