Imagine you’re running late for a flight. You get into the TSA line, which snakes longer than expected. People fumble with their countless carry-ons, one person argues about the “new” twenty-year-old liquid restriction, and you worry you’ll miss your departure—yet you wouldn’t skip the safety checks. That’s what permitting often feels like: urgent projects—mines, transmission…

Signed into law on July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) permanently reshapes the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax landscape. For high-net-worth individuals and families, these changes deliver clarity and opportunity—but only if acted on thoughtfully. For those who are under the new higher exemption amounts and who have overplanned…

On October 10, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 79, authored by Senator Scott Wiener, marking a landmark moment in California’s housing reform landscape. The new law represents Senator Wiener’s third major attempt to advance statewide legislation that upzones land near public transportation, i.e., rail, subway, rapid bus. After prior efforts such as SB 827 (2018) and SB 50 (2019-2020) faced strong opposition and ultimately failed, SB 79’s passage signifies a notable breakthrough in the state’s ongoing pursuit of transit-oriented housing policy.

California is forging a path for climate disclosure with its series of related legal frameworks requiring covered entities to disclose climate-related information, supporting documentation for certain net zero claims and financial risk frameworks.

In October 2023, California became the first state to enact such broad climate disclosure legislation, with the passage of the:

  • Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253),
  • Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261), and
  • California’s Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act (AB 1305).

Entities covered by these three programs generally include those that do business in the state of California and either (1) make certain climate related claims about the business, its products, etc.; (2) market and/or purchase certain voluntary carbon offsets; and/or (3) meet certain monetary thresholds (for purposes of SB 253 and SB 261).

Under international standards such as the UN Guiding Principles and the OECD Guidelines, companies are expected to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence to identify, assess, mitigate and remediate any adverse human rights or environmental impacts that they cause, contribute to or are otherwise linked to.  A failure to do so can expose a…

California is forging a path for climate disclosure with its series of related legal frameworks requiring covered entities to disclose climate-related information, supporting documentation for certain net zero claims and financial risk frameworks.

In October 2023, California became the first state to enact such broad climate disclosure legislation, with the passage of the:

  • Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261),
  • Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253), and
  • California’s Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act (AB 1305).

Entities covered by these three programs generally include those that do business in the state of California and either (1) make certain climate related claims about the business, its products, etc.; (2) market and/or purchase certain voluntary carbon offsets; and/or (3) meet certain monetary thresholds (for purposes of SB 253 and SB 261).

With compliance deadlines already in place or approaching quickly, implementation has been challenging for industry. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is responsible for promulgating regulations associated with the three statutory programs, but has yet to do so. AB 1305 has already gone into effect, with its first deadline occurring as of January 1, 2025. SB 253 and SB 261 have deadlines starting in 2026. Like AB 1305, SB 261’s climate-related financial risk disclosure requirement does not depend on CARB completing its rulemaking prior to when the first reports are due on January 1, 2026. However, SB 253 differs from the other two in that no reporting obligations are imposed without CARB’s adoption of implementing regulations. Regulated entities needs to be prepared to comply while remaining flexible given pending publication of regulations in December.

To assist, this three part series provides a high-level guide on the three programs, including the applicability, the program’s coverage, steps for compliance, timing and other miscellaneous information based on current regulatory guidance. Here we focus on disclosure under California’s Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253), which has an anticipated reporting deadline of July 30, 2026 (pending promulgation of implementing regulations).

California is forging a path for climate disclosure with its series of related legal frameworks requiring covered entities to disclose climate-related information, supporting documentation for certain net zero claims and financial risk frameworks.

In October 2023, California became the first state to enact such broad climate disclosure legislation, with the passage of the:

  • Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261),
  • Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253), and
  • California’s Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act (AB 1305).

Entities covered by these three programs generally include those that do business in the state of California and either (1) make certain climate related claims about the business, its products, etc.; (2) market and/or purchase certain voluntary carbon offsets; and/or (3) meet certain monetary thresholds (for purposes of SB 253 and SB 261).

With compliance deadlines already in place or approaching quickly, implementation has been challenging for industry. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is responsible for promulgating regulations associated with the three statutory programs, but has yet to do so. AB 1305 has already gone into effect, with its first deadline occurring as of January 1, 2025. SB 253 and SB 261 have deadlines starting in 2026. Like AB 1305, SB 261’s climate-related financial risk disclosure requirement does not depend on CARB completing its rulemaking prior to when the first reports are due on January 1, 2026. However, SB 253 differs from the other two in that no reporting obligations are imposed without CARB’s adoption of implementing regulations. Regulated entities needs to be prepared to comply while remaining flexible given pending publication of regulations in December.

To assist, this three part series provides a high-level guide on the three programs, including the applicability, the program’s coverage, steps for compliance, timing and other miscellaneous information based on current regulatory guidance. Here we focus on disclosure under California’s Climate-Related Financial Risks Act, SB 261, which has an initial compliance deadline of January 1, 2026.