Opinion: Big Wins for CEQA Reform and Transit Housing—But Will They Matter in Places Like Davis?

It was a week of celebration for pro-housing advocates across California. Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law sweeping reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), while Senator Scott Wiener’s SB 79—a bill designed to streamline multifamily housing near transit—advanced out of a key committee.

California YIMBY, the state’s leading pro-housing lobbying organization, issued a press release declaring the moment “a historic victory for infill housing and CEQA reform.” The group called it the culmination of eight years of advocacy and credited Governor Newsom, housing-friendly legislators, and grassroots support for pushing the measures across the finish line.

“These are some of the most historic pro-housing reforms of the modern era,” the release said. “California YIMBY-sponsored and supported reforms of CEQA are now state law—meaning it will be faster, easier, and less costly to build new homes across the state.”

The centerpiece of the legislative push was AB 130, a housing budget trailer bill that incorporated major provisions from AB 609 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks and SB 607 by Senator Wiener. The bill, signed into law ahead of the June 30 budget deadline, exempts infill housing projects under 85 feet from CEQA review and removes CEQA barriers for rezonings required by state-approved housing elements. It also limits prevailing wage requirements, which will only apply to projects over 85 feet tall or those that are 100% affordable.

These provisions took effect immediately with the Governor’s signature.

California YIMBY also touted progress on SB 79, which passed out of the Assembly Housing Committee. The bill would allow more homes to be built near transit stops, such as train stations and rapid bus lines, and streamline permitting for such developments. It now heads to the Assembly Local Government Committee.

But amid the celebrations, some observers are asking whether these reforms will make a dent in communities like Davis—where infill capacity is largely maxed out, and where the most significant barriers to housing lie not in CEQA, but in deeply entrenched local land use restrictions.

Davis’s biggest obstacle remains Measure J, a voter-approved law that requires public approval for any housing development outside the city’s existing boundaries. Since its original passage in 2000, Measure J—and its renewals under Measures R and D—has successfully blocked most new peripheral housing, even on parcels that the city previously identified as suitable for growth.

These types of political constraints are central to a new analysis by economists Edward Glaeser and Joseph Gyourko. In a May 2025 working paper titled “America’s Housing Supply Problem: The Closing of the Suburban Frontier?”, the researchers document a striking shift in housing production patterns. Once-prolific cities like Phoenix, Dallas, and Miami—places known for building quickly and cheaply—have seen construction slow dramatically despite abundant land.

Glaeser and Gyourko argue that the problem is not a lack of land, but mounting regulatory barriers.

“High prices no longer trigger more building,” they write. “Expensive neighborhoods used to see the most construction, but this relationship weakened dramatically across most cities between 1970 and 2020.”

They note a major reversal in where housing gets built. While low-density suburban areas once absorbed the bulk of new housing, dense urban neighborhoods now account for a larger share of growth. For example, Miami built 44% of its new housing in low-density areas in the 1970s; by the 2010s, that number had fallen to 12%.

Their conclusion: “America’s suburban frontier appears to be closing.”

This directly relates to Davis. The city has land on its periphery but has largely blocked access to it through Measure J.

While CEQA lawsuits have played a role in slowing housing elsewhere (and occasionally in Davis), in Davis, the bigger hurdle is the local ballot box.

Unless voters approve a development, it cannot proceed—even if it complies with the city’s General Plan or housing needs allocations.

This local dynamic raises questions about the limits of state-level reform.

The CEQA exemptions in AB 130 and the streamlining provisions in SB 79 could facilitate more infill housing in cities with available land and political will. But in places like Davis, where infill has already been heavily utilized and where growth at the edges is tightly constrained, these reforms may have little effect.

There are signs, however, that the state may be preparing to take a firmer stance. In recent months, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has pushed cities to not only submit compliant Housing Elements but also demonstrate that they can realistically meet housing targets. Some legal scholars and housing advocates have speculated that restrictions like Measure J could come under scrutiny if they are found to undermine state housing goals.

As The Vanguard reported last week, any state-level intervention would likely be controversial. But with the housing crisis deepening—and with this week’s new laws now on the books—the pressure on cities to change is mounting.

The YIMBY movement scored a major legislative win this week. CEQA reforms and transit-oriented housing laws may speed up the production of new homes in urban centers willing to build. But for exclusionary suburbs and slow-growth cities like Davis, the road remains blocked—not by environmental review, but by voter-imposed limits on growth.

And unless those deeper constraints are addressed, the promise of this week’s reforms may go unfulfilled in precisely the places where new housing is needed most.

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