Just last week it was reported that Gov. Jerry Brown had given up on trying to reform the state's landmark environmental law this year. State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg must not have gotten the memo.
"The Senate leader released details of his proposed reform of the California Environmental Quality Act yesterday," reports William Fulton. "It’s not sweeping reform. Rather, it contains a series of incremental changes designed to speed projects along. These include statewide significance treshholds on some topics including traffic; some reforms to CEQA litigation procedures; and $30 million in annual funding to the Strategic Growth Council to continue providing statewide planning grants."
"The details received a positive response from both CEQA reformers and CEQA defenders," which may surprise the Governor, who cited resistance from inside the Democratic party as an obstacle to reform. "The CEQA Working Group, a business and labor group that has called for major CEQA reform, called the bill 'meaningful CEQA reform', while Bruce Reznik of the Planning & Conservation League, which heads the CEQA Works coalition that has defended the law, was quoted as saying: 'I think there's actually quite a bit that we can get behind.'”
Read the full story: Jerry's Done With CEQA Reform, But Darrell Isn't
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