Jerry Brown has built a reputation as an ardent environmentalist, but his experience as Oakland mayor taught him that too many regulations could stall or even strangle development.
After returning to the governor’s office, he vowed to ease California’s landmark environmental restrictions, saying it would be “the Lord’s work.”
That effort, resisted by environmentalists and powerful labor unions, sputtered out two years ago. Since then, Brown and Democratic lawmakers have instead struck deals giving special consideration to certain projects rather than confront the political difficulties of overhauling the law.
This year is no exception, with several such exemptions forged behind closed doors and built into the budget that lawmakers are scheduled to finalize Friday.
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