Tags: CEQA, Implement Smart Land Use, Press Statement
Posted in News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: KATHY FAIRBANKS
916.443.0872
kfairbanks@bcfpublicaffairs.com
August 23, 2012
Coalition Representing Business, Labor, Clean Tech, Schools, Hospitals, Local Government and Others Respond to News Today that CEQA Reform Will Be Extended Beyond this Year
Sacramento — The CEQA working group is a broad coalition that has come together to pursue thoughtful reforms to modernize CEQA in order to preserve the original intent of the law – environmental protection – while stamping out lawsuit abuses that are being used to derail or delay needed job creation and community renewal projects. Below is a statement from co-chairs of the coalition in response to today’s news that CEQA reform discussions will continue beyond this legislative session:
Carl Guardino, President & CEO, Silicon Valley Leadership Group:
“We remain committed to pursuing reforms to modernize CEQA. We have proposed very detailed and thoughtful policy that we believe strikes a good balance that will preserve CEQA as a vital tool to protect the environment while stamping out abuses. The activities of the past few weeks demonstrate how important this issue is and how many of our state’s leaders are interested and committed to reforming this law. We believe we’ve made meaningful progress with today’s pledge by Senate President Pro Tem Steinberg and Senator Rubio to work together, and with our Coalition, for both a process and a product for substantive CEQA modernization. We look forward to continued discussions in the coming weeks and months.”
Jim Earp, Executive Director, California Alliance for Jobs:
“We are thankful to Senator Rubio, Assembly Speaker Perez, Senator Steinberg, Senate Republican Leader Huff and Assembly Republican Leader Conway, and the dozens of Republican and Democratic lawmakers who have agreed that CEQA reform is needed and a priority for both our environment and our economy. We also want to thank the dozens of organizations representing business, labor, schools, hospitals, clean tech, local government and others that have supported our reforms and that are committed to a longer-term discussion about modernizing CEQA. We’ve always said that our coalition is committed to pursuing our effort as long as needed. While we were pleased to offer our policy suggestions if legislators were going to take action this year, we are prepared to continue our efforts over the long-term.”
