California’s leading Democratic gubernatorial candidates articulated distinct approaches to the state’s escalating housing crisis during a recent forum. The discussions, moderated by New York Times columnist Ezra Klein, revealed both areas of consensus and significant policy divergences within the party, particularly concerning labor standards, local control, financing, and homelessness.
Assemblymember Buffy Wicks convened the first hearing of the California Assembly’s new Select Committee on Housing Construction Innovation to explore ways to reduce housing costs by modernizing how homes are built across the state.
California has passed a law to gut the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for most urban residential development, which is a win for individual property rights, economic mobility, and constitutional sanity, and the authors of a recent law review article argue that exclusionary zoning is a per se taking that violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the most sweeping reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act in over five decades, creating ten new CEQA exemptions for projects such as infill housing, child care centers, and broadband infrastructure, and investing nearly $1.4 billion in new investments for affordable housing, renters, and first-time homebuyers.
California’s Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is being criticized by liberal lawmakers and housing advocates for obstructing progress and needs reform to balance environmental protections with the need for housing and infrastructure projects.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed a 2025 state budget that includes CEQA reforms to speed up housing development, which is seen as a crucial policy shift in modern California history.
California is set to implement a major environmental and housing reform with the expected signing of AB 609 into law, which will exempt certain infill housing projects from CEQA review, allowing for faster and more efficient construction of new homes in already developed areas.
AB 609, a bill that would exempt qualifying infill housing projects from CEQA review, passed the State Assembly unanimously and now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to be considered alongside SB 607.
by Robert J. Hansen A Constitutional amendment was introduced in the California legislature yesterday that would create…