In response to the housing shortage, California has been strengthening the state-mandated housing allocations for regions to assign to local governments. The state now requires streamlined local approval for housing projects in jurisdictions that are not producing enough housing, ties transportation funding to compliance, and is now suing some local governments for inaction. Join outgoing California Department of Housing and Community Development director Ben Metcalf to discuss this process and where policy may go from here.

This program offers 1.5 participatory MCLE credit; 1 Elimination of Bias. You must register in advance to participate. Certain environmental laws explicitly provide for government-to-government consultation between California’s Native Nations and local, state and federal agencies, but what does “consultation” mean? And what role does cultural bias play in the failure to recognize tribal governments as governments? This panel will describe tribal sovereignty, explore the unbreakable link between tribal sovereignty and the government-to-government concept, and describe the respect tribal leaders…

This program offers 1.5 participatory MCLE credit. You must register in advance to participate. Is Climate Change the next Big Tobacco? A wave of lawsuits in California seeks to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their contribution to climate change. In 2017, the Counties of San Mateo, Marin, and Santa Cruz, and the Cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Imperial Beach, and Santa Cruz filed complaints against more than three dozen fossil fuel companies under theories including public nuisance, private nuisance,…