Newsom-Expedited Reservoir Project Passes Major Legal Hurdle Under New Authority

One hundred forty-eight days after California Governor Gavin Newsom used new executive authority to expedite infrastructure projects, a court cleared a major hurdle to construction of California’s first major reservoir in decades. In 2023, California passed State Bill 149, which granted the governor the authority to require courts to rule on projects’ environmental impact reports within 270 days. Under the California Environmental Quality Act, EIR cases can be used to hold up projects nearly indefinitely if courts continue to find issues with a project’s EIR.