On Tuesday, June 18th, RCRC was invited to testify before the Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform’s first hearing on the topic of “Understanding the Permitting Impediments to Addressing the Housing and Climate Crises.”
The hearing included panelists from diverse housing, clean energy, wildfire, and water backgrounds. Much of the stakeholder testimony focused on the challenges dealing with state bureaucracy, redundant environmental reviews, competing environmental objectives, and the California Environmental Quality Act.
Tuesday’s hearing was the first of several on the topic, as the Committee takes a deep dive into identifying ways to improve state and local permitting for housing; energy; water; forest health improvement; and wildfire risk reduction projects. The Committee is also planning to interview numerous stakeholders on these issues as it develops policy recommendations for the Legislature’s consideration.
At the hearing, RCRC noted that locals are often caught in the middle on permitting challenges, being invested with land use authority for many projects but also having to undertake projects that are subject to numerous state and federal permitting processes. RCRC’s John Kennedy spoke about the efforts RCRC, CSAC, and Cal Cities are taking to improve local renewable energy permitting, share best management practices, and increase local permitting capacity. Next, Kennedy spoke of the many struggles rural jurisdictions face in trying to obtain timely permits or responses from agencies like the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to undertake vital maintenance and public safety improvement projects. In closing, Kennedy spoke of the lingering challenges, bureaucratic obstacles, and opportunities for improvement related to conducting forest health improvement and wildfire risk reduction projects.
RCRC will continue to engage with the Committee to dive deeper into the issues. RCRC strongly encourages local governments to contact John Kennedy to share any permitting challenges they have experienced or offer any suggestions for permitting reform.
For more information, or to share about your local government permitting challenges or suggest reforms, contact John Kennedy, RCRC Senior Policy Advocate.