News & Analysis as of

Regulatory Reform State and Local Government California

Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP

California’s 2025 CEQA Reforms: Impacts and Ambiguities with New Housing and 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

Allen Matkins

Multifamily’s Evolution

Allen Matkins on

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

Allen Matkins

California Environmental Law & Policy Update 8.1.25

Allen Matkins on

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on July 29 proposed to repeal its landmark finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health. The EPA’s so-called endangerment finding, issued in 2009, is a formal...more

Mintz - Energy & Sustainability Viewpoints

Sustainable Energy & Infrastructure Litigation Updates — August 2025

There was a noteworthy development in the ongoing legal challenge to the SEC’s mandatory climate disclosure law (dating from the Biden administration), which is currently pending in the Eighth Circuit. Following the decision...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

California Budget Bills Plug Holes to Stop Certain Projects from Sinking

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

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Cutting Through California's Housing Crisis: Are New CEQA Exemptions Enough?

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

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

How SB 131 Tries To Put the ‘Land’ Back in ‘Land Use’

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

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

AB 130 Places New Limitations on Building Code Updates for Residential Buildings

This is the seventh 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

Downey Brand LLP

Wait, What? Major Changes to CEQA Slip into Law via Deft Maneuvering

Downey Brand LLP on

Much is discussed every year in the Legislature about how the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) needs reform. But the calls for change nearly always fail, aside from a few tinkering changes. This year is...more

Miller Starr Regalia

State Budget Bill Includes Landmark CEQA and Housing Law Changes

Miller Starr Regalia on

On June 30, 2025, Governor Newsom signed AB 130 and SB 131 into immediately effective law as budget trailer bills, marking a historic effort to accelerate housing production and to reform the CEQA review process that has been...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

California Real Estate Developers Optimistic About CEQA Reform

Husch Blackwell LLP on

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

Snell & Wilmer

New CEQA Exemptions Support Certain Infrastructure Rebuilding Efforts after the LA Fires

Snell & Wilmer on

In April 2025, we reported that Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-24-25 (the Order), suspending the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and certain permitting requirements under the California Coastal Act...more

Nossaman LLP

Will California’s CEQA Reform Impact Condemnation? 

Nossaman LLP on

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...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Major Changes to CEQA and California Housing Law Approved by Gov. Newsom

On June 30, 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two budget trailer bills—AB 130 and SB 131—that together work major changes both to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and California housing law. Because these bills...more

DLA Piper

Major pro-housing CEQA reform legislation signed into California law

DLA Piper on

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

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

New CEQA Exemptions in 2025: Streamlining Housing & Infrastructure Development in California

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

Clark Hill PLC

CEQA finally brought to its knees by California’s severe housing crisis

Clark Hill PLC on

Originally enacted in 1970, the objective of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was to review projects to assess potential impacts on the environment, disclose those impacts to the public, and mitigate those...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

California Legislature Enacts Significant Revisions To CEQA

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

Allen Matkins

Sustainable Development and Land Use Update 7.7.25

Allen Matkins on

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

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

California Enacts Landmark CEQA Reforms to Accelerate Housing and Infrastructure Development

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

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

States Can Continue Regulating AI—For Now

Congress has passed the budget reconciliation package known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (H.R.1) without the controversial moratorium on state and local artificial intelligence (AI) laws originally included in the House...more

Greenberg Glusker LLP

California Enacts Major CEQA Reforms

Greenberg Glusker LLP on

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

Paul Hastings LLP

California Pushes ‘Abundance’ Agenda With Major CEQA Reforms for Housing and Select Infrastructure

Paul Hastings LLP on

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

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Seismic Changes to CEQA?

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

Meyers Nave

California Enacts Landmark Housing and Infrastructure Reform — Major CEQA Streamlining, Permitting Acceleration, and Funding Tools...

Meyers Nave on

On June 30, 2025, Governor Newsom signed into law a sweeping set of housing and infrastructure reforms as part of the 2025–2026 State Budget, marking one of the most significant overhauls of the California Environmental...more

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