Newsom Signs California Climate and Energy Package Extending Cap-and-Invest to 2045
On September 19, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of climate and energy bills at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, California, extending the state's Cap-and-Invest program to 2045 while expanding electricity bill refunds, stabilizing the gasoline supply and giving high-speed rail its first stable source of funding. San Francisco is a consolidated city and county in California, and the package passed the Legislature with bipartisan support.
Governor Newsom signed six bills: AB 825, on an independent regional organization for the power market; AB 1207, extending the market-based climate compliance mechanism; SB 237, on oil spill prevention, gasoline specifications and environmental review exemptions in Kern County; SB 254, an omnibus energy bill; SB 352, on environmental justice and community air monitoring; and SB 840, on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and related studies.
The Governor's Office said the policies will save Californians billions of dollars on energy costs and provide the biggest boost ever to the California Climate Credit, which already saves millions of California families more than $100 every year on their utility bills. The package also accelerates critical clean energy projects and integrates clean energy across the broader West to create more supply, improve grid reliability and drive down costs.
On gasoline, the package provides a path for a targeted, locally led, environmentally responsible and safe increase in oil production in Kern County to boost overall fuel supplies in the state, while maintaining the safety of existing pipelines and refineries and stabilizing a market often subject to price spikes.
Extending Cap-and-Invest, formerly known as Cap-and-Trade, to 2045 continues California's efforts to cut climate pollution, investing billions of dollars in communities most impacted by toxic pollution, delivering clean water and clean transportation. The package also makes high-speed rail a reality by providing its first-ever stable source of funding, resolving all funding gaps for the early operating segment in the Central Valley. Earlier in the week, the Governor approved the first allocation of $3.3 billion from Proposition 4, passed by voters the previous year, for firefighting and wildfire prevention, clean water and agriculture projects.
According to the Governor's Office, greenhouse gas emissions in California are down 20 percent since 2000 even as the state's GDP increased 78 percent over the same period; California was powered by two-thirds clean energy in 2023; and since the beginning of the Newsom administration, battery storage has risen to over 15,000 megawatts, an increase of more than 1,900 percent, with over 25,000 megawatts of new resources added to the grid.
Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire said the package delivers on a promise to make life more affordable by lowering energy bills, making communities more wildfire safe, delivering clean drinking water to tens of thousands and continuing progress against the climate crisis. Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas called the bills the strongest energy affordability solutions Californians have seen in years. Former Governor Jerry Brown said California boldly confronts reality and extends its world-leading cap-and-invest program.
(Source: Office of the Governor of California)
Source: Office of the Governor of California
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于旧金山金门公园的加州科学院（签署仪式地点，资料图）。照片：WolfmanSF 摄，Wikimedia Commons（CC BY-SA 3.0）。 / Photo: The California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, where the bills were signed (file photo). Photo by WolfmanSF, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
