America prides itself on great accomplishments — winning world wars, building the interstate highway system, landing on the moon and developing medical breakthroughs. These and other great feats made the United States a superpower and San Diego was no stranger to this story. At the height of World War II, San Diego war factories were critical, even producing a bomber an hour. After the war, we attracted budding tech and life sciences industries and our population grew exponentially.
These accomplishments nurtured our national pride and delivered widespread economic prosperity that created the largest middle class in history. Today, it’s impossible to imagine that type of growth because we have added red tape at every level of government. The resulting delays keep the American dream out of reach for far too many who work hard but struggle to afford a house, send their children to school, save for retirement and pay to keep the lights on. It’s time to change the status quo and ensure America delivers again.
Locally, restrictive zoning laws make it hard to build the 4 million to 7 million additional homes we need to meet demand. This has led to high prices and increased homelessness. Back in 2017, I wrote about how the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) prevents us from building housing, public parks and transit. The law treats housing development on an urban parking lot like it’s a coastal wetland. The process takes years, costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and usually entails additional litigation.
When Californians approved $10 billion for high-speed rail in 2008, we were promised a connection between San Francisco and Los Angeles with 100,000 daily riders by 2030. But 17 years later, the environmental review process is still not complete, and the project is now intended to link Bakersfield and Modesto by 2030-2033. Meanwhile, the Coaster train link between San Diego and Los Angeles, the second-busiest Amtrak line in the nation, teeters on the receding coastal bluffs in Del Mar. A number of agencies are wrestling with the process of moving the train, but there is no action to preserve the line, let alone reduce the ride from three to two hours. Lots of process, but no progress.
In 2023, an oil tanker fire destroyed parts of the I-95 highway in Pennsylvania. Officials estimated that repairs would take months. Instead, Gov. Josh Shapiro waived many of these state process laws and repaired the highway in 12 days. They livestreamed everything and showed what governments are capable of when common sense wins out. Less process, and major progress.
For some time now, I have been working with Republicans and Democrats to reform our procedural laws to help get things built faster — energy, rail, broadband and more. Many of our most fervent allies are in the labor community. Our pipefitters and electricians want to build pipelines and transmission lines. And our laborers are frustrated when their work is interrupted by a court injunction that sends them home without a clue about when they will be back to work. Investors are also frustrated or even scared off by delay and every year of delay dramatically increases the cost of a project. Taxpayers should be worried about that as well.
Our permit reform efforts are bolstered by a growing political and policy movement known as abundance, described in a recent book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. The premise is that America is caught in a bind between a political left that’s too afraid of growth and a political right that hates government investment and involvement. Creating more supply (and lower costs) in energy, housing, science and more requires fewer procedural obstacles and consistent public investment. In Congress, I am a founding member of the Build America Caucus, which has members from both parties working together to cut through the red tape and make it easier to build everything from solar panels to housing to new child care centers.
In June, the California Legislature finally approved proposals to reduce obstacles to building more housing. The federal government needs to do the same, not just to do great things, but to keep the costs of living within reach for our middle class by creating the supply of everyday needs.
Peters, a Democrat, is a former environmental attorney who represents California’s 50th Congressional District. He lives in Bird Rock.