Focus
The CEQ has no clothes: The end of CEQ’s NEPA regulations and the future of NEPA practice
Allen Matkins – February 21
On February 20, 2025, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) posted a pre-publication notice on its website of an Interim Final Rule that rescinds its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which, in one form or another, have guided NEPA practice since 1978. CEQ simultaneously issued new guidance to federal agencies for revising their NEPA implementing procedures consistent with the NEPA statute and President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14,154 (Unleashing American Energy). The Interim Final Rule was submitted for publication in the Federal Register on February 19, 2025 and will become effective 45 days after it is published. This action represents the final blow to CEQ’s NEPA regulations, coming in the wake of two recent federal court decisions in the past few months that foreshadowed their impending demise. In light of those court decisions, CEQ is unlikely to issue new regulations, even under a future presidential administration, without express congressional authorization. Our recent alert discusses the recission of these regulations and how the CEQ Interim Final Rule might affect development projects, including projects carried out by a federal agency itself or by private parties that receive a permit or financial assistance from a federal agency.
News
State’s suit vs. the City of Norwalk over housing policies moves forward
NBC4 Los Angeles – February 19
The state’s legal action against the city of Norwalk over its 2024 ordinance putting a moratorium on new homeless shelters and other housing projects can move forward, a judge ruled Wednesday while also dismissing the City Council as a defendant. “Petitioners are correct that there is a significant public interest in ensuring that the city does not enact an ordinance that violates state law,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant wrote in a tentative ruling that he finalized after hearing arguments Tuesday. However, the judge also was critical of the state’s conduct in the litigation.
Newsom seeks $2B fire aid from Congress for SoCal, Palisades low-income housing
The Center Square – February 24
Governor Gavin Newsom is requesting $2 billion in federal funding to develop low-income housing in Southern California communities devastated by the Palisades and Eaton Fires. Under a recently passed Los Angeles city ordinance, many destroyed apartments must be replaced by low-income housing, including all those built before October 1978. This $2 billion is part of a $40 billion federal aid request, including up to $14.2 billion more that could support low-income housing development.
This California law was supposed to end single-family zoning. Three years later, it’s ‘just symbolic.’
San Francisco Chronicle – February 21
When it went into effect in 2022 Senate Bill (SB) 9 was hailed as one of the biggest — and most controversial — housing laws in years. Combined with its lot split provision, SB 9 lets homeowners turn one home into as many as four (if specified requirements are met). But three years later, California’s suburbs largely look the same as they did before the measure went into effect — prompting legislators, including state Senator Scott Wiener, to take a swing at amending the law. Under SB 9, the applicant must sign an affidavit stating that it “intends to occupy” one of the units as a primary residence for at least three years (unless the applicant is a community land trust or qualified nonprofit). Senator Wiener last Friday introduced SB 677, which would prohibit cities from imposing that requirement — a restriction some housing advocates said is SB 9’s greatest flaw.
California SB 462 takes aim at saving farm lands
The Mercury News – February 21
Amid a push by local leaders to conserve farmlands and open spaces in the Bay Area from future development, California Senator David Cortese has introduced a bill that would shore up funding to preserve agricultural land throughout the state despite the measure’s uncertain financial outlook. SB 462 would bolster an existing program called the California Farmland Conservancy Program. If enacted into law, the bill would offer an annual $20 million infusion of funds dedicated specifically to “conservation easements.” Under that system, the landowner receives payment in exchange for permanently limiting their land to agricultural use – even if it changes owners.
Costa Mesa’s Measure K promised a public process for rezoning. Will it deliver?
Los Angeles Times/Daily Pilot – February 20
Costa Mesa officials last week approved a nearly $2-million contract with a planning and engineering firm to chart a course toward rezoning numerous commercial, industrial, and opportunity sites throughout the city to allow for more housing. Rezoning is a key element in delivering on a promise made in the city’s Measure K, a 2022 initiative that overrides an earlier referendum requiring certain large-scale developments or zone changes be put to a vote of the people.
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