Logo courtesy of CAL DOGE

SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - California’s Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing program promised to cut electricity bills for low-income renters. Funded at up to $100 million a year from cap-and-trade auction proceeds since 2015, the program has received roughly $1 billion.

According to SOMAH’s own reporting, just $72 million as of 2024 had gone to actual solar installations. That leaves $928 million unaccounted for, and no accountability to ensure those dollars aren't flowing into a progressive voter mobilization machine. The evidence suggests they are. 

“State and federal dollars should not fund political activist organizations that perpetuate California’s one-party rule,” said Jenny Rae Le Roux, director of CAL DOGE. “CEJA wrote the law that created this program, got the contract to run outreach under it, and then its political arm showed up in the same neighborhoods with voter guides. The CPUC must open a full audit.” 

The investigation, conducted in two weeks using Rhetor’s AI-powered fraud detection technology and the organizations’ own public records, found that the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) co-sponsored the legislation that created SOMAH, then secured the role of coordinating organization and liaison for all community outreach under the same program. CEJA operates as a subcontractor under GRID Alternatives’ program administration team. GRID’s Chief Policy and Programs Officer Chris Walker serves simultaneously as SOMAH’s program director. CEJA’s own job listing instructs its SOMAH staff to “co-leverage SOMAH ME&O activities with CEJA’s activities supporting community needs.” 

CEJA’s sister organization, CEJA Action, is a 501(c)(4) that endorses candidates and mobilizes voters in the same communities where SOMAH-funded outreach occurs. CEJA Action endorsed

24 progressive candidates in 2024, publishing voter guides in English, Spanish and Chinese. It endorsed 19 in 2022 and 14 in 2020. Every endorsed candidate in every cycle is a progressive Democrat. Its 2024 legislative scorecard declared California must “stand as a leader of progressive resistance” against “the rising tide of fascism.” 

CEJA Action does not file independent tax returns. It operates as a fiscally sponsored project of Tides Advocacy (now “Beyond Impact”), part of the Tides Nexus, which has been described as an organization that “washes away the paper trail between its grants and the original donor.” No public accounting exists for funds flowing into or out of CEJA Action. 

CEJA has never installed a solar panel. According to its 2024 IRS Form 990, the organization reported $10.7 million in revenue. Its Civic Engagement Project aims to mobilize “voters of color” while its Energy Justice Project, which includes SOMAH, targets “residents in low-income communities of color.” Both operate in the same communities with the same staff. 

CAL DOGE calls on the CPUC and the state controller to audit all SOMAH payments to CEJA and its member organizations, investigate fund separation between CEJA and CEJA Action, and prohibit organizations from receiving contracts under programs they helped create.