Braeden Mansouri

On October 10, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 79 (“SB 79”), on what was bill author Senator Scott Wiener’s third attempt at passing such legislation. The Legislature intended to both accommodate additional residential density near transit corridors, and increase ridership on transit routes, which have struggled to recover from pandemic disruptions.

On June 30, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two budget trailer bills, which prove to be the most consequential reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) in the law’s 55-year history. Governor Newsom last week forced the Legislature to finally approve CEQA reform legislation by conditioning the 2025-26 State Budget on the Legislature’s subsequent approval of Senate Bill 131 (Wiener) and Assembly Bill 130 (Wicks).

As the two-month anniversary of the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties approaches, on March 1, 2025, Governor Newsom issued a Proclamation of a State of Emergency to expedite fire-prevention projects. This order follows Executive Order N-4-25 to expedite housing projects by suspending the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) and the California Coastal Act to rebuild areas devastated by the wildfires in January.