Lena Gonzalez

Senator Lena Gonzalez, the author of the ban and now Senate Majority Leader, held tough in not giving the companies any exemptions for maintenance permits in exchange for their withdrawal.

AB 3155, authored by Assemblymember Laura Friedman and cosponsored by Senator Lena Gonzalez, creates a liability presumption for a respiratory ailment, a pre-natal defect, and a person’s cancer diagnosis if they lived for two years within 3,200 feet of an oil and gas production facility that failed to use the most effective pollution control technology. Under AB 3155, oil drillers could face penalties ranging from $250,000 to a $1 million. The oil well operator can rebut that presumption if the person’s health problems were caused in another way, such as by genetics or another toxic exposure, or if they used the best pollution control technology that is commercially available.

AB 3155, authored by Assemblymember Laura Friedman and cosponsored by Senator Lena Gonzalez, creates a liability presumption for a respiratory ailment, a pre-natal defect, and a person’s cancer diagnosis if they lived for two years within 3,200 feet of an oil and gas production facility that failed to use the most effective pollution control technology. Under AB 3155, oil drillers could face penalties ranging from $250,000 to a $1 million. The oil well operator can rebut that presumption if the person’s health problems were caused in another way, such as by genetics or another toxic exposure, or if they used the best pollution control technology that is commercially available.

AB 3155 builds on scientific evidence proving a direct link between drilling and these maladies. It was this evidence that led Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) to pass SB 1137 in 2022, a first of its kind bill that banned drilling within a 3,200-foot “set-back” zone. SB 1137 was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, but to no one’s surprise, oil drillers spent over $20 million to put a referendum overturning SB 1137 on the ballot in November 2024. As such, SB 1137 has been frozen, awaiting this November’s vote.