I love football. It’s a great sport to watch on television, but even more fun to attend in person. As someone who grew up in Los Angeles, much of my life was spent with no close-by National Football League team, once the Rams picked up and moved East. While the absence of an NFL team for Los Angeles was unfortunate, it was significantly mitigated by some great college football teams in the area. But I do get my hopes up every time I hear that someone is thinking about bringing an NFL team back to my home town. So I have been following with some interest the 
efforts of billionaire Ed Roski (pictured) to construct a stadium for NFL play over in East Los Angeles, and bringing a team to Los Angeles County.
Of course it is no surprise that one of th hurdles to engaging in a major construction project in California is regulatory cost. This state is one of the leaders in the nation in the unfortunate category of making it much more expensive to build than virtually anywhere else in America. So it is no surprise that Roski and advocates of the construction of a new stadium have sought and are the verge of obtaining waivers from the state’s draconian environmental regulatory law (CEQA). The legislation, which passed through both houses of the legislature and is now off to Governor Schwarzenegger, had strong bipartisan support. By and large, Republicans have been consistent that these regulations come with too heavy of a price tag, so their votes to exempt this major project are no surprise. But it is ironic that support for this legislation also was won from many Democrat legislators, including legislative leaders Darrell Steinberg and Karen Bass. Apparently their support for CEQA laws is strong until a major project comes along that could provide an economic boost to a region dominated by Democrat legislators. I noted that a proposal by Senator Mark Wyland of San Diego to waive the same CEQA laws for the construction of a new NFL stadium in San Diego County wasn’t even considered (too many Republicans down in that area, I suppose).
Assuming that Governor Schwarzenegger signs the bill, I applaud the success of Ed Roski. There is no doubt that building a stadium and bringing another NFL team to California is more economically feasible without those costly regulations in place. Were I in the state legislature, I would have trouble not supporting legislation every time that bill would lift burdensome regulation from any potential project. But there is a distinct possibility that I would, in fact, have voted against this bill.
Why would I oppose regulatory relief for such a major project, you ask?
The answer is very simple. This is not broad relief, but rather specific, targeted relief. This legislation says, in essence, that CEQA regulations are just fine for everyone other potential construction project out there, but they are not right for this project. So the question is then raised — what is it about this project that makes it different from everyone else’s? Is it the sheer size of it? If that were the case, wouldn’t there be waivers of CEQA for the proposed infrastructure in the water package, which represent even larger projects? Is it because it is construction for a sports-related endeavor? I mentioned Wyland’s proposal above — it’s rejected demonstrates this is not the case. In the end, one is forced to the conclusion that it was the politics surrounding Roski’s project that got him the votes to exempt his project. Is it Roski’s charm? Did he dump vast amounts of money into the lobbyists and "strategic consultants" that knew the right buttons to push? Then again, maybe it just had the support of enough local Democrats so that, when partnered with Republicans seeking to provide any regulatory relief they can, the bill had enough votes.
In the end, one thing is very clear. The passage of this bill is another example of a disturbing trend where government sets out unfair regulation over broad categories of people or projects, and then doles out "targeted exemptions" where it deems appropriate. Or to put it another way — this kind of bill is an example of politicians literally picking winners and losers. The legislature could have looked at the situation of over-regulation of this stadium, and broadly rewritten CEQA so that not only Roski’s proposed stadium but every similar construction project was exempted. But they did not do that.
So it leaves one to conclude that in California, prepared to be over-regulated — unless you have the right political connections, and are willing to build big projects in areas that provide economic benefits to areas that elect hypocritical Democrat legislators.
If there ends up being an NFL team in Los Angeles, I will go to games — sounds like fun. When I look up to those in the luxury sky-boxes, I will look for Steinberg and Bass. They will be long retired from the legislature thanks to term limits, but no doubt that they will enjoy the legal plunder of having chosen Roski to be a "winner" in the Capitol.
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