Senate Bill 237

Senate Bill 237, signed in September 2025, advances a number of provisions to help support stable petroleum fuel supply and safe transport of petroleum.

Specifically, the law states that:

• The Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) within the California Department of Fish and Wildlife must publicly post information about worst case spill incidents and solicit public input.
• Reactivation of idled oil pipelines after five or more years must pass rigorous hydrostatic spike testing.
• The Governor, in consultation with the California Air Resources Board and California Energy Commission, may suspend California’s seasonal gasoline blend requirements, aimed at controlling evaporative emissions, for a limited time if determined necessary to protect consumers from price spikes and unlikely to yield unintended consequences.
• The environmental impact report from the Kern County’s oil and gas permitting ordinance is sufficient to meet California Environmental Quality Act requirements for permitting of oil and gas production operations for up to 2,000 new wells per year through 2035.
• The CEC’s next triennial Transportation Fuels Assessment will be expanded to evaluate alternative fuel specifications and a westwide gasoline specification.
• The CEC will submit an assessment to the Legislature and Governor that evaluates the recommendations and strategies put forward by the Commission’s Vice Chair in his June 27, 2025 letter to Governor Newsom on fuel supply during the state’s transition and offers recommendations on working groups and permitting to support the state’s reliable, equitable, safe, and affordable transition away from petroleum fuels.