Council Sponsoring New CEQA Reform Legislation

The Bay Area Council is proud to be sponsoring SB 607 by state Senator Scott Wiener, which would make important improvements to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and how it affects housing projects. According to a significant and growing body of literature, including research from Council member Holland & Knight, CEQA remains a big issue for building housing, holding back the region’s economy and our ability to provide homeownership options to the buyers who want them.

SB 607 would make several improvements to the landmark law to make it easier for projects that qualify for existing CEQA exemptions, such as environmentally beneficial projects like infill housing, to actually use the exemptions. The bill proposes, for example, that if an infill project does not qualify for an exemption because it failed on one specific element of environmental analysis, then the review for the project is limited to that item, rather than kicking the project back to square one to redo the entire analysis on every issue, a process that can take years and result in costly litigation. This focuses the CEQA analysis on the known issues and increases development certainty for the developer, meaning infill projects that benefit the environment are more likely to happen.

This bill builds on the Council’s recent successful legislative reform work on CEQA. The Council sponsored AB 1633 (Ting), which creates the first financial penalties for wrongful CEQA abuse. We are excited and honored to work with Senator Wiener and a broad coalition of partners on SB 607. To engage in the Council’s housing policy work, please contact Vice President Louis Mirante.