The California Environmental Quality Act (known as CEQA – pronounced “Sea-kwa”) was signed into law in 1970 by Governor Ronald Reagan, a year after the National Environmental Policy Act was implemented at the federal level.

As concerns about water quality and smog mounted in California, lawmakers sought to create a state bill that would supplement the new federal law with even stricter standards regulating pollution and preserving the natural environment. CEQA was crafted by a newly formed committee on environmental quality in the State Assembly.

The law requires California’s public agencies and local governments to measure the environmental impacts of development projects or other major land use decisions, and to limit or avoid those impacts when possible.