Category: Blog Post

What matters to me today is: What's the Harm in Undefining "Harm"? Sometimes the biggest legal battles turn on a single word. The Trump administration is rescinding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's regulatory definition of "harm" under the Endangered Species Act, eliminating the decades-old interpretation...

What matters to me today is: California's Competing and Often Contradictory Priorities. California's policy debates increasingly reveal a state struggling to reconcile worthy—but often conflicting—priorities. The latest example is the western spadefoot. Under the California Endangered Species Act, once the Fish and Game Commission determines a...

What matters to me today is: Newsom’s California Legacy—or Presidential Launchpad? As Gavin Newsom enters the final stretch of his governorship, California faces an uncomfortable question: will its policy agenda be shaped by the state’s needs or by Newsom’s apparent ambitions for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination?

What matters to me today is: California – So, What Now? California's current primary election season exposes a deeper reality than any single race for governor or mayor: the state stands at a genuine crossroads, confronting major policy challenges without a clear long-term strategy from either side of the...

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...