At the location where ground will soon be broken for construction of a downtown Los Angeles NFL stadium, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 292 last Tuesday.
Penning his signature on pigskin as well, Brown had only moments prior opened the floodgates for the exceptional job growth developer Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) expects. In a state with high levels of unemployment, AEG foresees 11,000 permanent jobs as well as 12,000 construction jobs created by the project.
Prior to Brown’s signing, at the prompting of supervisor Neal Coonerty, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted to urge Gov. Jerry Brown to veto Senate Bill 292. According to a recent press release, the bill would “weaken” the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) “by providing special treatment under the law for an influential developer [Anschutz Entertainment Group] seeking to build a downtown Los Angeles football stadium.”
The bill will in effect streamline the environmental assessment that follows approval of such projects. The bill stipulates any lawsuits regarding environmental impacts of the project will go directly to the California Court of Appeal and be mitigated within 175 days.
Supervisor Coonerty spoke out against the bill in a press release prior to Brown’s vote.
“It is important to speak out about this bill because of its preferential nature and because it would erode California’s vital environmental review process.”
