Budget: The Missing Piece

On Friday, Gov. Newsom announced he had signed the state budget for 2025-26.* And on this blog we took note of the official UC response to the budget.** But things are never quite what they seem.

In the budget bill signed by the governor, there was a provision that said that if another bill wasn't also signed by today, the budget bill would be void.

From the Sacramento Bee: On Monday, the state Senate and Assembly are set to discuss the one proposal to rule them all: Senate Bill 131. No one is to be blamed for not knowing anything about this bill — official language for it just came out Friday morning. But it has become a very important bill, because it has a very important ally in Gov. Gavin Newsom. The bill would principally reform the California Environmental Quality Act, a law that investigates whether or not a proposed project would harm the environment. It’s often considered an enemy of development in the state due to its ability to slow projects to a grinding halt. A clause in the budget said if SB 131 isn’t signed by the governor on Monday, the entire budget will be void, rendering it useless...

Full story at https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article309580180.html.

Basically, SB 131 relaxes environmental review standards for housing projects. By making the entire budget depend on passage of SB 131, its proponents have created strong pressure for its enactment, despite opposition from environmentalist groups and others including those opposed to state overriding of local zoning and related rules.

So now you know how the sausage is made in Sacramento, even though you may have preferred not to.

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*https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/06/27/budget/.

**https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-official-uc-response-so-far.html.