"People Are Not Pollution" - Governor Newsom Signs AB 1307 Into Law
September 8, 2023
“PEOPLE ARE NOT POLLUTION” – GOVERNOR NEWSOM SIGNS 1307 INTO LAW
The law, AB 1307, reverses the recent precedent that treats people as pollution under California’s environmental laws, allowing critical affordable housing projects to proceed
SACRAMENTO – Yesterday evening, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1307 into law, which amends the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to clarify that projects do not need to study the noise generated from prospective future residents. The new law effectively allows UC Berkeley to proceed with its $312 million plan to construct housing for students and homeless people at Berkeley’s People’s Park. However, the State Supreme Court must still adjudicate a pending case in order for construction to resume.
“This is a victory for affordable housing and that means it’s a victory in our ongoing efforts to tackle homelessness,” said Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin. “These laws were designed to protect the environment, but they’re most often used to stop dense, infill projects which add affordable housing while reducing sprawl and pollution. These are the types of projects which, at scale, help fight the housing crisis which has been a leading cause of homelessness.”
Introduced by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, AB 1307 amends the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by clarifying that the effects of noise generated by the occupants of a development is not a significant effect on the environment among other changes which will enable construction at the People’s Park site to move forward. The bill was given final approval by the State Assembly on August 28th and took immediate effect after being signed by the Governor.
UC Berkeley provides housing for only 23% of its students, the lowest rate in the University of California system. The new 148-unit below-market apartments will house 1,111 students with a separate building containing 125 beds, at least half of them for homeless people who now sleep in the park. More than half the 2.8 acres would remain open space, with a new grove of trees.
This project was put on hold due to litigation, Make UC a Good Neighbor v. UC Regents. The lawsuit is currently pending at the State Supreme Court after an appeals court halted construction at the site due in part to “potential noise impacts from loud student parties”. AB 1307 repeals the “people as pollution” precedent.
While CEQA was a groundbreaking law developed to protect the environment at the time of its passage in 1970, in recent decades the process has been used to block projects for non-environmental reasons. A study conducted in 2015 found that the most frequent types of projects that are the target of CEQA lawsuits are ones that aim to advance California’s environmental policies, such as green transit, multi-family housing, and renewable energy. A majority of such lawsuits are filed by individuals and local groups with no record of environmental advocacy and are done in a way to block new development. This has helped fuel the current housing crisis, which is also a primary cause of homelessness.