California

The People vs. CEQA

An initiative that would streamline California's development-killing environmental review law appears to be headed to the ballot.

Christian Britschgi | 5.5.2026 3:25 PM

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Measure To Reform California's Landmark Environmental Law Headed for the Ballot

When people identify reasons why it takes so long to build anything in California, the state's landmark environmental review law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), is typically high on the list. Come November, voters will likely be asked whether they want to significantly streamline the law's requirements.

This past week, the California Chamber of Commerce began submitting signatures to election officials to place a measure overhauling CEQA on the statewide general election ballot.

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The chamber says it has collected nearly a million signatures, which is well in excess of the 546,651 it needs to qualify its initiative for the ballot.

CEQA requires government agencies to study and mitigate the environmental impacts of projects they have the discretion to approve or deny. Members of the public are empowered to sue an agency if they believe it approved a project without doing a thorough enough environmental review.

Simple though those requirements might sound, CEQA has become a vast, unpredictable area of law that can see a long list of projects, from housing to bike lanes to state college admission plans, bogged down in years of study and litigation.

The law has enabled a cynical shakedown racket whereby special interests with no real environmental objections to a project will threaten to delay it with CEQA litigation unless the sponsor provides some sought-after concession.

To reduce the burden of CEQA on building new things, the Chamber's measure would create binding timelines for CEQA reviews and lawsuits for a broadly........

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