California Supreme Court To Hear Case On State's Rooftop Solar Policy

Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, June 4, 2025…

• Wednesday is an important day for the future of solar energy in California. Three environmental groups are set to go before the state Supreme Court to challenge a state policy on solar panels. 
• The California Air Resources Board has launched a mobile monitoring program to collect pollution data from neighborhoods suffering from poor air quality. 
• San Mateo County’s District Attorney is seeking the death penalty for the shooting suspect accused of killing seven farmworkers at two locations in Half Moon Bay in 2023.

California Supreme Court To Hear Arguments In Solar Panel Dispute

A controversial solar rooftop policy that would reduce payments to homeowners for excess power they produce and export to the grid is the topic of a hearing before the California Supreme Court on Wednesday.

In December of 2022, the California Public Utilities Commission adopted the new rules. For new solar customers, it reduces the amount utilities pay them for excess power by at least 75% compared to current rates. The change does not apply to residents with existing solar systems. It would also fund $900 million in new incentive payments to residents to help them purchase rooftop solar systems. Two thirds of the funds, $630 million, are set aside for low-income households. The remainder provides funding for paired solar-battery storage systems. It also sets rates that would shift all consumers’ use of power to the times of day that improve grid reliability.

The Center for Biological Diversity, the Environmental Working Group and San Diego-based Protect Our Communities Foundation are trying to overturn the CPUC’s decision. They’ve argued the new rules don’t take into account the benefits of rooftop solar and that the lower compensation rates would affect incentives for potential new customers.

California Regulators Launch New Air Monitoring System 

The California Air Resources Board has started a new phase of statewide air monitoring.

The agency has launched a mobile monitoring program. Specially equipped cars and mobile labs will collect air pollution data from 64 communities throughout California as part of CARB’s Statewide Mobile Monitoring Initiative.

Edie Chang is CARB’s deputy executive director of planning, freight and toxics. She said this approach is more detailed than California’s existing, stationary air monitors that capture regional air pollution. “It’s not necessarily good at seeing like, there’s a lot of traffic on this street. And so there’s what people might call it like a hotspot in a certain area. And so this will give us the opportunity to really have that sort of street level block-by-block data for communities,” Chang said.

The deployed vehicles will be collecting data over the course of nine months. Chang said the agency expects to release the data publicly by June of next year.

Mass Shooting Suspect Faces Death Penalty

The San Mateo County District Attorney’s office is seeking the death penalty against the man accused in a 2023 mass shooting at two Half Moon Bay mushroom farms.

Chunli Zhao is accused of killing seven farmworkers in San Mateo County’s deadliest mass shooting. He faces seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced the decision to pursue the death penalty at a court hearing Tuesday. Because of a gag order in the case, Wagstaffe said he can’t provide details on why he’s seeking the death penalty. It’s the first time he’s done so since he became district attorney in 2011. Capital punishment has becoming increasingly rare since Governor Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium on executions in 2019.