New bills signed Monday by California Governor Gavin Newsom will exempt a range of home and manufacturing construction projects from a 1970 environmental review law that critics say has hobbled governments’ ability to build. Known as the California Environmental Quality Act, the landmark law requires local government to consider the environmental impacts of development projects before granting approval.

While such regulation has its benefits, critics argue that the CEQA has been misused by NIMBY groups to block and delay new housing construction — in a state with some of the highest home prices in the country — and much-needed infrastructure projects. Some environmentalists, meanwhile, argue that scaling back the regulations takes away a tool to challenge polluting developments, Bloomberg Government’s Andrew Oxford reports. Today on CityLab: California Exempts Building Projects From Environmental Law

— Linda Poon

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