California to reduce obstacles for housing and climate projects
The Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform held its first hearing on June 18, 2024, commencing its efforts to address California’s housing and climate crises by reforming the state’s land use permitting regime. … At the first hearing, panelists from academia, government, and industry shared their perspectives on California’s permitting process … The panelists offered recommendations to address state and local permitting obstacles. Panelists also identified issues with current California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements. … Marissa Mitchell, head of environmental permitting for Intersect Power, commented that CEQA counterintuitively requires solar developers to mitigate impacts to farmland that is subject to water restrictions imposed through the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and already slated to be fallowed.