Keynote Speaker

Kip Lipper, chief policy advisor on energy and environment for the Senate pro Tem, will present a keynote address on recent developments and predictions for CEQA in the California Legislature. Given the ever-evolving landscape of land use law in California, this year's symposium will focus on the changing applications and guidelines of CEQA. Panels presented will discuss how CEQA is currently being used in non-traditional ways, often to pursue goals unrelated to the environment, and how CEQA might be evolving to require consideration of climate change effects. The symposium will also explore how AB 52 creates a new category of potentially significant impacts for tribal cultural resources, and whether or not CEQA as applied to High Speed Rail is pre-empted by federal law.