Senate Rules Committee unanimously backs nominee to lead Department of Conservation

The California State Senate Rules Committee voted 5-0 on April 23 to recommend that the full Senate confirm the governor's nominee to serve as director of the Department of Conservation.

The hearing focused on the nominee’s priorities for CalGEM permitting, the state’s energy transition and programs to preserve agricultural and conserved lands. Committee members pressed the nominee on delays in upstream oil-and-gas permitting, the status of a carbon sequestration working group created by SB 905, and how multi-benefit land and sustainable-agricultural programs are being administered.

The nominee, introduced to the committee as Director Lucchese, described a decades-long career in state government and said her priorities include making permitting processes under CalGEM more “consistent and predictable.” “I am committed to ensuring that process is as transparent and as I said, consistent and predictable as possible moving forward,” Director Lucchese told the committee during her opening remarks.

Several senators described local economic and energy concerns. Vice Chair Groves, representing a large oil-producing area, raised refinery closures and a long-term decline in permit approvals, saying the changes have widened California’s reliance on imported crude and refined fuel. Groves pressed the nominee on whether the department can improve permitting turnaround and consistency across similar applications.

Director Lucchese said the Department of Conservation is participating in a multi-agency task force with the Energy Commission, the Air Resources Board and the California Public Utilities Commission to “better understand that entire ecosystem” and to improve the durability and predictability of permitting decisions under CalGEM’s jurisdiction. She said she is “diving in, pretty deep” with the state oil-and-gas supervisor and DOC leadership to understand causes of delays.

Senator Caballero asked about SB 905, legislation described during the hearing as setting up a collaborative effort on geologic carbon sequestration. Director Lucchese said the California Geological Survey and DOC geologists are leading a working group to model geological structures and help inform safety and siting decisions, and that she expects a deliverable “later this year.”

Senator Laird and others questioned how DOC programs link formerly separate land and conservation efforts, including the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation program (referred to in the hearing as the SALT program) and the multi-benefit land program. Director Lucchese described those grant programs as an active part of the department’s land and resource protection work and said staff have been operating “incredibly efficiently and effectively.” She cited a recent Beach Ranch acquisition supported by the multi-benefit land program as an example.

The nominee also addressed Surface Mining and Reclamation Act implementation. Lucchese said DOC serves as a backstop for local governments by providing enforcement, oversight and technical advice, and noted SMARA will soon reach its 50th anniversary, prompting a need to reassess implementation as state demand for aggregate and other materials grows.

Public supporters spoke in the confirmation hearing. Betty Yee, introduced in the hearing as a former state controller who served with Lucchese at the State Lands Commission, told the committee the nominee is “a stakeholder-driven leader” who helped create a strategic plan at the State Lands Commission and that she would ensure affected communities “are invited to the table.” Eric Turner of the California Construction and Industrial Materials Association and Abigail Smet of the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County and the Conservation Fund also spoke in support.

The committee carried the motion to send the nomination to the full Senate. The clerk recorded aye votes from McGuire, Groves, Caballero, Jones and Laird; the committee closed and reported the recommendation to the floor as a 5-0 vote. The nomination now proceeds to a full Senate vote.

Clarifying details recorded during the hearing include that Director Lucchese said she served more than a decade as executive officer of the State Lands Commission and that the California Geological Survey is leading the SB 905 working group. The hearing transcript also cited recent permitting numbers in CalGEM — “84 oil permits issued last year” compared with “2,664 in the previous year” as stated during the discussion — and committee members raised concerns about the impact of refinery closures in Benicia and elsewhere on state fuel supply and regional consumers.

The committee’s recommendation does not by itself appoint the director; a floor vote by the full California State Senate is required for final confirmation.