Gov. Gavin Newsom and California legislators passed a major reform of the California Environmental Quality Act on Monday. The new laws remove a key point of leverage for project opponents that has been embedded for more than a half-century in California's development regime.

Governor Gavin Newsom called the move the "most consequential housing reform that we've seen in modern history."

Newsom called the bills the “most consequential housing reform that we’ve seen in modern history in the state of California.” But the legislation has left some environmental groups and labor unions angry.