California needs to show we can deliver lower costs for people. That means simplifying the overgrown layers of government process making it hard to build things. I’m authoring legislation as part of @buffywicks.bsky.social permitting reform package to do just that, including by simplifying CEQA. 🧵 - ThreadSky

scottwiener.bsky.social • 63 days ago

California needs to show we can deliver lower costs for people. That means simplifying the overgrown layers of government process making it hard to build things.

I’m authoring legislation as part of @buffywicks.bsky.social permitting reform package to do just that, including by simplifying CEQA. 🧵

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davidciani.com•63 days ago

What's the deal with the extra swiss cheese CEQA for "distribution centers" and "oil and gas infrastructure"? Seems odd to call those out those two specific land uses in a bill that's intended to simplify the process.

longsting.bsky.social•63 days ago

Deregulation is a populist approach with little price reduction.
Tackling price gauging and monopolies in the private sector can deliver much greater savings.

jarretabercrombie.bsky.social•63 days ago

California needs to stop human trafficking children.

416c656e61.bsky.social•63 days ago

Lookup HUD housing subsidy amounts by state. CA needs to *fight* for more federal funding or defund and decentralize national programs.

scottwiener.bsky.social•63 days ago

My bill, the Fast & Focused CEQA Act, SB 607, removes unnecessary CEQA burdens that slow down projects benefiting CA, eg climate-friendly projects. Too many projects are forced to do paperwork — & get dragged down by process & lawsuits — not protecting the environment. SB 607 lowers those burdens.

scottwiener.bsky.social•63 days ago

Decades of litigation have expanded CEQA far beyond what its architects intended. We need to restore it to tackle our housing shortage, build the clean energy infrastructure needed to tackle climate change & provide affordable sustainable transportation for all.

scottwiener.bsky.social•63 days ago

I’m thrilled to have a fearless partner in this work in Assemblymember Buffy Wicks. She is also carrying a major CEQA reform bill, and our bills together would unlock massive progress in tackling our housing shortage and affordability crisis.

scottwiener.bsky.social•63 days ago

@ezraklein.bsky.social & Derek Thompson have created an urgently needed conversation around the Abundance Agenda. Anyone interested in Abundance should get involved in supporting this bill package.

unwindoakland.bsky.social•63 days ago

I've recently been reading critiques of the abundance agenda. I'm wondering if you can demonstrate other examples where similar legislation has actually led to meaningful increases and things like affordable and/or market rate housing? Where are places where it hasn't worked and why?

meff.bsky.social•63 days ago

Oakland and Austin are both good examples of how building has led to rents either holding steady or lowering. I could cite some better sources if you'd like.

unwindoakland.bsky.social•63 days ago

Interested! I'm in Oakland and used to teach uni in Texas. It hasn't been my experience at all. My impression is that vacancies are very high despite increases in unhoused. I have not seen rents or commercial rates improve. It's also not high demand construction going up in my area.

meff.bsky.social•63 days ago

Sorry took me a while. https://www.npr.org/2024/10/08/nx-s1-5118345/how-austin-texas-was-about-lower-the-cost-of-rent Here's an NPR article on how Austin used construction to lower rents.

unwindoakland.bsky.social•62 days ago

The main critique of the abundance perspective that I found compelling was that removing red tape without breaking up monopolies doesn't work well. I'm wondering if there's anything in the bill about breaking up monopolies?

meff.bsky.social•62 days ago

The bill is just about CEQA exemptions and doesn't really deal with anything else.

amazingmoosh.bsky.social•62 days ago

The red tape is one of the main reasons why those monopolies exist. The main advantage that large developers have over small homebuilders is their ability to work the system.

unwindoakland.bsky.social•63 days ago

For context: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/03/23/the-meager-agenda-of-abundance-liberals/

gary-ashby.bsky.social•63 days ago

fightlies.bsky.social•63 days ago

So deregulating to make it easier to rape our environment and vampire off of existing infrastructure without paying their fair share. Got it.

davidciani.com•63 days ago

Let's have a look at the actual changes being proposed. Letting "accurate completion of paperwork" be our primary mechanism protecting the environment hasn't worked out particularly well for us.

mldunham.bsky.social•63 days ago

It's pretty clear at this point that America needs to build a lot of new things to solve climate change (public transit, clean energy, housing near jobs and transit), so protecting the environment is no longer about just saying "no." Getting Shit Done is the future of progressive policy.

upyourzone.bsky.social•63 days ago

You are the one lying

fightlies.bsky.social•63 days ago

Strong words.

Please explain how you are going to simplify CEQA without reducing or de-regulating anything or weakening the enforcement of the regulations.

benpiece.bsky.social•62 days ago

@scottwiener.bsky.social you are the GOAT! More of this! More SB 35! More SB 423! Get it done!

dean-ambrosini.bsky.social•63 days ago

California does not have the resources to handle more building. You’ve got to get it through your head that it’s NOT climate friendly to continue to crowd already crowded areas which do not have the infrastructure to support it. PERIOD

dean-ambrosini.bsky.social•63 days ago

CEQA exists to stop this and it’s disgusting to see you calling yourself an environmentalist while working to dismantle environmental protections

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