Newsom said the bills, which he signed Monday night, are the most consequential housing reform in recent California history.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom had threatened to veto the state budget unless legislators rolled back the California Environmental Quality Act.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, lagging far behind his campaign pledge to build millions more homes, signed Monday evening the most significant rollback in decades to California’s core environmental law that’s long been blamed for construction delays and soaring prices that have increasingly put housing out of reach for the state’s residents.