December 1, 2025
Topic
Year of Abundance
By: Bernadette Austin
Earlier this month, Governor Gavin Newsom christened 2025 as the Year of Abundance. Indeed, state agency leaders and advocates have spent much of the year exploring how to apply the lessons from the nonfiction novel Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson released in March. The novel examines the reasons behind the lack of progress on domestic goals in areas like affordable housing and climate change. These lessons were echoed intentionally and adjacently at a number of gatherings I participated during this fall conference season. In 2026, CivicWell will continue to advance this important conversation, including at our 34th Annual Policymakers Conference in Yosemite and our new Policy Bridge conference in February.
CivicWell’s Fall Webinar series included some valuable insights on this topic, including our sessions on the circular economy and CEQA reform. National Stewardship Council (NSAC) CEO Heidi Sanborn provided examples of critical regulations from this legislative cycle that protect health and safety, but also shared that the circular economy presents real economic opportunities to eliminate or even monetize industrial by-products. Experts from Ascent joined a city executive in providing case studies and guidance on anticipated impacts for local governments and practitioners, including housing development, climate action planning, and other project types. You can view the webinar records and informative slide decks here.
At California Forward’s annual California Economic Summit, there were plenaries on both abundance and scarcity. One important discussion was around how deregulation can be used to advance economic prosperity while acknowledging concerns about how deregulation could leave behind values around environmental sustainability and social equity without intentional actions.
At the American Planning Association’s California Chapter Conference, two sessions covering nearly three hours explored a huge number of changes to the state’s planning profession aimed at speeding up housing production and other priority land use applications, including the implementation of sweeping new CEQA reform legislation. As we look towards a potential Housing Bond in 2026, local leaders must think about how to leverage policies and resources to promote housing development while planning for sustainable communities this housing is located in.
At the Central Valley Strategies: Local Pathways to Housing Progress, (a joint event of the Center for California Real Estate and the California Association of Realtors), I participated in a panel that also explored this intersection of housing, climate, and equity. We discussed ideas on how Central Valley communities can leverage planned investment in substantial infrastructure projects like High Speed Rail and water purveyance and flood control to promote affordable housing development in both economically and environmentally sustainable ways.
Fundamentally, we must approach these challenges in a comprehensive way. Addressing the state’s housing affordability crisis also requires solutions that increase availability of high-quality jobs. Addressing our climate disaster challenges requires nuanced conversations about where and how housing and commercial development take place. Implementing ambitious state policies to promote abundance statewide requires not only the sort of resources being made available by the 2024 Climate Bond and School Bond—as well as the potential 2026 Housing Bond. It also requires meaningful and bidirectional dialogue between state and local leaders that addresses real barriers to implementation.
Policy Corner: Guiding the Future by Elevating Local Innovation
By Steve Hansen, Managing Partner, Lighthouse Public Affairs
As we look toward the 2026 legislative session, California stands at a pivotal crossroads. The challenges we face – from the affordability crisis to climate resilience, water access, and the accelerating impacts of new technologies like data centers – require bold leadership grounded in real-world experience.
California’s housing affordability crisis has reached historic levels. The state’s median home price reached approximately $886,960 in late 2024 (California Association of Realtors, October 2025), requiring an annual household income of approximately $221,000 to qualify for a mid-tier home mortgage (California Legislative Analyst’s Office, 2025), which is more than double the state’s median household income of $102,000.
Climate change is extracting an escalating financial toll on California communities. From 1980-2024, California experienced 46 confirmed weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each, including 19 wildfire events, 14 drought events, and 6 flooding events (NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 2025).
The state’s aging water infrastructure compounds these challenges, with water systems losing 10-20% of supply to infrastructure inefficiencies, while communities face the dual pressures of recurring drought and extreme flooding events.
Emerging as a critical concern is the environmental impact of data centers. California has 17 data centers classified as being in high water-stress locations, with U.S. data centers collectively consuming approximately 163.7 billion gallons of water annually as of 2021 (Bloomberg analysis, 2025), a figure that has grown substantially with AI computing demands. As these facilities proliferate across California, they place increasing pressure on already strained water and energy systems.
Fortunately, CivicWell’s strength has always come from the ground up. Our staff, board, and statewide network of local leaders are not just participants in the policy process…they are its conscience and compass. In this transitional political moment, our collective voice and expertise are essential to ensuring that state-level strategies reflect the lessons, innovations, and urgency we see in our communities every day.
The upcoming Policy Bridge, Yosemite Policymakers Conference, and CCEC Forum are more than just events—they are catalysts. These forums provide essential platforms for elevating regional insights, surfacing practical solutions, and building bridges between local innovation and state action. As the next legislative session gears up, with a new Pro Tem who brings environmental leadership and experience advancing the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), the stakes, and opportunities, are high.
Local leaders have been clear-eyed about what’s needed: smarter climate investments, resilient water systems, better mobility, and equitable access to economic opportunity. At Policy Bridge, these topics, alongside emerging concerns like the environmental impacts of data centers and growing tensions with federal policy, will be front and center.
CivicWell’s work has always been about connecting the dots between policy and place. In 2026, our mission is more urgent than ever. By leaning into our collective strength and showing how local leadership drives meaningful progress, we can help California not just navigate the challenges ahead – but lead.
The Last Day of Early Bird Registration is Tomorrow!!
Make sure you register by tomorrow to get the $100 discount
At the 34th Annual CivicWell Policymakers Conference, we’ll explore innovative solutions in communities emerging from converging challenges—wildfire recovery, housing crises, energy affordability, economic uncertainty, and more. This year’s program will highlight equitable climate investments, neighborhood-scale transformations, and the economic strategies to build climate resilience, social cohesion, and economic prosperity in California communities.
This unique and intimate conference brings together local elected officials from across California in a casual, collaborative, and inspiring environment.