News & Analysis as of

State and Local Government Zoning Laws California

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

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

Best Best & Krieger LLP

AB 130 and SB 131 Include Updates to Major California Housing Laws

On June 30, 2025, two budget trailer bills — Assembly Bill 130 (AB 130) and Senate Bill 131 (SB 131) — were signed by Governor Newsom and went into effect immediately. In addition to significant modifications to the...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

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

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

Buchalter

Effective Immediately: California Adopts Consequential Reforms to CEQA and Other Laws to Speed Housing Production

Buchalter on

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

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

San Diego ADU Incentive Rollback Sheds Light on California Housing Woes

On June 16, 2025, the San Diego City Council voted 5-4 to cap the number of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) that can be built on single-family lots. The decision reverses the City’s 2020 implementation of a program allowing...more

Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass

What We're Reading, Watching, and Listening To: June 2025

A roundup of news and multimedia from the Unfamiliar Terrain team: San Francisco - Mayor Lurie names new S.F. planning director (SF Chronicle): Sarah Dennis Phillips has been named the City’s planning director,...more

Allen Matkins

Challenging the Industrial Exodus: Legal Lessons from Santa Ana’s Planning Reboot

Allen Matkins on

The City of Santa Ana (City) has recently undertaken an ambitious — and highly controversial — effort to reshape the landscape of its historically industrial-centric Transit Zoning Code (TZC) district. Through the adoption of...more

Allen Matkins

Now Effective: Builder’s Remedy 2.0

Allen Matkins on

AB 1893 (Wicks) significantly modified the so-called “Builder’s Remedy” under the Housing Accountability Act (Gov. Code § 65589.5) (HAA) effective January 1, 2025. As explained in our prior legal alert, the Builder’s Remedy...more

Allen Matkins

SB 937: Deferral of Residential Development Impact Fees

Allen Matkins on

Senate Bill (SB) 937 (Wiener) went into effect on January 1, 2025. SB 937 eases the financial burden on residential developers by prohibiting local agencies from imposing fees on specified residential development projects...more

Allen Matkins

Sustainable Development and Land Use Update 5.22.25

Allen Matkins on

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

Nossaman LLP

Santa Monica Greenlights “Entertainment Zone” to Revitalize Third Street Promenade

Nossaman LLP on

Responding to the lingering financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and recent Southern California wildfires, the City of Santa Monica is taking a bold step to breathe new life into the iconic Third Street Promenade....more

Alston & Bird

Land Use Matters | May 2025 | CEQA Appellate Decisions & Other Legal Developments

Alston & Bird on

City of Los Angeles - Expedited and Streamlined Review Process for Community Rebuilding - On March 18, 2025, Mayor Karen Bass issued Revised Emergency Executive Order No. 1 (EO 1) directing the Department of City Planning,...more

Nossaman LLP

Inverse Condemnation Liability Does Not Extend to Failure to Prevent Actions of Another Party

Nossaman LLP on

Can a public entity be held liable for inverse condemnation when it fails to prevent another party from causing damage to private property?  This one is pretty simple:  the answer is no....more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

A Well-Informed Start to 2025: BBK’s Guidance for New Laws in California – Housing Part Three

In part three of the Housing New Laws series from Best Best & Krieger LLP (BBK), attorneys provide synopses of important new housing legislation for 2025 governing local housing elements and State Density Bonus Law. Below are...more

Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass

What We're Reading, Watching, and Listening To: March 2025

A roundup of news and multimedia from the Unfamiliar Terrain team: San Francisco - Mayor Lurie launches initiative to speed up S.F.’s slow permitting process (SF Chronicle): The Mayor announced a new effort to...more

Allen Matkins

Sustainable Development and Land Use Update 3.21.25

Allen Matkins on

Senator Scott Wiener is back with another bill – SB 79 – to provide for streamlined ministerial (i.e., no CEQA) approval of qualifying housing development projects near transit across California. For qualifying projects...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

A Well-Informed Start to 2025: BBK’s Guidance for New Laws in California – Housing Part One

In part one of the Housing New Laws series from Best Best & Krieger LLP (BBK), attorneys cover important new housing legislation for 2025 that updates the Housing Accountability Act and relates to housing development fees....more

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