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Filed with Secretary of State: The Secretary for Natural Resources adopted Amendments to the CEQA Guidelines addressing greenhouse gas emissions on December 30, 2009. The Amendments will become effective on March 18, 2010. The Natural Resources Agency thanks you and all of those that participated in the rulemaking process and the development of these Guidelines Amendments. The text of the adopted Amendments, Final Statement of Reasons, and other rulemaking documents are available on the ...

The California Chapter Board urges all of our 6,000 members to cast their vote in the National APA election.

The 2009-2010 legislative session resumes with a gloomy budget forecast and new bills introduced. Click to read: Legislative Update January/February 2010

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announces the Advanced Notice and Request for Comments for HUD's Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program. The notice of the program is available at: http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/program_offices/sustainable_housing_communities/grant_program Comments on the notice are due March 12, 2010

The California Department of Water Resources is pleased to announce the release for public comment the draft State Plan of Flood Control Descriptive Document, a key deliverable of the FloodSAFE California Initiative to the State legislature and a major step towards completion of the 2012 Central Valley Flood Protection Plan.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development Announces the Release of an RFP for an Innovative New Program

The State Clearinghouse announces the posting of their most recent publications to the Governor's Office of Planning and Research website. Click to read: State Clearinghouse Publications

The American Planning Association submits comments on the Strategic Growth Council Planning Grant Guidelines

The planning grant criteria draft is now available as the Strategic Growth Council begins the grant process.

The end of the 2009 legislative session finished with a number of issues still pending.

APA California has submitted comments on Natural Resources Agency recommended amendments to CEQA guidelines for GHG emissions. Please click here to view the comments submitted to Natural Resources Agency.

Only a Few Planning Bills Still of Concern Here is a quick update of the 2009 legislative measures dealing with planning issues.

In order to implement Executive Order S-13-09, which institutes a third furlough day for state agencies, we will close the State Clearinghouse three days per month from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010.

An opinion-editorial bylined by APA California Board member Hing Wong, AICP and published in the San Francisco Chronicle (published January 29, 2008) earned a PROTOS Award of Excellence from the Orange County Chapter of Public Relations Society of America. The op-ed entitled “Address Climate Change Through Land-Use” was part of a state-wide media relations program developed and executed by Porter Novelli on behalf of APA California. The media relations program targeted state and local policy ...

The APA California Board has committed $50,000 from its reserve account towards a membership/conference support program.

Unemployed member rate - The APA California Board has approved an annual unemployment renewal rate of $25 for Chapter-Only members. To be eligible to apply, the person would have to be a current APA or Chapter-Only member and must request the unemployment rate every year upon renewal. Please contact the State APA California office at 916.736.2324 or sgassoc@msn.com for additional information. This reduced membership rate is for Chapter-Only membership renewals. In other words, if you ...

A number of major planning bills remain active. Some bills have already been amended to remove our concerns. As usual, though, most of the measures remained alive after the first policy committee deadline May 1. APA California is negotiating amendments on many of them, but a number of the bills need major changes or are simply unworkable.

The APA California deadline for the 2009 Awards nomination submissions is May 15, 2009. Additional information about the categories and the nomination process is available on the APA California webpage at http:// www.apacalifornia.com.

The UCLA Anderson Forecast would like to invite the American Planning Association members to attend our “4th Annual San Diego Economic Outlook for 2009-10” on Friday May 15th 2009 at the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina. This event is an opportunity to learn from the UCLA forecasting experts about the economic issues and trends to better prepare APA members for effective planning, decision making, and revenue projections in the coming fiscal year and quarters. We will cover the National and S

The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) - the California state agency resposible for protecting San Francisco Bay - today launched an initiative called Rising Tides, a first-of-its-kind international design idea competition aimed at generating innovative solutions that deal with adapting shoreline areas to sea level rise.