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. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate Wildfire Caucus, announced the Support Our Firefighters Act to provide federal wildland firefighters with mandatory rest and recuperation time and ensure they...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced that the Senate unanimously passed his legislation to expand and improve the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The bill would allow the National Park Service to acquire the 896-acre Scarper Ridge property...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, spoke on the Senate floor to call on his colleagues to revoke the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) arbitrary and vengeful rule that...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate Wildfire Caucus, announced the Support Our Firefighters Act to provide federal wildland firefighters with mandatory rest and recuperation time and ensure they...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced that the Senate unanimously passed his legislation to expand and improve the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The bill would allow the National Park Service to acquire the 896-acre Scarper Ridge property...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, spoke on the Senate floor to call on his colleagues to revoke the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) arbitrary and vengeful rule that...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee, joined an ENR hearing to discuss critically needed improvements to the grid and unveil his new legislative effort to modernize...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) led eight Senators in urging U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to ensure the timely delivery of federal funds for the High School Equivalency Program (HEP) and College...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), co-chair of the Senate Wildfire Caucus, and John Curtis (R-Utah) introduced the Save Our Sequoias Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation to protect giant sequoias from the growing threat of wildfires, insects, and...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) issued the following statement condemning the Trump Administration’s orders directing Sable Offshore Corp. to restore long-closed oil operations of the Santa Ynez Unit and Pipeline System along California’s coastline: “Californians have...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced legislation to transfer 860 acres of land from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) into trust for the Pechanga Band of Indians. Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif.-48) introduced companion...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), along with U.S. Representatives Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.-05) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.-17), Commissioners on the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB), introduced the America’s Living Library Act...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) secured a commitment from Stevan Pearce, nominee for Bureau of Land Management Director at the Department of the Interior, to protect California’s Chuckwalla National Monument amid the Trump Administration’s efforts to abolish...