SB 1183 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Large-scale solar: Central Valley: study.

Summary

Existing law establishes the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation in state government in the Governor's office to serve the Governor and Governor's Cabinet as staff for long-range planning and research, and constitute the comprehensive state planning agency. Existing law provides state goals for the installation of solar energy systems through, among other programs, the California Solar Initiative. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2029, and upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Office of Land Use and Climate Change to complete a study on the impacts of large-scale solar on the land use planning, environment, and economy of the Central Valley region. The bill would require the Office of Land Use and Climate Change, in conducting the study, to consult interested parties, as specified. The bill would require the study to include an analysis of the impacts of large-scale solar on regional land use planning, the regional environment, and the regional economy. The bill would require the study to include recommendations on how to mitigate impacts of large-scale solar through changes to existing or the adoption of new state, regional, and local policy, as provided. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Central Valley region.

Issues: ✓ Energy ✓ Environment

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 18, 2026 Last action May 14, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

03/23/26 - Amended Senate → 04/28/26 - Amended Senate · 5 edits · Apr 28, 2026

MODERATE

The bill was substantially amended to transfer responsibility for the Central Valley large-scale solar study from the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) to the Office of Land Use and Climate Change in the Governor's office. A nonsubstantive amendment to the Parks and Recreation definitions section was removed, and the fiscal committee vote changed from no to yes, indicating improved budgetary support.

SCOPE

The agency responsible for conducting the study was changed from the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) to the Office of Land Use and Climate Change, which is a planning office within the Governor's office. This shifts the study from an environmental regulatory body to a state planning body.

TECHNICAL

The amendment to Section 500 of the Public Resources Code (a nonsubstantive definition change for the Department of Parks and Recreation) was removed entirely, along with its reference in the bill title.

The name of CEQA was corrected from 'California Environmental Protection Act' to 'California Environmental Quality Act.'

FISCAL

The fiscal committee vote changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the Legislative Fiscal Committee now supports the bill's budget implications.

REQUIREMENT

The language on location recommendations was clarified to specify that large-scale solar locations should be compared to 'other land uses that are not large-scale solar,' making the comparison baseline more explicit.

02/18/26 - Introduced → 03/23/26 - Amended Senate · 6 edits · Mar 23, 2026

MODERATE

The bill was completely transformed from a minor nonsubstantive typo fix in the Public Resources Code into a major new legislative requirement mandating that CalEPA complete a comprehensive study by January 1, 2029 on the impacts of large-scale solar energy in the Central Valley region. The original typo correction (removing a duplicated word 'Recreation' in Section 500) is retained but is now secondary to the new Part 4.9 addition. This matters because it creates a new statutory obligation for state agencies to analyze and recommend policy responses to industrial solar development in one of California's most affected regions.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded dramatically from a nonsubstantive correction of a duplicated word in Section 500 of the Public Resources Code to a new multi-section statutory requirement (Part 4.9) mandating a comprehensive state agency study on large-scale solar impacts in the Central Valley, with specific content requirements, consultation obligations, and a January 1, 2029 deadline.

SCOPE

Entirely new Part 4.9 (Section 71385) added to Division 34 of the Public Resources Code, creating a 'Central Valley Industrial Solar Study' requirement. The bill's scope expanded from a single-section typo fix to a multi-provision study mandate.

REQUIREMENT

CalEPA is required to complete a study on or before January 1, 2029 (upon appropriation) analyzing the impacts of large-scale solar on regional land use planning, the environment, and the economy of the Central Valley region.

The study must include recommendations for mitigating large-scale solar impacts through changes to existing or adoption of new state, regional, and local policies, including land use planning policies, environmental policies, economic policies, identification of optimal solar locations, and community benefit programs.

CalEPA must consult with interested parties including relevant state agencies, local agencies, industry organizations (solar and agricultural), and nongovernmental organizations and community groups focused on environment or land use.

DEFINITION

Legislative findings and declarations that a special statute is necessary for the Central Valley region due to unique circumstances, including that it contains a significant amount of the state's planned or constructed industrial solar.

FISCAL

Fiscal committee determination changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the bill now has fiscal implications requiring appropriation by the Legislature before the study can be completed.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

May 14, 2026

Upper · Passed

May 14 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.

upper

Apr 28, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Apr 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 4009.) (April 22).

upper

Apr 8, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on E.Q.

upper

Mar 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Feb 26, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Feb 18, 2026

Introduced

Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors