Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced another ruling against the city of Huntington Beach in a three-year legal battle over the state’s affordable housing requirements.
A San Diego County Superior Court judge tossed Huntington Beach’s lawsuit against the state and granted an anti-SLAPP motion filed by Bonta and the California Department of Housing and Community Development. Judge Katherine A. Bacal rejected the city’s view that the state’s Housing Element Law and the California Environmental Quality Act are conflicting laws and that the state can’t compel the city to violate CEQA by seeking to enforce the Housing Element Law, according to her June 30 ruling.
The judge also rejected the argument that the state’s rezoning exemption guidelines do not support the city’s claims it should delay its housing element update to accommodate CEQA review…