It isn’t that typical that an acronym for an arcane regulation could be a family phrase, however in California the time period CEQA—pronounced see-kwa—is as well-known as phrases corresponding to OMG and LOL. Signed by Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1970, the voluminous statute supplies a laundry listing of phrases and circumstances on builders of each method of building undertaking. CEQA has created a regulatory nightmare, though it nonetheless has defenders. LOL certainly.
Because the Planning and Conservation League explains, “The California Environmental High quality Act…is California’s premier environmental regulation. It permits public companies to make knowledgeable choices about actions that might degrade public well being and harm the surroundings. It additionally supplies California residents with the authorized framework to carry their public companies accountable.”
That sounds so unobjectionable. Who would not need public companies to make knowledgeable choices and supply group members with instruments to guard the surroundings and maintain officers accountable? However the actuality is much completely different than what these Pollyannaish civics-textbook explanations counsel. California lawmakers refuse to substantively reform the regulation, however what’s the very first thing they do at any time when they need a selected undertaking constructed?
You guessed it—they supply a CEQA exemption or streamlining. When the Sacramento Kings needed to construct a brand new downtown area and preserve the group from leaving city, Senate President Darrell Steinberg (later elected the town’s mayor) ushered by an exemption. We have seen a number of examples—or makes an attempt—to scale back the appliance of CEQA to different skilled sports activities initiatives, in addition to different favored initiatives, together with one tied to LA’s effort to lure the Olympics.
It is at all times the signal of a nasty regulation when it continuously requires exemptions. That jogs my memory of Meeting Invoice 5, which banned most impartial contracting—however its supporters exempted greater than 100 industries from its grip as a result of it threatened so many individuals’s livelihoods. A latest nationwide instance: Donald Trump’s tariffs posed an existential menace to many companies, so he is been exempting sure industries. All these regulatory edicts empower the politically well-connected, who’ve lobbyists who can safe particular favors.
So what’s fallacious with CEQA? Each time the federal government has discretionary approval authority, the regulation requires the company to conduct a evaluation. It normally requires the builders to conduct an in depth environmental evaluation. It triggers an preliminary examine course of after which usually a pricey, time-consuming full Environmental Influence Report. Companies can then mandate remediation or reject the undertaking. It offers any stakeholder the precise to file a lawsuit difficult the company’s approval.
As is now nicely documented, curiosity teams usually file lawsuits that aren’t associated to enhancing the surroundings. No-growthers file fits to cease—or cut back the scale—of initiatives they do not like. Neighbors can file lawsuits as a result of they do not need extra visitors. Unions threaten fits as a option to achieve leverage to safe project-labor agreements and different union-friendly circumstances. Because the regulation agency Holland & Knight reported in 2015, “64% of these submitting CEQA lawsuits are people or native ‘associations,’ the overwhelming majority of which haven’t any prior monitor file of environmental advocacy.”
And if you happen to suppose these cynical efforts to gum up the development course of assist the surroundings, then think about this alarming level from that evaluation: “Initiatives designed to advance California’s environmental coverage aims are probably the most frequent targets of CEQA lawsuits.” These embrace transit initiatives, multi-family housing, parks, colleges and libraries. It notes that 80 p.c of the CEQA lawsuits are in infill places, which is the place environmentalists need us to construct.
CEQA criticism has grown even on the political Left thanks largely to the regulation’s stifling impact on new housing building. As everybody right here is aware of, California faces a extreme housing disaster because the median house worth statewide has soared above $800,000 and nicely over $1 million in lots of coastal metros. That has led to large hire spikes and has exacerbated our homelessness scenario. Lawmakers have—to their credit score—handed focused exemptions and streamlining provisions for specific sorts of housing initiatives (infill, multi-family, duplexes), however it’s not sufficient.
A 2022 report for the Middle for Jobs and the Financial system by Holland & Knight legal professional Jennifer Hernandez notes that regardless of these new legal guidelines, “CEQA lawsuits focusing on new housing manufacturing, in distinction, proceed to increase—with 47,999 housing models focused within the CEQA lawsuits filed simply in 2020.” The California Air Assets Board (CARB) “acknowledges that two-thirds of CEQA lawsuits allege violations of local weather impacts.”
Look, if CEQA can be utilized to cease initiatives primarily based on local weather impacts, then it may be used in opposition to any undertaking. It has been weaponized as a no-growth device—constraining housing, power initiatives, freeways, rail, you identify it. Until we’re pleased simply grinding progress to a halt, we have to repeal—or considerably reform—this monstrosity and get past occasional exemptions for ballparks and public housing. Everyone knows CEQA by identify and deed, so why will not elected officers do something about it?
This column was first revealed in The Orange County Register.
