Contact your State Senator and Assemblymember today and tell them to urge Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate Pro Tem Monique Limón to introduce a new bill to fix SB 131 immediately. California’s communities deserve better. #EnvironmentalJustice #FixSB131 #ceqa

*** Who to call: ***

Your State Assemblymember & Senator (look them up at findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov)
Speaker Robert Rivas: (916) 319-2029
Senate President Monique Limón: (916) 651-4021

Congrats to CAC volunteers Kate Zimmerman and Mary Buxton on their recent letters to the editor! Hope legislators are paying attention!

#CEQA #california #climate

CPH Daily Bulletin 10/19/2025

#California’s #housing laws hang over controversial #PlacerCounty project

https://www.sacbee.com/news/article312534611.html

#CEQA

CPH Daily Bulletin 10/19/2025

#California’s first carbon storage project moves ahead as it faces #CEQA lawsuit

https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article312545649.html#storylink=cpy

#CarbonCapture #Bakersfield #KernCounty #Pollution #AirQuality

#California Gov #Newsom signs #ScottWiener bill to bulldoze over opposition to expansion of #housing density and residential construction projects along key rail transit corridors.

New #Yimby law "Abundant & Affordable Homes Near Transit Act" (#SB79) creates less restrictive state #zoning codes, limits options for those seeking to stall plans, restrict density or halt new housing near transit stations.

Opposition to legislation included exburb #NIMBY #realestate investors who fear #construction of potential seven story condo bldgs near rail transit corridors that would destroy perception of aesthetic quaintness of #suburbs like Burlingame, or Petaluma etc.

Earlier this summer #GovNewsom signed similarly YIMBY-backed #legislation to exempt most urban apartment projects from #CEQA reviews, the state’s signature environmental protection law. “Go YIMBYs,” Newsom said when signing that bill into law.

The state's "housing crisis" conditions in which distinct lack of rental unit availability, and #Prop13 tax measure after effects etc, have all spiked the price of basic housing options, and put vast swaths of not particularly exceptional suburbs amongst the nation's highest priced #realestate markets.

“In California we talk a lot about where we don’t want to build #homes, but rarely do we talk about where we do—until now,” said law sponsoring state senator Wiener in a statement about his fourth in a decade long attempt to get similar laws passed. “SB 79 unwinds decades of overly restrictive policies that have driven housing costs to astronomical levels, forcing millions of people away from #jobs and #transit and into long commutes from the #suburbs or out of the state entirely. It has been a long road to tackling these decades-old problems, but today’s signing marks a new day for #AffordableHousing in California.”

https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/10/newsom-signs-massive-california-housing-overhaul/

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2025/10/10/california-sb79-housing-berkeley-transit-oriented-development

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2025/10/10/sb-79-san-francisco-signed.html

https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/los-angeles-sb-79-map-neighborhoods-address-housing-california-bill-bass-newsom

https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/09/neighborhood-transit-upzoning/ #UpZoning #Development #WeinerWorld #HousingAffordability

via @indybay

Tribes, enviros speak out against trailer bills to fast-track #DeltaTunnel project

“Delta tribes deserve a responsible and equitable approach to water management in the state that does not require jamming a tunnel through the Delta, destroying our ancestral homelands and waterways, or desecrating sacred sites and ancestral remains,” said Malissa Tayaba, Vice Chair with the #ShingleSpringsBand of #MiwokIndians.

by Dan Bacher
Mon, Aug 11, 2025 4:19PM

Sacramento, CA – "On an unusually mild summer day, Tribal leaders and environmental justice advocates met with legislators at the State Capitol on July 16 for the 2025 Day of Action for #WaterJustice.

"They urged the legislators to reject Governor Newsom’s proposed trailer bills that they say would fast-track the Delta Conveyance Project (#DCP) and bypass critical #EnvironmentalProtections at a time when the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is in unprecedented ecological crisis — and a number of fish species are on the edge of #extinction.

"The day-long event started with meetings between Tribal members, environmental advocates and legislators to urge support for 'equitable, science-based water solutions' that protect the #BayDelta and to reject the financially reckless Delta Conveyance Project that threatens ecosystems, Tribal sovereignty, and public health, according to a statement from #RestoreTheDelta.

[...]

"At the press conference on the Capitol steps, advocates called on lawmakers to reject trailer bills that would provide CEQA exemptions for the #DeltaConveyanceProject, circumventing existing law, court rulings and public opinion.

"Specifically, the coalition called on lawmakers to:

- Vote NO on SB 72 that undermines the #DeltaReformAct and sets arbitrary water supply targets;

- Vote YES on AB 362 that protects tribal beneficial uses of water and to;

- Vote YES on AB 263, extending emergency protections currently in place for the #ScottRiver and #ShastaRiver, a high priority for the recovery of #CohoSalmon.

"Speakers at the press conference included representatives from the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians and the #WinnememWintu Tribe, as well as elected leaders and representatives from Restore the Delta, #SierraClub California, #FriendsOfTheRiver, #DefendersOfWildlife, #SanFranciscoBaykeeper and the #DeltaCountiesCoalition.

"Malissa Tayaba, Vice Chair with the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, began the press conference emphasizing the harm that the Delta Tunnel would cause to Tribes and #disadvantaged communities.

" 'Delta tribes deserve a responsible and equitable approach to water management in the state that does not require jamming a tunnel through the Delta, destroying our #AncestralHomelands and waterways, or desecrating #SacredSites and ancestral remains,' said Tayaba. 'Our culture and identities are intrinsically tied to the Delta. There is no price tag worth paying that would ever justify the harm done to us or the unquantifiable costs that Tribes and disadvantaged communities would ultimately bear.'

"Gary Mulcahy, Government Liaison with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, followed Tayaba by stating, “There is nothing about the Delta Tunnel Project that significantly benefits anyone except #BigAg and south of the Delta water agencies, while putting #EndangeredSpecies, tribal cultural resources, and disadvantaged communities and the viability of the S.F Bay-Delta itself at risk. #CEQA exemptions continue to attempt to erase Tribes from #WaterGovernance.”

[...]

" 'Instead of wasting ratepayer money to keep pushing this expensive environmental justice debacle, we need to sees investments in local water supply like #RecycledWater, and the Freshwater Pathways program that would improve Delta levees to keep communities safe and improve State Water Project reliability in an emergency. We urge a commitment to vote NO on the return the Delta Conveyance Project and Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan bills,' Wagner said."

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2025/08/11/18878845.php

#WaterIsLife #TribalGovernance #CulturalPreservation #CulturalErasure #BigAgriculture #BigWater #GavinNewsome #CaliforniaPol #Graywater

"This latest plan is a shocking display of cowardice," as our science director
@jarosenfield told @rachbecknews

Newsom's plan would be devastating for already hard-hit fisheries, Chinook #salmon & other native fish & wildlife, Tribes, and Bay-Delta communities.

Also concerning: the Newsom Admin's move to limit disclosures about how the plan would affect the Bay-Delta through a bill waiving #CEQA requirements. Ashley Overhouse of Defenders of Wildlife said the exemption is "bordering on undemocratic because you are cutting out the public in an important process."
https://calmatters.org/environment/2025/07/sacramento-river-delta-report/ #sfbay #delta #cadelta #californiawater #cawater #baydelta