Tucked into a sprawling budget plan the California Legislature approved Wednesday night was a last-minute exemption from the state’s landmark environmental law that lawmakers granted to themselves.
In what they said was a cost-saving measure, Democrats rushed a bill to exempt a $1.1-billion renovation of the state Capitol from the California Environmental Quality Act — a move they hope will expedite the project, which has been tied up in litigation amid concerns from environmentalists and preservationists.
At issue is CEQA, a law passed more than 50 years ago that was designed to preserve the state’s natural beauty and mitigate environmental harm. But it has long been lambasted as a tool that can too easily be abused to block construction, and criticism of it has only swelled as the state faces a housing crisis.
Now lawmakers seeking to renovate the wing of the Capitol that contains their offices are running into the same frustrations many developers have had before them — except they have the power to quickly craft a work-around.
Assemblymember James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) called it “problematic” and “hypocritical” for lawmakers to exempt themselves from an environmental law that often prevents developers from building housing that their constituents need in their own districts.
The government is so special...
