In my 15-year career I have never seen such an anti-environmental legislative session. It saddens me to say this with such confidence, but California is no longer the national leader on environmental policy. Lack of legislative environmental champions, an anti-environmental Governor, and “affordability concerns” as a pretext, California in 2025 has failed to stand-up to the Trump Administration and is going backwards on ensuring clean water for all Californians.
Let’s start with the lonely water policy win for the year – Assembly Bill 263 (Rodgers), which was enacted to further the state’s promise to protect salmon in the Klamath River watershed. Assembly Bill 263 maintains river flows for at-risk salmon runs on two critical Klamath River tributaries – the Scott and Shasta Rivers. Flow minimums were set by the State Water Board during the drought emergency declared by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021 and will now stay in place until the State Water Board promulgates long term flow rules—which could take several years.
Unfortunately, the good news ends there. The list of bad environmental policies raised this year are too many to count, so let’s focus on just some of the bad water policies. First, the Governor refused to negotiate a final deal on Senate Bill 601 (Allen), which would have ensured clean water protections remain in-place in California as the Trump Administration dismantles the Clean Water Act nationally.
Senate Bill 131 – a bill to undercut environmental review – was recently fast-tracked through the state legislature as part of Governor Newsom’s budget package. The bill marks a pronounced move toward environmental deregulation that will lead to pollution of our air and water, resulting in harm to public health and communities.
Governor Newsom also proposed further environmental rollbacks that were not successful but will come back next year in his final year. Newsom asked the Legislature to attach legislation that would fast-track the Delta Tunnels, a highly controversial project to divert Sacramento River water to the California Aqueduct without it flowing through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. There are also clandestine negotiations occurring between PG&E and the government around the extension of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Facility, the state’s largest discharger of water and the biggest threat to California’s marine life.
As we look towards 2026 (and Newsom’s last year as Governor), CCKA is hopeful for a brighter future. In 2026, CCKA will work with the environmental community to foster new environmental champions in the Legislature and to develop a Gubernatorial water platform to inform candidates’ priorities, while also working to get our 2025 bills across the finish line. SB 601 was so close to reaching the Governor’s Desk, and we hope this year the Governor will make time to negotiate a final deal on SB 601 so that all Californians can rely on the clean water protections they’ve enjoyed for over 50 years. We also hope the Legislature will see the wisdom in AB 1313 (Papan), which would regulate commercial stormwater pollution for the first time and encourage stormwater credit trading so that we can bring more green space to our urban communities. Finally, CCKA expects to continue working with our Tribal allies to ensure equitable water rights and to address the racial inequities in our water system.
Executive Director Sean Bothwell leads CCKA’s initiatives to fight for swimmable, fishable, and drinkable waters for all Californians.
