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[WEBINAR] Update on the California Environmental Quality Act: What’s New for 2018
[WEBINAR] Building a Solar Energy Project in 2018
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“One of the most notable changes is creating a new statutory urban infill CEQA exemption under AB 130, which only applies to defined housing developments. The new AB 130 exemption allows for qualifying housing development...more
Part three of a three-part series - As previously reported in Part 1 of this series, on June 30, 2025 Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 131 into law (SB 131), amending the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)...more
On June 30, 2025, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 130 (“AB 130”) and Senate Bill 131 (“SB 131”) into law, making the most significant changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) in decades. Together, AB...more
Earlier this summer, as part of the state’s annual budget deal, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that alters how the existing California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) would apply to certain housing...more
Whether from the perspective of a developer, user or tenant, debt or equity financing provider, the government, or the broader community, the development of a data center project requires a host of considerations to assess...more
A Court of Appeal held that a provision in the County of Amador’s checklist for an encroachment permit requiring "[o]ther information as may be required" violated the Permit Streamlining Act. Old Golden Oaks LLC v. County of...more
The Court of Appeal held upheld the dismissal of a CEQA action for failure to timely name a developer that became a real party in interest during the pendency of the action. Citizens for a Better Eureka v. City of Eureka, 111...more
On July 23, 2025, the White House issued an Executive Order titled “Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure.” Released alongside “America’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan,” the Order reflects a...more
In a lengthy and highly technical published opinion filed August 5, 2025, the Fifth District Court of Appeal partly reversed and partly affirmed a judgment that had upheld the State Water Resources Control Board’s (“State...more
On 30 June 2025, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 130 (AB 130) and Senate Bill 131 (SB 131) into law, introducing some of the most significant changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in recent history,...more
In an effort to tackle California’s persistent housing shortage and accelerate infrastructure development, California has enacted the most substantial reform to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in decades and...more
The California Legislature took another big swing to promote housing development in battling the continuing housing crisis when it passed Assembly Bill 130 (AB 130) and Senate Bill 131 (SB 131) earlier this year. AB 130...more
With the current housing shortage in California, coupled with recent regulatory changes, multifamily development is robust throughout the state. Perhaps the most consequential recent change is the reform of the California...more
City of Los Angeles Planning Department - Annual Increase to Planning Applications and Affordable Housing Linkage Fees - On July 1, 2024, the annual increases to the Planning and Land Use Fees and the Affordable Housing...more
This is the 10th update in our series covering AB 130 and SB 131, two bills that work substantive changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and California housing law....more
Welcome to “CEQA News You Can Use,” a quarterly production of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP’s Natural Resources lawyers. This publication provides quick, useful bites of CEQA news, which we hope can be a resource for...more
On June 27, 2025, the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved the amended Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Regulation, submitted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to the OAL on May 16, 2025....more
As discussed in our earlier post, California's CEQA landscape has rapidly, and potentially seismically, evolved with the passage of AB 130 and SB 131. This post focuses on the immediate creation of a new statutory exemption,...more
This is the ninth update in our series covering AB 130 and SB 131, two bills that work substantive changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and California housing law....more
Senate Bill (SB) 131 includes reforms to litigation procedure under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) intended to relieve the burden on CEQA litigants when preparing the CEQA administrative record and speed up...more
Part two of a three-part series - Governor Gavin Newsom signed two major budget trailer bills, AB 130 and SB 131, into law on June 30, 2025, bringing significant amendments to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)...more
Senate Bill (SB) 131 includes important California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemptions for qualified advanced manufacturing projects, health centers and rural clinics, childcare centers, food banks, farmworker...more
On June 30, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law significant reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), seeking to promote housing projects in a state that desperately needs them. Much of...more
Assembly Bill (AB) 130 and Senate Bill (SB) 131, which became effective on June 30, 2025, are designed to bring sweeping change to California housing and infrastructure development across the state. Key provisions in the...more
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....more