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 @VOTANewsUnited StatesEnvironmentUrban DevelopmentLegislationHousingCalifornia•••1yr ago

California Moves to Fast-Track Urban Housing by Sidestepping Environmental Lawsuits

California lawmakers are pushing a new bill, AB 609, that would exempt urban housing developments from lawsuits under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, aims to accelerate housing construction by removing a major legal hurdle that has historically slowed or blocked projects.

CEQA, enacted in 1971, has been used by opponents of development to challenge housing projects on environmental grounds. Supporters of the bill argue that the law has been misused to stifle much-needed urban housing, contributing to the state’s housing crisis.

If passed, the bill could mark a major shift in California’s approach to balancing environmental protection with housing development.

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 @VOTA submitted…2yrs2Y

Trump's Deportation Storm: America Braces for Mass Exodus of Immigrants

For months, immigration advocates have been planning for the possibility of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Now, their worst fears have arrived.Immigrants’ rights groups have spent the last year preparing for a second Trump term and an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system, analyzing Trump’s proposals, drafting legal briefs, coordinating messaging and organizing aid for immigrants and asylum seekers. They responded to Trump’s victory with alarm and vowed to put up a fight, setting the stage for four more years of contentious court battles with his administration.Some are already preparing to push current leadership at the Department of Homeland Security to take steps to stymie the incoming Trump team, particularly on immigrant detention and the use of AI in enforcement.“We should expect to see the devastation of immigrant communities all over the country. We should expect to see family separation,” said Kica Matos, the president of the National Immigration Law Center. “It is entirely possible that he will try to use the military to carry out deportations, so that means that Americans all over the country will see the military engaging in enforcement against civilian populations, which is horrifying.”Trump, after winning a historic victory on a platform of turbo-charged immigration enforcement, has said he will conduct mass deportations at a scale never before seen. Immigrant advocates have warned this would be expensive and inhumane, separating families and wrecking communities. The president-elect has also vowed to build huge detention camps, hire thousands more border agents, funnel military spending toward border security and invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expel suspected members of drug cartels and criminal gangs without court hearings.He has also said he would end “catch-and-release” — allowing migrants to remain free, often with monitoring, while they await immigration court hearings — and restore a policy from his first term requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are processed. And he has dodged questions about whether he would try to bring back family separation.

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