BILL NUMBER: AB 2564 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 31, 2012
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 31, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 31, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 21, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 13, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 7, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 26, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 12, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 25, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ma
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
An act to amend, repeal, and add Sections 21080.21 and 21100.2 of
the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality, and
declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2564, Ma. Environmental quality: pipelines: project applicants.
(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a
lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and
certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a
project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a
significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative
declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect.
CEQA exempts a project of less than one mile in length within a
public street or highway or any other public right-of-way for the
installation of a new pipeline, as defined, or the maintenance,
repair, restoration, reconditioning, relocation, replacement,
removal, or demolition of an existing pipeline. Existing law excludes
from the definition of pipeline, for purposes of this exemption,
certain surface facilities.
This bill would, until January 1, 2018, revise that definition of
pipeline to delete the exclusion of those surface facilities and to
include surface accessories or appurtenances to a pipeline. The bill
would require a resource agency, as defined, when determining the
applicability of the exemption of pipelines from the act with regard
to a natural gas pipeline safety enhancement activity, as defined, to
consider only the length of pipeline that is within its legal
jurisdiction. The bill would impose a state-mandated local program by
imposing new duties upon local agencies with regard to the exemption
of pipelines from the act and upon a local agency that is a resource
agency regarding the applicability of the exemption regarding a
natural gas pipeline safety enhancement activity.
The bill would, until January 1, 2018, authorize a public agency
to establish a process that would allow an applicant for a natural
gas pipeline safety enhancement activity to elect to pay additional
fees to be used by the public agency in determining whether to
approve that activity by entering into a contract with one or more
3rd parties to assist the public agency to perform the analysis.
(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
(3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) On September 9, 2010, a 30-inch-diameter segment of an
intrastate natural gas transmission pipeline ruptured in a
residential neighborhood in the City of San Bruno. The rupture caused
an explosion and fire devastating a community and igniting a call to
action.
(b) Pursuant to PUC order and Section 958 of the Public Utilities
Code, enacted by Assembly Bill 56 (Chapter 519 of the Statutes of
2011), gas corporations are required to prepare comprehensive
pressure testing implementation plans to pressure test or replace all
intrastate natural gas transmission pipelines as soon as
practicable.
(c) The scope of work to be accomplished within the implementation
plans is unprecedented and will create thousands of jobs within the
state.
(d) The safe and expeditious completion of these pipeline safety
enhancements is a state and public safety priority.
(e) It is a matter of statewide concern to achieve the timely
completion of natural gas pipeline safety enhancements, including
programs for maintenance and operation enhancements, and to
contribute to the public's confidence in the safety of natural gas
pipelines and their ongoing maintenance and operation.
SEC. 2. Section 21080.21 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
21080.21. (a) This division does not apply to any project of less
than one mile in length within a public street or highway or any
other public right-of-way for the installation of a new pipeline or
the maintenance, repair, restoration, reconditioning, relocation,
replacement, removal, or demolition of an existing pipeline.
(b) For purposes of this section, "pipeline" means subsurface
pipelines and subsurface or surface accessories or appurtenances to a
pipeline, such as mains, traps, vents, cables, conduits, vaults,
valves, flanges, manholes, and meters.
(c) In determining the applicability of the exemption provided by
this section to a natural gas pipeline safety enhancement activity
under review by a resource agency, the resource agency shall consider
only the length of pipeline that is within its legal jurisdiction.
(d) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall
apply:
(1) "Natural gas pipeline safety enhancement activity" means an
activity undertaken by a public utility as part of a program to
enhance the safety of intrastate natural gas pipelines in accordance
with a decision, rule, or regulation adopted by the Public Utilities
Commission.
(2) "Resource agency" means the State Lands Commission, the
California Coastal Commission, the Department of Fish and Game, or
the State Water Resources Control Board, and local or regional
agencies with permitting authority under the California Coastal Act
of 1976 (Division 20 (commencing with Section 30000)) or Chapter 4
(commencing with Section 13200) of Division 7 of the Water Code.
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2018, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 3. Section 21080.21 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
21080.21. (a) This division does not apply to any project of less
than one mile in length within a public street or highway or any
other public right-of-way for the installation of a new pipeline or
the maintenance, repair, restoration, reconditioning, relocation,
replacement, removal, or demolition of an existing pipeline. For
purposes of this section, "pipeline" includes subsurface facilities
but does not include any surface facility related to the operation of
the underground facility.
(b) This section shall become operative January 1, 2018.
SEC. 4. Section 21100.2 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
21100.2. (a) (1) For projects described in subdivision (c) of
Section 21065, each state agency shall establish, by resolution or
order, time limits that do not exceed the following:
(A) One year for completing and certifying environmental impact
reports.
(B) One hundred eighty days for completing and adopting negative
declarations.
(2) The time limits specified in paragraph (1) shall apply only to
those circumstances in which the state agency is the lead agency for
a project. These resolutions or orders may establish different time
limits for different types or classes of projects, but all limits
shall be measured from the date on which an application requesting
approval of the project is received and accepted as complete by the
state agency.
(3) No application for a project may be deemed incomplete for lack
of a waiver of time periods prescribed in state regulations.
(4) The resolutions or orders required by this section may provide
for a reasonable extension of the time period in the event that
compelling circumstances justify additional time and the project
applicant consents thereto.
(b) If a draft environmental impact report, environmental impact
report, or focused environmental impact report is prepared under a
contract to a state agency, the contract shall be executed within 45
days from the date on which the state agency sends a notice of
preparation pursuant to Section 21080.4. The state agency may take
longer to execute the contract if the project applicant and the state
agency mutually agree to an extension of the time limit provided by
this subdivision.
(c) (1) A public agency may establish a process that would allow
an applicant for a natural gas pipeline safety enhancement activity
to elect to pay additional fees to be used by the public agency in
determining whether to approve a natural gas pipeline safety
enhancement activity by entering into a contract with one or more
third parties to assist the public agency to perform the analysis,
consistent with Article VII of the California Constitution and
Section 19130 of the Government Code and the charter of a chartered
city or county, as applicable. The public agency may, but is not
required to, offer an applicant the option to pay those fees and
subject a project to this process.
(2) All fees paid by a natural gas pipeline safety enhancement
activity applicant shall be used exclusively for analysis of that
applicant's application for certification.
(3) For purposes of this section, "natural gas pipeline safety
enhancement activity" has the same meaning as defined in paragraph
(1) of subdivision (d) of Section 21080.21.
(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2018, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 5. Section 21100.2 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
21100.2. (a) (1) For projects described in subdivision (c) of
Section 21065, each state agency shall establish, by resolution or
order, time limits that do not exceed the following:
(A) One year for completing and certifying environmental impact
reports.
(B) One hundred eighty days for completing and adopting negative
declarations.
(2) The time limits specified in paragraph (1) shall apply only to
those circumstances in which the state agency is the lead agency for
a project. These resolutions or orders may establish different time
limits for different types or classes of projects, but all limits
shall be measured from the date on which an application requesting
approval of the project is received and accepted as complete by the
state agency.
(3) No application for a project may be deemed incomplete for lack
of a waiver of time periods prescribed in state regulations.
(4) The resolutions or orders required by this section may provide
for a reasonable extension of the time period in the event that
compelling circumstances justify additional time and the project
applicant consents thereto.
(b) If a draft environmental impact report, environmental impact
report, or focused environmental impact report is prepared under a
contract to a state agency, the contract shall be executed within 45
days from the date on which the state agency sends a notice of
preparation pursuant to Section 21080.4. The state agency may take
longer to execute the contract if the project applicant and the state
agency mutually agree to an extension of the time limit provided by
this subdivision.
(c) This section shall become operative January 1, 2018.
SEC. 6. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a
local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section
17556 of the Government Code.
SEC. 7. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to achieve the timely completion of natural gas pipeline
safety enhancements, including programs for maintenance and operation
enhancements, and to contribute to the public's confidence in the
safety of natural gas pipelines and their ongoing maintenance and
operation, thereby protecting public health and safety, it is
necessary for this act to take effect immediately.