Earlier today, the Governor signed SB 63, a budget trailer bill that abolishes the California Integrated Waste Management Board and creates a new department called the Department of Natural Resources. In his signing message, the governor left the door open for determining whether the Natural Resources Agency or the California Environmental Protection Agency would be the more appropriate place for the new department.

The governor's signing message include the following paragraph:

"I proposed legislation earlier this year that would have distributed the Board’s responsibilities between the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency. The proposal approved by the Legislature instead shifts all of the Board’s functions to the Natural Resources Agency. While the crucial goal of eliminating the Board has been achieved, it is also of the utmost importance to ensure that the new Department most effectively serves its constituencies. To that end, I am directing my staff to work with the Legislature to make any changes to SB 63 necessary to ensure the measure best addresses my Administration’s environmental protection goals and that programmatic functions are housed in the most appropriate agency."