BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 417 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 417 (Frazier) As Amended June 13, 2013 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |70-2 |(April 25, |SENATE: |39-0 |(September 11, | | | |2013) | | |2013) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: NAT. RES. SUMMARY : Establishes a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption for the approval of a bicycle transportation plan, as defined, until 2018. Specifically, this bill : 1)Establishes an exemption from CEQA for a bicycle transportation plan for an urbanized area for restriping of streets and highways, bicycle parking and storage, signal timing, and related signage. 2)Requires a lead agency, prior to determining a plan is exempt, to hold noticed public hearings, assess any traffic and safety impacts, and include measures to mitigate those impacts. 3)Requires a lead agency to file a notice of any bicycle plan exemption with the Office of Planning and Research and the county clerk in the county in which the project is located. 4)Sunsets the bill's provisions on January 1, 2018. The Senate amendments revise requirements applicable to a separate exemption for bicycle lanes to provide that the lead agency is not required to prepare an assessment of any traffic or safety impacts of the project if those impacts have been identified in specified CEQA reviews within the past five years and any mitigation measures identified in the prior review are incorporated into the bicycle lane project. 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 AB 417 Page 2 in the CEQA guidelines). FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, 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 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. In June 2005, San Francisco adopted its 2005 Bicycle Plan, determining that the plan was exempt from CEQA based upon their finding that there was no possibility that the bicycle plan would have significant impacts on the environment. San Francisco also adopted the bicycle plan's Network Improvement Document, a five-year plan for funding and implementing the bicycle plan. Petitioners challenged adoption of the 2005 Bicycle Plan and Network Improvement Document under CEQA and the court granted the petition, finding that the plan and document should have been reviewed under CEQA together as one project, and that the two actions could have a significant impact on the environment. The court issued a Preemptory Writ of Mandate in 2007, requiring San Francisco to conduct adequate environmental review of the plan and document, and enjoined the city from implementing any individual improvement projects until the review was completed. After reviewing the revised plan, the court indicated that AB 417 Page 3 "(t)he bulk of the draft EIR's analysis concerned impacts on transportation, particularly impacts from the 60 near-term improvements on 63 different intersections located throughout San Francisco, as well as impacts on 12 transit corridors, 10 transit spot studies, and 13 parking and loading corridors." The court also noted that the EIR identified mitigation measures to minimize or eliminate many of the significant environmental impacts identified in the EIR, including measures such as adding or modifying traffic signals at intersections (lengthening green light time or adding a green arrow), or modifying roadway striping (changing shared lanes to exclusive turn lanes, narrowing travel lanes, or eliminating or restricting on-street parking). Subsequent to ruling against another appeal by the plaintiffs, the court determined in 2010 that the report met the requirements of CEQA. AB 2245 (Smyth), Chapter 680, Statutes of 2012, established a CEQA exemption for Class II bikeways (bike lanes) undertaken by a city or county within an existing road right-of-way until 2017. Analysis Prepared by : Lawrence Lingbloom / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN: 0001508