BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair


          SB 633 (Pavley) - CEQA.
          
          Amended: May 6, 2013            Policy Vote: EQ 8-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: Yes
          Hearing Date: May 13, 2013      Consultant: Marie Liu
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
          
          
          Bill Summary: SB 633 would require the Office of Planning and  
          Research (OPR) to create a categorical exemption to the  
          California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for projects  
          involving minor temporary uses of land and public gatherings  
          that have no significant impact on the environment. This bill  
          would also clarify when a subsequent or supplemental  
          environmental impact report may be required.

          Fiscal Impact: One-time costs of approximately $50,000 from the  
          General Fund to OPR to create a new categorical exemption for  
          minor temporary uses of land and public gatherings.

          Background: CEQA provides a process for evaluating the  
          environmental effects of a project. Several exemptions to CEQA  
          are made in both the statute (statutory exemptions) and in the  
          CEQA guidelines (categorical exemptions). Categorical exemptions  
          are descriptions of types of projects which the Secretary of the  
          Natural Resources Agency has determined do not usually have a  
          significant effect on the environment. Existing categorical  
          exemptions relating to special events include minor public or  
          private alterations to land, water, or vegetation and normal  
          operations of existing facilities for public gatherings for  
          which the facility was designed.
          
          OPR is required under existing law to prepare and develop  
          guidelines for the implementation of CEQA, which are reviewed  
          and certified by the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency.  
          At least every two years, OPR must review the guidelines and  
          recommend changes to the secretary.

          CEQA limits lead agencies or responsible agencies from requiring  
          a subsequent or supplemental environmental impact report (EIR)  
          to specific situations, including when new information that  








          SB 633 (Pavley)
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          could not have been known becomes available.

          Proposed Law: This bill would require the Office of Planning and  
          Research (OPR) to include in its California Environmental  
          Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines, by July 1, 2015, a class of  
          projects involving minor temporary uses of land and public  
          gatherings that have no significant impact on the environment  
          and are therefore exempt from CEQA. The Secretary of the Natural  
          Resources agency would be required to certify and adopt the  
          related changes to the CEQA guidelines by January 1, 2016. 

          This bill would clarify that a subsequent or supplemental EIR  
          can be requested if there is new information available, if that  
          new information could not have been known by the lead or  
          responsible agency.  

          Staff Comments: This bill would require OPR to create a new  
          categorical exemption for temporary uses of land that have  
          negligible or no permanent effects on the environment in  
          addition to the existing exemption for minor public or private  
          alterations to land. According to OPR, creating the categorical  
          exemption requires establishing substantial evidence to support  
          that minor temporary uses of land have no significant impact.  
          Staff notes that this categorical exemption is very similar to  
          the existing categorical exemption for minor alterations of  
          land.