Legal challenge endangers California Coastal Act, Professor Frank tells NPR

Professor of Environmental Practice Richard M. Frank appeared on NPR’s “All Things Considered” Aug. 8, commenting for a report on current legal challenges to the California Coastal Act of 1976.

Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla has asked the United States Supreme Court to hear his challenge to the Coastal Act, which guarantees public access to California’s nearly 1,000 miles of coastline. Khosla wants to block the public from crossing his property to get to a beach.

Khosla’s challenge puts the law at risk, Frank told NPR: “The U.S. Supreme Court has been very concerned about private-property rights, particularly as they bump up against coastal-access concerns, pretty much since the creation of the California Coastal Act.”

If the conservative-leaning Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, private property rights could win out over public access to beaches, Frank said.

Richard M. Frank ’74 is a leader in the field of environmental law, professor of environmental practice, and the founding director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis School of Law.