Sacramento Report Countdown
10 days until the end of the legislative session
74 days until the November election
It’s getting real.
A ninth-inning push to lend a hand to a billionaire-backed sports arena and housing project in San Diego is picking up steam.
Democratic state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson is moving to amend Senate Bill 344 to prevent litigious opponents from stalling Midway Rising, a city plan supported by Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke to build a new professional arena and 4,250 housing units in the Midway District. Negotiations about the bill are still taking place, and Weber Pierson has not released the proposed changes, which will need a two-thirds vote rather than the usual majority vote in order to take effect immediately. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, himself a former legislator, was in Sacramento earlier this week lobbying other members of the Legislature. He said he’s hopeful he’ll get a deal through.
SB 344 would specify that the city’s ongoing environmental review of the project complies with the California Environmental Quality Act, the state’s landmark environmental law. Developers have to file a report on a project’s expected environmental impacts in order to comply with CEQA. With the new bill, Democrats are seeking to affirm the city’s report fulfills those requirements.
CEQA lawsuits are known for causing lengthy and costly delays that can throttle housing projects entirely, spurring an onslaught of reforms in the Legislature to streamline or carve out projects from the law to fast-track construction.
So, what would this new agreement do?
It would prevent “an endless loop” of CEQA litigation, leaving the project uncertain, Gloria said.
“We create a situation where this endless uncertainty means that the investment doesn’t happen,” Gloria said. “The net result is the state feels unaffordable to everyday people, and that cannot sustain itself.”
The mayor’s office and special interest groups have been working out a deal for months. But the last-minute revisions are happening now because an earlier proposal from Weber Pierson wasn’t enough to ensure Midway Rising actually clears the environmental hurdles, Gloria said.
Senate Bill 958, the initial legislation to help insulate the project from litigation, would have blocked building height alone from being considered as environmentally significant under state rules. It’s still alive and is backed by San Diego business groups and the state’s carpenters union, but needs to clear one more vote before it heads to the governor’s desk.
This new bid validates developers’ work to meet CEQA rules and isn’t a waiver to bypass the law, Weber Pierson said.
“This bill is not a CEQA exemption,” she said.
If the new bill passes and is signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the San Diego City Council still would need to give the final OK to the project. The Council must certify the environmental impact report, finalize a lease agreement with the developers and OK a plan to allow the project to keep tax revenues in the area to finance infrastructure needs.
The last-minute push follows weeks of scrutiny from neighborhood groups who say city officials have not adequately studied the environmental impacts of the proposed 165-foot tall stadium and multi-story housing complex. It exceeds the neighborhood’s current 30-foot height cap. Critics argue the taller buildings could hurt migratory bird populations, ensnare traffic and obstruct coastal views. Some, including former San Diego Assemblymember Lori Saldana, say flooding from rising sea levels could threaten the building’s structural integrity.
Supporters of the project point to the 2,000 affordable housing units and thousands of short-term construction jobs it’ll create. Voters also twice-approved eliminating the height limit through ballot measures, proponents say. Developers are seeking to demolish the 1960s-era Pechanga Arena there now.
Members of the San Diego delegation in Sacramento all support the proposal, many echoing similar points about the project needing to get done and shielding it from potential lawsuits.
“You can’t continue to spend a decade or more working on something that has been entitled to local government and the process that exists today, abuse things in a way that has set things off of course, and not expect that we don’t deserve to intervene,” Assemblymember Chris Ward, a Democrat, said.
Officials faced a setback earlier this year when a court ruling claimed the city violated CEQA when it placed a 2022 measure on the ballot seeking voters’ approval to lift the height cap without adequately studying the environmental impacts of taller buildings.
Weber Pierson wrote to Assembly Rules Committee Chair Blanca Pacheco last week for approval to fast-track lawmakers’ new effort.
“In order to promote the swift and deliberate development of affordable housing in the City of San Diego, an urgency clause is needed for this measure,” she wrote, allowing policy changes to take effect immediately.
With fewer than two weeks left of session, the window is closing for San Diego lawmakers to deliver a deal. They’re also facing pressure from city officials and project leaders who are pushing to break ground as early as next year.
CARE Court Evaluation Bill Dies
State Sen. Catherine Blakespear’s bill aiming to make it easier to link struggling or would-be CARE Court participants with higher-level treatment died last week. She’s resolving to push it again next year.
Refresher: Newsom once touted CARE Court as a solution to force people with serious psychiatric disorders into care. But San Diego County’s CARE Court program isn’t forcing anyone into treatment and an initial promise that a person who failed in CARE Court could be pushed into court-ordered conservatorship never panned out.
Enter Blakespear’s Senate Bill 1016, which sought to allow judges to order mental health evaluations of Californians struggling in CARE Court or unwilling to participate to assess whether someone needs additional care. The bill, sponsored by California State Association of Psychiatrists and backed by families of people with serious mental illnesses, repeatedly advanced despite opposition from groups representing counties.
Then it was held last week by the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where many bills that would trigger new spending die.
The county, for its part, previously claimed the evaluation process the bill tried to clarify wasn’t useful since there are other ways for people to access treatment.
Yet county spokesman Tim McClain said this week that the county did not formally oppose SB 1016 and noted that the county has been considered a statewide leader in CARE Court implementation.
From October 2023 through June, the county reports it received 643 CARE petitions and reached 217 treatment agreements with people who were the subject of petitions. Fifty-five people graduated after successfully completing their treatment plan.
Yet Blakespear and many advocates are concerned about people struggling in the program or whose cases were dismissed, including the 102 people who refused to participate in San Diego County. A state group monitoring CARE Act implementation also separately heard a presentation last week noting that two-thirds of people dismissed from CARE Court statewide didn’t receive other behavioral health services.
“Sen. Blakespear plans to pursue the bill next year, because she believes we need a connection between the conservatorship process and the 100% voluntary CARE Court process,” spokesperson Andrew LaMar said.
ICE Commissary Goods Cap Gets the OK
Earlier this week, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 941, a proposal by state Sen. Steve Padilla to cap commissary markups at immigration detention facilities at 35 percent. Backers of the bill say, if enacted, would give financial relief to noncitizens detained in immigration centers and their families who can face markups double or more the price of goods in convenient stores. It faced no formal opposition and is on the governor’s desk.
What I’m Reading Now
A bogus poll in the Los Angeles mayor’s race has sent shock waves inside political campaigns across the country, CalMatters reports.
FBI agents raid former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s home over sexual assault allegations that precipitated the ex-congressman to drop his gubernatorial bid, CNN writes.
California lawmakers gut what would have been one of the state’s biggest DUI reform bills in years, CalMatters explains.
Thanks for reading this week’s report! Please reach me at nadia@voiceofsandiego for any questions or comments.
Voice of San Diego’s Lisa Halverstadt contributed to this report.