Planning and zoning: general plan: judicial challenges.

Senator Arreguín's land use legislation revises California's judicial review process for local government planning documents, extending compliance periods while strengthening enforcement mechanisms. The bill modifies timelines for court challenges to general plans and housing elements, increasing the period for local governments to achieve compliance from 60 to 120 days while limiting court continuances to 60 days.

The legislation establishes that when development standards conflict between different elements of a general plan, the most recently adopted provisions take precedence. It requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to review cases where local agencies miss deadlines for amending development standards affecting housing projects. The bill also mandates courts to impose sanctions on jurisdictions that fail to complete court-ordered rezoning within the new 120-day timeline.

For environmental review, the bill exempts actions needed to bring general plans into compliance with court orders from California Environmental Quality Act requirements. However, local agencies must still prepare initial studies to assess environmental effects and, if significant impacts are identified, complete environmental assessments within the compliance period. The legislation applies these changes uniformly across all California cities, including charter cities, reflecting the Legislature's finding that consistent land use governance serves a statewide interest.