Event Date
REGISTER HERE for Livestream. MCLE credits available. No registration fee.
Moderated by King Hall Professor Christopher Elmendorf, this debate on the pros and cons of Proposition 45 will include a short tutorial covering what CEQA is, its history and evolution, and an overview of the ballot initiative.
Enacted in 1970, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires state and local government agencies to identify and reduce environmental harms from new projects—shaping how California builds, protects, and grows. Proposition 45 proposes major changes to this bedrock environmental law, including setting tighter deadlines for environmental reviews, allowing applicants to propose just one alternative, and limiting the nature of relief afforded in court challenges. Supporters say it speeds up essential housing and infrastructure without gutting oversight, while critics maintain it dramatically weakens a more than 50-year-old safeguard of California's environment. Moderated by King Hall Professor Christopher Elmendorf, this pros-and-cons debate will begin with a short overview of CEQA’s history, its evolution, and the details of the ballot initiative, followed by opening statements, structured rebuttals, and a live audience Q&A to close.
Emma Manoukian Chung (Pro)
Since 2022, Emma has worked at political consulting firm Bicker, Castillo, Fairbanks & Spitz (BCFS). She worked on the campaign opposing Proposition 27, which sought to legalize online sports betting in California. She has since worked on regulatory, legislative, and ballot measure campaigns for clients across multiple industries. Before joining BCFS, Emma participated in the Jesse M. Unruh Assembly Fellowship program at the California State Capitol. During the fellowship, she served as the lead staff on policy and fiscal legislative committees and worked on earned media and social media for a member of the State Assembly. Emma has a Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness and Agricultural Communication from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
Matthew McKerley '19 (Con)
Matthew has been an attorney at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger since 2020. He practices municipal, land use, and energy law, with experience in ballot measure litigation. Matthew represented a group of citizens and farmers to uphold a local ballot initiative in the City of Woodland. He also represented the City of Berkeley in defending its agreement with UC Berkeley on city services and growth mitigation against a challenge brought under a local ballot measure. He has additionally represented Alameda County in litigation over the constitutionality of the county's billboard regulations. Matthew holds a JD from UC Davis School of Law, a Master's in Physics from UC Berkeley, and dual bachelor's degrees from Indiana University.
Christopher S. Elmendorf (Moderator)
Chris Elmendorf is Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Institute for Progress, and a member of the BUILD Research Network’s advisory board. He is a leading authority on land-use and housing law and has done widely noted work on public opinion about housing markets and policy. Published in numerous top journals across the fields of law, political science, and economics, his research has shaped legislation and judicial opinions and been covered by major media outlets including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Financial Times, Forbes, Bloomberg News, and CalMatters. Elmendorf clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi on the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit before joining the UC Davis faculty.
Lunch provided. Presented by CELPC.