A California state lawmaker introduced legislation Thursday to enshrine federal water quality rules in state law following President Donald Trump’s inauguration and a 2023 Supreme Court decision rolling back wetlands protections. State Sen. Ben Allen’s (D) SB 601 would significantly boost the State Water Resources Control Board’s authority to adopt and enforce water rules at least as stringent as the federal rules at a time when Trump has promised to roll back regulations. “The challenges presented by ever-changing federal policy requires California to step up and fill the void that is left when priorities become misaligned,” said Allen in a press release.

Other state legislation news:

• Streetsblog: Sen. Ben Allen moves to protect California’s freshwater
• Office of state Assemblymember Tasha Boerner: News release: California moves to ban toxic plastic microbeads in cleaning products and coatings​
• Bay City News Service (San Francisco): Bay Area legislator introduces bill to help clean up ‘forever chemicals’ from water supply
• Sierra magazine: Blog: California unveils bill to force polluters to pay for climate-driven disasters
• Monterey Herald (Monterey, Calif.): California Senate Bill takes aim at saving farm lands