My Word | In defense of CEQA’s Swiss cheese

By TOM WHEELER

June 26, 2025

The Times Standard ran this column from Tom Wheeler

Talking of “permitting reform” is all the rage these days. Once a subject reserved for Chamber of Commerce Republicans, the topic has now become a topic of debate amongst Democrats. Previously reform of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA or “see-kwah,” if you are in-the-know) were modest and generally focused on exempting particular classes of activities from the law’s strictures—one does not need to do environmental analysis for wildlife habitat restoration or building homes in already existing urbanized areas, for example, because these kind of activities rarely have significant environmental impacts. But this, critics charge, has made “swiss cheese” of the law, carving small holes for certain kinds of projects while ignoring larger structural reforms. Enter Senator Scott Weiner.

This legislative session, Sen. Weiner introduced Senate Bill 607, the “Fast and Focused CEQA Act.” Instead of creating new carve outs for the law, SB 607 proposes a more sweeping revision: weakening the legal standard under which a concerned community member can demand additional environmental analysis under CEQA for nearly all projects. (Somewhat amusingly, as originally conceived by the Senator’s office, distribution centers and oil and gas developments would not enjoy the same weaker standards. So much for no more swiss cheese.) The Governor has taken up the mantle of CEQA reform and has declared his intent to incorporate provisions of SB 607 into his budget. What this means is unclear and is part of hush-hush negotiations between the Governor’s Office, Senator Weiner, Speaker Rivas, and Senate Pro Tempore Mike McGuire.

I am an odd duck. I am both an environmental lawyer and have used CEQA to push for better projects for our community. I am also a local housing advocate and have seen how rich NIMBYs have weaponized the law against affordable housing. I have seen both sides: the necessity of the law and its abuse. Importantly, I agree that CEQA can and should be reformed. But I depart from Senator Weiner and Governor Newsom. I DO like swiss cheese.

CEQA is a necessary defense, a counterweight against the effects of money in politics, ensuring that developers don’t get a free pass and that the public has the ability to understand and weigh in on issues impacting their community. Overwhelmingly, CEQA works as intended: providing decisionmakers with more information to help inform their decisions and providing an outlet for the public and impacted communities to weigh in.

For a small subset of projects, the law gets invoked in an effort to stall or stop the development. For certain developments, this is welcome. For other kinds of projects, this is lamentable. Some kinds of projects are beneficial to the environment. We need more housing in our existing communities to combat the housing crisis and co-locating housing near jobs and services is likely to reduce the amount of driving (and greenhouse gases) required. We need renewable energy, battery energy storage systems and public transit to decarbonize our economy. Senator Wiener recognizes the differences between these kinds of projects in his messaging around CEQA. So why not in the law itself?

Governor Newsom and Senator Weiner have already laid their cards on the table: they want to utterly transform California’s most important environmental law. Senator McGuire holds his tight to his chest. Closed-door negotiations are currently ongoing, and a draft budget bill is expected soon, which may incorporate provisions of SB 607. To my state senator I say: Protect the California Environmental Quality Act.

Tom Wheeler is the executive director of the Arcata-based Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC).