SACRAMENTO, California — A drawn-out fight over environmental protections for new semiconductor factories is getting drawn out a little longer, with a bill to amend California’s keystone environmental protection law stalling Monday.
What happened: A legislative proposal to restore some of the environmental protections stripped away in last year’s overhaul of the California Environmental Quality Act will not move forward by a procedural deadline this month, the office of the author, Assemblymember Damon Connolly, confirmed to POLITICO on Monday.
Why this matters: The dust-up underscores the political momentum of business groups seeking to weaken the environmental law to promote more building and lower costs. Reversing some of the CEQA rollbacks from last year is a priority for some environmental groups, but the California Chamber of Commerce is pursuing a ballot initiative that would overhaul CEQA even further to streamline permitting.
More details: Connolly had introduced AB 1083 in the waning days of last year’s legislative session to assuage environmental groups feeling the sting from the passage of SB 131, which included broad exemptions from environmental review for new buildings from housing to semiconductor manufacturing facilities. But after “numerous conversations” with lawmakers, industry and environmental groups, “it became clear that we needed more time to continue conversations,” Connolly said in a statement to POLITICO.
