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Dozens of Organizations Across the Political Spectrum Sign On To Letter Opposing Deals with California Forever
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 55 minutes ago
August 5th, 2026
Re: Potential California Forever Trailer Bill
Dear Governor Newsom, Senate Pro Tempore Limón, Speaker Rivas, Senator Laird, and Assemblymember Gabriel:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write to express our strong opposition to any last-minute budget trailer bills that would grant special environmental exemptions and bypass local approval processes for the California Forever project in Solano County.
As was reported by both CalMatters and the San Francisco Chronicle, there has been intense lobbying of your offices by California Forever and their billionaire tech backers in an effort to secure preferential treatment for certain aspects of their project. This has apparently centered on advocacy for budget trailer bill language to create new California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) streamlining measures for the project’s shipbuilding component, and modifications to the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) annexation process. Advancing these proposals at the last minute would be extraordinarily harmful to Solano County communities and the environment, and we urge you to reject any such legislation.
The breadth and scope of what is being asked demands the kind of transparency and evaluation that can only be achieved through the full legislative process. This secretive trailer bill language would simultaneously rewrite CEQA standards, restructure LAFCO annexation procedures, and potentially override a county-level voter initiative. Each of these things, on their own, would warrant careful legislative scrutiny, public hearings, and stakeholder input. Bundling all of these changes into a last-minute budget trailer bill, with no opportunity for public comment, expert testimony, or meaningful amendment, or even for the legislature to fully understand the impacts of the bill, is an unacceptable short-circuiting of the democratic process in favor of the project’s wealthy, high-powered backers.
California's legislative process exists precisely for moments like this. Committee hearings allow legislators to play their intended roles, representing the interests of the communities that elect them. This is impossible when sweeping policy changes are negotiated behind closed doors and dropped into budget language days before final approval, all at the behest of a few powerful interests.
Rushing this through denies the communities of Solano County their basic right to representation, and skips the public process that would allow a thorough review and assessment of the environmental, water, transportation, budget, and other untold and unknown impacts this massive development would have on our state.
We urge you to reject any last-minute legislation that would circumvent the California Environmental Quality Act or modify the LAFCO annexation processes, or other efforts to sidestep local discretion and decision-making abilities that Californians depend on in order to safeguard our farmland, our environment, and our communities.
Sincerely,
Jane Hicks
Co-President
Napa Solano Audubon Society
Sal Rosselli
President Emeritus
National Union of Healthcare Workers
Jordan Grimes
Legislative Director
Greenbelt Alliance
Cristal Gallegos
Director
Vallejo Housing Justice Coalition
Morgen Snyder
Director of Programs & Policy
Restore the Delta
Juan Pablo Galvan Martinez
Land Advocacy Director
Save Mount Diablo
Slater Matzke
Chair
United Democrats of Southern Solano County
Bob Berman
Chair
Solano County Orderly Growth Committee
Molly Culton
Chapter Organizing Director
Sierra Club California
Sherri Norris
Executive Director
California Indian Environmental Alliance
Paul Towers
Executive Director
Community Alliance With Family Farmers
Suzanna Hume
Educational Director and Founder
Bill Magavern
Policy Director
Coalition for Clean Air
Gabriel Tolson
Policy Advocate
Planning and Conservation League
Susan Jordan
Founder and Executive Director
California Coastal Protection Network
Torri Estrada
Executive Director
Carbon Cycle Institute
James DeKloe
Chair
Sierra Club Solano Group
Lesley Beatty
Director
ClimatePlan
Nikila Gibson
President
Tri-City NAACP
Don Lowrie
Chairperson
Solano County Democratic Central Committee
Laura Neish
Executive Director
350 Bay Area Action
Kenneth Baccetti
President
California Striped Bass Association-Isleton Delta Chapter
Sandra Schubert
Executive Director
Tuleyome
Cliff Howard
President
Solano County Farm Bureau
Kathy Kerridge
Chair
Progressive Democrats of Benicia
Alexis Koefoed
Owner
Soul Food Farm
Nick Jensen
Conservation Program Director
California Native Plant Society
Anna Larson
Associate Policy Director
California Climate and Agriculture Network
Chance Cutrano
Director of Programs
Resource Renewal Institute
Dan Silver
Executive Director
Endangered Habitats League
Elizabeth Reid-Wainscoat
Policy Specialist
Center for Biological Diversity
Laura Walsh
Policy Manager
Save the Bay
Jessica Wohlander
Policy and Advocacy Associate Manager
Green Foothills
Kevin McNamara
Acting Chair
Rio Vista Democratic Club
Laura Cunningham
California Director
Western Watersheds Project
Chris Shutes
Executive Director
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
Pamela Heatherington
Board of Directors
Environmental Center of San Diego
Larry Glass
Public Lands Director
Northcoast Environmental Center
Jazzari Taylor
Policy Advocate
Latino Outdoors
Victoria Rome
CA Government Affairs Director
Natural Resources Defence Council
Travis Longcore
President
Los Angeles Audubon Society
Marc Reed
Chairman
Solano County Republicans
Sean McNamara
Partner
Sierra Orchards
Kimberly Baker
Executive Director
Klamath Forest Alliance
Osha Meserve
Counsel
Local Agencies of the North Delta
Sean MacCracken
Cofounder
Solano Napa Region Branch of the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America
Erica Harris
Co-Executive Director
Siskiyou Land Trust
Bettina Rosmarino
Land Acquisition Director
Oswit Land Trust
Judith Lamare
Co-Founder
Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk
Jim Peugh
Conservation Committee CoChair
San Diego Bird Alliance
Christina Ralston
Associate Attorney
San Francisco Baykeeper
Thomas R. Fox
Senior Legislative Counsel
Center for Environmental Health
Andria Ventura
Legislative and Policy Director
Clean Water Action
Mariela Ruacho
Senior Policy Advocate
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Dr. Elizabeth Dougherty
Executive Director
Wholly H2O
Lendri Purcell
President
FACTS
Peter Ansel
Senior Director State Policy
California Farm Bureau
This is great news! We can use all the help we can get to thwart this ftom happening.
We will need everyone in this fight! These billionaire ‘investors’ decided, without consulting residents, that they know better than us what Solano needs.
After polling showed a negative view of the project, they found our weakest link in Suisun.
Solano Together, congratulations on your coalition building! This is an amazing feat! Thank you!
Bravo! Let's hope the politicos are paying attention.
Ship building requires access to deep water to float the ships once completed. Does Collinsville have deep water access? If not the waters will have to be dredged continuously. Who pays for this? What size vessels will be built? Is there a market for the "ships" that will be built here? Words, words, words. Useless words.