Convening the Sierra – Fall 2026
September 25, 2026
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Join SBC at these Upcoming Events Across the Region
The second year of the two-year legislative session kicked off last week with the release of the Governor’s $349 billion draft budget for 2026-27. Reports from the Legislative Analysts’ Office (LAO) of a potential $18 billion deficit raised concerns about the state’s fiscal outlook in 2026 and beyond. The Governor ultimately announced a smaller $2.9 billion deficit, in part due to revenue from the rapid growth in the AI market.
Funding from Prop 4—the climate bond that voters passed in November 2024—continues to be a priority for SBC and the Sierra Consortium. The Governor proposed appropriating $2.1 billion from Prop 4, including:
Following an agreement made to balance last year’s budget, the Governor’s proposal would also direct a significant amount of Cap-and-Invest revenue to CAL FIRE operations. This would use up $750 million of the Legislature’s $1 billion set aside for discretionary climate investments, depleting most of the funds available for priorities such as healthy forests and other nature-based climate solutions. SBC believes that Cap-and-Invest funds should be prioritized for critical climate resilience investments, while the General Fund is a more appropriate source for funding CAL FIRE operations.
On the housing front, the Governor did not include any new state funds for housing and homelessness. Immediate action to pass the Housing Bond (AB 736 and SB 417) is especially important in the next few months to provide much-needed, continuous funding to California housing programs and projects. Organizations can endorse the housing bond here.
This is only the first draft of the budget, which will undergo significant revisions between now and May. With a potential downturn in the stock market and continued funding cuts from the federal government, nothing is final. Advocating for increased wildfire resilience and nature-based solutions funding from Prop 4 and GGRF will be a top priority for SBC as the Governor and Legislature negotiate the next budget draft in the coming months.
Last summer, an eleventh-hour legislative deal came together to allocate Prop 4 funding, a win for Prop 4 advocates after signs that the Legislature planned to wait until 2026 to appropriate funds. However, the legislation did not include an exemption from California’s Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which has been standard in previous natural resource bonds. As a result, agencies must now learn the APA process, which requires a regulatory procedure to issue grant guidelines.
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy and other agencies are expecting significant delays in funding rollouts due to the APA requirements. If an exemption is not passed, dollars will likely not hit the ground until 2027. SBC and the Sierra Consortium are advocating for immediate action on AB 35 (Alvarez), which would provide an APA exemption for Prop 4. Getting funding out the door for shovel-ready projects as quickly as possible is imperative to protect communities and landscapes before the next climate disaster strikes.
Join SBC at these Upcoming Events Across the Region
Two SNEW services that are often requested by Sierra Nevada public agencies are energy benchmarking (sometimes including AB 802 reporting for buildings
California’s 2026-27 legislative session wrapped up September 1 after a turbulent final week of negotiations over wildfire policy, funding, and the state budget. While a last-minute proposal on wildfire liability ultimately stalled, the Legislature did restore and increase funding for climate resilience through Proposition 4 and the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF)—a meaningful outcome for Sierra communities amid a challenging state budget year.
The final plan includes $329.5 million for wildfire and forest resilience through Prop 4 and $118 million for wildfire prevention through GGRF. While these investments are an improvement over the June budget, wildfire resilience funding remains near historic lows, with no clear plan for sustained investment in future years.
Read more about the final budget, Prop 4 and GGRF allocations, and what’s next for wildfire and climate resilience in the Sierra.