California lawmakers push for CEQA reforms to address housing crisis

Several California bills could lead to significant reforms of the state's environmental review law, with the goal of addressing the state's ongoing housing crisis.
One of the bills, Assembly Bill 609, authored by Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), would establish a CEQA exemption for most urban housing developments. The bill is part of the Fast Track Housing Package, a collection of 20 bills that aim to expedite the approval of housing projects.
The California Environmental Quality Act, enacted in 1970, requires public agencies in California to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of proposed projects and avoid those impacts, if possible.
However, many argue that the law has been weaponized to block new housing projects and development.
'CEQA can be an expensive and lengthy process, especially for large or complicated projects. This is true even if there is no litigation. Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report under CEQA can take a year or longer and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even, in some cases, more than $1 million,' a 2024 report from the bipartisan Little Hoover Commission said.
Liftoff! Big Bear bald eagle chick takes to the sky
The Los Angeles Times also pointed out that when CEQA threatened to stop enrollment at UC Berkeley, prevented the Sacramento Kings from building their new stadium, or prevented renovations of the state Capitol, lawmakers stepped in.
With the various exemptions, critics have nicknamed the law 'Swiss cheese CEQA.'
'Right now, it takes far too long to build the housing Californians need — and that's a failure of government,' Assemblymember Wicks said in a statement. 'The Fast Track Housing package is about making our systems work better: clearer rules, faster timelines, and fewer bureaucratic hoops. It's not about cutting corners — it's about being honest that what we're doing isn't working.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has also announced his support for reforms to CEQA.
Still, not everyone is in favor of the proposed changes to the environmental law. Dozens of environmental and labor groups, such as the California Preservation Foundation and Livable California, are opposed to the proposed changes.
Improving California's housing crisis has been a priority for Newsom since taking office.
In 2018, Newsom, in a Medium post, wrote, 'As Governor, I will lead the effort to develop the 3.5 million new housing units we need by 2025 because our solutions must be as bold as the problem is.'
Newsom has since revised that goal, setting a new benchmark for cities to plan for 2.5 million homes by 2030.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

San Francisco Chronicle​

20 hours ago

• San Francisco Chronicle​

Newsom challenges JD Vance to debate after he calls Sen. Alex Padilla ‘Jose'

Gov. Gavin Newsom challenged Vice President JD Vance to a debate after Vance attacked the governor and maligned Sen. Alex Padilla, referring to him by 'Jose,' during a press conference in Los Angeles Friday. Vance, who was in the city to meet with federal officials after weeks of protests of immigration raids and detentions, repeatedly slammed Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass during the press conference for their stances on immigration and pushback against the administration of President Donald Trump ordering the National Guard and U.S. Marines into the city. When asked about the Trump administration cracking down on Democrats, Vance referenced Padilla's detention in handcuffs last Thursday. 'I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question. But unfortunately I guess he decided to not show up because there wasn't the theater,' Vance said. 'It's pure political theater.' Padilla, who is California's first Hispanic senator, was forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference last week after identifying himself as a senator asking a question — though she later claimed she did not know he was a senator — and was handcuffed before being released. 'JD Vance served with Alex Padilla in the United States Senate. Calling him 'Jose Padilla' is not an accident,' Newsom wrote. The Associated Press reported that Taylor Van Kirk, a JD Vance spokesperson, responded by saying of Vance: 'He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.' Newsom also posted to Vance that it was 'nice of you to finally make it out to California.' 'Since you're so eager to talk about me, how about saying it to my face? Let's debate. Time and place?' Newsom wrote. The governor's press office X account also responded Friday evening, posting an altered photo of Vance at the press conference with a cartoonish version of his face and saying: 'Donald, you should send @JDVance out to California more often. He's absolutely crushing it!' Vance claimed Newsom and Bass 'actively encouraged illegal migration into this community, have strained public services, have strained law enforcement and, really, have offered generous benefits, not to American citizens, but to illegal immigrants to break the law.' Vance also claimed Newsom and Bass 'egged on' violent 'rioters' including encouraging them to harm federal and local law enforcement, which he called 'disgraceful.' Vance said during the press conference that National Guard and military members will stay in the city in case protests 'flare back up.' 'These people need to be stopped,' Vance said of demonstrators. Staff writer Tara Duggan contributed reporting.

Los Angeles Times

20 hours ago

• Los Angeles Times

Newsom stood tall against Trump. Does that make him presidential timber?

Today we discuss presidential politics, window treatments and disasters of the natural and man-made variety. Time for Gavin Newsom to start measuring those White House drapes. Huh? You know, president of the United States. I'm thinking something Earth-friendly, like recycled hemp. Wait, what? Did you catch the nationally televised speech the governor recently gave? The one about 'democracy at a crossroads.' I did. It was a fine speech and the governor made some important points about President Trump's reckless commandeering of California's National Guard, his administration's indiscriminate immigration raids and the wholly unnecessary dispatch of Marines to Los Angeles. (From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Venice Beach.) Newsom was plenty justified in his anger and contempt. Trump, acting true to his flame-fanning fashion, turned what was a middling set of protests — nothing local law enforcement couldn't handle — into yet another assault on our sorely tested Constitution. Newsom's speech certainly 'met the moment,' to use one of his favorite phrases. I'll grant you that. Unlike a lot of extracurricular activities aimed at boosting his presidential prospects, Newsom was addressing a Trump-manufactured crisis unfolding right here at home. It was a moment that called for gubernatorial leadership. Just the kind of leadership despondent Democrats need. So it's been said. It's not much of a leap to see Newsom leading the anti-Trump opposition clear to the White House! Actually, that's a bigger leap than it takes to clear the Grand Canyon. Granted, Newsom's speech received a lot of raves from Democrats across the country. Many are desperate for someone in a position of power to give voice to their blood-boiling, cranium-exploding rage against Trump and his many excesses. Newsom did a good job channeling those emotions and articulating the dangers of an imprudent president run amok. But let's not go overboard. There is no lack of Democrats eager to take on Trump and become the face of the so-called resistance. There is no shortage of Democrats eyeing a 2028 bid for the White House. Those who run won't be schlepping all the political baggage that Newsom has to tote. Such as? Rampant homelessness. An exploding budget deficit. Vast income inequality. Plus, a lot of social policies that many Californians consider beneficent and broad-minded that, to put it mildly, others around the country consider much less so. Don't get me wrong. I love California with all my heart and soul. But we have a lot of deep-seated problems and cultural idiosyncrasies that Newsom's rivals — Democrat and Republican — would be only too happy to hang around his neck. So let's not get too caught up in the moment. The fundamentals of the 2028 presidential race haven't changed based on a single — albeit well-received — speech. It's still hard to see Democrats turning the party's fate over to yet another nominee spawned in the liberal stew of San Francisco politics and campaigning with kooky California as a home address. Stranger things have happened. True. That said, 2028 is a zillion political light years and countless news cycles away. First come the midterm elections in November 2026, giving voters their chance to weigh in on Trump and his actions. The verdict will go a long way toward shaping the dynamic in 2028. Well at least Newsom has brought his A-game to social media. His trolling of Trump is something to behold! Whatever. You're not impressed? I think it's best to leave the snark to professionals. I do, however, have some sympathy for the governor. It's not easy dealing with someone as spiteful and amoral as the nation's ax-grinder-in-chief. Consider, for instance, the disaster relief money that fire-devastated Southern California is counting on. Helping the region in its time of desperate need shouldn't be remotely political, or part of some red-vs.-blue-state feud. Historically, that sort of federal aid has never been. But this is Trump we're dealing with. To his credit, Newsom tried making nice in the days and weeks following the January firestorm. He ignored the president's provocations and held what was later described an an amicable session with Trump in the Oval Office. Their working relationship seemed to be a good one. But few things last with the transactional Trump, save for his pettiness and self-absorption. Asked last week if his 'recent dust-ups' with Newsom would impact the granting of wildfire relief, Trump said, 'Yeah, maybe.' He called Newsom incompetent, trotted out more gobbledygook about raking forests and then soliloquized on the nature of personal relationships. 'When you don't like somebody, don't respect somebody, it's harder for that person to get money if you're on top,' Trump said. Yeesh. Responding in a posting on X, Newsom correctly noted, 'Sucking up to the President should not be a requirement for him to do the right thing for the American people.' Hard to argue with that. Yet here we are. The nation's second-most populous city is occupied by National Guard and Marine troops. Thousands of people — displaced by disaster, their past lives gone up in smoke — are hostage to the whims of a peevish president who always puts his feelings first and cares nothing for the greater good. The midterm election can't come soon enough.

Miami Herald

a day ago

• Miami Herald

Newsom's podcast sidekick: a single-use plastic water bottle

LOS ANGELES — Johnny had Ed. Conan had Andy. And Gov. Gavin Newsom? A single-use plastic water bottle. In most of the YouTube video recordings of Newsom's new podcast, 'This is Gavin Newsom,' a single-use plastic water bottle lurks on a table nearby. Sometimes, it is accompanied by a single-use coffee cup. Other times, it stands alone. Typically, such product placement would raise nary an eyebrow. But in recent weeks, environmentalists, waste advocates, lawmakers and others have been battling with the governor and his administration over a landmark single-use plastic law that Newsom signed in 2022, but which he has since worked to defang - reducing the number of packaged single-use products the law was designed to target and potentially opening the door for polluting forms of recycling. Anti-plastic advocates say it's an abrupt and disappointing pivot from the governor, who in June 2022, decried plastic pollution and the plague of single-use plastic on the environment. 'It's like that whole French Laundry thing all over again,' said one anti-plastic advocate, who didn't want to be identified for fear of angering the governor. Newsom was infamously caught dining without a mask at the wine country restaurant during the COVID-19 lockdown. Newsom's efforts to scale back SB 54, the state's single-use plastic recycling law, has dismayed environmentalists who have long considered Newsom one of their staunchest allies. 'Our kids deserve a future free of plastic waste and all its dangerous impacts ... No more,' Newsom said in 2022, when he signed SB 54. 'California won't tolerate plastic waste that's filling our waterways and making it harder to breathe. We're holding polluters responsible and cutting plastics at the source.' Asked about the presence of the plastic water bottle, Daniel Villaseñor, the governor's deputy director of communications, had this response: 'Are you really writing a story this baseless or should we highlight this video for your editor?' Villaseñor said via email, attaching a video clip showing this reporter seated near a plastic water bottle at last year's Los Angeles Times' Climate Summit. (The bottles were placed near chairs for all the panelists; this particular one was never touched.) After this story was first published, the governor's office said the plastic water bottles seen on the podcast were placed there by staff or production teams and not at Newsom's request, and that the governor remains committed to seeing SB 54 implemented. More than a half-dozen environmentalists and waste advocates asked to comment for this story declined to speak on the record, citing concerns including possible retribution from the governor's office and appearing to look like scolds as negotiations over implementing SB 54 continue. Dianna Cohen, the co-founder and chief executive of Plastic Pollution Coalition, said that while she wouldn't comment on the governor and his plastic sidekick, she noted that plastic pollution is an 'urgent global crisis' that requires strong policies and regulations. 'Individuals — especially those in the public eye — can help shift culture by modeling these solutions. We must all work to embrace the values we want to see and co-create a healthier world,' she said in a statement. On Thursday, Newsom dropped a new episode of 'This is Gavin Newsom' with independent journalist Aaron Parnas. In the video, there wasn't a plastic bottle in sight. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.