Berkeley Bill Signed

Capitol Alert of Sacramento Bee

Gavin Newsom signs California law to override court decision capping UC Berkeley enrollment

Andrew Sheeler, 3-14-22 

The California Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom moved with lightning speed on Monday to pass a bill that would prevent UC Berkeley from having to cut its student enrollment by several thousand. Both the California State Assembly and the State Senate voted unanimously on a bill that would override a California Supreme Court decision upholding a lower court ruling that capped UC Berkeley enrollment at fall 2021 levels. The university said that it would have to cut enrollment by more than 2,600 students if the court decision was allowed to stand. Senate Bill 118 changes the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, so that student enrollment, or changes in enrollment, by itself does not constitute a project subject to that law. It also applies retroactively, meaning it applies to the UC Berkeley case. 

Newsom signed the bill into law Monday evening, just hours after its passage. “I’m grateful to the Legislature for moving quickly on this critical issue — it sends a clear signal that California won’t let lawsuits get in the way of the education and dreams of thousands of students, our future leaders and innovators,” Newsom said in a statement. 

Surgical approach

It was a rare show of unanimous support in the Legislature, though lawmakers did disagree on how far they should go in reforming CEQA. Some, like Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, called the bill “a very surgical approach,” while Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, said “Universities remain covered by CEQA and they should be.” Others, like Assemblyman Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, and Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Red Bluff, said that this latest exception to CEQA illustrated the need to reform or replace the 52-year-old law. Fong said that the last-minute bill “highlights the fact that CEQA is dated and broken,” while Nielsen said, “We need broad, deep CEQA reform, not picking around the edges.” Other lawmakers used the occasion to lambaste those who use the legal system, and CEQA, to block critical projects such as housing and transportation infrastructure.

Source: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article259399214.html.

Note that endless enrollment increases on existing campuses raise issues that go beyond neighborhood "environmental" impacts. Just saying...