CA government to Berkeley NIMBYs: Eat Shit
By 
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Monday that will rescue UC Berkeley from a court-ordered enrollment freeze and steep admission cuts and allow the university to resume plans to enroll more than 5,000 California first-year students.
The new law in effect ends a frantic few weeks at one of the nation’s most sought-after campuses during its critical admissions period, and admissions offers will be extended as originally planned, a campus spokesperson said. The court order over housing issues had threatened cuts and a major enrollment reconfiguration for first-year and transfer students, many of whom would have been forced online or given deferred admission offers.
“I’m grateful to the Legislature for moving quickly on this critical issue — it sends a clear signal that California won’t let lawsuits get in the way of the education and dreams of thousands of students, our future leaders and innovators,” said Newsom, who had expressed support for UC Berkeley.
The legislation, passed unanimously by California lawmakers earlier Monday, will give the state’s public colleges and universities 18 months to complete any court-ordered environmental review before being subject to a mandatory reduction or freeze in campus population. This change would have an immediate and retroactive effect for UC Berkeley, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) and Assembly Budget Chair Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) said in a statement Friday.
More systematic reform (if not the outright repeal) of CEQA is still necessary, but every loss for the NIMBY litigation industrial complex is good.