After a review, HCD has told San Francisco it must start reforming its entitlement process by Thanksgiving or else. Will the state start investigating other cities' entitlement processes as well?

Some important bills passed this year. But unless the Legislature is willing to take on CEQA directly, there may not be a whole lot more to do on the land use front to encourage more housing production.

Three recent cases show how far the law can be stretched -- and how project opponents often sue for reasons that have nothing to do with that they're really upset about.

One camp says CEQA litigation stifles housing production and reinforces the status quo. The other camps says CEQA litigation isn't all that frequent and leads to better projects. But what if they're both right?

Not really. It's just nibbling around the edges. And it may not help transportation agencies that have to fully mitigate greenhouse gas emissions increases from their projects.

Like some 60 other cities in California, Davis has a voter-approved requirement that some development projects require a vote before they can move forward.

History would suggest that the answer is no. It's more likely that the Legislature will punch a couple of holes in the law and plaintiffs' lawyers will continue to figure out how to get around the holes.

Still, some jurists still focus on expanding the law, creating a kind of schism in the appellate courts. Will the Legislature step in to clarify? Not likely.

State's 2045 goals could also upend CEQA practice and do away with thresholds.

The experience with both the builder's remedy and SB 9 suggest that we may have too many laws going in too many different directions at the moment.

AB 2097 was celebrated as a pro-housing victory. But debate over the bill highlighted the growing gap between those who believe the market can solve the housing problem and those who don't.

Residential building permits statewide are up 15% from last year and 35% from 2019.