INSANE: Ceqa | Vintage Vibes

The People vs. CEQA

An initiative that would streamline California's development-killing environmental review law appears to be headed to the ballot.

Reason · May 5

California Urban Housing Development Exempted From CEQA: A Game Changer?

In a landmark move, California’s lawmakers have exempted most urban housing development from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), potentially transforming the landscape of housing development in the state.

Benzinga · Jul 6, 2025

With Environmental Regulatory Reform, California Gov. Gavin Newsom Finally Does Something Substantial

Without Newsom's efforts, major reforms to California's stifling environmental laws would have died on the vine.

Reason · Jul 4, 2025

Commentary: Newsom says California’s anti-housing environmental law is ‘broken.’ So why won’t he fix it?

In February, after yet another court decision stalling sorely needed housing development, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared that California’s landmark environmental law is “broken.”

Los Angeles Times · Jul 18, 2023

California lawmakers, Gavin Newsom hammer out $311 billion budget — without major water project

California lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed on a $310.8 billion budget deal Monday, a compromise reached by dropping the governor’s proposal to move forward with a 45-mile Delta water tunnel that would pump water from the Sacramento River to other parts of the state.

Tribune News Service · Jun 27, 2023

Is This the Year California's Development-Killing Environmental Review Law Sees Serious Reform?

Yet another court decision stopping a U.C. Berkeley housing project is getting California's policy makers to think bigger about reforming the infamous California Environmental Quality Act.

Reason · Mar 10, 2023

Commentary: How California came to treat UC Berkeley students’ ‘noise’ as a dire environmental threat

In an era of upheaval and protest at People’s Park and across the country, the University of California, Berkeley admitted its first significant wave of Chicano students in response to student pressure in 1969. Even then, the university had a housing shortage, prompting a successful effort to acquire a house…

Los Angeles Times · Mar 6, 2023

Berkeley's People's Park is again in a fight for the ages, now over UC student housing

People's Park — among California's most contested and colorful patches of public land and a '60s era symbol of free speech and community power — is again embroiled in a battle for the ages, this time involving the University of California, Berkeley, a key environmental law and the acute student…

Los Angeles Times · Jan 13, 2023

California's Landmark Environmental Law Finally Comes for the Legislature Itself

Golden State lawmakers have refused to fix the California Environmental Quality Act. Now it could cost them a brand new office building.

Reason · Dec 14, 2022

California's Housing Crisis Hasn't Spared the State's College Students

A new law would make it harder for NIMBY neighbors to obstruct new dorms with bogus environmental complaints.

Reason · Sep 30, 2022