Governor Gavin Newsom signed two budget trailer bills on June 30, 2025, enacting the most substantial reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in over five decades. To help you navigate these important changes, we have prepared a three-part summary of budget trailer bills Assembly Bill 130 and Senate Bill 131:
AB 130 and SB 131 were adopted on the last day of the 2024-25 fiscal year after the Governor made it clear he would not approve the budget without meaningful CEQA reforms. While not the sweeping “rollback” of environmental review that some sources have claimed, the legislation will undoubtedly smooth the road for approval for many infill housing projects. In this post, we focus on the criteria for using the new exemption for housing development projects in AB 130. Read more here.
SB 131 includes a new CEQA process that limits the environmental review required for “near-miss” housing development projects—those projects that meet all criteria for a CEQA exemption, except for a single disqualifying condition. Specifically, the environmental review in these instances is restricted to analyzing impacts stemming exclusively from the single condition that disqualifies the housing project from receiving a statutory or categorical exemption. Read more here.
In our third update on the important changes in budget trailer bills AB 130 and SB 131, we cover changes to the mitigation options for vehicle miles traveled (VMT), additional focused CEQA exemptions, and other amendments to land use processes. Read more here.
