Gov. Gavin Newsom signed off on the state’s $311 billion budget Monday along with a package of what he called California’s most ambitious environmental review reforms in half a century to speed approval of clean energy projects.
The infrastructure legislation builds on Newsom’s earlier efforts to reform the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, the state’s signature environmental protection law often criticized as overly burdensome. But critics have argued CEQA has invited abuse and project-killing delays, even for environmentally friendly projects like clean energy generators and bicycle lanes. Newsom has said such bureaucratic quicksand put California at risk of losing billions of dollars in new federal infrastructure funding.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more: