California Forever\u2019s proponents, led by the state\u2019s powerful building trades union along with Realtors, peace officers and pro-housing groups, argue the latest proposal would boost the state\u2019s economy and bring an estimated<\/a> half a million jobs to California. And now, a prospective tenant has emerged: Defense company Saronic Technologies Inc<\/a>., which builds autonomous vessels for use in national security, is deciding between California and Texas for its next factory. The state must fast-track the development or lose the deal, supporters argue.<\/p>\n
The developers are seeking the state\u2019s permission to use an 18-year-old environmental impact report for the shipyard development, limit any legal challenges to the project to 270 days, and allow Suisun City to annex their land if needed, according to Steinberg and Hertzberg. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn short, if legislation is not approved, California will lose billions of dollars in investments and tens of thousands of jobs this summer to Texas and other states,\u201d proponents wrote in a joint letter<\/a> to Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders this week.<\/p>\n But some locals and lawmakers are skeptical, arguing that details about the project remain scarce. The proposed development would convert vast farmlands into factories and risk harming the surrounding ecosystem, they said, which deserves rigorous environmental review under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act that proponents are seeking to expedite. <\/p>\n State Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento) is shown during a Senate floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Feb. 20, 2025.<\/p>\n (Fred Greaves \/ CalMatters)<\/p>\n \u201cFor a project this scale in this location, it is what the [law] was designed for,\u201d said Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento)<\/a>, who represents the area. \u201cA central question for the people of Solano County is: Is this going to be for the community or is this a conversion project that leaves them behind?\u201d<\/p>\n Opponents also slammed California Forever for pursuing relief behind closed doors with state leaders and circumventing local opposition. Since 2018, the group has secretly bought up agricultural land, shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars<\/a> to court local residents and spent at least $330,000 lobbying the governor and legislative leaders for favorable legislation.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they know that the only way this actually happens is under cover of darkness, by trying to essentially get the governor to work this plan for them,\u201d said Jordan Grimes, legislative director at Greenbelt Alliance, which has advocated for streamlined environmental reviews for housing projects.<\/p>\n Secretive beginnings foment distrust<\/p>\n For residents of Solano County, an agricultural community on the outskirts of the Bay Area that includes coastal areas next to a deep-water shipping lane, the suspicion around California Forever has been hard to shake. <\/p>\n The group\u2019s subsidiary, Flannery Associates, started buying up farmland in 2018, eventually acquiring 62,000 acres while routinely refusing to answer questions about its backers. Some farmers later alleged the company used strong-arm tactics to get them to sell. <\/p>\n In 2023, Flannery\u2019s backers were unmasked<\/a> as a group of wealthy venture capitalists, including the founders of LinkedIn and Netscape, all led by former Goldman Sachs trader and real estate developer Jan Sramek. Marc Andreessen, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, holds investments in both California Forever and Saronic, the defense company eyeing California. Andreessen\u2019s firm did not immediately return a CalMatters inquiry for comment.<\/p>\n Despite rocky beginnings, California Forever needed the majority of Solano County voters on its side due to a 1984 \u201corderly growth\u201d law that requires voters to approve development on unincorporated land. <\/p>\n In 2024, the company debuted the East Solano Plan to rezone 17,500 acres of agricultural land for a dense, 400,000-person city. The proposal was set to go before voters that year, but its backers pulled it following powerful grassroots opposition, poor polling<\/a> and a county assessment that found holes in the plan. Sramek acknowledged<\/a> the group likely moved too fast and said the initiative would go back before voters in 2026. <\/p>\n Instead, the group has pivoted. The East Solano Plan has become the Suisun Expansion Plan and the Solano Shipyard. In January 2025, Suisun City\u2019s city council directed its manager to explore expanding the city\u2019s limits through annexation, which is now underway, although it could take years.<\/p>\n State Route 113 runs through land where California Forever plans to put its new city in Solano County.<\/p>\n (Loren Elliott \/ CalMatters)<\/p>\n \u201cThe annexation and the shipbuilding have been a clear way to work around the need for voter support in Solano County,\u201d said Nate Huntington, a member of the grassroots group Solano Together, which formed in response to the secretive land purchases. Huntington pointed out that California Forever hasn\u2019t even submitted a proposal for a shipbuilding facility to the county. <\/p>\n \u201cAll of this has been happening in backrooms of Sacramento, and it\u2019s not been publicly available.\u201d<\/p>\n Seeking state environmental relief<\/p>\n California Forever is now selling the development to the state as a major incentive to lure manufacturers and shipbuilders to California \u2014 and the subsequent need for housing to accommodate the promised jobs. <\/p>\n The company wants the governor and state lawmakers to cut red tape for the development and require enough housing for the new jobs. Steinberg and Hertzberg told CalMatters they are contemplating legislation to that end, but only after California Forever signs a lease with a manufacturer or shipbuilder. <\/p>\n Their plan would allow the governor to designate construction on company land as \u201cenvironmental leadership development projects,\u201d which would effectively require any litigation to be resolved within 270 days. Steinberg authored the state law streamlining that process in 2013.<\/p>\n State law<\/a> requires government agencies to prepare a report for any project that might have a significant impact on the environment. Instead of assessing the impact of the proposed shipyard, Steinberg and Hertzberg\u2019s proposal would use a 2008 report<\/a>, which designated the area where the shipyard would go as \u201cwater-dependent industrial usage<\/a>.\u201d Most of California Forever\u2019s 7,500-acre<\/a> planned footprint does not have that designation.<\/p>\n Steinberg told CalMatters the report is sufficient since the site has changed little.<\/p>\n \u201cThe state and county need the ability to say yes now to these numerous opportunities,\u201d he said in a text. A new report, he said, \u201cwould require years of additional delay and lost opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n But the report is outdated, Cabaldon argues.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is completely different,\u201d he said. \u201cJust the notion that you would just say, \u2018We are not going to do any assessments at all and we\u2019ll just rely on this old one\u2019 \u2014 that is not consistent with what the public interest is.\u201d <\/p>\n Steinberg and Hertzberg also want the state to require enough housing in the area, but to allow surrounding cities and Solano County to permit local housing developers to build first. <\/p>\n But if local governments aren\u2019t willing to or cannot build enough housing within the timeline the manufacturer or the shipbuilder wants, Steinberg and Hertzberg\u2019s proposal would allow Suisun City to annex adjacent California Forever-owned county land into its city boundaries \u2014 a controversial idea that has drawn fierce local opposition<\/a>. The move would be a \u201clast resort,\u201d Steinberg and Hertzberg stressed repeatedly.<\/p>\n The annexation would effectively bypass the county\u2019s orderly growth initiative, which requires voters to have a say in development. <\/p>\n \u201cThe shipbuilders and manufacturers need certainty on a much faster timeline,\u201d Steinberg said.<\/p>\n Cabaldon said the pitch to build new housing to accommodate theoretical jobs is \u201cfantastical,\u201d noting that Saronic, the proposed shipbuilder, is a leader in automation. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no indication that this is going to generate on an ongoing basis that many jobs, and certainly not more jobs than we have housing for even today without building a single additional unit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Historic union agreement prompts support<\/p>\n In January, California Forever announced it had signed a 40-year deal with the Napa\/Solano Building Trades Council and Northern California Carpenters Union to use union labor to build its development. The agreement was an important political alliance for Chief Executive Sramek, bringing more influential advocates to the table. <\/p>\n According to Digital Democracy, both the Building Trades Council and the Carpenters Union have given roughly $10 million in direct donations to legislative candidates since 2000. <\/p>\n Those advocates made themselves heard over the last few weeks, following a Texas county court approving significant tax incentives<\/a> to lure Saronic to Brownsville. In a statement, Saronic said its nationwide search is still \u201cactive and ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n The California Alliance for Jobs, an alliance of influential construction companies and workers, drafted two letters in quick succession calling for legislative leaders to streamline the California Forever expansion and shipyard. <\/p>\n \u201cWe champed at the bit to go all in to get this project moving, and to get legislation through Sacramento this session,\u201d said Joshua Arce, executive director of the alliance.<\/p>\n Suisun City Councilmember Princess Washington, who has consistently been the sole vote on the council against the annexation plan, said she feels organized labor is being used as \u201cpolitical pressure\u201d to win approval. <\/p>\n \u201cProcesses are slow, but they\u2019re done that way through government to ensure that it\u2019s being done correctly, that all parties of interest are being treated fairly, and there\u2019s checks and balances,\u201d Washington said. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unheard of for a project to be done as quickly as they want it to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement, California Forever spokesperson Jim Wunderman said any shipyard project will comply with all California environmental and land-use laws. He said county supervisors already approved using the 2008 impact report, and that legislation would allow the group to \u201cmeet prospective employers\u2019 timelines.\u201d<\/p>\n He said by pursuing expansion within Suisun City, California Forever is following the community\u2019s preferences by channeling new growth into existing cities.<\/p>\n An ongoing presence in the Capitol<\/p>\n Since 2024, California Forever has spent at least $330,000 lobbying the Legislature and governor\u2019s office on bills and other actions, according to campaign finance records. <\/p>\n Steinberg and Hertzberg told CalMatters they were hired in April as \u201cspecial counsel,\u201d not lobbyists, meaning they are spending less than a third of their time talking with public officials. <\/p>\n Grimes, who said he respects Steinberg for leading landmark environmental land-use reforms in the Legislature, said he\u2019s disappointed in his advocacy for California Forever, \u201ca project that is antithetical to all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheep graze on land where California Forever plans to build its new city in Solano County.<\/p>\n (Loren Elliott \/ CalMatters)<\/p>\n California Forever reported spending $90,000 lobbying the governor\u2019s office and the Governor\u2019s Office of Business and Economic Development, called GO-Biz, last year on \u201cfederal shipbuilding activities and California business attraction and retention activities.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cGO-Biz has discussed relevant state incentive programs with Saronic and explained how they operate,\u201d said GO-Biz spokesperson Willie Rudman. He said the agency does not offer incentive packages to specific companies.<\/p>\n Last fall though, GO-Biz helped organize a bid for Saronic to settle in Solano County. County staff reported during a board meeting that GO-Biz supported a legislative effort<\/a> to override the county\u2019s \u201corderly growth\u201d law. <\/p>\n County supervisors rushed through a proposal to change the boundaries of the Solano Shipyard to comply, but with just days remaining before the end of the legislative session, Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson<\/a>, a Democrat from Suisun City, said there wasn\u2019t time to introduce legislation. <\/p>\n Since then, Wilson said, the proposal has been on the table, but \u201cnothing\u2019s been requested\u201d of her office by California Forever. <\/p>\n The company also urged lawmakers to act fast or risk losing the shipbuilder to Texas last year \u2014 a negotiating tactic common in economic development, Cabaldon said. <\/p>\n But Cabaldon argued that Saronic will decide where to place its shipyard based on \u201cdefense needs of the United States of America\u201d instead of state incentives.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to negotiate with our eyes open,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Wolffe<\/a> and Yu<\/a> write for CalMatters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California Forever, the tech billionaire-backed group that hopes to build a city from scratch on farmland in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,1335,152690,4194,152693,152691,152692,1506,3729,152695,2720,21782,85980,152694,1522],"class_list":["post-377136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-development","tag-hertzberg","tag-job","tag-late-proposal","tag-major-shipbuilder","tag-pro-housing-group","tag-project","tag-report","tag-saronic","tag-solano-county","tag-state-leader","tag-steinberg","tag-suisun-city-boundary","tag-voter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782556509_510_.jpeg\")
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