BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 890
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 890 (Olsen and Perea)
As Amended January 13, 2012
Majority vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 6-0 APPROPRIATIONS 13-3
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Knight, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Dickinson, Grove, | |Bradford, |
| |Halderman, Huffman | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Chesbro, Donnelly, Hill, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Blumenfield, Gatto, Hall |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Exempts from the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) repair, maintenance, and minor alterations of existing
roadways, provided the project is initiated by a city or county
to improve public safety, does not cross a waterway, and
involves negligible or no expansion of an existing use. The
exemption sunsets January 1, 2016.
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).
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : 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
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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 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.
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.
It should be noted that CEQA already provides alternatives to
comprehensive environmental review for minor projects. 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", (CEQA Guidelines, Section 15301(c)).
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
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vast majority of projects subject to CEQA review result in a
negative declaration. As amended, this bill is consistent with
the existing categorical exemption for minor work on existing
roads.
Analysis Prepared by : Lawrence Lingbloom / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0003058