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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Keeping Jobs at Bay With CEQA

California businesses are assuredly familiar with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), an all-encompassing environmental law passed in 1970. Since its inception, the law has provided special interests with ammo for frivolous lawsuits. In the past several years, CEQA abuse by labor unions has run rampant, with various groups using it as leverage to extort contracts from businesses. The most recent example is the termination of the proposed Kinkisharyo manufacturing plant in the Antelope Valley, a project that was expected to bring 250 jobs to the area. Years ago, the Japanese railcar maker won a bid with Metro to build 175 railcars there. Unfortunately, unions are using a familiar tactic to delay the project to extract a guarantee from the company that they can use card check to organize. A so-called “residents group” with ties to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11 appealed the city’s approvals, claiming Kinkisharyo has not secured proper water rights and that construction will raise valley fever-carrying spores. If that sounds fishy, it’s because it is – yet another instance of unions using “greenmail” to get what they want. And it’s costing businesses across the state time, jobs and money. Earlier this year, the Sacramento Central Labor Council interfered with the city’s approval of a final environmental impact report on ancillary mixed-use development around the Sacramento Kings’ new basketball arena. Upon discovering that the Kings did not agree to card check neutrality agreements in those developments, the labor council invoked CEQA to stop advancement on the project. The challenges were eventually dismissed – but it took six months and hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees. In March, the Google buses pilot program in San Francisco was intercepted by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021, which filed suit – citing environmental complaints – to block the buses from stopping at city bus stations. Though the program significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and even provided a $6.8 million gift to support free Muni fees for low-income youths, SEIU Local 1021 couldn’t bear losing its monopoly on the city’s public transportation system. Over the summer, the Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake Counties Building and Construction Trades Council submitted environmental objections to the Riverfront Mixed-Use Development Project in Petaluma. The project would create almost 2,000 construction jobs. In order to get the developer to sign a Project Labor Agreement, the group raised concerns to the city’s Planning Commission about rising sea levels, air quality and other environmental threats, delaying approval. Sadly, these are just a few instances of deceptive unions using CEQA as leverage at the expense of businesses. A study of 95 CEQA opinions between the years 1997 and 2012 found that 75 percent of cases were filed by local organizations – more than half of which are unincorporated associations that don’t have to disclose their motives or members. Law firms like Adams Broadwell Joseph & Cardozo – the hired gun in the Petaluma case – are linked to numerous cases of CEQA abuse by labor unions. This unholy alliance must be stopped – and that begins with serious CEQA reform. CEQA abuse halts infrastructure of all kinds – private developments and public works projects alike – robbing the state of schools, hospitals, roads, good jobs and economic stimulus. It’s time lawmakers reexamined CEQA to make it consistent with other state laws, less restrictive to business and less vulnerable to lawsuits brought in bad faith. VICA encourages California business owners and residents to engage with local and state government in making CEQA work for all – not just those looking to use it for personal gain. The Valley Industry and Commerce Association (VICA) is a business advocacy organization based in Sherman Oaks that represents employers throughout the Los Angeles County region at the local, state and federal levels of government.

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