FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 10, 2025
Contacts:
Barry Nelson, Senior Policy Advisor, Golden State Salmon Association, 510-340-1685
Scott Artis, Executive Director, Golden State Salmon Association, 925-550-9208
Sacramento, Calif. — Governor Newsom marked the 175th anniversary of California’s statehood by praising our shared history and future in his State of the State letter. Yet, he was attempting to write salmon, fishing families, and entire coastal communities out of California’s future with his Delta Tunnel and CEQA trailer bills.
California won’t be the Golden State if it destroys its rivers, silences Tribes, or sacrifices working families for the benefit of a handful of wealthy water contractors. These bills would have done exactly that. They would gut environmental protections, eliminate due process, and lock in a water grab that could finish off already imperiled salmon runs. Make no mistake, both the Delta tunnel and the cynical “voluntary agreements” are an attempt at a massive water grab at the expense of salmon and salmon fishing jobs.
Our statehood anniversary should be an opportunity to celebrate the people and natural resources that built California. Instead, Governor Newsom is joining the Trump Administration in pushing salmon-killing proposals that threaten to erase an iconic species, cripple an entire fishing industry, and abandon river and coastal communities that depend on salmon.
Golden State Salmon Association and our partners thank the legislature, and particularly Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire and Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas, for rejecting these reckless and cynical trailer bills. Californians deserve solutions that restore rivers, protect jobs, and honor our heritage—not schemes that will be remembered as the moment California turned its back on its people and its salmon.
Scott Artis, Executive Director, Golden State Salmon Association