This post is part of a series highlighting the CEQA cases currently pending before the California Supreme Court.
Petition for Review Granted
September 11, 2013
Current Status
Fully briefed by the parties as of January 31, 2014.
Amicus briefing complete as of March 27, 2014.
Oral Argument April 8, 2015.
Court’s Statement of Issues Presented
On April 29, 2015, Governor Jerry Brown signed Executive Order B-30-15, which establishes “[a] new interim greenhouse gas emission reduction target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030…” (Executive Order B-30-15, ¶ 1, at http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18938.) The Executive Order requires the California Air Resources Board to express the 2030
On April 1, 2015, Citizens for Positive Growth & Preservation filed a petition for a writ of mandate in Sacramento Superior Court seeking to invalidate the City of Sacramento’s (City) recent adoption of its 2035 General Plan.
After a “major overhaul” of its 1988 General Plan and adoption of the 2030 General Plan in 2009,
In an opinion issued April 9, 2015, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley denied a petition for a writ of mandate challenging the environmental impact report (EIR) for the McKinley Village infill development project in East Sacramento. The court also rejected petitioner’s argument that McKinley Village conflicted with the City of Sacramento’s General Plan. Thomas
On March 11, 2015, the California Supreme Court unanimously granted the San Diego Association of Governments’ (SANDAG) petition for review of the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s decision in Cleveland National Forest Foundation v. San Diego Association of Governments (2014) 180 Cal.Rptr.3d 548. A complete summary of the case is available here: https://thomaslaw455.wpengine.com/appellate-court-requires-sandag-consider-executive-order-emissions-targets-regional-transportation-plan/, in
The Thomas Law Group announced today the opening of a new office at the Kaiser Building in Oakland. The expansion comes on the heels of the law firm’s hiring of four new attorneys in 2014 to support the growing environmental and land use law firm.
The new office will be led by Thomas Law Group
Thomas Law Group attends SCBA Annual Meeting, Honoring Distinguished Attorney of the Year, Justice Arthur Scotland (ret.)
On August 6, 2014, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (“OPR”) released a Notice of Availability of a Preliminary Discussion Draft of Changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) Guidelines Related to SB 743 (Steinberg, 2013; “Preliminary Discussion Draft”). These updates are geared towards the evaluation of transportation impacts under CEQA.
Traffic studies
On May 16, 2014, in Bay Area Citizens v. Assn. of Bay Area Governments, et al (Case No. RG13690631), the Alameda County Superior Court granted an Ex Parte Application filed by the Attorney General on behalf of the People of the State of California to file an amicus curiae brief. In its amicus curiae brief,
On January 28, 2014, the Merced County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a conditional use permit and certified an environmental impact report (EIR) for a project to construct a 20 megawatt solar photovoltaic electrical generation facility on a 178.3 acre site in the Los Banos area of the County. It is anticipated that the project