In This Issue:
- Executive Director’s Letter
- 2025’s Legislative Recap
- SB 427 to Protect the Habitat Conservation Fund – Signed by Governor!
- The Planning and Conservation League – The First 60 Years of Success!
- Your League – Your Voice – 2025 and Beyond!
- New PCL Staff
- Announcing PCL’s 2026 California Environmental Assembly!
Executive Director’s Letter
Dear Members,
This year marks PCL’s 60th anniversary – a milestone achieved thanks to the work and support of our members like you. This fall, as we conclude our legislative efforts for 2025 and complete the policy planning process for 2026, we are dedicating time to examining California’s future and PCL’s role within it. Where will the next 60 years find us? Will climate change impacts upend and devastate all that we love and need to thrive in California, or will we get ahead of the curve? Will our land use match our needs? Will transportation be accessible? Will California be affordable? And will our environment be cleaner and healthier for all?
As you can see from the legislative article in this edition of California Today, we were extremely busy this year on a wide variety of issue areas. The highlights include fighting multiple attempts to weaken the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), extending the Habitat Conservation Fund through 2035, fighting back another attempt to fast-track the Delta tunnel project, and working on smart, affordable housing solutions that don’t gut CEQA.
We are also excited to announce that the 2026 California Environmental Assembly, which will explore Environmental and Community Protection in a Warming World. The Assembly will be held in person again this year at UC Davis School of Law’s King Hall. You can read more about the Assembly inside.
As PCL turns 60, we are growing our efforts to defend and improve CEQA, advance our uphill battle to modernize water rights and management in California, and create new environmental policies setting the stage for the next decade and beyond. PCL will continue to examine problems like adapting to wildfires, green infrastructure and energy, and creating greater connectivity for wildlife and their habitats, all to build a better future and a more livable California for all.
Be well, and happy holidays from the PCL staff.
Howard Penn
Executive Director
2025’s Legislative Recap: Not an “Abundance” of Transparency
It’s surely not lost on the readers of this Insider that it has been a trying year for those of us fighting for environmental and community protections, both at the federal level and, surprisingly, at the state level in California.
Talk of “abundance” and “affordability,” and a desire to demonstrate that we can “build things faster” has taken hold of the California Capitol. And while our readers may have widely varying views on the many aspects entailed in abundance and affordability, we at PCL are disturbed by how these goals have so far largely resulted simply in an extremely rapid movement to deregulate decades of environmental and public health protections. PCL cares deeply about building the things we need faster—affordable housing, sustainable transportation, and a new generation of energy infrastructure—and is dedicated to finding ways to do it, but without degrading critical environmental review and public access to our planning processes.
We are concerned that the reduction of review and public process has been the best our state government has provided as an answer to our needs, and all the more disturbed by how many of these major policy changes have been passed through last minute budget measures that have been negotiated behind closed doors with little to no transparency, and without the public vetting that the normal legislative process would provide. We find the increasing use of the budget to pass significant policy matters to be profoundly undemocratic, and we call on the Legislature to resist this tendency moving forward as we work together to find solutions to California’s challenges.
As concerning as these trends are, this year was certainly not a total loss—PCL and our many allies were able to work with legislative champions to pass some very important measures, improve others, and block some of the worst. Here are some highs and lows of our priority bills for the first year of the 2025-2026 legislative session.
Budget Trailer Bills 131 and 130: Exemplifying the concerns described above, SB 131 and AB 130 were jammed through the budget and signed into law right at the deadline in June, with almost no time for the legislators to understand their implications, let alone the public.
The most controversial, SB 131, largely replaced the provisions of SB 607 that had previously been removed in committee. SB 131 has multiple concerning measures that weaken the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in various ways. While the most concerning provision of 607 was held out 131, in exchange, a long list of CEQA exemptions for various classes of projects was added—the most egregious of which is an extremely broad exemption for “advanced manufacturing,” a definition that includes a broad scope of heavily polluting industries.
There was tremendous pressure from advocates, the public, and within the Legislature for clean-up to 131, and while it didn’t get done this session, AB 1083 was introduced in the final days by Assemblymember Connolly and dozens of other co-authors. AB 1083 will fix many of 131’s most concerning provisions, principally the “advanced manufacturing” CEQA exemption, and will be a top priority for PCL next year.
AB 130 includes many provisions focused on housing, including the contents of two previous bills on which PCL was engaged, AB 1244 and AB 609. The AB 1244 provisions, which PCL supported, establish an option for mitigating transportation impacts through paying into the Transit Oriented Development Program to fund affordable housing projects in location-efficient areas. Engagement in the rule-making for this process will be a priority for PCL in the coming year.
The AB 609 provisions, which PCL voiced strong concerns about, establish an extremely broad CEQA exemption for “infill” housing, without many criteria for labor or affordability that have previously been standard. Our primary concern is that the infill definition written in 130 includes, in most places, an area far larger than the land use footprints identified by our Regional Transportation Plans, which outlined targeted investment for housing and infrastructure designed to meet the GHG reduction mandates established under SB 375 (2008). This could have been corrected through the policy process, but the conversation was cut off by passing these provisions in the budget under AB 130.
Delta Trailer Bill success: In May, Governor Newsom’s Department of Finance published language for two Budget Trailer Bills intended to bypass specific environmental review and approval processes for the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP). PCL, joined with an incredible coalition of environmental advocates, Delta communities, local governments, Tribes, and legislators, was able to block these trailer bills from being introduced. As a result, the DCP and related Water Quality Control Plans will continue to be subject to environmental laws, and communities and Tribes will still have the opportunity to weigh in.
AB 43 (Schultz) Wild & Scenic Rivers: extending state protections for designated rivers in the federal system: In 2018, the Legislature enacted AB 2975 (Friedman) to safeguard California’s rivers against federal environmental rollbacks anticipated under the first Trump administration. The bill authorized the Secretary to extend state protections to rivers removed from the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and set a sunset date of December 31, 2025. AB 43 responds to subsequent rollbacks under the current Trump administration by eliminating the sunset date and making these protections permanent. The bill was signed into law by the Governor on Tuesday, October 7th!
AB 263 (Rogers): Scott River & Shasta River Watersheds: This bill, already signed by the Governor, will extend Scott and Shasta emergency in-stream flow protections necessary to prevent salmon extinctions. AB 263 arose out of a partnership with the Karuk Tribe and Yurok Tribe and has received broad environmental support, in addition to being a focus of PCL’s water advocacy.
AB 1413 (Papan): Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: Groundwater Adjudication: PCL supports this bill, which would help solidify deference to the “sustainable yield” identified by Sustainable Groundwater Management Plans in ensuing adjudication matters in a given basin. The details have been contentious, and the bill is now a two-year bill, but it will remain a priority for PCL’s support in 2026.
AB 527 (Papan): California Environmental Quality Act: geothermal exploratory projects: geothermal field development projects: enhanced geothermal system wells: PCL engaged with many partners on this bill in good faith to find a responsible solution for expediting geothermal energy development, as did the author and the proponents. Unfortunately, the more we educated ourselves on the potential impacts of the processes involved, the more our questions and concerns grew. While the bill added a significant number of safeguards, we were still not comfortable with offering a CEQA exemption for these exploratory projects. The Governor vetoed this bill on October 6th, stating that the bill had the potential to increase the cost of developing new geothermal energy sites.
AB 697 (Wilson): Protected species: authorized take: State Route 37 project. This bill would provide an exemption from the California Endangered Species Act for the $500 million expansion of State Route 37—a highway that runs through sensitive wetland habitat and is projected to be underwater by 2040 due to sea-level rise. Despite the objections of many stakeholders, the proposal met almost no opposition from the Legislature and was signed by the Governor.
AB 1139 (Rogers): California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: public access: nonmotorized recreation: PCL initially opposed this CEQA exemption for the opening of newly acquired lands for public access. Our point was that simply opening access to natural areas can have very significant impacts if not managed correctly. Thankfully, after much good-faith discussion with the author and proponents, we feel we have found the correct policy for ensuring that the needed planning and resources are in place before opening public access to new lands, and we were able to remove our opposition. This is an example of how the legislative process is supposed to work. On October 6th, the Governor signed AB 1139 into law.
SB 772 (Cabaldon): Infill Infrastructure Grant Program of 2019: applications: eligibility: This bill proposed expanded applicability of the Infill Infrastructure Grant program, but the criteria remain under debate, and it has become a two-year bill.
SB 5 (Cabaldon): Enhanced infrastructure financing districts and community revitalization and investment areas: allocation of taxes: agricultural land exclusion: PCL supported this proposal to prohibit the allocation of property taxes on protected agricultural land toward Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFDs), which fund local infrastructure development projects. We believed this bill would have reduced the loss of protective status for important agricultural lands and urged the Governor to sign it; however, the bill was vetoed on October 6th.
AB 1319 (Schultz): Protected species: California Endangered Species Act: With the rapid removal of environmental protections at the federal level, AB 1319 is all the more critical. This bill will make it easier for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to add a species to the provisional candidate list for protection under the California Endangered Species Act if its protections are reduced at the federal level. This bill has been a priority advocacy issue for PCL and was signed by the Governor.
SB 72 (Caballero): State Water Supply Targets: This costly bill will establish an unreasonably high interim water planning target for the California Water Plan, leading to a misguided overreliance on massive water storage and conveyance projects rather than localized and sustainable water solutions. Governor Newsom signed the bill on October 1st.
SB 427 (Blakespear/Stern): Habitat Conservation Fund: This bill started as a permanent extension of the Habitat Conservation Fund, a $30 million annual pot of funding for conservation and restoration projects statewide. PCL served as primary testimony for SB 427 on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation, our national affiliate and co-sponsor of the bill. The bill passed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority in both houses and was signed the Governor.
SB 484 (Laird): Coastal resources: coastal development permits: infill area categorical exclusion: This bill would require the Coastal Commission to identify infill areas within at least three local jurisdictions that do not have a certified local coastal program, and to exempt affordable housing projects from the coastal development permitting requirement in those regions. The Governor signed the bill on October 6th, and PCL believes this represents an innovative and responsible example for promoting equitable housing in the coastal zone.
SB 486 (Cabaldon): Regional housing: public postsecondary education: changes in enrollment levels: California Environmental Quality Act: PCL supported this bill’s provisions to improve accommodation of UC and CSU student enrollment in regional housing needs allocations (RHNAs), but opposed portions of the bill that we believed would have reduced the university systems’ responsibility for planning for that housing themselves in their respective Long Range Development Plans. After effective engagement with the author, a solution was found to provide more flexibility to universities without reducing these obligations, and PCL was able to remove its opposition. The Governor signed the bill into law.
SB 601 (Allen): Water: Waste Discharge: Despite our advocacy, this critical bill, which would create a state backstop to federal Clean Water Act rollbacks, faced significant opposition from wastewater dischargers and has been made into a two-year bill to allow further time for deliberation with opposition.
AB 66 (Tangipa): California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: egress route projects: fire safety: PCL opposed this bill, but worked with the author and proponents to find solutions for how to establish the necessary planning and safeguards to be able to expedite needed fire egress responsibly. Some of our recommendations were accepted, but others were not. The bill eventually stalled in committee and is now a two-year bill.
SB 715 (Allen): Regional Housing Need Assessment: Methodology & Distribution: This proposal, which PCL supported to allow for the reallocation of housing from high-risk areas to lower-risk areas, is now a two-year bill. SB 715 stands to be a vehicle for discussion of planning for safety and evacuation
SB 427 to Protect the Habitat Conservation Fund – Signed by Governor!
Senators Blakespear and Stern introduced SB 427, which extends the sunset date for the Habitat Conservation Fund (HCF) to June 30, 2035. The HCF was established under Proposition 117 (the California Wildlife Protection Act), a ballot measure championed by PCL and passed by voters in June 1990. Since then, the Fund has protected over 1.2 million acres of wildlife habitat and improved public access to more than 350 park projects across California.
Prop 117 directed the annual transfer of $30 million from the state’s General Fund into the Conservation Fund, to be distributed by State Parks and the Wildlife Conservation Board. While the ballot language initially expired in 2020, the Legislature and Governor took action in 2019 to extend the Fund’s sunset to 2030. Now, SB 427 proposes to eliminate the sunset entirely, creating a permanent source of funding for critical conservation efforts across the state.
In recent years, state budgetary pressures have led lawmakers to consider discontinuing the Fund. Last year, the Governor’s initial Budget recommendations attempted to end the General Fund transfers to the HCF six years early, however PCL, our legal advisors and allies, and you, our members, quickly responded; we let legislators and the Governor know that the citizen-created HCF is needed to support wildlife in the face of climate change and that the will of the voters stands with California’s critical habitat. We succeeded in keeping the Fund intact.
The program has recently funded projects across the state, including the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing – over Highway 101 in Agoura Hills, connecting the Santa Monica Mountains with inland habitats, a new trails gateway into Redwood National and State Parks, and an ancestral land-return project in San Bernardino County.
“The value of the Habitat Conservation Fund has been demonstrated over and over again,” Sen. Blakespear said. “We’ve seen how consequential this funding is to safeguard open spaces, restore habitat and protect vital wildlife refuges. SB 427 will ensure that this important fund continues for decades to come.”
“California voters in 1990 had no way of knowing just how prescient their support for creation of the Habitat Conservation Fund was when they voted yes on Prop 117,” said Beth Pratt, Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation. “Since that time, more than a billion dollars has been invested to protect more than 1.2 million acres of wildlife habitat, restoring critical ecosystems, open spaces, wildlife corridors, as well as improving public access to more than 350 local and regional parks projects across California. The Habitat Conservation Fund has a proven track record and should be made permanent.”
SB 427 was introduced by Senator Catherine Blakespear and Senator Henry Stern and co-authored by Senator Ben Allen, Assemblymember Damon Connolly, and Assemblymember Ash Kalra. SB 427 is co-sponsored by Audubon California and NWF, with strong support from PCL. Over the past couple of years, nearly 60 environmental and conservation organizations have helped to defeat efforts to sunset the Fund early and eliminate funding proposed in budget negotiations in recent years. PCL celebrated the reawakening of this coalition for a new, proactive, and successful effort this year.
Protecting and extending the HCF is a necessary, consistent, and reliable revenue source for conservation efforts, which is critical for California’s diverse communities and biodiversity!
The Planning and Conservation League – The First 60 Years of Success!
2025 marks the 60th anniversary of PCL, and over these 6 decades, PCL has organized diverse coalitions to support and advance a more livable California for all. PCL, along with our allies and friends, has a long record of successes, many of which have gone on to shape environmental policy nationwide and globally. PCL led the way in some of the battles listed below and often collaborated with other environmental groups that were already leading the way to a better future. These are just a few of the highlights and key achievements in a legacy of dozens of initiatives, hundreds of bills, and countless regulatory battles that PCL, with the help of our friends, won for a better future for us all.
1967 & 1968 – PCL assisted in striking down a proposed bill that would have authorized a trans-Sierra all-year highway through a wilderness area, crossing the John Muir Trail, and another bill for a highway crossing the Minaret Summit.
1970 – PCL helped write and pass the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
1972 – PCL joined others in supporting Proposition 20, the Coastal Initiative, which assures planning and protection for California’s coastal zone, as well as the Wild Rivers Bill, SB 107, signed by Governor Reagan.
1973 – PCL led support for bills to create the State Board of Forestry and the Tahoe Conservancy.
1976 – PCL supports and helps pass a bill banning new nuclear power plant construction until the issues of reprocessing of waste fuels are resolved, and another establishing the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
1984 – PCL helped stop efforts by developers to weaken protections for wetlands at Famosa Slough, Bolas Chica, and Ballona.
1986 – PCL proudly supported AB 2020, California’s Against Waste measure to promote sustainability and help clean up littered highways.
1988 – PCL and the American Lung Association Co-authored Proposition 99 (the Tobacco Tax) and campaigned for its passage, investing billions in health and environmental initiatives, and saving hundreds of thousands of lives. PCL also helped lead the Proposition 70 Bond campaign, funding parks, open space, wildlife, and more.
1989 – PCL was one of the key advocates for AB 939, the Integrated Waste Management Act, which set the state on a path to a 50% reduction in waste generation.
1990 – PCL was part of a team that negotiated and lobbied for the adoption of the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act (OSPAR), which enacted the world’s strongest oil spill prevention law. PCL also led on two ballot measures: Proposition 116, a Bond for Public Transportation, and Proposition 117, the California Wildlife Protection Act.
1993 – PCL publishes “California’s Threatened Environment: Restoring the Dream.”
1996 – PCL takes a leading role in helping pass Prop 204, a bond measure for Wildlife, Fisheries, and Water Recycling and Conservation.
2000 – PCL helps lead the campaigns for Props 12 & 13, Bonds for Parks & Water, and passes bills to fund bicycling improvements in California and another for land conservation tax credits.
2002 – PCL joins campaigns to help pass Prop 40 to fund parks and Prop 41 to support water conservation and recycling efforts.
2008 – PCL and partners negotiated an agreement to protect nearly a quarter of a million acres in the Tehachapi Mountains, creating the Tejon Ranch Conservancy.
2011 – PCL helped support and lead an effort to remove the San Clemente Dam on the Carmel River and restore over 25 miles of fish habitat and recreational access.
2014 – PCL supports Prop 1, a bond for water investments to protect water supply resilience and enhance conservation efforts.
2018 – PCL stood alone and challenged the legality of Prop 9, which would have split the state into multiple new states – the court agreed, and Prop 9 was dropped from the ballot. In 2018, PCL also helped to support Prop 68, a Bond for Parks and Smart Water Projects.
2022 – PCL publishes Modernizing California Water Laws, and in the few years since, we and our allies have helped pass SB 1205 requiring the consideration of climate change effects in water availability analyses (2022), AB 2108 (2022), adding environmental justice as early as possible in planning, policy, and permitting processes, SB 389 allowing the investigation of pre-1914 water rights (2023), AB 460 increasing fines for water theft (2024). PCL and our key partners’ efforts have evolved into a new movement for a brighter and fairer water future.
2024 – PCL joined the campaign to support Prop 4, a climate bond investing over $10 billion in safe drinking water, wildfire prevention, and protecting communities and wildlands from climate risks.
2025 – PCL and hundreds of allied groups are fighting to defend CEQA as we have been since its passage in 1970!
Your League – Your Voice – 2025 and Beyond!
As we look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, PCL is committed to protecting and restoring our natural environment and promoting and defending the health and safety of Californians through legislative and administrative action. We envision a California where all residents are connected with their government, working together to shape our state into the worldwide leader in sustainable and thriving communities and ensuring a healthy environment and sound economy for all.
CEQA – PCL seeks to advance positive amendments to the law and counter ongoing attempts to weaken the CEQA process. We work relentlessly at the legislature to protect CEQA as a vital tool for communities, while also seeking to update CEQA to be more efficient, effective, and predictable.
Land Use & Transportation – California’s laws perpetuate dependence on car usage and the loss of wildlands. PCL advocates for the reduction of vehicle miles traveled, advocating for public transportation priorities and thoughtful planning to counter the detrimental – and rising – effects of excessive automobile reliance. Our fight extends to limiting unsafe development in flood and fire-prone areas, which is critical to defending our communities in disasters.
Water – PCL is working to modernize California’s water rights and data systems. Given California’s limited water supply, understanding and properly managing water flows, quality, diversions, beneficial uses, and discharges are essential as we face the challenges of climate change and prolonged droughts.
Climate Change – Global climate change is the fundamental challenge of the twenty-first century. From diminishing snowpack to new wildfire risks, the effects of global climate change are being felt today; yet, we have done little to increase the resilience of our communities and ecosystems. PCL brings expertise to the Capitol and state agencies to promote policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect lives, property, wildlife, and landscapes, which protect habitat for future generations, and preserve our iconic coastal landscapes.
PCL’s VALUES
Stewardship – We advocate to protect and restore ecosystems and environments.
Collaboration – We build coalitions empowering communities to defend the environment.
Equity – We prioritize equity in environmental decision-making.
Visionary Thinking – We work to develop innovative solutions for sustainability.
Education – We inform the public and policy-makers on environmental needs and solutions.
Accountability – We take ownership of our own actions and demand the same from others.
PCL Staff Updates
Gabriel Tolson: New PCL Policy Advocate.
Gabriel is a policy professional with a background in water rights and environmental justice. He entered environmental work through the arts, where he spent two years partnering with scientists at UCLA and UC Irvine to organize climate-focused exhibitions and public workshops. Seeking a more direct avenue for advocacy, he later interned in the district office of Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (Los Angeles, AD-52) while completing a fellowship with Arts for LA, where he learned to communicate policy needs to elected officials. These experiences led him to the Annenberg Foundation’s Metabolic Studio — a laboratory of art, science, and policy — where he helped draft community-driven water reforms for the Los Angeles River.
In June 2025, Gabriel began work as an Environmental Policy Associate with the Planning and Conservation League. His role allows him to apply the lessons in research, strategic communication, and relationship-building learned across his varied professional background, while advocating for the protection of California’s natural ecosystems and the communities they sustain.
Gabriel holds a B.A. in Art from USC, which he attended as a merit scholar. In recognition of his environmental justice research, he was one of ten students out of 3,000 graduating seniors awarded the Discovery Scholar Distinction. Gabriel grew up beneath the redwoods of Northern California and spends his free time hiking and reading.
Lisa Patton: New membership and events support.
Lisa Patton is thrilled to join the PCL team as its newest member. Growing up in the beautiful Foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Lisa’s love for wildlife and the great outdoors has always been a part of her life. Whether she was boating with her family at Bullards Bar Reservoir or hiking along the American River, these moments have shaped her deep appreciation for California’s natural beauty. With a heartfelt desire to help preserve these wonders for generations to come. Her hobbies include organic gardening and breadmaking. Lisa passionately wears the PCL banner and is genuinely excited about the adventures and contributions that lie ahead.
2026 California Environmental Assembly
SAVE THE DATE & GET EARLY BIRD TICKETS!
DATE: Saturday, January 31st, 2026, 8:30 am to 5 pm, with a social gathering from 5 to 7 pm
TICKETS: Now through October 31st, 2025 – $50 nonprofit ($25 discount) / $150 general ($50 discount)
PCL is excited to announce that the 2026 California Environmental Assembly will be held in person on January 31st, 2026, at UC Davis School of Law’s King Hall. The California Environmental Law & Policy Center’s generous offer to host the gathering makes our return to King Hall possible! This year, our theme is: In the Name of Climate: Environmental and Community Protection in a Warming World
The Assembly focuses on the existential threats of the day – recent panels have included: Insurance and the Environment: The Canary in the Coalmine, A Cleaner & Healthier California: Environmental Justice and CEQA, Can Modular Nuclear Reactors Help Save the Planet, and Updating California’s Water Laws in the Face of Drought and Climate Change.
Join us as we explore cutting-edge solutions for environmental policies to address the drivers of climate change: land use, transportation, energy production, and technological developments. PCL strongly believes we are already experiencing the catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis. Our panels explore immediate short-term solutions and strategies for the future.
The Assembly is attended by a variety of audiences, including renowned experts, environmental advocates, private-sector executives, legislative and agency staff, students, and citizen advocates. Attendees learn about and organize to protect our beautiful state from the effects of man-made development and climate change.
PCL is especially proud of the Assembly Scholarship program, which invites college students and recent graduates to attend. To learn more, email us at events@pcl.org. To get tickets, visit us online at pcl.org/assembly.
