Newsom has demonstrated he takes housing starts seriously (Really! The fact that virtually every commercial lot is now zoned for ministerial housing approval statewide, abolishing parking minimums statewide, passing SB9 to allow 2-4plexes on single family parcels statewide, and passing SB10 to exempt apartments of less than 10 units from CEQA, and directing the housing authority to decertify rich cities' zoning codes that flout RHNA housing obligations like Santa Monica is huge) and I don't expect him to let up.
> State housing laws, she ruled, do not apply to a project until after a city “certifies” the project’s environmental review.
> Although CEQA puts a one-year limit on environmental review, the court held that this deadline is just advisory
If these rulings stand, you can absolutely bet that CA state housing laws in 2023 will now turn their focus toward CEQA. At a minimum, expect that "advisory" deadline to be formalized, shortened, and certification expedited or even exempted if the project falls within certain categories. Bike and bus lanes were just exempted from CEQA this session, and I absolutely imagine housing that is X% affordable will be soon, too.
In fact, really all California has to do is expand SB 330 or their 2019 Builders Remedy Law (which itself gave an existing state law from 1990 teeth) which states that developers are guaranteed ministerial approval regardless of zoning in any municipality determined to have a non-certified housing element to include expedient and ministerial CEQA approval. What would once be considered unthinkable politically a decade ago is now just a legislative hop and a skip away.