XPost: ca.environment, sac.politics, alt.politics.republicans
XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.politics.economics

https://calmatters.org/newsletter/ceqa-changes-2025-newsletter/

Last week Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a state budget deal with the caveat
that the Legislature would also advance trailer bills intended to speed up housing development in California. The governor signed those measures
Monday (more on that later), signaling a major change in the state’s 54- year-old environmental law.

The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, requires government
agencies to review and disclose the environmental impact of any public
project, including new housing developments. The new changes to the
landmark law would affect the state in two key ways:

Urban housing: For years pro-development advocates and the building
industry argued that neighborhood groups and environmentalists wielded
CEQA to delay or halt new development. Now, a large portion of urban
“infill” housing developments — housing built in and around existing development — will no longer be subject to the law. That means developers
won’t have to research or mitigate the ways new construction could impact
local traffic, pollution, noise levels and other environmental factors.

Though some housing experts say removing delays that would have previously existed under CEQA is significant, it’s too soon to guarantee that
development in California will accelerate. Other factors, such as rising
labor costs, tariffs and permitting processes can also slow down
construction. Read more from CalMatters’ Ben Christopher.

High-tech facilities: Critics of the CEQA changes are also slamming
exemptions for high-tech manufacturing sites, which they say would make it easier for companies to build industrial projects in low-income
communities already struggling with pollution. Democratic Sen. María Elena Durazo of Los Angeles, for example, cited the extensive cleanup efforts of lead-contaminated soil stemming from a battery recycling facility in
Vernon. But Sen. Scott Wiener, a proponent of the CEQA changes, said the exemptions would help attract more companies, such as computer chip
makers. Said the San Francisco Democrat: “These are jobs of the future …
and I want them to be in California.” Read more from CalMatters’ Alejandro
Lazo and Rachel Becker.

CalMatters events: Join us on July 30 in San Francisco for a two-part conversation on how artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are transforming work. We’ll explore the legal and ethical challenges, and the
need for policy solutions to safeguard workers’ rights. Register today to
join in person or online.


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November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

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