BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 8XX
Author: Nestande (R)
Amended: 2/14/09 in Assembly
Vote: 21
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO COMMITTEE OR FILE
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Emergency Economic Stimulus, Environmental
streamlining
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : The bill enacts a series of amendments to
current law to relax heavy duty construction equipment
standards, expedite permitting of transportation
construction projects, and exempt similar construction
projects for environmental review under the California
Environmental Quality Act.
ANALYSIS :
This bill does all of the following:
1. California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Exemption
for Sale of Surplus State Land . Exempts "as is" sale of
surplus state property from the CEQA (CEQA - Division 13
commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources
Code and makes related changes to those statutes.
CONTINUED
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2
2. Diesel Off-Road Vehicle Rule . Requirement for ARB to
Modify Requires the state Air Resources Board (ARB) to
amend specified provisions of its In-Use Off-Road
Vehicle Regulation to do the following:
A. Provide Greater credit for mandated nitrogen
oxides (NOx) and Particulate Matter pollution
reductions for retired equipment and equipment
subject to "reduced usage", as defined.
B. Relax Best Available Control Technology (BACT)
requirements for off-road fleets to allow more NOx
and PM pollution to be produced in the years 2011
to 2013.
3. Expedited Permit Review for Specified Transportation
Projects . Establishes an expedited permit streamlining
in procedure for specified transportation projects as
follows:
A. Accelerates permit review, issuance, issuance
with conditions, or denial of permits for those
projects without affecting the underlying authority
of permitting agencies.
B. Establishes an ad hoc critical infrastructure
permit review panel to convene permitting agencies
with jurisdiction over specified transportation
projects to coordinate actions on permits.
C. Requires permitting agencies to deem
applications complete within 15 days and act on a
permit within 30 days of an application being
deemed complete.
4. CEQA Exemption for Specified Transportation Projects .
Exempts specified transportation projects (an
overlapping but not identical list of projects from the
list of projects subject to permit streamlining above)
CEQA.
This bill:
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1. Exempts the "as is" sale of surplus state property from
the CEQA review.
2. Exempts the sale of surplus state property from the CEQA
review when the close of escrow for that property is
contingent upon certain local government land use laws.
3. Declares that an off-road heavy-duty project that
involves farm equipment shall be deemed to have a
minimum project life of at least 10 years.
4. Declares that a grant may be awarded to an off-road
heavy-duty farm equipment project regardless of the time
period between the date of the application and the
regulation compliance date, as long as the grant is not
awarded after the legally mandated date for compliance.
5. Requires the ARB to modify the off-road diesel-fueled
vehicles regulations by extending the full compliance
date from 2010 to 2013.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
DLW:do 2/16/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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