BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                SB 972
                                                                       

                      SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
                        Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
                              2011-2012 Regular Session
                                           
           BILL NO:    SB 972
           AUTHOR:     Simitian
           AMENDED:    March 8, 2012
           FISCAL:     Yes               HEARING DATE:     March 19, 2012
           URGENCY:    No                CONSULTANT:       Randy Pestor
            
           SUBJECT  :    CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT

            SUMMARY  :    
           
            Existing law  , under the California Environmental Quality Act 
           (CEQA):

           1) Requires a lead agency to call at least one scoping meeting 
              for a proposed project that may affect highways or other 
              facilities under Department of Transportation (Caltrans) 
              jurisdiction, if requested by Caltrans, or for a project of 
              statewide, regional, or areawide significance.  (Public 
              Resources Code §21083.9).  Notice of at least one scoping 
              meeting must be provided to the following:

              a)    A county or city that borders on the county or city 
                 within which the project is located, unless otherwise 
                 designated annually by agreement.

              b)    A responsible agency.

              c)    A public agency that has jurisdiction by law with 
                 respect to the project.

              d)    A transportation planning agency and public agencies 
                 having transportation facilities within the 
                 jurisdiction.

              e)    An organization or individual who has filed a written 
                 request for notice.

           2) Sets various notice requirements and requires an agency to 
              mail specified notices to any person who has filed a 









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              written request for notices with either the governing body 
              clerk or the agency director.  The agency may require 
              requests for notices to be annually renewed and may charge 
              a fee for providing the service.  Notices to be provided 
              include the notice of preparation (NOP) of an EIR, scoping 
              meeting notice, and a notice of determination (NOD).  
              (§21092.2).

           3) Requires a copy of a notice of completion of an EIR (NOC) 
              to be provided by the State Clearinghouse to any legislator 
              in whose district the project has an environmental impact 
              if the legislator requests the notice and the State 
              Clearinghouse has received it.  (§21162).

            This bill  :

           1) Requires a scoping meeting notice to also be provided to 
              any entity that has filed a written request for the notice. 
               (§21083.9).

           2) Requires an NOC to also be mailed to any person who has 
              filed a written request for notices.  (§21092.2).

           3) Repeals the legislator NOC notice requirement, adds this 
              requirement under §21092.2, and also requires an NOP to be 
              provided to a legislator under the same conditions as for 
              receipt of an NOC.


            COMMENTS  :

            1) Purpose of Bill  .  Under current law, a person may file a 
              written request with an agency to receive certain CEQA 
              notices.  However, this provision does not reference the 
              NOC.  Current law also enables a legislator to receive an 
              NOC for a project in their district that has an 
              environmental impact, but there is no reference to the NOP.

           According to the author, SB 972 "ensures that a person 
              requesting CEQA notices from public agencies also receives 
              NOCs, along with other notices required under current law." 
               The author also notes that SB 972 "enables legislators to 










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              be aware of proposed projects in their district early in 
              the CEQA process - when there is an NOP for an EIR, rather 
              than later when the NOC is filed."  SB 972 also revises 
              scoping meeting notice requirements. 

           2) Brief background on CEQA  .  CEQA provides a process for 
              evaluating the environmental effects of a project, and 
              includes statutory exemptions, as well as categorical 
              exemptions in the CEQA guidelines.  If a project is not 
              exempt from CEQA, an initial study is prepared to determine 
              whether a 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.  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.

           If a mitigation measure would cause one or more significant 
              effects in addition to those that would be caused by the 
              proposed project, the effects of the mitigation measure 
              must be discussed but in less detail than the significant 
              effects of the proposed project.

            3) Improving scoping  .  According to the CEQA guidelines, early 
              consultation "solves many potential problems that would 
              arise in more serious forms later in the review process."  
              The guidelines also provide that scoping "has been helpful 
              to agencies in identifying the range of actions, 
              alternatives, mitigation measures, and significant effects 
              to be analyzed in depth in an EIR and in eliminating from 










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              detailed study issues found not to be important."  The 
              guidelines further note that scoping "has been found to be 
              an effective way to bring together and resolve the concerns 
              of affected federal, state, and local agencies, the 
              proponent of the action, and other interested persons 
              including those who might not be in accord with the action 
              on environmental grounds."  
            
           Under CEQA, a scoping meeting notice must be provided to 
              certain public agencies.  An organization or individual may 
              file a written request to receive the notice, but there is 
              no provision allowing an entity to receive a scoping 
              meeting notice upon request if that entity is not otherwise 
              required to receive notice - such as a special district or 
              nearby city that does not border the county or city within 
              which the project is located.  SB 972 provides an 
              opportunity for these entities to file a written request to 
              receive the scoping meeting notice.

            4) Related legislation  .  SB 226 (Simitian) Chapter 469, 
              Statutes of 2011, contained various amendments to CEQA, 
              including streamlined procedures for certain infill areas, 
              as well as an amendment to §21083.9 allowing public 
              agencies to comment on planning and zoning matters 
              (required under Planning and Zoning Law) concurrently with 
              project scoping meetings under CEQA.  Provisions in SB 972 
              relating to scoping meeting notice to other entities were 
              addressed in a similar fashion in AB 1581 (Carter) of 2010 
              (that died on the Senate Inactive File) and SB 620 (Correa) 
              of 2011 (where Senate Environmental Quality Committee 
              hearings were cancelled at the author's request).

           Provisions in SB 972 relating to NOPs and NOCs were contained 
              in the March 21, 2011, version of SB 880 (Corbett) Chapter 
              6, Statutes of 2012, but were subsequently stricken when 
              the bill was amended to address another issue.

            5) Encouraging early comments  .  SB 226 also contained 
              provisions to address late comments on environmental 
              documents that were stricken due to opposition from many 
              interest groups.  While the notice and scoping provisions 
              in SB 972 encourage earlier comments, and thereby help to 










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              avoid the need for late comments, the author is continuing 
              to meet with various interest groups to further address 
              late comment concerns.

            SOURCE  :        Senator Simitian  

           SUPPORT  :       None on file  

           OPPOSITION  :    None on file