Keynote/general introduction - CEQA and the California Legislature: Recent Developments and Predictions for the Future Kip Lipper is the chief policy advisor on energy and environment for the Senate pro Tem, and has spent 35 years in the California Legislature. As a long time staffer in the California Legislature, Mr. Lipper has established himself as a key advisor for environmental legislation of all kinds in California. His keynote address will review the recent legislative developments of CEQA, and the impacts new legislation will have for California’s legal fields. The address will also discuss the latest CEQA Guidelines update, and Mr. Lipper will share some predictions about the future of CEQA in the upcoming legislative session. Mr. Lipper has worked on legislation covering a vast array of environmental issues in California, including safe drinking water, greenhouse gas emissions, and renewable energy, and will lend a unique perspective to introduce the future of CEQA in California as it faces several different legal challenges from different areas of environmental law.