From Permits to Penalties: A Deep Dive Into Coastal Development Law
Navigating Environmental Restrictions on Alternative Project Delivery for Complex Infrastructure Projects
On-Demand Webinar | Charting a Course for Offshore Wind Energy in California
[WEBINAR] Update on the California Environmental Quality Act: What’s New for 2018
[WEBINAR] Building a Solar Energy Project in 2018
How Trump's Infrastructure Plan Impacts the Energy Industry
BB&K's Charity Schiller Discusses CEQA Baseline
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
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
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
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
This is the fifth 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
This is our third update on the important changes in the two budget trailer bills, AB 130 and SB 131, after previous posts addressing the new CEQA exemption for infill housing and the “near miss” CEQA streamlining process....more
Note: This is the second 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
The “California Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform Final Report – March 2025” (the “Report”), published earlier this month, sounds an alarm bell regarding the need to overhaul the state’s “failed approach to...more
The California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) has begun its process to develop a new statewide Urban Stormwater Infiltration Policy. The goal of the proposed new policy is to establish statewide...more
Los Angeles County - Executive Order Streamlines Path to Rebuild Homes, Businesses, and Communities Destroyed by Los Angeles Firestorms - In response to the multiple firestorms in Los Angeles County that started on January 7,...more
On January 27, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-14-25 (the “EO”) pursuant to his statutory powers to suspend regulatory statutes during a state of emergency that would impede mitigation of the effects of...more
The California Court of Appeal’s recent decision in V Lions Farming, LLC v. County of Kern provides important clarity on the use of agricultural conservation easements (ACEs) for mitigating the conversion of agricultural land...more
Following the devastating fires in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-4-25 to expedite recovery and rebuilding efforts. Released on January 12, 2025, the Order suspends...more
Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Tuesday safeguarding victims of the Los Angeles-area fires from predatory real estate investors. The executive order is designed to protect residents in fire-ravaged zip codes...more
On January 12, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order (EO N-4-25) to suspend permitting requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Coastal Act, with the...more
On October 21st, the Second District Court of Appeal published a decision in Santa Clarita Organization etc. v. County of Los Angeles (2024) 105 Cal.App.5th 1143 that addresses the question of whether a CEQA challenge to an...more
The Court of Appeal held that before issuing a CEQA Class 32 exemption, the City of Los Angeles was required to assess whether the project was consistent not only with the applicable zoning ordinance but also with the area’s...more
The court upheld a mitigated negative declaration for a parcel delivery warehouse project, finding, among other things, that the threshold of significance and baseline used in preparing the MND were supported by substantial...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
In Westside Los Angeles Neighbors Network v. City of Los Angeles, the Second District Court of Appeals considered and upheld the City of Los Angeles’s (“City”) actions associated with the approval of the Westside Mobility...more
On June 27, 2024, the California First District Court of Appeal affirmed the denial of a writ petition challenging the City of Lafayette’s determination that a 12-unit residential condominium building qualified for the Class...more
City of Los Angeles - Increase to Planning Applications and Affordable Housing Linkage Fees - On July 1, 2024, the fee for planning and land use applications increased by 3.5% based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban...more
The California Supreme Court held that under newly enacted Assembly Bill 1307, the environmental impact report prepared for UC Berkeley housing and longer-term development was not inadequate for failing to consider social...more
The California Supreme Court recently upheld the Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”) for the Long Range Development Plan (“LRDP”) for the University of California Berkeley (“UC Berkeley”) and a controversial housing project...more