California State Commission Unveils Major CEQA Update Proposal to Expand Housing

Amid a 4.5 million home housing shortage, California’s Little Hoover Commission, a non-partisan, state-funded body, unveiled major changes to the state’s landmark California Environmental Quality Act designed to improve housing construction times and costs. LHC found CEQA is heavily used for “non-environmental goals” and recommended, among other acts, exempting infill housing from CEQA review and requiring greater standing to indefinitely challenge new construction, as currently nearly anyone in the country can.