Newsom Expected To Sign Assembly Bill 1197 Exempting Homeless Housing from CEQA

Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign Assembly Bill 1197
which would exempt any Los Angeles shelter or homeless housing project that
receives state or local funding from the California Environmental Quality Act
(“CEQA”).  CEQA calls for environmental review
of the environmental impacts of a proposed project that requires agency
discretionary approval. Proposals to build housing projects are the type ...Read More

First District Upholds Streamlined EIR for Mixed-Use Development in Unpublished Case

In the unpublished case, Save the Hill v. City and
County of San Francisco (No. A153549), the First District Court of Appeal upheld
an environmental impact report (EIR) and project findings for a mixed-use real
estate development. In 2008, San Francisco certified an EIR considering various
planning alternatives for some of the City’s neighborhoods, including Potrero
Hill. In 2015, the ...Read More

Changes Come to Endangered Species Act Regulations

On August 12, 2019, the Trump Administration released final regulations bringing addressing the difference between a “threatened” species listing and “endangered” listing. Under the new regulations, species that are categorized as “threatened” will not automatically receive the same protections as those listed as “endangered.”  Additionally, instead of drawing attention to climate change, the regulations ...Read More

Coming to a Town Near You: Rent Control and Continued Housing Shortages

California decides to steer into the crazy skid: Sacramento adopts local rent control ordinance just as California makes another run at a statewide rent control policy.

Voters handed left-lining tenant
groups and politicians a defeat last year with the failure of Proposition 10, a
statewide ballot measure that would have allowed cities to expand rent-control
policies to more types ...Read More