Blog

What matters to me today is: AI, Gen Z, the Pope, and You & Me. This past semester, I completely changed how I grade my undergraduate Business Law course. For years, student papers written outside class heavily influenced final grades. By semester’s end, however, it became unmistakably clear that...

What matters to me today is: CEQA and Climate — CliffsNotes Version. I was privileged to be asked to pen a Practitioners’ Guide on evaluating climate issues under CEQA.  In my three decades of practice, no area of land use law emerged so forcefully — or evolved so rapidly....

What matters to me today is: Want Conservation? Align Interests! A thoughtful recent LinkedIn post by my friend and colleague Kristina Wyatt highlighted an often-overlooked reality in climate disclosure and adaptation policy: healthy natural systems are themselves valuable assets. Ecosystem resilience, habitat preservation, watershed protection, and biodiversity are not...

What matters to me today is Golden State Dysfunction Taking Center Stage. Last night’s debate of California’s gubernatorial candidates was a nationwide embarrassment of chaotic interruptions and personal attacks among political peers and opponents alike. The most notable absence from the stage? A coherent plan for the Golden State.

What matters to me today is a Notable and Rare Coastal Commission Smackdown. In a rare rebuke of the California Coastal Commission, the California Supreme Court recently reaffirmed a foundational principle of California land use law: local governments should retain primary responsibility for planning their own communities. In Shear...

What matters to me today is Representative Dysfunction, Executive Overreach, and the “Shadow Docket.” The New York Times’ explosive publication of confidential Supreme Court memoranda—revealing internal deliberations over the injunction of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan—marked a turning point in public awareness of the Court’s so-called “shadow docket.” What...

What matters to me today is Banking VMT Mitigation. California’s emerging vehicle miles traveled or “VMT” mitigation program under AB 130 is being framed by its proponents as a long-overdue solution to the uncertainty surrounding transportation impacts. A statewide mechanism—channeled through the proposed Transit-Oriented Development fund—purports to offer a...

What matters to me today is Expertise, Evidence, and the Discipline of Restraint. On the eve of a high-stakes hearing, project opponents submitted a last-minute “expert” letter—two pages, no citations, no engagement with the thousands of pages in the administrative record, and no grounding in governing law. Yet it...

What matters to me today is War Abroad, Deregulation at Home. The escalating conflict involving Iran is already being invoked domestically to justify extraordinary federal intervention in the ordinary operation of environmental law. The clearest example is this week’s meeting of the Endangered Species Committee—the so-called “God Squad”—to consider...

What matters to me today is that reliability issues have and will continue to “Trump” any energy transition. California’s accelerating transition toward a lower-carbon economy is no longer theoretical—it is policy and regulatory reality. Whether one views that trajectory as justified or not, the underlying facts remain: climate considerations...

What matters to me today is Climate Disclosure Isn’t Going Away. Despite aggressive efforts at the federal level to dismantle climate-related regulatory regimes, climate disclosure mandates remain a significant risk-management and compliance issue for private businesses. The most important drivers today are not federal regulators, but states—particularly California and...

What matters to me today is NIMBYism at Its Worst. In my legal practice, I regularly represent residential development projects. Anyone in that field becomes familiar with NIMBYism—the instinct to oppose change simply because it is nearby. It is unfortunate, but it is common. What is...