Land Use
What The 2018 Election Results Mean For California Climate Policy
Big wins for state initiatives and pro-climate candidates, plus opportunities for high speed rail and cap and trade
Some big wins for California (and therefore national) climate policy last night: Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom is elected governor, which means the state will continue its climate leadership on various policy fronts Prop. 6 loses, which would have repealed the gas tax increase and meant less funding for transit going forward Prop. 1 wins, which …
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CONTINUE READINGTear Up the Dodger Stadium Parking Lot
It’s not just the Dodgers’ bullpen that needs revision
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ second consecutive World Series flameout has management considering a number of important off-season questions. What is Clayton Kershaw’s future at the club? Will Manny Machado, who reportedly left the stadium after Game 4 wearing a “Villains” backwards cap, get the boot? Here at the Emmett Institute, we have been pondering another …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Proposition 6: Bad Policy & Nefarious Politics
Proposed Repeal of California’s Landmark “Gas Tax” Legislation Would Be Disastrous for State
Politicians don’t like to focus on infrastructure maintenance. It’s not sexy, doesn’t command media headlines, and captures little public attention. But maintaining a functioning, safe public infrastructure system is vital to ensuring a strong economy, protecting public safety and promoting long-term environmental goals. That’s why Proposition 6, a measure on California’s November 6th general election …
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CONTINUE READINGA Global Standard for a Global Problem
Emmett Institute Submits Comment in Support of CARB’s Proposed Tropical Forest Standard
The Emmett Institute submitted a comment to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) yesterday in support of its proposed Tropical Forest Standard (“Standard”). If approved, this Standard would provide CARB a set of criteria to follow when determining whether to trade tropical forest offsets between California’s Cap and Trade Program and a foreign emissions trading …
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CONTINUE READINGVMT Mitigation Webinar – Tuesday October 30, 10-11am
Berkeley Law’s free event will feature the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research
Under Senate Bill 743 (Steinberg, 2013), California law now requires developers of new projects, like apartment buildings, offices, and roads, to analyze and mitigate the amount of additional driving miles the projects generate. To facilitate compliance with SB 743, some local and regional leaders are considering creating “banks” or “exchanges” to allow developers to fund …
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CONTINUE READINGLand Use Planning, Transit, and the Dodgers: The Legal Planet World Series Special
Stop the Myths About Evil Walter O’Malley
Since the World Series starts in a few hours, I fully expect the standard kvetchers to come out of the woodwork and complain about Los Angeles stealing the Dodgers from Brooklyn, etc. Peter Golenbock, in Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers, compares O’Malley to Hitler and Stalin. Nonsense. It is time to set …
CONTINUE READINGCEQA and Local Land Use Regulations: Shakedown Street
Local Government Discretion Has Powerful Political Support
Eric’s post the other day about CEQA and local land use regulation states an important and often-overlooked truth: environmental review can only hold up a project if it is discretionary. If local land use regulations state clearly what a developer can and cannot do, then no amount of environmental review could change a decision, and …
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CONTINUE READINGCEQA and Local Land-Use Regulations
California gubernatorial candidates debate the role of CEQA and local land-use regulations in the state’s housing crisis
The first (and probably only) debate in the California governor’s race happened earlier this week between Democratic nominee Gavin Newsom and Republican nominee John Cox. Appropriately enough both candidates were asked how they were going to address the state’s housing crisis. Newsom’s response was an ambitious target of 500,000 new homes/year through 2025 (far higher …
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CONTINUE READINGWildfires: Managing the Risks
How can we limit the spread of wildfires and save people and property?
Wildfires are already a serious problem, and climate change will only make the problem worse, as I’ve discussed in my two prior posts. Reducing carbon emissions can help keep the problem from growing, but we need to deal with the risks we’re already facing. That is going to require a portfolio of risk management strategies. We …
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CONTINUE READINGIf You Can Buy a Coast, You Can Buy a Newspaper
Supreme Court’s California Coast Decision Will Be Back, No Matter What the Papers Say
High-fives, or at least, sighs of relief, from environmentalists this week, as the Supremes denied cert in Surfrider Foundation v. Martin’s Beach, a case where Sun Microsystems founder and multibillionaire Vinod Khosla challenged aspects of California’s Coastal Act. Article after article after editorial is celebrating this as a great victory for the environment and the …
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