THE 2020 ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: CHANGE OF THE GUARD

by Gary A. Lucks^*

Change of the Guard is excerpted with permission from California Environmental Law Reporter (Volume 2020, Issue No 2), copyright Matthew Bender & Company, Inc., a LexisNexis Company, all rights reserved. For insights regarding new legislation related to ballast water, biocidal chemicals, the Cadiz project, circus animals, commerce in fur, hazardous materials, household hazardous waste, idled oil and gas wells, Hollister Ranch, lead acid battery recycling, natural gas emissions, mobile source air quality (also addressed in the article by O’Connor & Johnstone in this issue), non-floating oil, oil and gas leases/transfers, plastics & recycling, roadkill, sale of horses for slaughter, smoking in state parks, timber harvest plans, toxics in jewelry, and trophy hunting, please see the original work.

I. GOVERNOR NEWSOM VETOES SB 1

Notably absent from Governor Newsom’s first State of the State address was a focus on environmental priorities, especially considering President Trump’s unrelenting efforts to roll back environmental protections. Of particular note was Governor Newsom’s veto of SB 1 (Atkins, Portantino, Stern), which would have enacted the California Environmental, Public Health, and Workers Defense Act of 2019. This bill was intended to push back against the Trump Administration’s efforts to weaken environmental and labor protections. Authored by the Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, this bill was designed to codify the versions of the federal Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and Fair Labor Standards Act, and their accompanying regulations prior to the inauguration of President Trump in January 2017.