BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 543
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 543 (Campos)
As Amended May 24, 2013
Majority vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 6-3 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Garcia, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Muratsuchi, Skinner, | |Bradford, |
| |Stone, Williams | | Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Hall, |
| | | |Ammiano, Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Grove, Bigelow, Patterson |Nays:|Harkey, Bigelow, |
| | | |Donnelly, Linder, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires a lead agency to translate certain notices
and summaries of a negative declaration, mitigated negative
declaration, or environmental impact report (EIR) required under
the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when a group of
non-English-speaking people comprises at least 25% of the
population within a lead agency's jurisdiction. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Requires a lead agency that prepares specified notices and
summaries to translate these documents into the language
spoken by any group of non-English-speaking people comprising
at least 25% of the population within the lead agency's
jurisdiction.
2)Defines "group of non-English-speaking people" to mean members
of a group who either do not speak English or who are unable
to effectively communicate in English because it is not their
native language.
EXISTING LAW establishes CEQA, which:
1)Requires a lead agency to:
a) Prepare and certify the completion of an EIR for a
AB 543
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proposed project that it finds would have a significant
effect on the environment, or if it finds otherwise, adopt
a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration.
b) Prepare and file, with either the Office of Planning and
Research (OPR) or the county clerk having jurisdiction over
the project, the following notices:
i) A notice of intent (NOI) when the lead agency
decides to adopt a negative declaration or a mitigated
negative declaration;
ii) A notice of determination (NOD) when the lead agency
decides to carry out or approve a project for which it
has adopted a negative declaration or mitigated negative
declaration, or certified an EIR;
iii) A notice of preparation (NOP) when the lead agency
decides to prepare a negative declaration, a mitigated
negative declaration, or an EIR for the project; and
iv) A notice of completion (NOC) when the draft EIR is
complete.
c) Call and provide notice of at least one scoping meeting
for projects that may affect highways or other facilities
under the Department of Transportation's (caltrans)
jurisdiction if Caltrans requests such a meeting, or for
projects of statewide, regional, or areawide significance.
2)Authorizes a lead agency to file a notice of exemption (NOE)
when it approves or determines to carry out a project that
qualifies for a statutory or categorical exemption from CEQA.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, unknown costs to state agencies serving as CEQA lead
agencies, in the range of hundreds of thousands to potentially
millions of dollars.
COMMENTS : CEQA requires state and local agencies to undergo an
environmental review process before carrying out or approving a
proposed project. This allows stakeholders such as a private
developer, a public agency, and a local community to consider
the significant environmental effects of the proposed project
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and adopt measures that would minimize or mitigate them.
With the increasing diversity of California's communities,
multi-stakeholder engagement is critical to ensuring that CEQA's
environmental goals are achieved in an equitable manner. The
author argues that a project may have significant consequences
on immigrant and low-income communities who either live at or
close to the project site. But because of their limited ability
to communicate in English, they cannot participate in the CEQA
process as meaningfully as native English speakers would.
Translating important CEQA notices and executive summaries to
the community's language would thus be an important step in
rectifying this concern.
The state's diverse population has given rise to statutory
requirements for translating important consumer and government
services documents to popular foreign languages like Spanish and
Mandarin. One example in the Civil Code is the foreign
translation of consumer contracts if negotiations between a
business representative and a consumer are conducted primarily
in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean. The
business representative must provide the consumer a copy of the
negotiated contract in the foreign language spoken by the
consumer during negotiations.
Another example is the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act,
which applies to state and local agencies. Dymally-Alatorre
requires state agencies to translate informational documents
about government services when 5% or more of the people served
by its local office or facility either do not speak English or
cannot effectively communicate in English because it is not
their native language.
Analysis Prepared by : Lawrence Lingbloom / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0000980