10/09/2024

Editorial/Opinion: Fix The California Environmental Quality Act Now

As mayors of two of California’s largest cities, we’ve joined with other large city mayors including San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, and Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, to call for a modernization of one of California’s oldest and most important environmental laws, the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.

As mayors, we are responsible for ensuring the economic vitality of our communities, while also preserving our natural treasures. We believe sensible changes to CEQA can preserve the law’s original intent — environmental protection and full public disclosure and participation — while stamping out abuses to CEQA which aim to slow or stop worthy projects from proceeding.

For more than 40 years, CEQA has served as an important tool to ensure local governments have the information and tools needed to evaluate proposed developments, to protect our local communities, and to allow for citizen involvement in local land-use decisions. CEQA also ensures that the environmental impacts of new projects are mitigated.

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