Walters: New California law to make housing projects easier can also make them cost more

"Two months ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators from both parties celebrated enacting landmark legislation to remove the California Environmental Quality Act as an impediment to new housing construction. Lopsided votes in the Legislature for Assembly Bill 130 and Newsom's immediate signature seemingly ended decades of debate over how the environmental law, signed by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan more than 50 years ago, was being used to delay or kill residential developments."

"Saying no' to housing in my community will no longer be state sanctioned, said Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat who has long advocated for CEQA reform. This isn't going to solve all of our housing problems in the state, but it is going to remove the single biggest impediment to building environmentally friendly housing. Newsom took obvious pleasure in achieving what had eluded other governors, including predecessor Jerry Brown, who once described overhauling CEQA as the lord's work."

"While AB130 does remove CEQA as a weapon for labor unions and opponents of high-density projects to stall construction, there's a provision buried in the lengthy bill that could create a new impediment. Two sections, 137 pages in, declare that if a residential project has significant transportation impact, local governments or regional agencies can impose fees to mitigate the transportation impact to a less than significant level by helping to fund or otherwise facilitating vehicle miles traveled-efficient affordable housing or related infrastructure projects."

Gov. Gavin Newsom and bipartisan legislators enacted Assembly Bill 130 to prevent the California Environmental Quality Act from blocking new housing construction. The law passed with lopsided legislative votes and was immediately signed to end decades of CEQA use to delay residential developments. AB130 removes CEQA as a tool for opponents of high-density projects, but includes provisions allowing local or regional agencies to impose vehicle miles traveled (VMT) mitigation fees when residential projects cause significant transportation impacts. Those VMT fees can fund vehicle-miles-efficient affordable housing or related infrastructure. Critics warn VMT fees may function as a new housing tax and create fresh barriers to development.

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