On June 30, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 130 (AB 130) and Senate Bill 131 (SB 131), legislation that contains significant changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that...more
On June 30, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 130 (AB 130) and Senate Bill 131 (SB 131), both of which took effect immediately....more
On Monday, June 30, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two bills, AB 130 and SB 131, which provide new exemptions from, and streamlines the process, under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). AB 130...more
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) has long shaped the state’s development landscape, often entangling projects in lengthy permitting and litigation processes. That landscape has now shifted dramatically. ...more
On June 30, 2025, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 130 (AB 130) and Senate Bill 131 (SB 131), two budget trailer bills that significantly modify the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), effective immediately. The...more
On June 30, 2025, Governor Newsom signed two budget trailer bills into law: Assembly Bill 130 and Senate Bill 131, which reform the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) effective immediately. As explained by the...more
AB 130 focuses on streamlining the approval of urban-infill housing. SB 131 complements AB 130 by removing CEQA hurdles for a broader range of project types and land use decisions. CEQA exemptions do not override local zoning...more
Two newly enacted California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) reform laws (AB 130 and SB 131) would significantly impact California’s infill housing sector. Our Environment, Land Use & Natural Resources Group unpacks what...more
Key Takeaways - - AB 130 and SB 131 were recently passed by the California Legislature and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, enacting the most significant reforms to CEQA in recent years. - AB 130 establishes a new statutory...more
On June 30, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two budget bills that contained the most significant reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in decades, effective immediately. These changes create an...more
On June 30, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two budget trailer bills that deliver the most significant and sweeping reform of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in the 55-year history of this far-reaching...more
The long-standing third rail of California politics, the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA"), has finally been touched, in a major win for proponents of the anti-NIMBY "Yes In My Back Yard" movement ("YIMBY"). On...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—most significantly by introducing a new...more
On June 30, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two budget trailer bills, which prove to be the most consequential reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) in the law’s 55-year history. Governor...more
Governor Gavin Newsom on March 14 praised Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) for sponsoring two bills (SB 607 and AB 609) that would streamline housing development in urban...more
On May 14, 2025, Senator Scott Wiener issued a press release stating that, on that morning, “Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he supports the strongest ever reforms of [CEQA],” referring to Newsom’s proposal to include in...more
California’s 2025 legislative cycle includes another ambitious package of housing bills as the state continues to look for ways to ease the housing crisis amidst continued political and economic uncertainty. Reforming the...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 to...more
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) has long required a full analysis of project's potential adverse effects on the environment. The environmental impact report (EIR)-known as the "heart of CEQA"-is intended to...more
On April 20, 2022, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) adopted new recommended thresholds for determining the significance of individual projects’ greenhouse gas impacts under the California Environmental...more
Welcome to “CEQA News You Can Use,” a quarterly production of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck's Natural Resources lawyers. This publication provides quick, useful bites of CEQA news, which we hope can be a resource to your...more
This legislative year, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law thirty-one pieces of legislation designed to combat California’s ongoing housing crisis by providing tools to expand housing production, streamline housing...more