Sacramento, CA – The California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) is excited to announce our 2026 legislative agenda! CEJA utilizes a process that centers the grassroots community members represented by our alliance member organizations to determine priority bills.
First, three Issue Area Committees nominated multiple bills for consideration. Then, a Legislative Committee reviews all the proposed bills and makes a recommendation to prioritize specific bills. Finally, a Program Advisory Council reviews and discusses the recommendations before voting. Each Committee consists of staff from different combinations of CEJA’s member organizations, based on their specific priorities. The Program Advisory Council includes at least one delegate from each member organization to make the final determination of the legislative agenda.
The three Issue Area Committees include Equitable Land Use, Climate Justice, and Energy Justice. Each has a campaign that their work centers around, including coordination with member organizations, organizing community members, public education, engaging with state regulatory agencies, and narrative shifting.
Although CEJA does dedicate a small fraction of its work toward lobbying, our 501(c)(4) affiliate organization, the California Environmental Justice Alliance Action (CEJA Action), a project of Beyond Impact, is the primary implementer of this body of work.
Our priority bills are included here. To see our full legislative agenda, visit CEJA Action's announcement here.
Equitable Land Use: Healing the Land, Healing the People Campaign
Support: AB 2170 (Boerner) - The Families and Neighborhood Safety Act
This common-sense bill would require highly polluting industrial development projects planned within a half mile of an overburdened community to have an environmental review. The projects would be required to share the review findings and other project information with the community, if needed, translated into the appropriate languages of the respective communities where the projects are being proposed. This will allow communities to participate in public processes to express their concerns or share their support of these projects before permits are approved.
Why We Support It:
Community participation, particularly those already overburdened with environmental hazards, in the permitting process is a key component of environmental justice. The environmental review process creates an avenue for this participation, as well as provides community members with information about the impacts of the project.
Climate Justice: Managed Decline Campaign
Support: SB 1259 (Blakespear) - Transparency for Refinery Asset Retirement Obligations
This bill would require oil refineries to assess and report the cost and timelines of environmental clean-up for when they eventually close, even if their retirement date is unknown. This is a step towards meeting the more stringent requirements as other energy sectors (wind, solar, and nuclear), which are all also required to set aside funds to pay for the cleanup. The reports will allow communities time to plan and prepare for the transition phase when the refinery closes and the following clean-up period. It also provides a foundation for future bills to expand upon how refineries should prepare to fund the clean-up.
Why We Support It:
A critical step in having a managed decline from fossil fuels is knowing what the clean-up will look like and how long it will take so communities can plan accordingly. Lacking this information delays site remediation and development planning for the next use of the land, elongating public health and economic impacts.
Energy Justice: Retire and Replace Campaign
Support: AB 1813 (Ward)
Requires the California Public Utilities Commission to evaluate current renewable energy subscription programs as a steppingstone to establishing a meaningful community solar program in CA. If the current programs are deemed ineffective, a new one would be established. Criteria for the effectiveness of current programs includes:
- Complement building energy efficiency standards (Title 24 of CA Building Code),
- Construction workers and apprentices are paid fairly at their respective prevailing wages/rates
- 51% or more of program capacity serves low-income customers
- Programs are aimed to not pass program costs to non-participating customers, by utilizing the avoided cost calculator as a way to better value distributed resources
Why We Support It:
Improving the effectiveness and scalability of renewable energy subscription programs will help them become or be replaced with programs that are more accessible to low-income and working families. The revamp subscription program is aimed to reduce energy bill costs and ensure the cost of the program is not at the expense of others ( i.e. nonparticipating households). Equitable, local-scale clean energy resources should be accessible to everyone, including those who have been harmed by the fossil fuel industry. The State must invest in a community solar + storage program that secures proper workforce development standards where clean energy workers are paid at a prevailing wage.
Oppose: SB 1350 (McNerney)
This bill would count a facility with combustion turbines as a renewable energy facility for the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) if those turbines burn a fuel already included in the RPS. In other words, this bill would allow gas plants to get RPS credit while using “green hydrogen” to power their turbines.
Why We Oppose It:
This is a deeply concerning bill that would negatively impact environmental justice communities by prolonging the life of gas plants and incentivizing hydrogen combustion. There is a risk that transitioning a power plant to run on hydrogen will increase NOx emissions because hydrogen burns at a higher flame temperature than methane. Furthermore, the bill as written does not define green hydrogen, leaving it open for hydrogen producers to interpret it in ways that may increase GHG emissions, ultimately undermining the purpose of having an RPS.
