14 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 18-24, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com Red Tape In a last-minute scramble, California lawmakers fail to deliver promised environmental reform. By Yue Stella Yu and Alejandra Reyes-Velarde FORUM In June, California Democrats rushed to significantly roll back the state’s landmark environmental law to clear the path for land development. Environmental justice advocates weren’t happy. Because of changes signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, certain developments now are exempt from environmental reviews, which advocates fear will cut out tribal community feedback, threaten endangered species and lead to more pollution for some of the state’s most at-risk residents. Facing backlash, Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire promised a fix. “That is an issue that we’re going to need to continue to focus on in the weeks and months to come before we leave this session in September,” McGuire told his fellow senators in June. He’s now run out of time. Newsom, McGuire and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, did not agree on how to meaningfully address those environmental concerns before the legislative session ended on Sept. 12, punting the discussion to the fall. “This is a complex policy issue and we must get [it] right for Californians,” said Nick Miller, a spokesperson for Rivas. “Our assessment is it needs to go through a public process with input and discussion.” The differences laid bare the growing rift between the pro-development Assembly, which has pushed to cut red tape to build housing faster, and the Senate, which has been skeptical about private development without labor and environmental protections. “To say that the trust has broken is, I think, a little bit of an understatement,” said Assemblymember Liz Ortega, a Hayward Democrat who was among 35 lawmakers to urge legislative leaders to fix the law in August. “Several of us have asked to have this fixed, and we were told that it was going to get fixed, and now we’re here and we’re told that it’s not.” In a symbolic move, Senate leaders announced Wednesday a last-minute measure to reinstate environmental review requirements for some high-polluting manufacturing plants within 300 feet of homes and schools, despite knowing it did not have time to pass this year. “We thought it was really important for the public to see that when we made that commitment, we meant it. That we were not just talking about it,” said Senate Budget Committee Chair Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco. The stifled effort contrasts how quickly California’s top Democrats scaled back the environmental rules in June. The governor at the time threatened to reject the state budget if the deal did not come through. The rollback was tucked into budget trailer bills—a tool leaders have used to rush major policies through. The rushed nature of the June deal, critics say, is why a “cleanup” is necessary. “It was rammed down everyone’s throats,” says State Sen. Ben Allen, D-El Segundo. “It’s probably why we feel the need to push back.” Yue Stella Yu covers politics and Alejandra Reyes-Velarde covers environmental justice for CalMatters, where this story first appeared. OPINION “To say the trust has broken is an understatement.”
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