SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law an overhaul of California\u2019s landmark environmental protection rules that he says is essential to address the state\u2019s critical housing shortage and long-running homeless crisis.<\/p>\n
The Democratic governor widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate called the two-bill package a historic reshaping of environmental rules that, while initially well intentioned, too often resulted in tangles of litigation and costly delays that strangled much-needed development.<\/p>\n
Newsom said the bills, which he signed Monday night, represent the most consequential housing reform in recent California history.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have too much demand chasing too little supply,\u201d Newsom said at a news conference. \u201cSo many of the challenges that ail us can be connected back to this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once known for stratospheric growth, it is possible the nation\u2019s most populous state could lose a handful of U.S. House seats in the 2030 census because population has been shifting to states like Texas and Florida, where the cost of living is more affordable.<\/p>\n
And with about 18 months left in office, the term-limited Newsom is also looking to bolster his legacy by attempting to tackle one of the state\u2019s most intractable problems \u2014 soaring rents and home prices that are out of reach for many middle-class families. When first seeking the governorship, Newsom said he wanted to end California\u2019s housing shortage by building millions of new homes, a goal the state appears unlikely to reach by the time he leaves office in January 2027. <\/p>\n
It was difficult to predict how much activity would follow.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the increase will be incremental rather than a boom,\u201d said planning expert Bill Fulton, former mayor in Ventura and director of planning and economic development in San Diego. He noted in an email that many other factors come into play, including financing from lenders, the cost of construction materials and the availability of workers.<\/p>\n
With the race to succeed him underway, Republicans have faulted Newsom and the Legislature\u2019s dominant Democrats for doing little to control costs for everything from utilities to housing.<\/p>\n
With a dire housing shortage, Newsom said nothing less than trust in government was on the line \u2014 the ability to produce results. It\u2019s about \u201cthe reputation of the state of California,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Newsom had threatened to reject the state budget passed last Friday<\/a> 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>\n The governor and housing advocates maintain that CEQA put up bureaucratic roadblocks that have made it increasingly difficult to build housing in the state of 39 million. <\/p>\n Lawmakers passed the transformative measure despite opposition from environmental groups. <\/p>\n Jakob Evans, a senior policy strategist for Sierra Club California, said in a statement that \u201cthese half-baked bills written behind closed doors will have destructive consequences for environmental justice communities and endangered species across California.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 said after signing the bill. <\/p>\n Earlier this year, Newsom waived some CEQA rules for victims of wildfires in Southern California, creating an opening for the state to reexamine the law that critics say hampers development and drives up building costs. <\/p>\n The state budget<\/a> passed last week pares back a number of progressive priorities, including a landmark health care expansion<\/a> for low-income adult immigrants without legal status, to close a $12 billion deficit.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Blood and Weber reported from Los Angeles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law an overhaul of California\u2019s landmark environmental protection rules…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[26301,2059,276,26300,10106,723,1854,57,325,26302,50,80,22875,3549,358,61,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-30991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-bill-fulton","10":"tag-ca-state-wire","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-california-state-government","13":"tag-climate-and-environment","14":"tag-florida","15":"tag-gavin-newsom","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-government-budgets","18":"tag-jakob-evans","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-sacramento","22":"tag-san-diego","23":"tag-texas","24":"tag-u-s-news","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114780364027062864","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}