Gavin Newsom<\/a>, had threatened to reject the state budget passed last Friday unless lawmakers overhauled the California Environmental Quality Act, or Ceqa, a 1970s law that requires strict examination of any new development for its impact on the environment.<\/p>\nThe governor and housing advocates say that Ceqa, although well-intentioned at the time, put up bureaucratic roadblocks that have made it increasingly difficult to build housing in the most populous state in the US.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers passed the transformative measure despite opposition from environmental groups. Newsom called it a step toward solving the state\u2019s housing affordability problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was too urgent, too important, to allow the process to unfold as it has for the last generation,\u201d he told reporters at a news conference after signing the bill.<\/p>\n
The new rules were passed in two so-called \u201cbudget trailer\u201d bills. Under the new rules, large swathes of \u201cinfill housing\u201d, or homes built in and around existing development, will be exempt from Ceqa reviews. There will be some exceptions, including for very large projects and construction in very low-density areas, but most homes and apartments built in cities will no longer be subject to the review.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what we\u2019ve all been waiting for \u2013 a long overdue step to stop Ceqa from being weaponized against housing,\u201d said Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, who sponsored one of the bills. \u201cWe\u2019re taking a major step toward building desperately-needed homes faster, fairer, and with more certainty.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new regulations also include exemptions for high-tech manufacturing sites, a move proponents say will stimulate growth but critics say will facilitate industrial development in low income neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
The exemptions, and in particular those for manufacturing sites, have been vehemently opposed by some social justice and environmental groups. \u201cTogether, these bills undermine the public participation process and the right to protect their community from environmental and health risks,\u201d said the Western Center on Law & Poverty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in a nature crisis, we\u2019re seeing unprecedented loss of wildlife, and that\u2019s to be made worse with this bill,\u201d said Laura Deehan with the group Environment California in a committee hearing on Monday.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Newsom waived some Ceqa rules for victims of wildfires in southern California, creating an opening for the state to re-examine the law that critics say hampers development and drives up building costs.<\/p>\n
The state budget passed last week pares back a number of progressive priorities, including a landmark healthcare expansion for low-income adult immigrants without legal status, to close a $12bn deficit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California is overhauling its landmark environmental protection rules, a change state leaders say is essential to address the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-229933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114779326821753450","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}