Proposition 26

The California Supreme Court’s Most Important Environmental Law Decisions of 2017

CEQA, Climate Change, Cannabis & Regulatory Takings Top the Justices’ Environmental Docket

As 2017 comes to a close, let’s take a moment to assess the California Supreme Court’s most significant environmental law decisions of the year. There are a large number of decided cases to choose from: as has been true over the past decade, in 2017 the California Supreme Court devoted a substantial portion of its …

CONTINUE READING

Cap and Trade’s Future in California, Redux

Litigation, AB 197 and Politics May All Have an Influence

Two days ago, I posed a series of questions about what AB 197 might mean for the future of cap and trade in California but never really answered the question of whether we’re likely to see a continuation of the program going forward post-2020.  Eric posted his view this afternoon that he is relatively pessimistic …

CONTINUE READING

California Supreme Court Continues to Expand Its Environmental Docket

Justices Considering Unprecedented Number & Variety of Environmental Law Issues

At the beginning of 2015, I posted on this site an analysis of the California Supreme Court’s environmental law docket.  My conclusion was that California’s highest court was showing unprecedented interest in environmental law–as demonstrated by the fact that it then had pending nine cases arising under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and 20 …

CONTINUE READING

Initiative Watch: The Polluter Accountability Act

California’s Legislature did manage last year to stanch some of the state’s initiative craziness when it passed a law mandating that all initiative appear on the general election ballot, not the primary ballot.  Now, our ballot “pamphlets” won’t resemble a phone book every election.  (The fact that general elections get higher turnout, and thus tend to …

CONTINUE READING

Paper or plastic, tax or not? Prop 26 challenge to LA County’s plastic bag ban

Wonder how broadly California’s Proposition 26 will be held to sweep?  A case filed this week is likely to be an early indicator. Many municipalities have recently placed limits on plastic bags.  Last year, LA County went further, banning certain stores from giving out single-use plastic bags or non-recyclable paper bags at checkout, and requiring …

CONTINUE READING

Video and print materials online from our conference Local Agencies on the Cutting Edge: Emerging Challenges to Local Land Use Authority

On February 11, UCLA Law hosted a symposium, Local Agencies on the Cutting Edge: Emerging Challenges to Local Land Use Authority.  This daylong conference addressed important new developments in local land-use law. We now have a webpage devoted to the symposium, including  links to video recordings of all the day’s sessions, as well as written materials …

CONTINUE READING

California Environmental Blueprint: Protect and Restore Funding

This post is part of an ongoing series on our Environmental Blueprint for California, released by UCLA Law last week.  I’ll talk about the first–and, in many ways, most fundamental–recommendation in our paper: that Governor Brown do what he can to protect and restore stable, robust funding for our State’s core environmental initiatives. My coauthors and …

CONTINUE READING

UCLA Law will host local government land use symposium on February 11

UCLA Law’s Evan Frankel Environmental Law and Policy Program is hosting a symposium about local government land use law on February 11, 2011.  This event, Local Agencies on the Cutting Edge – Emerging Challenges to Local Land Use Authority: Proposition 26, the Public Trust Doctrine, RLUIPA, and Takings Law, will focus on issues of practical …

CONTINUE READING

Does Proposition 26 Undermine California’s Climate Change Law?

No.  Not at all.  Legally, we are still all systems go for AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act. First, take a look at the careful analysis that Cara, Sean, and Rhead produced a couple of weeks ago.  It notes one extremely important fact about Proposition 26: its retroactive provisions only go back to January 2010, and AB 32 was …

CONTINUE READING

Election review: what message did voters send about the environment, and how will politicians react?

It’s natural, in reflecting on the recent election, to ask whether and to what extent the results reflect public values about protection of the environment.  (Well, at least for me, since I spend my time thinking about these things.)  My answer: not much.  But the election’s impacts on environmental issues will still be significant. While …

CONTINUE READING

TRENDING