CEQA

New housing starts were around 100,000 a year when Newsom took office in 2019; they still hover around that number today.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature overhauled the CEQA environmental laws for housing, but a business group wants that to include other kinds of "essential" projects.

Despite a last-minute scramble, California Senate leaders failed to fix an environmental law rollback for advanced manufacturing, leaving pollution concerns untouched as session ends.

The legislation removes environmental delays but includes language that could allow local governments to add "vehicle miles traveled" fees to a project's cost.

Housing bills in California often face fierce opposition from construction unions. The carpenters’ union went their own way, becoming a “game-changing” force in the debate.

In contrast to New York voters favoring a "democratic socialist," Californians chose moderate politicians like Gov. Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.

The social and economic costs of leaving CEQA intact became too high. With Gavin Newsom nearing the end of his governorship, he decided to confront the issue squarely.

In a legislative battle a decade in the making, lawmakers just exempted infill urban development from the California Environmental Quality Act. That’s a big deal.

The California Senate appeared to double down on making housing development more difficult and costly, shunting a bill aimed at making it easier to build housing by exempting some projects from the California Environmental Quality Act.

The California environmental law known as CEQA can be used to block construction in developed areas. Gov. Gavin Newsom is supporting changes to encourage more housing.