California lawmakers have been passing an impressive number of laws in recent years that attempt to streamline the California Environmental Quality Act process for approving new housing developments. That’s an admirable development given that CEQA is a prime culprit for the state’s housing-affordability crisis. The 1970 law not only adds costs to most projects, but allows any “stakeholder” to file a lawsuit to slow projects or gain costly concessions.

Gov. Gavin Newsom went further this year than before, as he even held up the budget until he secured the passage of laws that expand CEQA exemptions. Nevertheless, the state steadfastly refuses to simply reform the law for all projects. Its piecemeal approach of granting exemptions for this specific type of project or that one hasn’t spa

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