Nancy Skinner

Meaningful Parking Reform Dead in California (For Now)

AB 710, the eminently sensible parking reform bill, died a sad death in the State Senate during the last-minute frenzy on bills last week.  The bill would have prevented local governments from maintaining excessively high parking minimums for development projects located near transit stops, unless they can document a need for high parking requirements.  Of …

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Housing Advocates Against Affordable Housing?

As Ethan reported yesterday, AB 710, the innovative parking reform bill sponsored by the California Infill Builders Association, may not be dead, but it’s not in great shape, either.  Ethan blames the local government lobby for this, and that makes sense.  But there are some strange bedfellows here. Take a look at the list of …

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California Works to Promote Energy Efficiency Retrofits

California has much to brag about when it comes to energy efficiency. Per capita, the state’s residents use far less energy than our national counterparts while enjoying an equal or better standard of living, thanks to energy efficiency standards developed in the 1970s: But the state is committed to doing better. Last week, I was …

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Energy storage is key to the success of renewables in California

UPDATE: The bill summary linked below from the California Energy Storage Alliance actually summarizes a former version of the bill.  The current bill version, linked below and here, is the best source now.  The current version imposes no percentage mandate on utilities.  Thanks to Ethan Elkind for pointing that out. UCLA Law and Berkeley Law recently …

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