UC Berkeley Admissions Restored Under Senate Bill 118
California legislators acted with unusual speed this week to protect UC Berkeley from the consequences of a court ruling governing the number of students it could admit. Senate Bill 118, which was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday, exempts all state universities and colleges from certain portions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which had been invoked by a local group suing UC Berkeley.
That group, called Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods, had sued the university for growing its student population by 30% over the past two decades without doing enough to account for the environmental impact of those students. For now, the university can proceed with its planned enrollment for this fall, but broader questions raised by the lawsuit remain unanswered. We talk to one of the authors of the newly enacted law, Assemblymember Phil Ting from San Francisco.
Guest:
- Assemblymember. Phil Ting, D-San Francisco
This Week in California News and Politics
This week, congressional earmarks — a way for members of Congress to request funding for specific projects in their districts — made their return after a decade of being banned. California is set to get $766 million out of the $1.5 trillion dollar budget that President Joe Biden signed on Tuesday for projects including construction at naval bases and beach replenishment in Southern California. Roughly $100 million is coming to the Bay Area for healthcare, education and transportation projects.