Governor

Gavin Newsom (D)

2025 Score 82%
https://www.gov.ca.gov/

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Against unprecedented federal hostility toward California, Governor Newsom was a key defensive leader on the national stage—but his follow-through on state climate policy was uneven. He championed extending Cap-and-Invest, energy affordability policies, fought federal efforts to undermine core environmental protections like the Clean Air Act, and defended against attacks on democracy with Prop 50. But major implementation delays of three critical laws holding corporate polluters accountable, environmental rollbacks jammed through the budget process, and Big Oil giveaways at the end of session, along with vetoed bills that would’ve protected the health and safety of Californians show inconsistent leadership. In 2026, Californians need leadership to hold corporate polluters accountable to pay their fair share to ensure affordability for Californians and safeguard the health and safety of communities through investments in resilience, clean energy, and clean transportation.

83%
Lifetime Score
82%
2025
80%
2024
80%
2023
84%
2022
82%
2021
87%
2020
85%
2019

How We Calculated the Weighted Score

75% environmental votes
25% California score

The Governor's overall score reflects both his weighted score, his pro- and anti-environmental actions, and California's overall results. The table below shows how his actions influenced his final score of 82%.

Pro-Environment Actions

  • Newsom signed the two biggest clean energy and electricity affordability bills in 2025 into law: SB 254 on electricity affordability and AB 825 on advancing a western-wide energy grid.
  • Newsom successfully championed Prop 50, a measure to combat election rigging, create an equitable federal government that cares about climate issues, and protect environmental progress and democracy in our country.
  • Newsom made history making California one of the first states to join the International Union for Conservation of Nature, representing our state’s critical role as a global climate leader.
  • At COP 30, Newsom oversaw the signing of new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreements with Colombia, Chile, and Brazil that strengthen international partnerships to fight climate change.
  • After Republicans in Congress and the president illegally revoked California’s authority to clean our air, Newsom signed an executive order kickstarting the Drive Forward program to develop new regulations and doubling down on California’s commitment to clean cars and trucks.
  • The California Air Resources Board (CARB) developed and adopted emergency regulations to continue progress on clean cars after the revocation of the Advanced Clean Cars Federal Clean Air Act waiver.
  • Important reforms made to the state’s Cap-and-Invest program were made in AB 1207 that represent the first steps toward changes needed to make this program work effectively and reduce emissions quickly. We urge state leaders to build on this by continuing to push for necessary reforms, including prioritizing improvement to local air quality programs.
  • Newsom issued an executive order directing state agencies to accelerate long-term solutions that stabilize the insurance and utility sectors to better prepare California for climate-driven disasters.
  • Newsom emerged as a prominent voice pushing back publicly against the Trump administration’s corruption and attacks on issues important to Californians.
  • Newsom convened a January special session to ensure the California Attorney General had the resources needed to fight federal attempts to weaken environmental and climate protections.

Anti-Environment Actions

  • Newsom rushed through a last-minute sweeping budget bill rolling back the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), removing community protections and the process for public input without any clean-up legislation passed.
  • Newsom agreed to a last-minute sweeping policy rushed through the budget to pause all state and local building code updates, undermining public safety, cost savings, and resilience.
  • The state budget shifted $1 billion of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) climate funding away from critical programs that reduce emissions to instead go to the state’s general fund, meaning overall less funding for climate programs.
  • Newsom declined to adopt regulations to implement California’s Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (SB 54), citing burdensome cost to industries as a reason to delay implementation of a historic plastic pollution reduction law that passed in 2022.
  • Newsom proposed sweeping exemptions to environmental review for new oil drilling. While this was not ultimately adopted, it represents a willingness from Newsom to move California backwards on climate.
  • The California Energy Commission (CEC) voted to delay implementation of the oil price gouging penalty law, leaving Californians vulnerable to Big Oil’s extortion at the pump.
  • CARB is overdue in passing rules to regulate carbon capture and storage technologies (SB 905 from 2022).
  • Newsom showed a lack of vision and planning to phase out fossil fuels or create a proactive plan for oil and gas worker transition, as well as a lack of significant investment in solutions like clean cars, trucks, and transit that would reduce demand for oil.
  • CARB is overdue in passing regulations to implement the climate corporate accountability laws (SB 253 and SB 261) which will require the largest corporations to publicly report on their emissions and climate risk.
  • State leaders fell short on needed improvements to the policy extending California’s Cap-and-Invest program and left the state’s community air monitoring program largely unchanged.

Gavin Newsom's 2025 Environmental Actions

Bill Name Final Result
SB 237 (Grayson) Big Oil Giveaways Signed into Law (Anti-Environment)
AB 1207 (Irwin, Rivas, Limón, McGuire) Cap and Invest Extension Signed into Law
SB 352 (Reyes, Bryan) Community Air Monitoring Signed into Law
AB 825 (Petrie-Norris, Rivas, Becker) Regionalizing California’s Energy Grid with Other Western States Signed into Law
SB 254 (Becker, Wahab, Petrie-Norris) Electricity Affordability Signed into Law
SB 131 (Wiener) Last Minute Environmental Review Exemptions for Industrial Projects with No Protections for Communities, Protected Land, or Endangered Wildlife Signed into Law (Anti-Environment)
AB 288 (McKinnor) Safeguarding the Right to Organize Signed into Law
SB 42 (Umberg) Ending the Statewide Ban on Public Financing of Election Signed into Law
AB 39 (Zbur) Local Electrification Planning Act Signed into Law
AB 263 (Rogers) Scott and Shasta River Instream Flows Signed into Law
AB 454 (Kalra) California Migratory Bird Protection Act Signed into Law
AB 740 (Harabedian) Electricity Affordability through Virtual Power Plants Vetoed
AB 823 (Boerner) Reducing Microplastics by Banning Plastic Beads & Glitter in Personal Care Products Vetoed
AB 900 (Papan) Planning for the Durable Stewardship of California’s 30×30 Land Signed into Law
AB 1167 (Berman) California Ratepayer Protection Act Signed into Law
AB 1319 (Schultz) Protecting the Endangered Species Act Signed into Law
SB 24 (McNerney) Protecting Ratepayers from Utility Abuses Vetoed
SB 541 (Becker) Clean Energy Load Shifting Solutions Vetoed
SB 682 (Allen) Banning PFAS in Non-Essential Uses Vetoed
SB 34 (Richardson) Undermining South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Port Rule Vetoed (Pro-Environment)
AB 130 (Gabriel) Pause on State and Local Building Code Updates Signed into Law (Anti-Environment)
AB 154 (Gabriel) Implementing Climate Corporate Accountability Act Signed into Law
AB 1 (Connolly) Updating Safer from Wildfires Signed into Law
AB 14 (Hart) Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program Signed into Law
AB 43 (Schultz) Wild and Scenic Rivers Signed into Law
AB 60 (Papan) Musk Reduction Act Signed into Law
AB 368 (Ward) Passive Home Standards Signed into Law
AB 399 (Boerner) Blue Carbon Projects Vetoed
AB 1181 (Haney) Protective Equipment for Firefighters Signed into Law
AB 1280 (Garcia) Supporting Thermal Energy Storage Projects Signed into Law
AB 1336 (Addis) Protections for Farmworkers from Heat Related Illness Vetoed
AB 1417 (Stefani) Offshore Wind and Coastal Resources Protection Program Signed into Law
SB 3 (Cervante) Protecting Voters from Rejected Ballots Signed into Law
SB 57 (Padilla) Studying How Data Centers Impact Electricity Bills for Ratepayers Signed into Law
SB 326 (Becker) The California Wildfire Mitigation Strategic Planning Act Vetoed
SB 427 (Blakespear) Habitat Conservation Fund Signed into Law
SB 454 (McNerney) Forever Chemical Mitigation Program Vetoed
SB 513 (Durazo) Workers Rights to Training Records Signed into Law
SB 655 (Stern) Indoor Temperature Standards for Extreme Heat Days Signed into Law
SB 787 (McNerney) Equitable Clean Energy Supply Chains Vetoed