BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 890
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Date of Hearing: January 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
AB 890 (Olsen) - As Amended: January 4, 2012
SUBJECT : Environment: CEQA exemption: roadway improvement
SUMMARY : Exempts from the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) a project or activity undertaken by a city or county to
improve public safety within an existing road right-of-way,
provided the project or activity is not for the purpose of
increasing traffic capacity.
EXISTING LAW requires lead agencies with the principal
responsibility for carrying out or approving a proposed project
to prepare a negative declaration, mitigated negative
declaration, or environmental impact report (EIR) for this
action, unless the project is exempt from CEQA (CEQA includes
various statutory exemptions, as well as categorical exemptions
in the CEQA guidelines).
THIS BILL exempts from CEQA a project or activity undertaken,
carried out, or approved by a city or county to improve public
safety within an existing road right-of-way. The exemption does
not apply to a project or activity undertaken, carried out, or
approved by a city or county for the purpose of increasing
traffic capacity.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Background. CEQA provides a process for evaluating the
environmental effects of applicable projects undertaken or
approved by public agencies. If a project is not exempt from
CEQA, an initial study is prepared to determine whether the
project may have a significant effect on the environment. If
the initial study shows that there would not be a significant
effect on the environment, the lead agency must prepare a
negative declaration. If the initial study shows that the
project may have a significant effect on the environment, the
lead agency must prepare an EIR.
Generally, an EIR must accurately describe the proposed
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project, identify and analyze each significant environmental
impact expected to result from the proposed project, identify
mitigation measures to reduce those impacts to the extent
feasible, and evaluate a range of reasonable alternatives to
the proposed project. Prior to approving any project that has
received environmental review, an agency must make certain
findings. If mitigation measures are required or incorporated
into a project, the agency must adopt a reporting or
monitoring program to ensure compliance with those measures.
2)Need for the bill. According to the author:
In recent years, CEQA has slowed or halted many public and
private projects. It is important to understand the
environmental impacts of a public works project, but to
slow or halt a public roadway project that improves public
safety is illogical. Cities and counties need to be able
to quickly perform some public works projects. Public
safety must be the number one priority of the state, and
CEQA has hindered cities and counties from performing their
basic duty?AB 890 streamlines the process for minor roadway
improvements for cities and counties to improve road
safety.
3)Statutory CEQA exemption may not be necessary to avoid
environmental review. This bill does not specify any
particular project. As such, the Committee is making a
judgment about the merits of the CEQA exemption in the dark.
Once a project is defined, existing law contains at least two
alternatives to full-blown CEQA review with preparation of an
EIR. First, the CEQA Guidelines provide a categorical
exemption for work on existing facilities where there is
negligible expansion of an existing use, specifically
including "(e)xisting highways and streets, sidewalks,
gutters, bicycle and pedestrian trails, and similar
facilities" (Section 15301(c), CEQA Guidelines). Second, if
the project is not exempt from CEQA, but the initial study
shows that it would not result in a significant effect on the
environment, the lead agency must prepare a negative
declaration, and no EIR is required. (According to statistics
compiled by the Governor's Office of Planning and Research,
the vast majority of projects subject to CEQA review result in
a negative declaration.)
4)Even if necessary, statutory CEQA exemption may not be useful.
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State and local transportation projects often receive federal
funding and/or require federal agency approvals. This bears
heavily on the efficacy of the CEQA exemption, because a
federal decision may result in application of the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the preparation of a
federal environmental impact statement (EIS). If NEPA applies
to the project and an EIS must be prepared, the CEQA exemption
might not provide the relief the proponents are seeking.
5)Exemption is broader than safety improvements to existing
roads. The exemption in this bill applies to any project or
activity within an existing road right-of-way , as long as the
project improves public safety and does not have increasing
traffic capacity as its purpose . This language could be
applied far beyond improvements to existing roads initiated by
cities or counties to improve public safety. A road
right-of-way is often significantly wider than the developed
roadway, and can include areas with recreational, scenic, or
habitat value. As written, the exemption in this bill could
be claimed for road widening or straitening projects that pave
over open space, or for all manner of non-road projects
developed within an existing right-of-way. To assure the
exemption is limited to minor roadwork projects which are
unlikely to have a significant effect on the environment, the
author and the committee may wish to consider amending the
bill to limit the exemption to projects to improve public
safety on existing roads where there is no expansion of an
existing use .
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Associated Builders and Contractors of California
California State Association of Counties
California State Council of Laborers
City of Mission Viejo
County of Stanislaus
Kern Council of Governments
Regional Council of Rural Counties
Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors
Opposition
California League of Conservation Voters
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California Native Plant Society
Planning and Conservation League
Sierra Club California
Analysis Prepared by : Lawrence Lingbloom / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092