Exclusive records show California Forever’s intense lobbying

California Forever wanted a ‘yes’ — and fast. 

In the weeks before the end of the legislative year last September, representatives for the tech billionaire-backed mega development emailed, called and texted Solano County officials, hoping to secure support for proposed legislation that would speed up environmental review for a shipyard that could yield thousands of new jobs. 

On Sept. 1, 2025, Michael Fortney, California Forever’s director of partnerships, emailed county staff saying they had to decide whether to support the proposal that very day. When the county administrator responded that there was no language to evaluate, Fortney accused county staff of slowing down the process.

• Fortney: “We don’t understand why this is complicated for you … unless you don’t want these jobs in Solano?”

Fortney defended the group’s urgency at the time, saying that they were “tireless” because the economic opportunity “could have been transformative for the county, and for California.”

CalMatters’ reporters Yue Stella Yu and Kate Wolffe document that exchange in a special report published today on how the real estate development group leverages the prospect of economic growth to pressure local officials, often against a tight timeline. The shipyard is part of California Forever’s wider goal of creating a new city and manufacturing hub in the Bay Area.

Critics of California Forever — who are already distrustful of the group’s secretive beginnings — say the project’s constant rush for approvals enables its leaders to steamroll public officials.

• Duane Kromm, a former Solano County supervisor: “For something of this size, it’s absurd to push in front of anybody and say, ‘We need your yes vote or your no vote right now.’ You wouldn’t buy a used car with that kind of timeframe.”

Now, in the closing weeks of the current legislative year, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office recently began circulating a new proposal to fast-track environmental review of the shipyard proposal.

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We all know that only you can prevent forest fires, according to Smokey Bear. But we also know that people are often the ones who unfortunately start them.

That’s why some California leaders and conservationist groups are worried about the Trump administration’s plans to allow more logging and road construction in undeveloped parts of national forests, reports CalMatters’ Rachel Becker. Simply put, the Forest Service’s own research shows that fires often start where people can travel.

• Josh Hicks, director of conservation campaigns for The Wilderness Society: “Opening our backcountry forests to more roads and development, and therefore more ignitions, is also not a wildfire solution, and never will be.”

In a statement, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the current rules restricting logging and roads are “outdated,” and that they keep “tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk.”

Public comment on the Trump administration’s proposal is open until Sept. 21.

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Bay Area community advocates are raising alarm over a change to state pollution rankings that they say could lead to them losing critical state funding, writes CalMatters’ Alejandra Reyes-Velarde.

CalEnviroScreen evaluates different California regions on nearly two dozen environmental, public health and demographic factors. It then takes the top 25% most dire areas and classifies them as “disadvantaged communities.” The tool helps guide policy and at least a quarter of funds from California’s cap-and-invest program go to these communities.

But after the tool’s fifth and most recent update, San Francisco’s Chinatown, Tenderloin, South of Market and Mission neighborhoods are ranked too low, advocates argue, despite having persistent environmental challenges. This means that these communities could lose out on money from the emissions fund program.

• Pratibha Tekkey, director of community organizing for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic: “You can’t just be a scientist looking at data points. … You have to see who is living there in that community, what kind of health challenges they have, what kind of economic challenges they have.”

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San Diego County supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday to ban federal immigration enforcement agencies from using the county’s firearms training facilities. Terra Lawson-Remer, the chairperson of the board, said providing training grounds for President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign “is a slap in the face of our residents.” Read more from CalMatters’ Deborah Brennan.