UCLA School of Law is pleased to welcome Alejandro Camacho, a renowned regulatory scholar, as a professor of law.

Camacho will be a core faculty member of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and a faculty affiliate of UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center. He comes from UC Irvine School of Law, where he was Chancellor’s Professor of Law and faculty director of the Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources.

California has abundant energy that can be supplied to everyone – if it better distributes its energy infrastructure spending for maximum public benefit. This report identifies one critical opportunity that has been hiding in plain sight.

The state spends billions on running two parallel energy systems, gas and electric, when it ultimately only needs one – an expanded, modern, and efficient power grid. Shifting that spending over time to create a single power delivery system unlocks state-wide savings while lowering costs for renters and homeowners.

Medium- and heavy-duty trucks are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Yet California’s policies to phase out fossil fuel-powered trucks in favor of zero-emission models have been undermined by recent federal actions, including a congressional vote to terminate California’s mandate on truck makers to produce zero-emission models and a rollback of many federal tax incentives for these vehicles. Furthermore, in January 2025 the state withdrew from U.S.

Climate change is making life in cities hotter and more dangerous, but cities—Los Angeles included—have not yet adequately responded.

The risk and incidence of heat-related illnesses, such as heat rash, heat cramps, fainting, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke, will increase apace if measures are not taken to reduce their severity and likelihood. These risks fall disproportionately on low-income communities of color.