BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 731 (Steinberg/Hill) - Environment: California Environmental
Quality Act and sustainable communities strategy.
Amended: May 7, 2013 Policy Vote: EQ 8-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: May 20, 2013 Consultant: Marie Liu
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 731 makes various changes and clarifications to
the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Fiscal Impact:
One-time costs of $73,000 for FY 13-14 and $109,000
annually thereafter from the General Fund for the Department
of Justice for annual reporting requirements.
One-time costs of $500,000 to $750,000 from the General
Fund for the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to
develop threshold standards for noise, transportation, and
parking impacts.
Ongoing costs of approximately $120,000 for the creation of
the Advisor on Renewable Energy Facilities within the Office
of the Governor.
Cost pressure of $30 million to the General Fund for local
assistance grants for planning activities administered by
the Strategic Growth Council
Background: CEQA provides a process for evaluating the
environmental effects of a project. Under CEQA, lead agencies
with the principal responsibility for carrying out or approving
a proposed discretionary project are required to prepare a
negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or
environmental impact report (EIR) for the project, unless the
project is exempt. The purpose of CEQA is to identify
significant environmental impacts, including impacts on
archaeological resources, and then mitigate those impacts to the
extent feasible.
Proposed Law: This bill makes various changes to CEQA.
Specifically, this bill would:
Create the position of Advisor on Renewable Energy
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Facilities within the Office of the Governor until January
1, 2017.
Expands the CEQA exemption for a residential development
project by qualifying the new information that may trigger a
supplemental EIR being prepared.
Allow a project applicant for a renewable energy project to
present benefits onsite or offsite of the project including
greenhouse gas emissions mitigations.
Require public review of a finding of overriding conditions
and specify the process for the public review.
Require the lead agency to prepare an annual report on
project compliance with mitigation measures.
Require OPR to develop thresholds for significance for
noise, transportation, and parking impacts for residential,
mixed-used residential, or employment center projects within
transit priority areas. Aesthetic impacts would be specified
as not a significant impact.
Allow the statute of limitations for an action against a
public agency for noncompliance to be suspended, for a
maximum of four years, by mutual agreement of the parties.
Require a lead agency, at the request of a project
applicant, to prepare a record of proceedings concurrently
with the administrative process.
Require the Attorney General (AG) to report annually to the
Legislature with information on actions or proceedings
brought under CEQA.
This bill would also allow a $30 million appropriation in the
annual Budget Act to the Strategic Growth Council to provide
competitive grants to local agencies for planning activities.
Staff Comments: This bill would require OPR to develop
thresholds for significance for noise, transportation, and
parking impacts. OPR estimates costs between $500,000 and
$700,000 of General Fund for this activity. This would include
1.5 PY for legal counsel, 1 PY transportation planner, 0.5 PY
noise specialist, 0.5 PY for an assistant planner, 0.3 PY for
administrative support, and some travel costs.
The Department of Justice estimates that the annual reporting
provision in this bill would cost approximately $73,000 in FY
2013-14 and $109,000 annually thereafter.
Staff notes that this bill would require the lead agency to
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prepare a report on project compliance with mitigation measures.
The bill specifies that the report shall be prepared annually.
However, it does not specify at which point the report would no
longer be needed. While some mitigation activities need ongoing
monitoring, others do not. Staff recommends specifying when the
lead agency would be released of the responsibility of filing
the annual mitigation report.
This bill contains language regarding an appropriation of $30
million to the Strategic Growth Council. However, the bill only
authorizes the Legislature to make the appropriation in the
annual Budget Act rather than actually making the appropriation.
Furthermore, it is unclear whether this appropriation is meant
to be an ongoing or one-year appropriation. Staff recommends
that this provision be clarified.