The Assembly Labor and Employment Committee advanced SB 954 on a 5-0 vote Tuesday, sending the measure to Appropriations after a hearing that cast the bill as a cleanup to last year’s budget-enacted CEQA exemption for advanced manufacturing.
Supporters said the bill is meant to rein in what they described as an overly broad exemption adopted in the Budget Act under SB 131. According to the committee summary, they argued SB 954 would add labor and environmental guardrails, including skilled-and-trained workforce and prevailing wage requirements, along with stronger protections for habitat, tribal resources and sensitive receptors.
Opponents, including CalChamber and the Bay Area Council, warned that the bill goes beyond cleanup. The committee summary says they argued the measure would add labor peace agreement and other requirements that could deter investment and make California less competitive.
The committee moved the bill forward anyway. The hearing summary describes SB 954 as a cleanup bill tied to the advanced-manufacturing CEQA exemption, with supporters and opponents split over whether the measure narrows the exemption or expands it.
The bill now goes to the fiscal committee as it continues through the Assembly.
