"Four hundred miles away in Sacramento, state lawmakers quietly tucked language into an obscure budget bill requiring an environmental impact study of the proposed development - which housing advocates allege was an attempt to block the project. The legislation, Senate Bill 158, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, didn't mention the Santa Barbara project by name. But the provision was so detailed and specific it couldn't apply to any other development in the state."
"The saga highlights the governor's and state Legislature's growing influence in local housing decisions, and the battle between cities and Sacramento to address California's critical housing shortage. In the face of California's high cost of housing and rent, state leaders are increasingly passing new housing mandates that require cities and counties to accelerate the construction of new housing and ease the barriers impeding developers."
Santa Barbara residents opposed an eight-story, 250-unit apartment project near the Old Mission. State lawmakers inserted a provision into a budget bill—Senate Bill 158—requiring an environmental impact study that was narrowly tailored to the proposed development. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law despite the provision not naming the project. The developer sued the state over the measure. A Santa Barbara lawmaker who became state Senate president faces scrutiny for her role. The episode demonstrates increased state intervention in local housing decisions and tension between statewide housing mandates and local control.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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