Energy and Environment

Alex is determined to fight the existential threat of climate change. Having grown up in a low-income, heavily polluted neighborhood, he is dedicated to ensuring that every family has access to clean air and clean water. He served for six years as Chair of the California State Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications, where he led the development of California’s ambitious renewable energy and climate policies that now serve as a model for the rest of the country. Alex’s environmental leadership has continued in the U.S. Senate. In addition to cosponsoring the Green New Deal, Alex introduced sweeping legislation to electrify our nation’s school buses and protect over one million acres of public lands in California, increasing access to nature and preserving California’s natural treasures for generations to come.

Alex understands the threat that increasingly frequent and catastrophic natural disasters and extreme weather events pose to California and the Western United States. That’s why he fought to secure millions of dollars in federal funding for flood control infrastructure to protect communities from catastrophic floods and rising sea levels. His bill the POWER ON Act was signed into law by President Biden to prevent utility outages caused by natural disasters like wildfires and other extreme weather events. And while California continues to face the threat of devastating wildfires, Alex led the successful passage of the FIRE Act, to modernize the way FEMA prepares for and responds to wildfires.

Recent News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, participated in a hearing on President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget proposal. There, he pushed Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Shalanda Young...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) introduced the Plant Biostimulant Act, which would create a uniform process for approving commercial plant biostimulant use as an alternative to synthetic pesticides and fertilizers and conducting research on the technology’s benefits...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein as well as Congressmen Jim Costa and Tony Cárdenas (all D-Calif.) led 20 members of California’s Congressional delegation in sending a letter to federal agencies urging them to advance a whole-of-government strategy to address...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, participated in a hearing on President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget proposal. There, he pushed Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Shalanda Young...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) introduced the Plant Biostimulant Act, which would create a uniform process for approving commercial plant biostimulant use as an alternative to synthetic pesticides and fertilizers and conducting research on the technology’s benefits...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein as well as Congressmen Jim Costa and Tony Cárdenas (all D-Calif.) led 20 members of California’s Congressional delegation in sending a letter to federal agencies urging them to advance a whole-of-government strategy to address...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, today questioned Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw to demand that the company take responsibility for the environmental and public health threats posed by the derailment and...
“Padilla: California’s worst wildfire year on record will pale in comparison to the wildfires of 2030 or 2040 unless we change our practices.” WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) participated in a Senate Budget Committee hearing to examine the...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein (both D-Calif.) reintroduced legislation to expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to include approximately 3,925 acres of adjacent Bureau of Land Management-administered public lands in Lake County, California. It...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein (both D-Calif.) along with Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen (both D-Nev.) introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to extend the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act through 2034. The original Lake Tahoe Restoration Act was passed...
CALIFORNIA — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein (both D-Calif.) published an op-ed in The San Diego Union-Tribune urging state officials from Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming to come to the table and work with California to...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein (both D-Calif.) along with Congressman Robert Garcia (D-Calif.-42) sent a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan urging him to designate neighborhoods in Southeast Los Angeles County impacted...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Representative Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.-29), and Representative Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.-05) sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young urging them...