When the landmark national environmental law threatens to stop UC Berkeley admissions, lawmakers step in and Written exemption. When King Sacramento is about to leave the town Legislators put environmental rules aside For the team's new arena. When the law hinders the renovation of the National Capitol, They acted again.
The willingness of lawmakers to poke holes for specific projects in the California Environmental Quality Act without overhauling the law, which led commentators to describe the change as “Swiss cheese CEQA. ”
Now, after years of restraint, Gavin Newsom and the Legislature are involved with Knife.
In the Legislature, two proposals were promptly proposed: one to eliminate the law of housing development in most cities, and the other to weaken most other rules. Legal experts say these efforts will be the most profound change in CEQA for generations. news Not only recognize bills Last month, they made it promptly approved by proposing to pass as part of the state budget, which bypassed normal committee hearings and meant that they could become law within weeks.
"This is the biggest opportunity to do something bold and bold, and the only obstacle is us," Newsom said in announcing his support for the legislation.
The entire 55-year history of California’s Environmental Quality Act introduces a duel narrative about its impact. On the surface, the law is simple: it requires disclosure by the supporter and mitigates the environmental impact of the project where possible. In fact, this has led to reports of environmental impacts, including a large number of soil testing and traffic modeling studies, and sometimes even years of controversy in court. Many credit CEQAs help preserve the state’s scenic vision and waterways, while others condemn its ability to thwart housing and infrastructure projects, including long-term extended and budgeted high-speed rail.
At the latter point, the evidence supports both sides of the argument. A study Law professor at UC Berkeley found In three years, less than 3% of housing projects in many major cities across the state face any lawsuits. But some believe that the threat of litigation is enough to make development, while ceqa's stagnant structures continue to accumulate Homeless shelter,,,,, Food Bank and Child Care Center.
Obviously, CEQA has become a key point in leverage in California's development process. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Once recalled When she worked as a community organizer in the 1990s, the West Side land use lawyer who successfully stopped community development taught her how to use CEQA to block liquor stores in South Los Angeles
The organized Labor Party has learned to use the law to leverage its strengths and has become one of the most enthusiastic supporters of environmentalists, the main constituency in the country’s democratic politics. In addition to the breakdown of personal projects in recent years, legislators also Streamline certain housing with CEQA and other developments. These quick training measures can only be used if the supporters agree to pay higher wages to construction workers or put a portion of the project on the land.
Pete Rodriguez, vice president of the West District vice president of the United Carpenters and Joints, said the ILO’s argument is simple: CEQA exemption saves developers time and money, so some benefits should bring some benefits to workers.
"For example, when you speed up developers, for example, developers get TSA passes to get routes to the airport faster, there should also be labor standards," Rodriguez said in the Los Angeles Business Council panel in April.
Two bills that are now under debate - the General Assembly Mobilization Act Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Senate Bill 607 Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) - are in violation of that tradition. They recommend extensive CEQA changes without any labor or other requirements.
Wicks' bill would exempt most urban housing developments. The legislation in Vienna, along with other provisions, will actually reduce the number of housing and other provisions, and these projects require a comprehensive environmental review, thus narrowing the scope of the law.
"Both are far more profound than anything that comes up in life memory," said Chris Elmendorf, a law professor at UC Davis.
The legislation won’t have much impact on reconstruction following the wildfires in Los Angeles, as construction of single-family homes is exempt, and news magazines have waived other parts of the law through executive orders.
The internal and external environment of the Legislature has become more aggressive in its recommendations. New York Times writer Ezra Klein's latest book, Abundance, has put Ceqa and other laws supported by the Democratic Party into the ability to build housing and critical infrastructure projects, especially the affordability crisis in California, and has challenged the high-speed railroads of political and political parties in the United States with high-speed railroads.
This idea has become a reason for celebrities in some circles. Newsom invites Klein to the podcast. This spring, Klein met with Wicks and Wiener, along with other members of the congressman, including Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) and Mike McGuire, leaders of the state and Senate respectively.
Wicks and Wiener are senior legislators and former chairs of the Legislative Housing Commission, who have written many of the previous CEQA simplified legislation. Even though the previous bill was passed after the bruised battle, the resulting production did not address the state’s shortage, Wix said.
“We need large-scale housing,” Wicks said.
For opponents of bills, including dozens of environmental and workforce groups, efforts to misplace the roots of construction dilemma, and would limit community groups to one of several ways in which development can be shaped.
State policy consultant Asha Sharma, Justice and Accountability Leadership Adviser, said her organization uses CEQA to reduce the pollution impact of projects in communities that are already overburdened by environmental issues.
The proposed changes will allow public agencies and developers to sacrifice the human impact of their decisions, she said.
“People don’t realize that as environmental regulations develop, there is a lot of public transparency and public participation in people’s public transparency and public participation,” Sharma said. “When you roll back CEQA, you roll back too.”
Sharma expects the bill to be approved in some form due to a significant driving force in legislation. But this is still uncertain how to change. Newsom, two legislators and legislative leaders are negotiating the amendment.
Wix said her bill would not require developers to retain some of the projects to obtain low-income housing for CEQA waiver; cities can authorize themselves, she said. But Wicks said labor standards could be part of the last deal, saying she had “some conversations on that.”
Wiener's bill was phased out in the legislative and finance committee last month, and lawmakers said they wanted to meet infrastructure and affordability needs “without damaging environmental protection.” Later, Senate leaders Wiener and McGuire issued a joint statement announcing their intention to make the legislative version part of the budget, as the governor proposed.
Vienna remained committed to principles in its original bill.
"I can say I'm very optimistic that we will make a strong change to CEQA, which will make delivering all the good things that make Californians better, more affordable, easier and faster," Vienna said.
Ethan Elkind, director of climate planning at the UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy and Environment, said that if the language in the final deal is what is discussed, the CEQA changes would be substantial. He said the law's impact on housing development remains too high. Many other questions, such as Local partition restrictionslack of funds and Tax incentives are not alignedHe said that before limiting construction restrictions, it played a greater role in restricting construction, even reaching the point where CEQA became a problem.
"Ceqa is the last resort for Nimby," Elkind said. "It's almost like we're working backwards here."
Wix agreed that the Legislature had to do more to strip away regulations that made building housing harder. But she believes the CEQA changes will remove a major obstacle: the uncertainty that developers face in the legal threat.
She said the passage of major CEQA reforms would show that lawmakers are willing to deal with the toughest challenges in the state.
“It sends the world a signal that we are ready to build,” Wicks said.