BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 292
Page 1
Date of Hearing: September 6, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
SB 292 (Padilla) - As Amended: September 2, 2011
SENATE VOTE : Not relevant
SUBJECT : California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA):
administrative and judicial review procedures: City of Los
Angeles: stadium
SUMMARY : Establishes expedited judicial review procedures and
requires implementation of specified traffic and air quality
mitigation measures under CEQA for the proposed downtown Los
Angeles football stadium and convention center project.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Expedites judicial review for environmental impact report
(EIR) and other initial (pre-construction) project approvals:
a) Requires a petition challenging certification of the
EIR, or the granting of any initial project approvals, for
the stadium project to be filed with the Second District
Court of Appeal within 30 days of the lead agency's notice
of determination on the EIR.
b) Requires the petitioner to file and serve the opening
brief within 40 days of filing the petition.
c) Requires the respondent and real party in interest to
file and serve the opposition brief within 25 days of the
filing of the opening brief.
d) Requires the petitioner to file and serve the reply
brief within 20 days of the filing of the last opposition
brief.
e) Provides that Rule 8.220 of the California Rules of
Court, which permits the court to grant an extension of
time to file briefs for good cause, does not apply.
Instead prohibits the court from granting any extension,
except upon showing of extraordinary good cause, and limits
any extension to minimum the court deems necessary.
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f) Permits the court to appoint a special master to assist
with the case. If a special master is appointed, requires
the project applicant to pay all reasonable costs, up to
$150,000. Permits the court to request additional special
master costs in excess of $150,000 be paid by the
applicant.
g) Requires the court to hear and decide the case within 60
days of the filing of the last timely reply brief. If the
court fails to meet this deadline, the applicant may
withdraw, thereby terminating the case and the Court of
Appeal's jurisdiction and eliminating the applicant's duty
to comply with the traffic and air quality mitigation
measures described below.
h) If the applicant withdraws from the Court of Appeal, the
petitioner may file an identical petition in the Los
Angeles County Superior Court within 15 days. Requires the
court to hold a case management conference within 30 days.
i) Requires a petition for review of the Court of Appeal's
decision to be filed with the Supreme Court within 15 days
of the decision, requires parties to file opposition briefs
15 days after that, and requires the Supreme Court to
render a decision on the petition for review within the
earlier of 30 days of the petition or 15 days of the
opposition brief.
j) Requires all briefs and notices to be served
electronically.
2)Establishes special procedures for public participation in
CEQA review of the project:
a) Requires the project EIR to include a specified notice
that the EIR is subject to the provisions of the section
added by this bill.
b) Requires the lead agency to conduct an informational
workshop within 10 days of release of the Draft EIR and
hold a public hearing within 10 days before close of the
public comment period.
c) Requires the lead agency and applicant to participate in
nonbinding mediation with any party who submitted comments
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on the Draft EIR and requested mediation within five days
of the close of the public comment period, with the cost to
be paid by the applicant. Requires mediation to end within
35 days of the close of the public comment period.
d) Requires the lead agency to adopt any measures agreed
upon in mediation. Prohibits a commenter from raising an
issue addressed by that measure in a lawsuit.
e) Permits the lead agency to ignore written comments
submitted after the close of the public comment period,
with specified exceptions for materials addressing new
information released after the close of the public comment
period.
f) Requires the lead agency to provide all EIR documents
and comments in an electronic format, certify the record
within five days of filing the notice of determination,
provide the record to a party upon written request, and
provide the record to the Court of Appeal within 10 days of
the filing of petition for review.
3)Imposes supplementary measures to limit private car trips and
mitigate greenhouse gas emissions associated with the project:
a) Declares the intent of the Legislature that the project
minimize traffic congestion and air quality impacts that
may result from private car trips to the stadium through
the existing requirements of CEQA, as supplemented by the
measures specified by this bill.
b) Requires the lead agency, as a condition of approval of
the project, to require the applicant to implement measures
to achieve "carbon neutrality" (zero net emissions of
greenhouse gases from private car trips) by the end of the
first season a National Football League (NFL) team has
played at the stadium. Requires the lead agency to place
highest priority on feasible emission reduction measures on
the stadium site and neighboring communities. Requires use
of offset credits only after feasible local measures have
been implemented.
c) Requires the applicant to implement specified measures
to ensure that the stadium achieves a "trip ratio" (cars
divided by spectators) that is no more than 90 percent of
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the trip ratio at any other NFL stadium (i.e. 10 percent
less car trips than the best comparable stadium).
d) Requires the lead agency to adopt a protocol to
implement these measures, including criteria and guidelines
to determine trip ratio.
e) Requires the applicant to report to the lead agency
after the second, third, fourth and fifth NFL seasons,
regarding the results of trip reduction measures.
f) Requires the lead agency, following the fourth season
trip ratio report, to determine whether there is adequate
data to determine whether the 90 percent trip ratio has
been achieved. If data is not adequate, the lead agency is
required to collect the data necessary to make the
determination, with reasonable costs paid by the applicant.
g) If, after the fifth season trip ratio report, the lead
agency determines that the trip ratio is more than 90
percent of the trip ratio of the other NFL stadium with the
lowest trip ratio, the lead agency shall require the
applicant to implement additional feasible measures to
achieve the 90 percent target. Any trip reduction measure
used at another NFL stadium shall be presumed feasible.
The feasibility of any mitigation measure not used at
another NFL stadium is governed by the substantial evidence
test. The applicant's obligation to pay for transit
improvements is limited to:
i) Temporary expansion of transit line capacity to
serve stadium events.
ii) Providing charter buses or similar services to serve
stadium events.
iii) Paying a fair share of a public fixed or light rail
station used by event spectators.
h) Requires the lead agency to determine whether to impose
additional mitigation measures within six months of the
fifth season report. Provides that the expedited judicial
review procedures described above do not apply to a lawsuit
challenging these additional mitigation measures. Provides
that compliance or non-compliance with these additional
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mitigation measures shall not be result in the stadium
being required to cease or limit operations.
i) Requires the applicant to submit additional annual trip
ratio reports if the lead agency requires additional
mitigation measures, until the lead agency determines the
applicant has achieved the 90 percent target for two
consecutive seasons, or until the tenth season, whichever
is earlier.
4)Other:
a) Specifies that a lawsuit challenging a subsequent
project approval shall be governed by CEQA's existing
judicial review procedures.
b) Provides that the provisions of the section added by the
bill are severable.
c) Makes operation of the bill contingent on completion of
the project EIR before June 1, 2013 by providing that the
section added by this bill shall be repealed if the lead
agency fails to certify the EIR by June 1, 2013.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Pursuant to CEQA, requires a lead agency with the principal
responsibility for carrying out or approving a proposed
discretionary project to evaluate the environmental effects of
its action and prepare a negative declaration, mitigated
negative declaration, or EIR. If an initial study shows that
the project may have a significant effect on the environment,
the lead agency must prepare an EIR.
2)Authorizes judicial review of CEQA actions taken by public
agencies, following the agency's decision to carry out or
approve the project. Challenges alleging improper
determination that a project may have a significant effect on
the environment, or alleging an EIR doesn't comply with CEQA,
must be filed in the Superior Court within 30 days of filing
of the notice of approval.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
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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 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. 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.
Generally, CEQA actions taken by local public agencies can be
challenged in Superior Court once the agency approves or
determines to carry out the project. CEQA appeals are subject
to unusually short statutes of limitations. Under current law,
court challenges of CEQA decisions generally must be filed
within 30-35 days, depending on the type of decision. The
courts are required to give CEQA actions preference over all
other civil actions. However, the schedules for briefing,
hearing, and decision are less definite than in this bill. The
petitioner must request a hearing within 90 days of filing the
petition and, generally, briefing must be completed within 90
days of the request for hearing. There is no deadline specified
for the court to render a decision.
This bill would establish special procedures and requirements
for the proposed Convention Center Modernization and Farmers
Field Project (football stadium) in downtown Los Angeles. The
expedited judicial review procedures contemplate the Court of
Appeal rendering a decision on any lawsuit challenging the City
of Los Angeles' approval of the stadium under CEQA within 175
days, reducing the existing judicial review timeline by 100 days
or more, while creating new burdens for the court and litigants
to meet the compressed schedule. If the deadline to decide the
case is not met, the bill would permit the applicant to
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unilaterally opt-out, terminating the case as well as the
applicant's obligation to achieve the bill's mitigation
requirements. The mitigation requirements would require the
stadium to achieve "carbon neutrality" for private car trips by
the end of the first NFL season and 10 percent less car trips
than the best comparable stadium over a five to 10-year period.
The author and the committee may wish to consider amending the
bill to clarify that these measures must be maintained, and not
simply achieved on a temporary basis.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
American Planning Association, California Chapter
Analysis Prepared by : Lawrence Lingbloom / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092