CEQA in the crosshairs!

PLF attorneys have been involved in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) cases from the law’s inception, to keep the government honest and to protect private property rights.  We recently filed two amicus pleadings in the California Supreme Court that are discussed here and here.

Now, it appears, that legislators are concerned the Act is interfering with economic growth and hurting the State.  Even the Governor is calling for streamlining the Act.  Although attempts to change the law have been largely unsuccessful over the years, things may be different this time.  Marten Law offers a pretty comprehensive discussion of the controversy here.  This is just a snippet:

“CEQA can be a powerful tool to stop or improve poorly-conceived development proposals, but it is more notorious for its widespread use by special interest groups as a weapon to delay or block projects that may be necessary or desirable from a larger community perspective. As a result, there have been numerous attempts over the years to selectively revise the law, either by limiting the scope of its application or by making its specific requirements less onerous to meet on a case-by-case basis. Momentum is now building to attempt even more comprehensive reforms of CEQA, and any developer contemplating new projects in California will want to consider engagement with the legislative process.”