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.