With Environmental Regulatory Reform, California Gov. Gavin Newsom Finally Does Something Substantial
Story by Steven Greenhut • 5h
Gov. Gavin Newsom isn't afraid to step into the political fray when it comes to standing up to President Donald Trump over national issues that impact California. He's not always wrong when he sues the administration or speaks out against, say, ICE raids in Los Angeles. But most of those high-profile actions seem designed to burnish his national reputation. For your own safety, please don't stand between him and a television camera.
Newsom would have a better national-leadership case, however, had he strategically arm-twisted the state's Democratic-controlled Legislature to pass controversial measures that address California's long-simmering problems of homelessness, traffic congestion, the high cost of living, crime, and sky-high housing costs. The best way to prove the wisdom of the California Way is to, you know, actually run the state in a stellar manner. But maybe he is learning.
As various news sources reported last week, the governor had tied his signing of a budget deal by requiring the Legislature to pass reforms to the state's "landmark" California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)—the 1970 law that has mired construction projects in regulation, environmental impact reports and litigation (or threats of it). The details of the measure were in flux late last week, but it was pitched as being far more aggressive than past housing reforms.
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