CEQA reform: How Bay Area Democrats changed landmark environmental law

This summer, a pair of Bay Area lawmakers did what their predecessors have tried and failed to do for over a decade: pass major reform to the state’s landmark environmental law, which has long been assailed for blocking much-needed housing and infrastructure projects.

That law — the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA — has been staunchly defended by labor and environmental groups, which have used it as a cudgel to extract higher wages and community benefits from developers.

Both interest groups hold enormous influence over the state’s Democratic majority and they have worked together to quash proposals that would relax the law. Both view CEQA as a tool that forces developers to consider broader impacts beyond profits — whether on workers’ wages or environmental health.