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Committee advances bill to restore protections to waterways lost after Sackett decision
Summary
SB601 would define a category of "nexus waters" to bring state permitting and protections closer to pre‑Sackett Clean Water Act standards; the Assembly committee voted to advance the bill while stakeholders asked for narrower definitions and more time to resolve technical and economic concerns.
The Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee voted to advance SB601, authored by Senator Richard Allen, a bill designed to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA decision by establishing a state statutory category of “nexus waters” and applying stronger Clean Water Act‑style protections to those waters.
Allen told the committee the Supreme Court decision narrowed federal Clean Water Act protections and left many California streams, wetlands and ephemeral waters without federal safeguards. He said the bill’s Nexus Waters category is “designed to capture surface waters that are not currently…
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