Amended SB 1097 Advances, Raising Questions on Transmission Expansion and Farmland Impacts
Published Friday, April 17, 2026
The Senate Environmental Quality Committee recently adopted significant amendments to Senate Bill 1097 by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and advanced the bill to the Senate Energy and Utilities Committee for its second policy hearing next week. California Farm Bureau opposes the bill unless it is amended and will be reviewing the latest changes.
SB 1097 would provide an exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, for upgrades to existing electric transmission lines, including advanced reconductoring, to support the expansion of renewable energy projects. Farm Bureau’s concerns center on the potential impacts of the exemption on productive agricultural land, as transmission easements can be extensive.
Recent amendments would limit any new facilities needed to support reconductoring to no more than a 10% increase in footprint on lands that include conservation easements. However, lands under Williamson Act contracts are not included in this limitation. As a result, Farm Bureau is evaluating how the amended bill may affect those lands, particularly in the context of a potential CEQA exemption. The Large-Scale Solar Association and Rural County Representatives of California support the bill, continuing a trend from last year in which RCRC supported large-scale solar-related policies, including Assembly Bill 1156, which remains on the Assembly inactive file.
Staff contact: Peter Ansel, pansel@cfbf.com.
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