CEQA

California

Read the latest on the new PRI book

Adopting policies the ‘California Way’ could skyrocket energy costs

Ask any Californian paying their summer power bills and they’ll tell you a different story. Government data also offers a fact check – Energy Information Administration figures show the average monthly price of electricity was 34.3 cents per kilowatt hour in May (second to Hawaii), compared to 14.7 cents in ...
Blog

Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center

The state’s housing shortages have consequences

Due to a combination of population growth and a slow response by the home-building industry, California had by 2020 fallen an estimated 3.5-million units short of what was needed to bring supply into balance with demand. Since that time, the gap has narrowed by half, with the state logging a net population loss ...
Blog

Read about debate over SB 9 and 10

Misguided fear and loathing over relaxed zoning rules

SB 9 essentially eliminated single-family-only zoning by allowing property owners – on a “by right” basis that avoids subjective local reviews – to subdivide their single-family properties and build additional units on the land provided it meets all the pre-existing local setback and land-use conditions. It would allow up to ...
Blog

Enviro law’s abusers continue to block urban housing

Enviro law’s abusers continue to block urban housing by John Seiler There are many reasons for California’s housing crisis, but a major problem everyone acknowledges, but never comes close to resolving, is the inability to advance reform of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA (pronounced See-Kwa). It thwarts the ...
Agriculture

Hope for WOTUS changes after Supreme Court hearing

Imagine every highway speed limit in the United States changing every few years to a government official’s determination of a “safe” speed. In some ways the interpretation of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule is similar. When the federal administration changes, the interpretation of the WOTUS changes to ...
Blog

CAPITAL IDEAS: The ‘Nuclear Option’ To Get Rid of Cars

There are some things in California that never change. It’s almost always sunny in the southern part of the state, and there’s no reason to expect a cease-fire in the war on cars.
Agriculture

Eric Edwards and Sara Sutherland – How Federal Bureaucracy Hinder Projects to Reduce Wildfire Risk

With California’s fire season in full swing, Eric Edwards and Sara Sutherland, senior research fellows with the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Montana, join us to discuss their new paper detailing how bureaucratic federal environmental reviews – much like the California Environmental Quality Act – add delay and ...
Blog

New Assembly Bill Seeks to Expand Dysfunctional CEQA

Assembly Bill 1001, a bill that expands upon and brings new, highly subjective standards to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), continues to successfully move through the California State Legislature. California enacted CEQA over five decades ago to reform the public decision-making process to incorporate environmental considerations. A leader in ...
CEQA

Let’s End the Suspense

On Thursday, the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees held their “suspense hearings.” For those of you who are not Capitol insiders, every bill that has a fiscal impact greater than $150,000 is sent to the “suspense file”.  Every one of these bills is weighed against one another for their fiscal ...
Blog

To Make California Dream a Reality for All, Remove Homebuilding Roadblocks

California’s median home price set a new record of $849,080 in March, according to the latest figures from the California Association of Realtors.  In 35 of California’s 58 counties, 50 percent or more of the homes sold above the asking price in March.  Given these continued troubling statistics, encouraging desperately ...
California

Read the latest on the new PRI book

Adopting policies the ‘California Way’ could skyrocket energy costs

Ask any Californian paying their summer power bills and they’ll tell you a different story. Government data also offers a fact check – Energy Information Administration figures show the average monthly price of electricity was 34.3 cents per kilowatt hour in May (second to Hawaii), compared to 14.7 cents in ...
Blog

Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center

The state’s housing shortages have consequences

Due to a combination of population growth and a slow response by the home-building industry, California had by 2020 fallen an estimated 3.5-million units short of what was needed to bring supply into balance with demand. Since that time, the gap has narrowed by half, with the state logging a net population loss ...
Blog

Read about debate over SB 9 and 10

Misguided fear and loathing over relaxed zoning rules

SB 9 essentially eliminated single-family-only zoning by allowing property owners – on a “by right” basis that avoids subjective local reviews – to subdivide their single-family properties and build additional units on the land provided it meets all the pre-existing local setback and land-use conditions. It would allow up to ...
Blog

Enviro law’s abusers continue to block urban housing

Enviro law’s abusers continue to block urban housing by John Seiler There are many reasons for California’s housing crisis, but a major problem everyone acknowledges, but never comes close to resolving, is the inability to advance reform of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA (pronounced See-Kwa). It thwarts the ...
Agriculture

Hope for WOTUS changes after Supreme Court hearing

Imagine every highway speed limit in the United States changing every few years to a government official’s determination of a “safe” speed. In some ways the interpretation of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule is similar. When the federal administration changes, the interpretation of the WOTUS changes to ...
Blog

CAPITAL IDEAS: The ‘Nuclear Option’ To Get Rid of Cars

There are some things in California that never change. It’s almost always sunny in the southern part of the state, and there’s no reason to expect a cease-fire in the war on cars.
Agriculture

Eric Edwards and Sara Sutherland – How Federal Bureaucracy Hinder Projects to Reduce Wildfire Risk

With California’s fire season in full swing, Eric Edwards and Sara Sutherland, senior research fellows with the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Montana, join us to discuss their new paper detailing how bureaucratic federal environmental reviews – much like the California Environmental Quality Act – add delay and ...
Blog

New Assembly Bill Seeks to Expand Dysfunctional CEQA

Assembly Bill 1001, a bill that expands upon and brings new, highly subjective standards to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), continues to successfully move through the California State Legislature. California enacted CEQA over five decades ago to reform the public decision-making process to incorporate environmental considerations. A leader in ...
CEQA

Let’s End the Suspense

On Thursday, the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees held their “suspense hearings.” For those of you who are not Capitol insiders, every bill that has a fiscal impact greater than $150,000 is sent to the “suspense file”.  Every one of these bills is weighed against one another for their fiscal ...
Blog

To Make California Dream a Reality for All, Remove Homebuilding Roadblocks

California’s median home price set a new record of $849,080 in March, according to the latest figures from the California Association of Realtors.  In 35 of California’s 58 counties, 50 percent or more of the homes sold above the asking price in March.  Given these continued troubling statistics, encouraging desperately ...
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