2025 has been an intense year! It has been challenging but also rewarding. I've worked to make the lives of Californians better, and fought to protect California values. Here's my 3-minute recap.
@casendems
I am honored to continue serving as the Chair of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
As we move into 2026, I look forward to working alongside my colleagues on the following committees:
📝 Senate Budget & Fiscal Review Committee 🌱Senate Budget Subcommittee 2 on Resources, Environmental Protection and Energy
🏛️ Senate Governmental Organization Committee
🚉 Senate Transportation Committee
đźš„ Chair, Senate Transportation Subcommittee on LOSSAN Rail Corridor Resiliency
🌎 Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies
⛑️ Senate Emergency Management Committee
I will also be appointed to the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, which has worked since 1965 to improve the lives of women and girls throughout the state.
It was a beautiful day in Solana Beach standing alongside our local elected leaders, united in the effort to prevent new leases for offshore drilling. As Chair of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee, I know how vital it is that we do everything in our power to safeguard our ocean and the coastal resources that define and sustain our communities.
I’m proud to support Rep. Mike Levin’s Southern California Coast and Ocean Protection Act, which takes an important step by prohibiting new drilling in federal waters off our shoreline. I’m grateful for his partnership and his commitment to protecting our environment at the national level. Together, we’re pushing for the long-term, common sense solutions Californians deserve. #banoffshoredrilling #coastalprotection #saveourocean
Several of my bills advanced out of the Senate Appropriations Committee today and are now headed to the Senate floor for votes over the next two weeks. #caleg
Honored to be at the Vatican representing the United States in discussions on climate policy.
One thing that stood out to me:
The most meaningful conversations weren’t really about politics or ideology. They were about people.
Climate policy can sometimes feel abstract. But the impacts are already here.
Grateful for the opportunity to be part of these conversations and bring these perspectives back home.
Wildlife coexistence programs are effective tools to help our communities implement methods proven to actively deter conflicts and promote wild animals’ instincts to stay wild.
I had the pleasure of visiting the California Wolf Center and the San Diego Human Society’s Project Wildlife to see the instrumental coexistence work happening in our region. These visits reinforce the importance of this work to create a statewide framework that will reduce conflicts between people and animals.
This year, I introduced SB 1135 which would re-establish a statewide wildlife coexistence program that ended in 2024 after three years when funding for it expired. Among other things, the program deployed trained regional human-wildlife conflict staff around the state.
In an Assembly informational hearing in January, agency and department leaders acknowledged that the absence of this effort is being felt acutely across urban, suburban and rural California.
We can and must responsibly support people and wild animals to exist in a California where we are all under growing pressures and cumulative threats like extreme heat, frequent drought and intense wildfires that animals respond to by moving in search of resources to survive.
That means investing in science-based, situation-specific, proactive strategies to minimize negative interactions and prevent escalation to conflicts that pose risks for people and animals.
SB 1135 proposes a program to better protect people, wildlife and communities.
I’m proud to be working with wildlife champions like the National Wildlife Federation and the Defenders of Wildlife on this bill. I’m also proud to have the support of more than two dozen diverse organizations, including Audubon California, California State Association of Counties, TomKat Ranch, Natural Resources Defense Council and the San Diego Humane Society.
If you live in California and care about protecting our wildlife, contact your State Senator and State Assemblymember to voice your support for SB 1135.
Thank you to @ignite_sdsu for the opportunity to be on campus at San Diego State University and share my experience in public service.
It’s inspiring to be part of a community that is actively encouraging more women to step forward, engage, and lead. We need their voices now more than ever.
On CA Ocean Day, we must remember the importance of protecting our coastline and ocean. I was happy to speak to advocates today about how to handle the Tijuana River Valley pollution problem. The federal and state governments need to step up and do their parts to stop this pollution and clean up the mess. @oceana@wildcoastcostasalvaje@cal.pirg@ymcasandiego
It was so much fun to spend the morning with @producegood and their volunteers who rolled up their sleeves to pick lemons and support our community. Their ongoing efforts to address food insecurity and ensure fresh, healthy food reaches those in need make a meaningful difference year-round. I’m grateful for their continued leadership and service.
Glad to join with @wildcoastcostasalvaje@repmikelevin@joelacava_d1 and environmental advocates today to fight the federal administration's plan to allow offshore oil drilling near California. To start issuing offshore oil drilling leases for California for the first time in nearly 60 years is reckless, short-sighted and irresponsible!
Did you know that over 90% of the 4,000 farms within San Diego County are small family-owned?! I enjoyed meeting today with leaders of @sdfarmbureau to learn more about the amazing diversity of products grown in our region and the challenges farmers are facing. Pictured from left to right: Katie Stewart, Policy & Government Affairs Director; Dana Groot, Past President and owner of Florabunda Nursery; Jimmy Ukegawa, President and owner of Carlsbad Strawberry Company; Senator Catherine Blakespear; Alexandra “Alex” Jeffers, 1st Vice-President and owner of Sorensen Greenhouses; Andy Lyall, 2nd Vice-President and owner of Rancho Monte Vista; and Neil Nagata, Political Affairs Chair and owner of Nagata Brothers Farm.
