US Edition
California Dismantles Landmark Environmental Law to Tackle Housing Crisis
- On Monday night, Governor Gavin Newsom and California legislators approved changes to state environmental regulations aimed at accelerating the development of new housing.
- The legislation emerged from a prolonged political battle linked to the state's $321.1 billion 2025-2026 budget package, which Newsom conditioned on CEQA reform approval.
- The new law exempts most apartment buildings and certain projects in urban infill areas from CEQA reviews, aiming to reduce delays caused by environmental lawsuits.
- Governor Newsom described the bill as a landmark change to housing policy in California’s recent history, while opponents cautioned that it could endanger hundreds of thousands of acres of sensitive habitats.
- The law takes effect on July 1, 2025, and could accelerate housing production but has raised concerns from environmental groups and Native American tribes about its impacts.
152 Articles
152 Articles
Bay Area Voice: If state pauses new local building codes, it risks slowing climate progress
With the devastating Los Angeles blazes still fresh in memory, cities across the Bay Area region are developing plans to lower the climate-heating emissions that are fanning the flames. But a dangerous new bill now threatens this progress. Assembly Bill 306, while purporting to address the fallout from this year’s fires, could actually increase the risk of future fires and pause local progress to address other climate disasters. Last month, the …
George Roth: What if?
What If: If you are a resident of Vallejo, what can you expect to experience? Let’s go further and say you even own a business in Vallejo and are subject to federal/state/county/local rules and regulations. If you happen to buy or build a home in Vallejo, the permits and regulations are many and diverse, but they are made for your safety and the safety of others. Then you move in and start enjoying the results of all your work. Everything is goi…
San Diego housing projects could speed up under new state exemptions
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — More housing could be popping up in San Diego County, and faster, following updates to the state’s decades-old environmental review law. Reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, are now in effect after getting approved as part of the state budget this week. “Any project that goes forward has to review all of its impacts to the environment, and disclose those impacts and what that project will do to…
The administration of Gavin Newsom has reformed a historic law on the environment, which over time has become one of the causes of the huge housing crisis.
California just showed that a better Democratic Party is possible
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference at Gemperle Orchard on April 16 in Ceres, California. California just demolished a major obstacle to housing construction within its borders — and provided Democrats with a blueprint for better governance nationwide. On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a pair of housing bills into law. One exempts almost all urban, multifamily housing developments from California’s environment…
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