Lawmakers reluctantly embrace bioenergy to avoid ag burning
A bill incentivizing the construction of new biomass facilities has pitted environmental lawmakers against environmental groups.
How a surprising Newsom veto threw California’s garbage, building industries into chaos
Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee
For years, contractors and trash haulers in California have been accepting discarded fence posts, backyard deck planks and other chemically treated wood debris without giving it much thought.
No marijuana billboards allowed? California is making it hard on legal weed
Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle
California — birthplace of the Grateful Dead, Snoop Dogg and the Weedmaps app — is still uptight about marijuana, more than four years after voters legalized it for adult recreational use and 25 years after they OKd medicinal herb.
California Lawmakers Are Battling Over for the Fate of Cannabis Billboards
As legal weed businesses struggle against the black market, one of their few advertising options could be on the chopping block
Ian Spiegelman, Los Angeles Magazine
Five years after Californians voted overwhelmingly to legalize recreational pot use for adults, the debate rages on—this time over whether the purveyors of legal weed may continue to advertise their wares on billboards along the state’s roadways.
California's cannabis culture wars converge on billboards
Alexander Nieves, Politico
Recreational cannabis may be legal in California, but debate rages on over how visible the once-taboo plant should be in daily life — namely, along the state's roadways.
A fight is brewing in the state Legislature over cannabis-related billboards that have sprung up around the state, advertising tools the industry says are necessary to support the struggling legal market but that opponents argue expose children to a potentially harmful substance.
Legislators criticize state’s vaccine strategy
Claim Bay Area is unaddressed under new plan, areas that should be prioritized aren’t
Eli Walsh, Bay City News Foundation
Nearly two dozen state legislators representing the Bay Area sent a letter to state public health officials Friday urging them to recalibrate the state’s new formula for vaccinating the communities hit hardest by COVID-19.
Microplastics in California’s agricultural soils could be hurting crop production, or worse
Brad Hooker, ArgriPulse
Microplastics are polluting waterways and soils in California and the Legislature is considering actions to curb this trend.
Legislative Update: Transit Boards, High-Speed Rail, New Agencies
Continuing our very early look at upcoming California bills
Melanie Curry
It is still early to know what will happen with many of the bills being floated by legislators this year, especially in the context of last year’s major disruption of the session and its ongoing effects. But they do give an idea what is on their minds. Among them are some bills aiming at changing governance structures at transit agencies.
Transit Boards
Assembly Committee Holds Hearing on Microplastic Pollution in Water, Environment
SACRAMENTO – The Assembly Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials Committee, chaired by Assemblymember Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), hosted a hearing on microplastics titled “Microplastics in our Water and Environment: Understanding a Growing Pollution Source.” This informational hearing brought together scientists from California, Canada and Europe, who shared their latest research on microplasti