CA Assembly Passes AB 1573
News Alert | May 31, 2023
CNPS is thrilled to report that the CA State Assembly passed Assemblymember Laura Friedman’s (D-Burbank) transformative landscaping bill, AB 1573. The bill aims to replace non-functional turf with water-conserving California native plants for commercial and public landscaping projects. AB 1573 would be the first bill of its kind to create a requirement for the use of California native plants.
“Landscaping has so much potential to support California’s important goals to conserve water, support biodiversity, and connect more people to nature,” said Assemblymember Friedman, who was a key member of last year’s California delegation to the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) and is the author of a companion bill, which would ban the use of potable water for irrigation on non-functional turf, AB 1572. “This bill helps unites those important goals, which is why I’m thrilled to see it moving forward.”
The California Native Plant Society is a proud sponsor of the bill, which now advances to the California State Senate for a vote later this summer.
“Biodiversity is in peril, and we all depend on it for our survival,” said ecologist Dr. Jun Bando, executive director of the California Native Plant Society. “In urban and built environments, there are few large swaths of land still available for conservation, but this bill in combination with efforts like 30×30 helps us stitch together a patchwork of life-giving habitat that really can make a difference. We’re grateful to Assemblymember Friedman for her leadership in seizing this largely untapped opportunity.”
Read the full news release here.
How you can help:
- Spread the word. AB 1573 is a nuanced bill. Help us communicate the facts and the importance of this opportunity by sharing our AB 1573 landing page.
- Ask you CA State Senator to support AB 1573. Look up your legislator here.
One step on the road back to biodiversity and restored habitats. Thank you to everyone who worked together to get this done. And thank you from future generations!❤️🦋
This is terrific! I am going to urge readers of my town’s popular free weekly, to contact our shopping center’s owner/manager to join in–let its POLLUTING (too much fertilizer) and water- wasting turf die. Then, native plants can be installed to greet us and feed pollinators!
It is unfortunate that California’s nursery trade association has taken a position of opposition to this bill. The nursery and landscape industry in California has an great opportunity to be leaders in the need to conserve our state’s biodiversity in the great frontier of our urban environments. Not all of the California nursery industry shares opposition to this bill, nor do the many thousands of us who engage in urban landscaping.
It is a time for real leadership and change in our urban forest. This is not a time for protectionism and business-as-usual.
Ron Vanderhoff