Advisory Board: Governing Board of the Green Empowerment Zone
Subject: RECEIVE Update on SB227 and the Process for Filling Seven (7) Environmental and Environmental Justice Seats
Presenter: Staff to the Green Empowerment Zone
Contact: County Staff, Alyson Greenlee, 925-655-2783
Information:
See attached SB227 Legislation & Application for Green Empowerment Zone.
Referral History and Update:
SB227 was approved by the Governor on October 1, 2025, finetuning some of the original language in AB 844 for the Green Empowerment Zone as summarized below:
• It extends authorization for the Green Empowerment Zone to January 1, 2040, and authorizes the expansion of the Green Empowerment Zone to include 4 additional cities, including the Cities of El Cerrito, Pinole, Richmond, and San Pablo, upon adoption of a resolution by each city. It makes changes to the stakeholder groups who serve on the board of directors, including increasing the number of stakeholder groups to 8 by adding a category for 7 directors who live or work in the Green Empowerment Zone and who represent environmental or environmental justice organizations or interests. It also provides a process for a legislative body of a city or county included within the Green Empowerment Zone to remove the land within its jurisdiction from the empowerment zone.
• It changes the name of the steering committee to the executive committee and prescribes the membership of the executive committee. It eliminates the deadline for the executive committee to develop and report the metrics described in the legislation, but requires the Green Empowerment Zone, commencing July 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, to post information on those metrics on its internet website, as specified.
• It makes legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Contra Costa.
It takes effect immediately as an urgency statute (See SB227 Legislation Attached).
County staff anticipates the following process to fill the seats for the seven (7) directors who live or work in the Green Empowerment Zone and who represent environmental or environmental justice organizations:
• County staff anticipate releasing an application to fill the seats for the seven (7) directors who live or work in the Green Empowerment Zone and who represent environmental or environmental justice organizations.
• Interested applicants should complete the attached application. The application needs to be received by no later than Friday, December 19, 2025, at 5PM.
• Applicants will be screened by the Department of Conservation & Development and depending on the number of applications, candidates may also be invited to an interview.
• The final decisions will be made by the Green Empowerment Zone Governing Board. Appointments will be made at the next meeting of the Green Empowerment Zone Governing Board (See Draft Green Empowerment Zone Application and Process Attached).
Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):
RECEIVE Update on SB227 Cleanup Legislation and the Process for Filling Seven (7) Environmental and Environmental Justice Seats.