Ninth Circuit Grants Motion To Enjoin Enforcement of SB 261 Pending Appeal

On November 18, the Ninth Circuit granted a Motion for Injunction Pending Appeal as to enforcement of SB 261, and denied the Motion as to enforcement of SB 253.

As a reminder, starting in 2026, business entities organized under U.S. law, doing business in California, and with annual revenues over $500M are required by SB 261 to make biennial disclosures regarding their climate-related financial risk, and those with annual revenues over $1B will be required by SB 253 to make annual disclosures of their greenhouse gas emissions.

The Ninth Circuit granted the Motion’s request that CARB be enjoined from enforcing SB 261 against Plaintiffs’ members—namely, members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, California Chamber of Commerce, American Farm Bureau Federation, Los Angeles County Business Federation, Central Valley Business Federation, and Western Growers Association. 

CARB has not yet commented on how this injunction may influence its enforcement of SB 261.  Also, the Ninth Circuit has set an expedited oral argument date of January 9, and it is not clear how long after January 9 the injunction may remain in place.

The Ninth Circuit’s Order can be found here, and the Motion can be found here.