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A new state bill seeks to cut down on the weaponization of environmental reviews under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, and speed up the production of many housing projects.
AB 609 would exempt many new housing projects from environmental impact reports. In doing so, bill sponsor Assemblymember Buffy Wicks argues, housing projects would see shorter timelines and greater certainty, making housing less costly to produce and thereby less expensive for Californians to buy or rent, The Real Deal reported.
“Why does it take so long to build housing in California?” Wicks, who is based in Oakland, asked an Assembly committee Tuesday. “CEQA, America’s premier environmental protection law.”
Wicks called CEQA “a very blunt tool,” according to TRD, adding that it has been used to stop an untold number of needed housing projects.
If AB 609 were approved, housing projects in an infill, urbanized area that meet local zoning standards and are smaller than 20 acres would be eligible for CEQA exemptions.
“It’s the only bill that made a CEQA consultant call me up in a complete panic and say, ‘Dave, this is going to put me out of business,’” Rand Paster & Nelson attorney Dave Rand told a legislative committee.
Rand told committee members that was why they should vote in favor of the bill.
AB 609 is part of a package of more than 20 bills, each aimed at helping facilitate and speed up the construction of housing in California. The bill has already passed two committee votes but still needs to pass an Assembly vote before moving to the Senate.
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