See if you can navigate this maze.
Even if you are not in California, this thing called "CEQA" (the California Environmental Quality Act) is something you might have heard of. An environmental reporting statute on steroids, CEQA is, according to this new report from the Pacific Research Institute, the main reason why California is home to the unbeatable combination of sky-high home prices and nation-leading poverty rate, and has become as famous for its homeless problem as its beaches.
In "The CEQA Gauntlet," the authors report that the above problems are products of the fact that it is "very, very hard to build homes in California." And the reason it is hard to build homes in California? That's right, CEQA.
What started off as a data-gathering and informational requirement (so that the decision makers could incorporate environmental considerations) has become the tail that wags the dog, and is the major tool employed by opponents of building housing to slow the process down. For one example where a court concluded that "CEQA worked," (only 16 years of environmental review!) check this out.
Instead a process to collect data, CEQA now represents "death by a thousand days."As the PRI Report describes it:
With 3,000 prospective UC Berkeley students facing rejection due to a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit, the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute today released “The CEQA Gauntlet,” a new research project detailing how CEQA adds expense and delay to – and in some cases halts – critical California projects including housing, schools, infrastructure, renewable energy, homeless shelters, and wildfire prevention.“As a Cal graduate, it is unconscionable that a law to protect California’s environment could deny thousands of students the opportunity for a UC education,” said Chris Carr, Ph.D., head of the Environment and Energy Practice Group at Paul Hastings LLP and “CEQA Gauntlet” co-author.
“CEQA has become an obstacle to achieving California’s top goals, from building new housing and schools to addressing homelessness and achieving renewable energy milestones. By reading our flowchart and report, we hope that Californians will learn what’s at stake in the CEQA reform debate and demand an end to its abuse so much-needed projects and important priorities can move forward,” Carr said.
“The CEQA Gauntlet” (co-authored by Carr with Navi Dhillon and Lucas Grunbaum, also with Paul Hastings LLP) documents how projects big and small ranging from housing to infrastructure to renewable energy are hindered by CEQA.
The cornerstone of the report is a full-size flowchart that illustrates the CEQA gauntlet – a maze of tests and trials that far too often frustrates construction across the State.
We have not yet gone through the entire report, which not only details the criticisms, but proposes solutions. We also recommend you watch the recording of the presentation of the report by its authors.
Will there be changes? Has California's public had enough? As always, stay tuned for more.
