Congress moves to lock California coast against new offshore oil drilling
H.R. 2820 — California Clean Coast Act of 2025 · Filed by Salud Carbajal (D-CA) · 37 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 10, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill permanently bans new oil and gas leasing on federal waters off California's coast, effective immediately upon enactment. Existing leases issued before the law takes effect remain valid and unaffected; the ban applies only to future leasing activity.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a permanent prohibition on new federal oil and gas leasing off California's coast. It is a straightforward environmental/conservation measure with no hidden riders or cross-purposes.
What the text implies
- Existing leases remain valid indefinitely, so current offshore platforms and operations continue; the ban does not force closure of producing fields, only prevents new lease sales.
- The prohibition applies only to federal waters (outer continental shelf); state waters and private lands are unaffected, so California retains independent authority over its own coastal zone.
- Oil and gas companies lose future revenue from new federal lease sales off California but retain all rights under pre-enactment leases, limiting the economic disruption to the industry.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary Californians and coastal communities gain protection from new offshore oil development, reducing risks of spills, pollution, and climate emissions from federal waters. The grandfathering of existing leases limits disruption to current operations but preserves the public benefit of preventing new extraction.
Named in the bill
State of California, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSL), U.S. Department of Interior (implied lessor), Oil and gas industry
Where it stands
37 cosponsors: 37 Democrats.
- Apr 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,053,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 59 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.
Salud Carbajal, the sponsor, reported $631,982 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Ocean Conservancy — $403,000 on 2 filings
- Defenders of Wildlife — $370,000 on 2 filings
- Oceana Inc — $280,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (869 characters) on Aug 11, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress moves to lock California coast against new offshore oil drilling” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr2820 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.