ASSAULT ON THE ENVIRONMENT BY DEVELOPERS

 

Please help us oppose CEQA-weakening bills SB 25 and SB 621

Thanks again to everyone who signed their names onto our last pro-CEQA letter. Since we last reached out, we have been tracking updates on the legislative front concerning two new CEQA bills: SB 25 and SB 621. 

Active Legislation

As you may have heard, some major CEQA legislation this session has been delayed, including SB 50, by being put on a two-year schedule. But SB 25 and SB 621 are still in the works this year, with worrying implications for communities across California.

SB 25 would:

• Apply to a wide scope of projects financed in whole or in part by opportunity zone funds or other public funds. These projects include large industrial, commercial, and luxury resort developments.
• Allow lead agencies to ignore comments submitted after agency deadlines and exclude them from the record.
• Create a deadline of only 10 days for petitioners to notify agencies of their intent to sue or challenge a project.
• Place a deadline of only 270 days for courts to resolve CEQA lawsuits, prioritizing CEQA over other civil and criminal cases. 

SB 621 would:

• Like SB 25, require CEQA cases to be resolved by the courts within 270 days.
• Lower requirements for producing affordable housing, with only 30% of units in exempted developments being required to be affordable.

Neither bill would significantly increase the production of the affordable housing California desperately needs and would, instead, pose a significant challenge to the civil rights and environmental health of Californians everywhere.

Please Sign on to the Letters Opposing SB 25 and SB 621!

You can view the letter to oppose SB 25 here and the letter to oppose SB 621 here. If you are able to add your organization’s logo to one or both of these letters please send a digital logo, name, title, AND electronic signature to Tiffany Eng, tiffany@caleja.org. It would be best to send by 3p Monday, June 17^th, but later submissions will be accepted. 

Upcoming Hearings

We strongly encourage attendance at the June 25^th hearing of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee at 9:30 a.m. in Room 112 of the State Senate. Please sign up to speak in opposition to SB 25 and SB 621 during public comment.

Contact these Representatives

Please write or call these key representatives and tell them to vote against SB 25 and SB 621.

Assembly

• Assemblymember Susan Eggman, District 13, Democrat Capitol Office: (916) 319-2013
• Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, District 7, Democrat Capitol Office: (916) 319-2007
• Assemblymember Ed Chau, District 49, Democrat Capitol Office: (916) 319-2049

Senate 

• Sen Sen. Ben Allen, Los Angeles County, Democrat Capitol Office: (916) 651-4026

• Sen. Jerry Hill, San Mateo County, Democrat Capitol Office: (916) 651-4013
• Sen. Nancy Skinner, Berkeley, Democrat Capitol Office: (916) 651-4009
• Sen. Henry Stern, Los Angeles, Democrat Capitol Office: (916) 651-4027
• Sen. Bob Wieckowski, East Bay, Democrat District Office: (510) 794-3900

Please send a letter to the editor

Please send a letter to the editor to one of the papers listed below. People need to know that CEQA is a tool to protect California’s most disadvantaged communities, and to guide safe and healthy development. We should also make it clear that CEQA should not be weakened to increase developer profits:

·         Los Angeles Times: 150 words, send toletters@latimes.com with full name, address, city of residence, daytime phone number, email address

·         Sacramento Bee: 150 words, submit online athttp://www.sacbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/submit-letter/ , include full name, address, daytime phone number

·         Stockton Record: 250 words, send toeditor@recordnet.com with full name, address, daytime phone number

As always, thank you for your efforts to help keep CEQA strong!

Regards,

Severn Williams 
Principal, Public Good PR
Tel: (510) 336-9566 
Cell: (415) 336-9623 
sev@publicgoodpr.com
www.publicgoodpr.com