Appellate Victory for Developers and Public Agencies -
A developer can recover the cost of preparing a California Environmental Quality Act administrative record, even when the lead agency, not the developer, actually...more
Gov. Brown Expected to Sign Laws that Will Have CEQA Implications -
In the final days of its session, the California Legislature passed two climate change bills that expand existing laws aimed at reducing statewide...more
Comments Sought by Feb. 29 on the Transition from LOS to VMT -
The California Office of Planning and Research has issued proposed revisions to the State CEQA Guidelines implementing Senate Bill 743 (2013). SB 743...more
California Supreme Court Overturns Environmental Impact Report Related to Proposed Residential Development -
In a much-anticipated decision, Center for Biological Diversity v. California Department of Fish and Wildlife,...more
Law Sets Standards Aimed at Addressing Climate Change -
Today, Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB 350 into law, setting two ambitious climate change-related goals: a 50 percent increase in building energy efficiency, and a...more
10/12/2015
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A team of BB&K attorneys, working pro bono, garnered headlines this week for case of first impression.
Best Best & Krieger LLP filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of two cities and 10 water agencies,...more
Court Clarifies the Unusual Circumstances Exception -
In a victory for public agencies and developers, the California Supreme Court issued its heavily anticipated ruling in Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of...more
3/5/2015
Filing Fees for CEQA Notices of Determination Increase Effective Jan. 1 -
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife will increase its filing fees for all CEQA Notices of Determination filed on or after Jan. 1. ...more
There are about two months left in the public comment period on the draft of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation plan released by regulators in December, according to The Desert Sun. As the article explains, the goal of...more
The proposed expansion of a Wal-Mart store into a Wal-Mart Supercenter in the City of Tuolumne, Calif. yielded a California Supreme Court decision that says city councils need not comply with CEQA before adopting a...more
Opinion Clarifies When CEQA Review is Required for Local Land Use Initiatives -
Local governments may adopt voter-sponsored initiatives without conducing environmental review pursuant to the California Environmental...more
Deadline for Comments is 5 p.m. on October 10 -
As mandated by 2013’s Senate Bill 743, the Office of Planning and Research has released its draft update to the State CEQA Guidelines. SB 743 requires OPR to update the...more
Proclamation of Continued State of Emergency Declared as Record Drought Continues -
Gov. Jerry Brown has issued a Proclamation of a Continued State of Emergency in response to California’s record low water conditions...more
Understand the current state-of-the-law for setting baseline conditions for long-term projects under CEQA....more
The revival of animal species that have long been extinct is no longer limited to works of science fiction such as Michael Crichton’s thriller, Jurassic Park. In 2009, a Pyrenean Ibex was cloned from frozen tissue obtained...more
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) recently released a preliminary list of topics and possible changes for inclusion in the 2014 update to the State CEQA Guidelines. The topics being considered can be found...more
Filing Fees for CEQA Notices of Determination Increase Effective January 1, 2014 -
Effective January 1, 2014, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) has increased its filing fees for all CEQA Notices of...more
Government Bodies That Lack Authority to Approve Project Also Lack Authority to Certify Environmental Documents -
Certifying an environmental impact report (EIR) for San Jose’s general plan was not a task properly...more
The Court of Appeal for the Third District issued its ruling Monday in Friends of Oroville v. City of Oroville. Finding an environmental impact report’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) analysis deficient, the court’s ruling...more
In a victory for public agencies, the California Supreme Court today issued its much-anticipated ruling in Neighbors for Smart Rail v. Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority (August 5, 2013). The Court held that, in...more
In Save Panoche Valley v. San Benito County, the Sixth District Court of Appeal upheld the county’s approval of a 420-megawatt photovoltaic solar plant. The court found that the county had substantial evidence to support its...more
Overview: The California Court of Appeal recently held that the state’s open meeting law (the Brown Act) requires that, if a document under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) must be approved by a local...more
After a pause of more than a year, the CPUC has revived its effort to determine whether and how it will conduct environmental review of certain telecommunications projects under the California Environmental Quality Act...more
In a recent case involving the California Environmental Quality Act, a state appellate court upheld a city’s decision to exempt from environmental review a residential development because it was consistent with a broader...more