On Monday, June 30, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two bills, AB 130 and SB 131, which provide new exemptions from, and streamlines the process, under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). AB 130...more
On June 16, 2025, the San Diego City Council voted 5-4 to cap the number of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) that can be built on single-family lots. The decision reverses the City’s 2020 implementation of a program allowing...more
Our previous post covered the introduction of A.B. 303 (Addis), the “Battery Energy Safety and Accountability Act”, following a catastrophic fire at one of the world’s largest battery energy storage facilities located in Moss...more
3/25/2025
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CEQA ,
Clean Energy ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Storage ,
Governor Newsom ,
Permits ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Renewable Energy ,
Safety Inspections
A week after a large-scale fire at the Moss Landing Power Plant in Monterey County, California Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 303. If passed, AB 303 – also referred to as the Battery...more
1/29/2025
/ Batteries ,
California ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Storage ,
Environmental Policies ,
Legislative Agendas ,
New Legislation ,
New Rules ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Renewable Energy ,
State and Local Government
Earlier this year, our article in the Spring 2024 issue of NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Magazine touched on some of the challenges of and tools for adapting underutilized commercial spaces and property for...more
To address the housing crisis in California, Senate Bill 684 (SB 684), passed in 2023 but effective as of July 1, 2024, aims to simplify the approval process for small-scale for-sale housing projects, facilitate a quicker...more
Following California Supreme Court and its own case law precedent, the Second District, Division Five, has ruled in Guerrero et al. v. City of Los Angeles (Jan. 17, 2024) (Guerrero), certified for publication, that a CEQA...more
Last week, in California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley, the Ninth Circuit ruled the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) preempts local bans on the installation of natural gas infrastructure in new...more
In a case potentially overshadowed by the California Supreme Court’s same-day denial to hear a request to stay a cap on student admissions at UC Berkeley, the Second Appellate District Court (Div. 2) issued its opinion in...more
In Citizens’ Committee to Complete the Refuge et al. v. City of Newark et al., the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 4) found the California Environmental Quality Act did not require subsequent or supplemental...more