BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 659 (Hancock) - Environmental quality: archaeological
resources: qualifications.
Amended: May 7, 2013 Policy Vote: EQ 8-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 23, 2013 Consultant: Marie Liu
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: SB 659 would require the Office of Planning and
Research (OPR) to recommend changes to the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines that would establish
standards for proper archaeological evaluation conducted
pursuant to CEQA.
Fiscal Impact:
Onetime costs of approximately $250,000 to the General Fund
to OPR for increased workload to establish standards for
archaeological evaluations.
Unknown onetime costs from the State Parks Revolving Fund
(General Fund) to the Department of Parks for increased
workload to cooperate with OPR to establish standards.
Unknown costs for additional review of archaeological
evaluations for projects which the state is the project
proponent or the state is the lead or responsible agency.
Background: CEQA provides a process for evaluating the
environmental effects of a project. Environmental impacts
include impacts to archaeological resources.
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.
The State Historical Resources Commission (SHRC) is a
nine-member state review board, appointed by the Governor, with
responsibilities for for the identification, registration, and
preservation of California's cultural heritage. The State
Historic Preservation Officer serves as Executive Secretary to
SB 659 (Hancock)
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the SHRC. The SHRC is staffed by the Office of Historic
Preservation within the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Proposed Law: This law would require OPR, as part of its next
review, in cooperation with the SHRC, to develop changes to the
CEQA guidelines that would establish standards for proper
archaeological evaluation conducted pursuant to CEQA.
Staff Comments: OPR notes that creating a methodology for
archaeological evaluation that is appropriate for all projects
would be difficult and contentious. Furthermore, OPR notes that
it does not currently have staff with archaeological expertise
OPR believes that this bill will require significant public
outreach and the need for one senior archaeologist, 0.25 PY for
legal counsel, and 0.25 for an assistant planner plus overhead
and travel costs at cost of $250,000 from the General Fund.
Presumably cooperation with the SHRC would negate the need for
OPR to hire an archaeologist for this activity. However, the
SHRC is staffed by the Department of Parks, who has indicated
that it does not have the existing resources to absorb the
workload necessary to develop the archaeological evaluation
standards. In other words, the cost of the workload cannot be
absorbed by either OPR or the Department of Parks. Both agencies
are likely to need the same amount of resources regardless of
who takes the lead on developing the standards. Staff believes
it is logical to have the involvement of the SHRC or at least
the Office of Historic Preservation within the Department of
Parks, involved at some level given their expertise in
archaeological resources.