In April 2025, we reported that Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-24-25 (the Order), suspending the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and certain permitting requirements under the California Coastal Act (CCA) to help accelerate the rebuilding efforts of Altadena, Malibu, and Pacific Palisades following the fires that devastated these areas in January (the LA Fires). Specifically, under the Order, CEQA and certain permitting requirements under the CCA were suspended as they relate to:
- Projects to rebuild electric and telecommunication infrastructure substantially damaged or destroyed by the LA Fires, including undergrounding, upgrading, and relocation of such infrastructure.
- Projects to demolish, repair, replace, relocate, or upgrade electric or telecommunication infrastructure in areas adjacent to the projects described in paragraph one (above).
- Other underground electric, gas, water, sewer, or telecommunication infrastructure projects that can be undertaken at the same time as, and in the same excavated site as, the projects undertaken under the authority of paragraphs one and two (above).
On June 30, 2025, as part of the 2025-2026 state budget, Governor Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill (AB) 130 and Senate Bill (SB) 131, which provide certain exemptions and streamline the process under CEQA, which was signed into law in 1970 by then-Governor Ronald Regan. In a press release on his official website, Governor Newsom claims that “together, the two budget trailer bills include a comprehensive streamlining package that breaks down long-standing development barriers, modernizes CEQA review for critical housing and infrastructure, and creates new tools to speed up production, reduce costs, and improve accountability across the state.” One of the many goals of AB 130 and SB 131 is to streamline “CEQA review to speed up delivery of housing and infrastructure projects — including infill housing, high-speed rail facilities, utilities, broadband, community-serving facilities, wildfire prevention, and farmworker housing — while maintaining protections for natural and sensitive lands…”
Given the suspension of CEQA under the Order for purposes of helping expedite the rebuilding efforts after the LA Fires, the passage of AB 130 and SB 131 appears to compliment, and will likely help expedite, such rebuilding efforts. CEQA exemptions under AB 130 focus on encouraging development in urban infill areas (subject to certain requirements), while the exemptions under SB 131 apply to a broad range of qualifying projects including, but not limited to: urban infill housing, high-speed rail, broadband, wildfire risk mitigation, day care centers, certain federally qualified health care centers or rural health clinics, nonprofit food banks or food pantries, facilities for advanced manufacturing. Note that several exemptions under SB 131 are limited — for instance, certain exemptions do not apply to projects located on natural and protected lands. While SB 131 provides exemptions for broadband projects in a right-of-way of a local street or road if the project meets certain specified conditions, it remains to be seen whether such exemptions will extend to other “telecommunication” infrastructure mentioned in the Order. There are no specific exemptions in AB 130 or SB 131 related to other utilities, such as electric, gas, or sewer, but there is an exemption in SB 131 related to wildfire risk mitigation. SB 131 would “exempt from CEQA wildfire risk reduction projects, including, among other things, projects for prescribed fire, defensible space clearance, and fuel breaks” (subject to the various requirements provided in SB 131).
The suspension of CEQA under the Order appears to be an even broader roll back of the 1970 law than the exemptions offered under AB 130 and SB 131. However, together, the Order, AB 130, and SB 131 are likely to further expedite the rebuilding efforts of certain infrastructure projects that were damaged or destroyed by the LA Fires.
