On December 9, 2025, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) issued proposed regulations and a staff report for California’s comprehensive climate disclosure laws, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253) and the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261). These proposed regulations come less than a month after the Ninth Circuit issued an injunction temporarily halting enforcement of SB 261, at least until a January 9, 2026, hearing on the plaintiffs’ requested longer-term injunction through the remainder of the First Amendment challenge to the laws. The draft regulations would adopt some, but not all, of the provisions proposed by CARB in its public workshops on the laws to date, and notably would scale back applicability to those companies above a threshold level of sales in the state. The proposed regulations also define key terms, establish the program fee structures, explain fee enforcement and set initial reporting timelines. The written comment period begins on December 26, 2025, and ends on February 9, 2026. CARB will hold a public hearing on the proposed regulations on February 26, 2026 at 9 a.m. PST.
Articles Posted in California
New California Law Mandates Prompt Resolution of Change Order Payment Disputes on Private Works of Improvement
On October 10, 2025, Governor Newsom signed SB 440, titled the Private Works Change Order Fair Payment Act. The new law introduces a process and deadlines for handling change order, time extension and payment disputes on private-works construction projects. SB 440 will apply to contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2026, and will remain in effect until January 1, 2030.
CARB Publishes Preliminary List of Entities Subject to Climate Disclosure Rules
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) released a preliminary list of companies it believes may be subject to the state’s new climate disclosure regime, which imposes significant disclosure duties on large United States entities “doing business in California”—even if the business they do in California is not itself large. CARB’s list comes after a federal trial court declined to stay the rules, with the first compliance deadline set to go into effect January 2026 even as the agency’s implementing regulations remain under development.
Trump 2.0: Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Emissions Requirements
In a potential blow to the fledging EV transition, reports have noted that the Trump transition team is planning to terminate the $7,500 consumer EV credit, an action publicly supported by Elon Musk.
Parking Reform Takes Off on the West Coast
Starting January 1, 2023, real estate developers in Oregon and California will no longer be required to build off-street parking facilities for certain projects located near public transit. Both states enacted new rules during the course of 2022 which are effective as of the beginning of 2023, and which seek to reduce the costs of building at least some new projects in major population centers.
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