September 17, 2019 | Category:
NewsGovernor 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 […]
September 16, 2019 | Category:
NewsIn the unpublished case, Save the Hill v. City and County of San Francisco (No. A153549), the First District Court of Appeal upheld an environmental impact report (EIR) and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 […]
September 7, 2019 | Category:
NewsOn 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 allows […]
September 6, 2019 | Category:
NewsCalifornia 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 […]
September 5, 2019 | Category:
NewsIn Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, Inc. v. City of San Diego (No. S238563), the California Supreme Court determined that the City of San Diego’s adoption of an ordinance authorizing the establishment of marijuana dispensaries constitutes a “project” for the purposes of CEQA. The City of San Diego adopted the ordinance at issue in 2014 […]
September 4, 2019 | Category:
NewsThe California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved the State Wetland Definition and Procedures for Discharges of Dredged or Fill Material to Waters of the State (Procedures) on August 28, 2019. The State Water Board issued a Notice of Decision on August 30, 2019. Pursuant to the Procedures, the effective date is nine months upon […]
August 27, 2019 | Category:
NewsThe California Supreme Court further clarified the fundamental question of what constitutes a “project” under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in its August 19. 2019, decision in Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, Inc. v. City of San Diego, finding that a San Diego ordinance restricting the location of medical marijuana facilities constituted a “project” […]
August 26, 2019 | Category:
NewsThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”) released guidance on August 20, 2019 that relaxes some of the stricter guidance from 2016 with how to comply with the Clean Air Act Regional Haze Program. The Clean Air Act Regional Haze Program requires that states work together toward a goal of achieving “natural visibility conditions” at the […]
August 14, 2019 | Category:
NewsNew research shows that several of the region’s salmon populations are bumping into temperature limits. This includes the: Chinook salmon in California’s Central Valley and in the Columbia and Willamette River basins; Coho salmon in parts of Northern California and Oregon; and sockeye salmon that reach the Snake River Basin in Idaho. All of these […]
August 13, 2019 | Category:
NewsAt the end of July, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) reached a compromise with Ford Motor Company, Volkswagen AG, Honda Motor Company LTD., and BMW of North America to voluntarily increase fuel efficiency standards from 35 miles per gallon to approximately 50 miles per gallon by 2026. This represents an average increase of 3.7% […]
