Acquiring property for public projects typically does not occur until after the project has received environmental approval. In California, complying with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) can sometimes take years, thereby significantly delaying the right-of-way acquisition process, holding up the delivery of public infrastructure projects. With the legislature recently enacting CEQA reform, will this expedite the timing for property acquisitions and eminent domain proceedings? Maybe, depending on the project.
California courts have traditionally held that “compliance with CEQA is mandatory before a public entity may condemn property for a proposed project.” (See City of Stockton v. Marina Towers LLC (2009) 171 Cal.App.4th 93.) While that bright-line rule has been slightly blurred (see Condemn Now, CEQA Compliance Later), generally property acquisitions, and in particular condemnation actions, do not move forward until a proposed public project has secured environmental approvals. With California’s notorious obstacles to green-light environmental approvals for a public infrastructure project, many times property acquisitions and condemnation proceedings get delayed for years until full environmental clearance is achieved (possibly both at the state and federal level). And with the amount of time it takes to secure possession of property in California, construction may need to wait another year or two before an agency can certify right-of-way.
But Governor Newsom signed two sweeping budget trailer bills, Assembly Bill 130 (AB 130) and Senate Bill 131 (SB 131), into law on June 30, 2025, enacting meaningful changes to CEQA. While the legislation is primarily intended to boost the delivery of housing and curb CEQA litigation abuse, there are streamlining provisions for a variety of other infrastructure projects. We will be preparing a three-part series highlighting the impacts of the CEQA reform legislation; part 1 can be found here. Stay tuned as we dive into the legislation further over the coming week or two.
