Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a new law that addresses inequities in California’s complicated groundwater adjudication process.

Assembly Bill 779 by Assemblymember Lori Wilson aims to level the playing field for small water users and disadvantaged communities. It’s one of the only bills passed this legislative session focused on improving California’s management of groundwater.

A state bill that aims to address inequities in groundwater adjudications is sitting on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk awaiting his signature.  

Adrianne Davies, Owen McAleer and Gabi Rosenfeld are 3L UCLA Law students who worked on Assembly Bill 779 by Assemblymember Lori Wilson. The bill was also recently highlighted by the Los Angeles Times. 

The threat of flooding and erosion is increasing throughout the United States as a warming atmosphere makes precipitation events more extreme and contributes to sea level rise. This Pritzker Brief examines California’s existing real estate disclosure practices and suggests mechanisms to improve them to account for the accelerating risk of sea level rise, or SLR.

Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic Director Cara Horowitz and Shapiro Fellow Ruthie Lazenby submitted an amicus curiae letter in support of a petition to review the Court of Appeal’s decision in Los Angeles Waterkeeper v. State Water Resources Control Board. 

Staff and faculty at the UCLA Emmett Institute filed an amicus brief at the Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District in the case V Lions Farming, LLC, et al. v. County of Kern, et al.  

If Shasta Fields ’23 were to have a superhero name, it would be Earth Protector. The graduating 3L came to UCLA School of Law specifically to make waves in environmental law.

She succeeded. Fields’ experience includes clerking with a major environmental nonprofit, working on a case with the California Attorney General’s Office, researching zoning laws as part of her participation in the Environmental Law Clinic, serving as president of the Environmental Law Society (ELS) and serving as chief comment editor for the Journal of Environmental Law and Policy (JELP).