California state budget to go into effect as lawmakers approve key CEQA reform bill
California lawmakers passed a massive state budget vote with just hours to spare before the July 1 deadline and the start of the new fiscal year.
The state Assembly and 365bet官方网站 passed a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) reform bill that included a poison pill. Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders agreed that if the bill had failed, the entire state budget would have been inoperable.
Monday evening, Newsom and other lawmakers spoke at a press conference with other lawmakers where the governor would be signing the bill into law.
"We recognize in California the abuses of the CEQA process... We've seen this abuse over and over again. We've fallen prey to litigation as a strategy, to delay as a strategy. And as a consequence of all of that, we have too much demand chasing too little supply," Newsom said.
The bill calls for streamlining CEQA by exempting it from urban infill projects to build millions more homes across the state. Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San Jose) was one of the lawmakers in support of it.
"It reflects how seriously we are taking the budget crisis, that we're willing to do the entire budget deal on the back of streamlining housing," Lee told CBS Sacramento ahead of the vote.
Newsom positioned the issue of affordable housing as having the single greatest impact on Californians statewide.
"So many of the challenges that ail us can be connected back to this issue," Newsom said. " Unless we address this issue head-on, we'll continue to be vexed by so many of these challenges as it relates to the middle class and working folks."
State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas called the fight to create more affordable housing "the civil rights struggle of our time here in California."
"Today, we take a transformative step forward in that fight," Rivas said.
Opponents called the bill a heavy-handed approach, with Newsom and legislative leaders tying the entire budget to a single issue.
"It's wrong on so many different levels," state Senator Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks) said. "The point is that the governor is telling the legislators what to do, and I believe that is a violation of powers."
In response to a question about hinging the state budget on a key vote like this, Newsom said, "I hope not to have to do this again."
"I'm not trying to create any precedent here," Newsom said. "I just think we have an unprecedented crisis of affordability in this state."
