In passing the state budget on Tuesday, the Legislature agreed to begin resolving issues associated with the California Environmental Quality Act and global warming. As part of the state budget deal, lawmakers passed SB 97 by Sen. Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga). That measure:
• Requires the Governor's Office of Planning and Research to prepare by July 1, 2009 guidelines for how CEQA documents should address the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, and requires the Resources Agency to adopt the guidelines by January 1, 2010.
• Bars CEQA lawsuits over greenhouse gas emissions from transportation projects funded by last year's $19.9 billion Proposition 1B, or flood control projects funded by last year's $4.1 billion Proposition 1E.
Dutton said his legislation ensures that bond dollars are not spent defending lawsuits. "It was clear that billions of dollars approved by the voters were at risk to this type of unnecessary litigation," he said. "I felt it was very important that we get a fix to this problem before the money for these transportation projects was allocated."
Significantly, however, the bill implies that global warming is indeed an issue for CEQA consideration. Attorney General Jerry Brown and environmentalists have begun pressing for CEQA documents to address greenhouse gas emissions caused by new development — an effort strongly opposed by business and development interests.
Although the bill requires preparation of new CEQA guidelines, the measure does not address concerns about the immediate application of CEQA to global warming issues.
Three other potentially significant budget issues for land use:
• The approved budget contains Williamson Act subventions to counties. This money is "backfill" for about $39 million in property tax dollars that counties lose due to Williamson Act tax breaks granted to owners of farmland who agree not to develop their land. Although, Gov. Schwarzenegger in May proposed eliminating the subvention, he has reportedly promised not to blue pencil the funding as part of $700 million in last-minute cuts.
• The budget cuts $1.3 billion from public transit, partially backfilling the cuts with bond funding. Transit agencies and advocates say the result will be service reductions, fare increases and fewer capital projects.
• The budget approves expenditure of $778 million from last year's housing bond (Proposition 1C), as well as $4.2 billion in transportation bond spending.
This could become a year of creative financing, and not merely for the state government. Lawmakers are considering at least three bills that could change the rules for financing local infrastructure.
While Gov. Jerry Brown's veto of redevelopment-related bills and the earlier failure of parking reform bill Assembly Bill 904 caused some consternation around the state, he did in fact sign a wide array of bills relating to land use at the end of last month.
Over the past year, even the most irate objectors to Gov. Jerry Brown's dismantling of redevelopment held out hope that in agreeing to kill redevelopment, the legislature would invent a new, better system for stoking local economic growth. Last week, the governor dashed those hopes.
For a lot of planners, the idea of an "infill exemption" to the California Environmental Quality Act has been a kind of holy grail over the past few years. CEQA is a fact of life in California and unlikely to go away. But having to run though the entire CEQA process for a project a quarter-acre infill site – just as you might for a project on 5,000 acres of raw land – has been more than a little frustrating for developers and planners alike. Sure, an infill project has an impact. But if getting environmental clearance is a hassle, then what's the point?
Gov. Jerry Brown considered over 600 bills that came to his desk this legislative session. Some of the most contentious involved land use, particularly bills concerning redevelopment and the California Environmental Quality Act. The City of Los Angeles got a CEQA exemption for its proposed football stadium and infill developments have received special dispensation; speculation is that other such exemptions may be on the horizon.
Even with the preoccupation over the state budget--and especially the fate of redevelopment--Sacramento lawmakers have managed to advance a typically broad array of bills related to land use.
Several of those bills focus on redevelopment reform, most notably Sen. Alan Lowenthal's SB 450, which seeks to preserve funds for affordable housing, and Sen. Rod Wright's SB 286, aimed at comprehensive reform -- but not elimination -- of the state's redevelopment system. Both bills have the support of the League of California Cities and the California Redevelopment Association.
Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed state budget will do more than merely plug a $24 billion deficit. According to some, it will also lead to shuttered factories, recidivism among ex-convicts, and the flight of companies and jobs to rival states such as Arizona, Nevada, and Texas. Faltering clothing manufacturer American Apparel could be pushed closer to the brink of bankruptcy.
At least if Brown's proposal to do away with Enterprise Zones is adopted along with the proposed elimination of the redevelopment program.
For all of the Legislature's fretting this year, the consensus in Sacramento is that among the state's overwhelming crises, land use ranked as a low priority this past legislative session. The legislative session that ended Aug. 30 included relatively few land use bills and, of those, they were of relatively minor import.
This month's legislative session, which concludes August 31, includes no game changers like SB 375, but it does include a few bills related to land use and redevelopment that bear watching.
CEQA
Los Angeles Stadium CEQA Exemption
Over 100 organizations have signed on to a statement circulated by the Planning and Conservation League opposing a CEQA exemption for the development of a would-be NFL football stadium in downtown Los Angeles. The concerns have arisen in part because of an exemption granted to Majestic Realty in 2009 for its proposed stadium in the City of Industry and because of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's stated desire to grant exemptions to certain projects in the name of economic development.
California Environmental Quality Act lawsuits may be the next victims of the state's ongoing recession. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation that follows up on Gov. Schwarzenegger's call to exempt 100 projects from judicial challenge based on the environmental law. Citing the ongoing recession, both supporters and opponents of the idea say this just might be the year that lawmakers are willing to take a bold strike at CEQA.
The Natural Resources Agency has altered proposed amendments to the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines. The changes appear to shift the focus of environmental analysis away from a project's effects on automobile traffic and toward impact on the overall transportation system.
