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[WEBINAR] Update on the California Environmental Quality Act: What’s New for 2018
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How Trump's Infrastructure Plan Impacts the Energy Industry
BB&K's Charity Schiller Discusses CEQA Baseline
Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed two new bills that aim to boost housing supply and further address the state’s homelessness crisis....more
City of Los Angeles - Increase to Planning Applications and Affordable Housing Linkage Fees - On July 1, 2024, the fee for planning and land use applications increased by 3.5% based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban...more
Recognizing that Downtown San Francisco is “struggling” post-pandemic, State Senator Scott Wiener has announced new legislation to exempt certain projects in the area from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review...more
Several modest amendments to CEQA took effect on Jan. 1, 2024. Our CEQA News You Can Use team summarized a few of changes to keep in mind in the new year....more
The 2023 legislative cycle saw another mixed-bag of legislation dealing with CEQA “reform,” with a particular focus on streamlining affordable housing development. While many bills died during the process, a few key laws were...more
The 2023 legislative session culminated in Governor Newsom signing dozens of land use bills. This post discusses the most important. The Legislature continued its multifaceted approach to addressing the housing crisis, with...more
The California Legislature’s laser focus on addressing the state housing crisis did not subside during the 2023 legislative session. While legislators proposed over 150 housing bills, only a fraction of those bills were...more
Bill extends exemption from CEQA and discretionary entitlements for housing projects while adding the Coastal Zone to the mix - If you are having trouble keeping track of all the housing bills in California this year,...more
With the state facing a severe housing crisis, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that will make it easier for universities and other housing developers to build housing and overcome lawsuits from local residents...more
In it’s recent decision in United Neighborhoods for Los Angeles v. City of Los Angeles (2023) ___ Cal.App.5th ___, the Second District Court of Appeal affirmed a judgment voiding the City of Los Angeles’s reliance on the CEQA...more
In late June, California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld a Superior Court decision in Save Our Access v. City of San Diego, providing clarity for determining when a “later activity” is beyond the scope of an existing...more
CITY OF LOS ANGELES - Site Plan Review Exemption for Affordable Housing - On June 30, 2023, the city council adopted an amendment to the Site Plan Review Ordinance to exempt deed-restricted affordable housing units from...more
On July 6, 2023, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed into law a provision to exempt certain affordable housing projects from the city’s Site Plan Review Process. The exemption was made as an amendment to Site Plan Review...more
A roundup of news and multimedia from the Unfamiliar Terrain team: San Francisco - National Insight on Downtown San Francisco Recovery (Urban Land Institute): San Francisco can create a more commercially vibrant and...more
Welcome to Construction & Claims, a periodic digest of the headlines, statutory and regulatory changes and court cases involving construction news, claims, bid protests, contract administration and payment-related disputes....more
In this alert, Brownstein outlines Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest swing at the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and provides the updates (and potentially what to expect) regarding two new bills introduced by Sen. Scott...more
Noisy college students, the new CEQA impact? Would you be surprised to learn that college students can throw noisy parties? Uh, no, but it may be a surprise that they constitute a potentially significant environmental impact...more
A local organization appealed the denial of its challenge to the approval of an affordable housing project and disputed the trial court’s order requiring it to post a bond. The Court of Appeal rejected plaintiff’s contentions...more
Holland & Knight Partner Jennifer L. Hernandez, leader of the firm's West Coast Land Use and Environmental Group, recently authored an industry report for the Center for Jobs & The Economy, whose mission is to identify and...more
California’s continuing shortfall of new housing to meet demand has led to the enactment of a number of measures at the state level to encourage housing development and to limit the grounds for local governments to disapprove...more
In Save the Hill Group v. City of Livermore et al., the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 5) reversed and remanded the superior court’s decision to uphold the reissued final environmental impact report (RFEIR) for a...more
The California Legislature and Governor approved three key housing bills in 2021, to facilitate housing production in California. SB 8 (Senator Skinner) extends and expands the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (SB 330). SB 9...more
In a case potentially overshadowed by the California Supreme Court’s same-day denial to hear a request to stay a cap on student admissions at UC Berkeley, the Second Appellate District Court (Div. 2) issued its opinion in...more
While the 2020-2021 California Legislative Session was dominated by the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis and the ultimately unsuccessful Gubernatorial recall election, there were significant efforts made to change statewide...more
As the State of California battles through a housing crisis, lawmakers are seeking creative ways to enable local governments to meet their long-term housing needs and produce housing more quickly. On September 16, 2021,...more