February 20th was the bill introduction for the second year of the 2025-26 legislative session. Bills are now moving to policy committees for debate and public comment, and SBC is closely tracking legislation and identifying key bills for the year. So far, these include:

• AB 35 (Alvarez): Would provide an Administrative Procedures Act exemption for Proposition 4 funding

• AB 1699 (Rogers): Would indefinitely extend the Prescribed Fire Liability Program to expand California’s capacity for prescribed burns and cultural burning practices 

• AB 2184 (Wilson): Would appropriate $300 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to nature-based climate solutions

• SB 222 (Wiener): Would streamline heat pump installations by requiring cities and counties to offer asynchronous inspections for the installation of heat pumps, among other methods

• SB 899 (Grove): Would require the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force to assess the health costs and impacts of high-severity wildfire smoke and make recommendations to increase the health benefits of the Task Force’s action plan 

• SB 1250 (Cortese): Would require Caltrans to include goals for wildlife connectivity in its asset management plan to improve the connectivity of wildlife crossings in the state

• SB 1394 (Limón): Would improve reporting on 30×30 goals by accurately quantifying and identifying newly conserved acreage and distinguishing it from acreage previously reported as conserved

• AB 736 (Wicks) & SB 417 (Cabaldon): Would place a $10 billion bond measure for affordable housing on the 2026 ballot

SBC will continue to closely follow these bills and others throughout the year and their impact for the Sierra Nevada region.