Advocacy in Action: Water, labor and endangered species

September 24, 2025

Photo/Licensed image

The first year of the 2025-26 California legislative session concluded Sept. 13.

Bills that advanced to the governor now await signature or veto. Bills held in their house of origin may be worked on as two-year bills, meaning they are eligible to move forward in the second year of the session.

Water

The Legislature passed Senate Bill 72, by state Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Merced, which requires the California Department of Water Resources to add new analyses and storage targets to the California water plan update. California Farm Bureau supports the bill, which awaits the governor’s signature.

The Legislature also passed Assembly Bill 263, by Assemblymember Chris Rogers, D-Santa Rosa, which codifies an instream flow emergency regulation for the Scott and Shasta rivers for five years or until the California State Water Resources Control Board develops a permanent instream flow rule. Its passage would allow the governor’s office to lift the drought declaration that has been in place for the Klamath Basin and Siskiyou County since 2021. Farm Bureau opposes it.

Meanwhile, several water bills remained in limbo at the end of the legislative session.

Senate Bill 601, by state Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, which Farm Bureau strongly opposes, was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is now a two-year bill. It requires the state water board to develop a new permitting regime for “nexus waters,” a new classification of wetland or water body.

Assembly Bill 1156, by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, was held in the Assembly on the final day of the legislative session and also became a two-year bill. It would allow for a Williamson Act or Farmland Security Zone contract, including on prime farmland, to be canceled at no cost to the landowner due to insufficient water supply. Attempts by Farm Bureau to narrow the bill so that it did not apply statewide were unsuccessful, and Farm Bureau remains opposed to the bill unless amended.

Labor

The Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1136, by Assemblymember Liz Ortega, D-Hayward, which would require employers of 25 or more employees to allow employees to use up to five days of unpaid leave in a 12-month period to deal with immigration matters; require an employer to place an employee who has been detained as a result of immigration or deportation proceedings on an unpaid leave of absence for up to 12 months; and reinstate an employee released from immigration detention if within 12 months they provide valid documentation of their prior position or a comparable position.

Farm Bureau has expressed concern that such a law could force employers to document their awareness of an employee’s lack of legal status, implicating federal immigration law.

Endangered species

The Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1319, which authorizes the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to extend protections under the California Endangered Species Act to a California native species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act if the federal government takes actions to decrease federal protections for that species under the ESA.

Throughout the year, Farm Bureau and other stakeholders in the water and business sectors attempted to work with the author and sponsor to narrow the scope of the bill. Despite these negotiations, the author rewrote the bill last month, dramatically altering its impact to the CESA listing process and going far beyond the bill’s original stated purpose of ensuring there is no backsliding of protections for endangered species under the Trump administration.

The bill was amended with troubling language that could pave the way for numerous species to be listed under the CESA. The new version of the bill cuts the California Fish and Game Commission out of the listing process and delegates that authority directly to CDFW staff, allowing them to adopt protections for any federally listed or candidate species as a “provisional candidate” without any public process.

Farm Bureau is part of a coalition of more than 40 organizations requesting a veto.

Reprint with credit to California Farm Bureau. For image use, email agalert@cfbf.com