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Sacramento- California’s four-decade-old enviormental protection law has been credited with saving habitat, reducing air polution and giving residents a voice against deep-pocketed developers.

SACRAMENTO — Labor and environmental groups rallied Tuesday on the steps of the Capitol to protest efforts to overhaul California’s landmark environmental law.

In one of his ongoing crusades, Gov. Jerry Brown last week referred to the 1972 California Environmental Quality Act as a “land mine” that often blocks needed development, and called once more for “some reasonable changes in the law.”

At the urging of Gov. Jerry Brown and major business groups, some of the most influential legislators in Sacramento are trying to fix the California Environmental Quality Act. Lots of luck with that.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel recently joined a growing chorus of newspapers throughout California that believe it’s time to modernize the California Environmental Quality Act. Fortunately, our elected leaders in Sacramento also seem to be responding to the call.

What some see as California’s most important environmental law, others see as an economic impediment. The 43-year-old California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, guides almost every development project in the state.

SACRAMENTO – Although many of California’s legislative Democrats are eager to “test drive” the new two-thirds majorities their caucuses hold in the Assembly and Senate – i.e., pushing the limits of their power to advance their progressive agenda – others are focusing on a sensible reform that almost everyone knows is slowing job growth.

The battle lines are being drawn in the upcoming legislative fight over California’s environmental review laws.

Three of California’s former governors have banded together to urge an overhaul of the state’s landmark environmental law, saying the 40-year-old measure needs to be “modernized” to help speed the Golden State’s economic recovery.

During his State of the State address, Gov. Jerry Brown laid out his vision of investing in public infrastructure, reinvesting in public schools and universities, assuring a safe and reliable water supply, and shifting toward cleaner energy. To accomplish these goals, the governor called on state leaders to engage in a number of necessary actions including meaningful regulatory reform, with particular focus on modernizing the 40-year-old California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown spoke only two sentences about streamlining environmental regulations in his State of the State address. But they inspired reformers to cheer.

Most people would agree that if a school, hospital or road project has been subjected to extensive environmental review and met all federal, state and local environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Air Act, the project should go forward without being sued for purported environmental reasons. Unfortunately, today, these projects are being delayed and face increased costs – many times to taxpayers – or killed altogether because of abusive litigation that has nothing to do with the environment.

California’s core environmental protection law, a 43-year-old statute frequently denounced by developers and business interests as a tangle of red tape, is on a Capitol hit list once again.

Battle-scarred and bullet-hole-riddled over the 42 years since Gov. Ronald Reagan signed it into law, the California Environmental Quality Act likely will receive its first major overhaul in the legislative session that began Jan. 7.

When it was first signed into law by Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1970, the California Environmental Quality Act represented a groundbreaking statement by Californians that our environment was important and deserved protection.