‘The law that swallowed California’: Why the much-derided CEQA is so hard to change
LOS ANGELES — The landmark 1970 law for preserving California’s beauty has a long history of backfiring.
Although the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, has made it harder to drain wetlands, pave nature preserves and build oil refineries, it has also stymied the construction of bike lanes, affordable housing and public transportation.
When CEQA recently threatened thousands of young Californians’ admissions to the state’s flagship public university, legislators had enough. They introduced a bill to let the students enroll, passed it unanimously, and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it all within four days.
“Admit those students now UC Berkeley,” Democratic state Sen. Sydney Kamlager tweeted after the vote. “Students are not pollutants!”
Yet despite the outrage surrounding the Berkeley incident and regular, high-profile examples of the law blocking
