This spring, 40 CIPL advocates from faith communities across California held 35 meetings with legislators and their staff. Our message was simple: climate justice is our moral responsibility.
We asked lawmakers to support five priority bills and here is an honest accounting of what happened: the wins, the losses, and the fights we carry into next year.
Our five priority bills
SB 868 – Balcony Solar (Sen. Wiener). This bill legalizes plug-in solar devices up to 1,200 watts that connect through a standard outlet, no utility interconnection approval or fees required. For renters and apartment dwellers long shut out of rooftop solar, it opens the front door of the clean energy transition. It passed the Assembly 73-0 and the Senate 36-4. Governor Newsom signed it into law on September 30, 2026.
SB 222 – Heat Pump Access Act (Sen. Wiener). The nation’s first statewide standardized permitting process for residential heat pump installations, with automated permitting, capped fees, and limits on HOA restrictions against switching from gas to electric. Heat pumps cut indoor air pollution, lower emissions, and reduce energy bills. Passed by wide margins in both houses. Governor Newsom signed it on September 28, 2026.
AB 2313 – Home Energy Choice Act (Asm. Berman). Directs the state utilities commission to create a program requiring gas utilities to offer homeowners a financial incentive to permanently electrify rather than replace their gas service line, with enhanced incentives for disadvantaged communities. Passed the Senate 27-9 and the Assembly 42-20. Governor Newsom signed it into law on September 30, 2026.
AB 2461 – Oil and Gas Well Cleanup (Asm. Hart). This one did not make it. The bill would have required companies acquiring oil wells to post bonds covering the full cost of plugging and cleanup, so taxpayers are not left holding the bill for orphaned wells. It passed the Assembly but was held in Senate Appropriations and died in committee. We will be back because polluters, not taxpayers, should pay to clean up their messes.
SB 954 – CEQA Safeguards (Sen. Blakespear). Also a loss. This bill would have closed gigantic loopholes that were “inadvertently” put into the CEQA reform bill in 2025, significantly weakening community input and environmental safeguards around development projects. Governor Newsom vetoed it on September 18.
Other wins to celebrate…
AI Data Centers: On September 21, Newsom signed the most comprehensive data center laws in the nation: seven bills (AB 1577, AB 2383, AB 2469, AB 2619, SB 886, SB 887, SB 1168) that require data centers to disclose their water and energy use, pay their full share of grid and wildfire-mitigation costs instead of shifting them onto residential ratepayers, and meet state conservation standards to qualify for streamlined approval.
On September 9, Newsom signed the first-in-the-nation AI safeguard bills: SB 813 creates a framework for independent verification of AI systems, and AB 1405 establishes a state registry and standards for AI auditors.
EV Infrastructure: The governor also signed a six-bill package (SB 969, SB 1283, AB 1820, SB 1213, SB 1267, SB 615) to accelerate charging infrastructure, including eliminating unnecessary permit fees for chargers in apartment buildings, so renters are not left behind in the EV transition either.
On September 30, the governor also signed SB 913, which requires the utilities commission to count distributed energy resources like home solar and EV batteries when planning future power needs, building a real market for neighborhood-scale power. He signed SB 1359, the Natural Gas Ratepayer Protection Act, which forces an honest accounting of what gas infrastructure costs and how quickly it loses value as California electrifies, so ratepayers are not left paying for stranded assets. And he signed AB 864, which keeps end-of-life solar panels out of the hazardous-waste stream.
What comes next…
Three of our five priority bills are now law. California took real steps to make the AI era pay its own energy and water bills, to hold fast-moving technology more accountable, and to keep renters and working families in the clean energy picture.
None of this happened by accident: It happened because people like you emailed, called, marched, prayed, protested, preached, showed up and spoke your faithfulness to power.
The session is over, the work is not. Join a Green Team, stay on our email list, and help us make 2027 the year congregations lead the climate justice movement in California.
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