2025-26 Legislative Session: Key Developments in Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources Policy Area 

Throughout the first year of the 2025-26 Legislative Session, CSAC has kept you informed about key legislative developments. With Governor Newsom’s final actions now complete, CSAC will publish a series of articles highlighting new laws and vetoed bills in each policy area. This week, our focus is on the Agriculture, Environment & Natural Resources policy area, covering legislation on climate and energy, water, wildfire, emergency management, insurance, cannabis, and more. 

For additional information, please contact Jordan Wells or Caitlin Loventhal. 

Water 

SB 72 (Caballero) (Chapter 210, Statutes of 2025)
The California Water Plan: long-term supply targets. CSAC, along with the California Municipal Utilities Association and the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance, co-sponsored this measure to modernize the California Water Plan. SB 72 establishes an interim target to develop an additional nine million acre-feet of water by 2040 and directs the Department of Water Resources to set a long-term water supply target for 2050 and develop strategies to achieve both targets. Read our request for signature here. 

SB 454 (McNerney) (Vetoed October 1, 2025)
State Water Resources Control Board: PFAS Mitigation Program. CSAC supported this measure which would have created a per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) Mitigation Fund in the State Treasury and authorize the State Water Resources Control Board to use the fund to cover or reduce the costs associated with treating PFAS in drinking water, recycled water, stormwater, and wastewater. Read our request for signature here. 

Cannabis 

AB 8 (Aguiar-Curry) (Chapter 248, Statutes of 2025) 
Cannabis: cannabinoids: industrial hemp. CSAC supported this measure which codifies safeguards and integrates the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of hemp and hemp products into the state’s existing cannabis regulatory framework, providing clearer oversight and enhanced enforcement mechanisms. Read our request for signature here. 

SB 378 (Wiener) (Chapter 411, Statutes of 2025)
Online marketplaces: illicit cannabis: reporting and liability. CSAC supported this measure which enhances consumer protections in online cannabis marketplaces by requiring online platforms to establish a reporting mechanism on its site and requiring a disclaimer for online cannabis marketplaces that do not verify a California License. Read our request for signature here. 

Wildfire, Emergency Management, and Insurance 

AB 1 (Connolly) (Chapter 472, Statutes of 2025)
Residential property insurance: wildfire risk. CSAC supported this measure which requires the Department of Insurance to consider whether to update the Safer from Wildfires regulations to include additional building hardening measures for property-level mitigation efforts and community-wide wildfire mitigation programs by January 1, 2030, and every five years thereafter. Read our request for signature here. 

AB 226 (Calderon) (Chapter 473, Statutes of 2025)
California FAIR Plan Association. CSAC supported this measure which establishes the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan Stabilization Act. The Act authorizes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank), upon the request of the California FAIR Plan Association, to issue bonds to finance the costs of claims, to increase liquidity and claims-paying capacity of the Association, and to refund bonds previously issued for that purpose. Read our request for signature here. 

AB 696 (Ransom) (Vetoed October 11, 2025)
Lithium-ion vehicle batteries: emergencies: advisory group. CSAC supported this measure, which would have required the Office of the State Fire Marshal to convene a Lithium-Ion Car Battery Advisory Group to review and advise the Legislature on policies related to the safety and management of lithium-ion vehicle batteries involved in emergency situations. The advisory group would also have been tasked with developing best practice standards to guide first responders in addressing lithium-ion vehicle battery incidents. Read our request for signature here. 

AB 888 (Calderon) (Chapter 536, Statues of 2025)
California Safe Homes grant program. CSAC supported this measure which creates the California Safe Homes grant program within the California Department of Insurance with the goals of reducing local and statewide wildfire losses, improving the insurability and resilience of vulnerable communities, and home hardening to mitigate wildfire risk and reduce the cost of insurance. Read our request for signature here. 

AB 1285 (Committee on Emergency Management) (Chapter 637, Statutes of 2025)
State Fire Marshal: lithium-ion battery facilities: guidance. CSAC supported this measure which will require the creation of fire prevention, response, and recovery measures for utility grade lithium-ion battery storage facilities. Read our request for signature here. 

SB 616 (Rubio) (Vetoed October 13, 2025) 
Community Hardening Commission: wildfire mitigation program. CSAC supported this measure which would have created an independent Community Hardening Commission within the Department of Insurance, with the goals of developing a unified and centralized fire mitigation standard for all levels of government across the state, as well as generating guidelines to enable the creation of a wildfire data sharing platform. Read our request for signature here. 

Climate, Climate Adaptation, and Energy

The negotiations to reauthorize California’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, formerly known as the “Cap-and-Trade” program, until 2045 resulted in a six-bill legislative climate package that Governor Newsom signed into law on September 19, 2025. The lateness of the agreement, and therefore the lateness of the bill amendments, forced the Legislature to waive certain rules and extend their deadline through Saturday, September 13, when these bills were adopted. CSAC took positions on three bills in the package, in addition to a number of measures related to energy and climate adaptation.  

AB 531 (Rogers) (Chapter 372, Statutes of 2025)
Geothermal powerplants and projects: certification and environmental review. CSAC opposed this measure which expands the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) AB 205 opt-in permitting process to include geothermal powerplants of any size, in lieu of permitting by local agencies. Read our request for veto here. 

AB 996 (Pellerin) (Chapter 286, Statutes of 2025)
Public Resources: sea level rise plans. CSAC supported this measure which will provide coastal and bay local governments tools as they develop plans that incorporate the best available science to mitigate and adapt to impacts of sea level rise. Read our request for signature here. 

AB 1207 (Irwin) (Chapter 117, Statutes of 2025) 
Climate change: market-based compliance mechanism: extension. CSAC supported this measure which reauthorized the rebranded “Cap-and-Invest” program through 2045. Read our request for signature here. 

SB 840 (Limón) (Chapter 121, Statutes of 2025)
Greenhouse gases: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: studies. CSAC supported this measure which includes important Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund investments for transportation, housing, and wildfire prevention, while highlighting the need to continue working on a revised expenditure plan that addresses organic waste management and climate adaptation infrastructure. Read our request for signature here. 

SB 254 (Becker) (Chapter 119, Statutes of 2025) 
Energy. CSAC opposed this measure which further expands the CEC’s AB 205 opt-in permitting process by striking the Public Resource Code Section that previously required the CEC to ensure projects conform with public safety and local, regional, and state standards and ordinances. This measure also creates a rebuttable presumption that construction or operation of a facility will have an overall net positive economic benefit to the host local government. Read our final opposition letter here. 

SB 283 (Laird) (Chapter 407, Statutes of 2025)
Energy storage systems. CSAC supported this measure which requires the state to update the California Building Standards Code to adopt provisions regarding battery energy storage systems (BESS) at least as protective as the most recent National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, and for BESS developers to certify their systems adhere with these standards. Read our request for signature here. 

Miscellaneous  

AB 258 (Connolly) (Chapter 683, Statutes of 2025)
Fairs: allocation of revenues: gross receipts and use tax. CSAC supported this measure which will increase the amount of funding for the network of California fairs in the Governor’s Annual Budget to two percent of the gross receipts of taxable sales made on a fairground. Read our request for signature here. 

AB 632 (Hart) (Vetoed October 11, 2025)
Local ordinances: administrative fines and penalties. CSAC supported this measure which would have strengthened local enforcement mechanisms for state housing law violations, fire hazards, and unlicensed cannabis activities by providing more penalty collection options and clarifying local jurisdictions’ ability to collect fines and penalties through ordinary priority lien. Read our request for signature here. 

AB 993 (Hadwick) (Chapter 176, Statutes of 2025)
Hazardous materials management: Rural CUPA Reimbursement Account. CSAC supported this measure which expands eligibility for funding from the Rural Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) Reimbursement Account to every county with a population of less than 150,000 people. Read our request for signature here. 

SB 753 (Cortese) (Chapter 785, Statutes of 2025)
Special business regulations: shopping carts. CSAC supported this measure which authorizes local governments to retrieve and return abandoned shopping carts to the owner or retailer and to recover the cost for the retrieval and return of the carts. Read our request for signature here.